We estimate the fidelity of solar neighborhood (D < 100 pc) catalogs soon to be derived from Pan-STARRS astrometric data. We explore two quantities used to measure catalog quality: completeness, the fraction of desired sources included in a catalog; and reliability, the fraction of entries corresponding to desired sources. We show that the main challenge in identifying nearby objects with Pan-STARRS will be reliably distinguishing these objects from distant stars, which are vastly more numerous. We explore how joint cuts on proper motion and parallax will impact catalog reliability and completeness. Using synthesized astrometry catalogs, we derive optimum parallax and proper motion cuts to build a census of the solar neighborhood with the Pan-STARRS 3 Pi Survey. Depending on the Galactic latitude, a parallax cut pi / sigma pi > 5 combined with a proper motion cut ranging from mu / sigma mu > 1-8 achieves 99% reliability and 60% completeness.
The calculation of a highly accurate cosmological recombination history has been the object of particular attention recently, as it constitutes the major theoretical uncertainty when predicting the angular power spectrum of Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies. Lyman transitions, in particular the Lyman-alpha line, have long been recognized as one of the bottlenecks of recombination, due to their very low escape probabilities. The Sobolev approximation does not describe radiative transfer in the vicinity of Lyman lines to a sufficient degree of accuracy, and several corrections have already been computed in other works. In this paper, the impact of some previously ignored radiative transfer effects is calculated. First, the effect of Thomson scattering in the vicinity of the Lyman-alpha line is evaluated, using a full redistribution kernel incorporated into a radiative transfer code. The effect of feedback of distortions generated by the optically thick deuterium Lyman-alpha line blueward of the hydrogen line is investigated with an analytic approximation. It is shown that both effects are negligible during cosmological hydrogen recombination. Secondly, the importance of high-lying, non overlapping Lyman transitions is assessed. It is shown that escape from lines above Ly-gamma and frequency diffusion in Ly-beta and higher lines can be neglected without loss of accuracy. Thirdly, a formalism generalizing the Sobolev approximation is developed to account for the overlap of the high-lying Lyman lines, which is shown to lead to negligible changes to the recombination history. Finally, the possibility of a cosmological hydrogen recombination maser is investigated. It is shown that there is no such maser in the purely radiative treatment presented here.
We report on the discovery of 10 additional galaxy clusters detected in the ongoing Swift/BAT all-sky survey. Among the newly BAT-discovered clusters there are: Bullet, Abell 85, Norma, and PKS 0745-19. Norma is the only cluster, among those presented here, which is resolved by BAT. For all the clusters we perform a detailed spectral analysis using XMM-Newton and Swift/BAT data to investigate the presence of a hard (non-thermal) X-ray excess. We find that in most cases the clusters' emission in the 0.3-200keV band can be explained by a multi-temperature thermal model confirming our previous results. For two clusters (Bullet and Abell 3667) we find evidence for the presence of a hard X-ray excess. In the case of the Bullet cluster, our analysis confirms the presence of a non-thermal, power-law like, component with a 20-100 keV flux of 3.4 \times 10-12 erg cm-2 s-1 as detected in previous studies. For Abell 3667 the excess emission can be successfully modeled as a hot component (kT=~13keV). We thus conclude that the hard X-ray emission from galaxy clusters (except the Bullet) has most likely thermal origin.
A fundamental assumption in cosmology is that of statistical isotropy - that the universe, on average, looks the same in every direction in the sky. Statistical isotropy has recently been tested stringently using Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data, leading to intriguing results on large angular scales. Here we apply some of the same techniques used in the CMB to the distribution of galaxies on the sky. Using the multipole vector approach, where each multipole in the harmonic decomposition of galaxy density field is described by unit vectors and an amplitude, we lay out the basic formalism of how to reconstruct the multipole vectors and their statistics out of galaxy survey catalogs. We apply the algorithm to synthetic galaxy maps, and study the sensitivity of the multipole vector reconstruction accuracy to the density, depth, sky coverage, and pixelization of galaxy catalog maps.
Simulations show eccentric disks (m=1 modes) forming around quasi-Keplerian potentials, a topic of interest for fueling quasars, forming super-massive BHs, planet formation and migration, explaining the origin and properties of nuclear eccentric stellar disks like that in M31, and driving the formation of the obscuring AGN torus. We consider the global, linear normal m=1 modes in collisionless disks, without the restriction that the disk mass be negligible relative to the central (Keplerian) mass. We derive their structure and key resonance features, and show how they arise, propagate inwards, and drive both inflow/outflow and eccentricities in the disk. We compare with hydrodynamic simulations of such disks around a super-massive BH, with star formation, gas cooling, and feedback. We derive the dependence of the normal mode structure on disk structure, mass profiles, and thickness, and mode pattern speeds and growth rates. We show that, if the disk at some radii has mass of >~10% the central point mass, the modes are linearly unstable and are self-generating. They arise as 'fast modes' with pattern speed of order the local angular velocity at these radii. The characteristic global normal modes have pattern speeds comparable to the linear growth rate, of order (G*M_0*R_0^{-3})^{1/2}, where M_0 is the central mass and R_{0} is the radius where the enclosed disk mass ~M_{0}. They propagate inwards by exciting eccentricities towards smaller and smaller radii, until at small radii these are 'slow modes.' With moderate amplitude, the global normal modes can lead to shocks and significant gas inflows at near-Eddington rates at all radii inside several ~R_0.
We present a technique to identify the most probable dynamical formation scenario for an observed binary or triple system containing one or more merger products or, alternatively, to rule out the possibility of a dynamical origin. Our method relies on an analytic prescription for energy conservation during stellar encounters. With this, observations of the multiple star system containing the merger product(s) can be used to work backwards in order to constrain the initial orbital energies of any single, binary or triple systems that went into the encounter. The initial semi-major axes of the orbits provide an estimate for the collisional cross section and therefore the time-scale for the encounter to occur in its host cluster. We have applied our analytic prescription to observed binary and triple systems containing blue stragglers, in particular the triple system S1082 in M67 and the period distribution of the blue straggler binaries in NGC 188. We have shown that both S1082 and most of the blue straggler binaries in NGC 188 could have a dynamical origin, and that encounters involving triples are a significant contributor to blue straggler populations in old open clusters. In general, our results suggest that encounters involving triples could make up a significant fraction of those dynamical interactions that result in stellar mergers, in particular encounters that produce multiple star systems containing one or more blue stragglers.
Recent work has shown that at high redshift, the relative velocity between
dark matter and baryonic gas is typically supersonic. This relative velocity
suppresses the formation of the earliest baryonic structures like minihalos,
and the suppression is modulated on large scales. This effect imprints a
characteristic shape in the clustering power spectrum of the earliest
structures, with significant power on 100 Mpc scales featuring highly
pronounced baryon acoustic oscillations. The amplitude of these oscillations is
orders of magnitude larger at z=20 than previously expected. This
characteristic signature can allow us to distinguish the effects of minihalos
on intergalactic gas at times preceding and during reionization. We illustrate
this effect with the example of 21 cm emission and absorption from redshifts
during and before reionization. This effect can potentially allow us to probe
physics on kpc scales using observations on 100 Mpc scales.
We present sensitivity forecasts for FAST and Arecibo. Depending on
parameters, this enhanced structure may be detectable by Arecibo at redshifts
near z=15-20, and with appropriate instrumentation FAST could measure the BAO
power spectrum with high precision. In principle, this effect could also pose a
serious challenge for efforts to constrain dark energy using observations of
the BAO feature at low redshift.
We present results from a GALEX ultraviolet (UV) survey of a complete sample of 390 galaxies within ~11 Mpc of the Milky Way. The UV data are a key component of the composite Local Volume Legacy (LVL), an ultraviolet-to-infrared imaging program designed to provide an inventory of dust and star formation in nearby spiral and irregular galaxies. The ensemble dataset is an especially valuable resource for studying star formation in dwarf galaxies, which comprise over 80% of the sample. We describe the GALEX survey programs which obtained the data and provide a catalog of far-UV (~1500 Angstroms) and near-UV (~2200 Angstroms) integrated photometry. General UV properties of the sample are briefly discussed. We compute two measures of the global star formation efficiency, the SFR per unit HI gas mass and the SFR per unit stellar mass, to illustrate the significant differences that can arise in our understanding of dwarf galaxies when the FUV is used to measure the SFR instead of H-alpha. We find that dwarf galaxies may not be as drastically inefficient in coverting gas into stars as suggested by prior H-alpha studies. In this context, we also examine the UV properties of late-type dwarf galaxies that appear to be devoid of star formation because they were not detected in previous H-alpha narrowband observations. Nearly all such galaxies in our sample are detected in the FUV, and have FUV SFRs that fall below the limit where the H-alpha flux is robust to Poisson fluctuations in the formation of massive stars. The UV colors and star formation efficiencies of H-alpha-undetected, UV-bright dwarf irregulars appear to be relatively unremarkable with respect to those exhibited by the general population of star-forming galaxies.
Westerlund 1 is one of the most massive young clusters known in the Local Group, with an age of 3-5 Myr. It contains an assortment of rare evolved massive stars, such as blue, yellow and red supergiants, Wolf-Rayet stars, a luminous blue variable, and a magnetar, as well as 4 massive eclipsing binary systems (Wddeb, Wd13, Wd36, WR77o, see Bonanos 2007). The eclipsing binaries present a rare opportunity to constrain evolutionary models of massive stars, the distance to the cluster and furthermore, to determine a dynamical lower limit for the mass of a magnetar progenitor. Wddeb, being a detached system, is of great interest as it allows determination of the masses of 2 of the most massive unevolved stars in the cluster. We have analyzed spectra of all 4 eclipsing binaries, taken in 2007-2008 with the 6.5 meter Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, and present fundamental parameters (masses, radii) for their component stars.
In this paper, we present an original observational approach, which combines, for the first time, traditional speckle imaging with image post-processing to obtain in the optical domain diffraction-limited images with high contrast (1e-5) within 0.5 to 2 arcseconds around a bright star. The post-processing step is based on wavelet filtering an has analogy with edge enhancement and high-pass filtering. Our I-band on-sky results with the 2.5-m Nordic Telescope (NOT) and the lucky imaging instrument FASTCAM show that we are able to detect L-type brown dwarf companions around a solar-type star with a contrast DI~12 at 2" and with no use of any coronographic capability, which greatly simplifies the instrumental and hardware approach. This object has been detected from the ground in J and H bands so far only with AO-assisted 8-10 m class telescopes (Gemini, Keck), although more recently detected with small-class telescopes in the K band. Discussing the advantage and disadvantage of the optical regime for the detection of faint intrinsic fluxes close to bright stars, we develop some perspectives for other fields, including the study of dense cores in globular clusters. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that high contrast considerations are included in optical speckle imaging approach.
The Sersic model has become the standard to parametrize the surface brightness distribution of early-type galaxies and bulges of spiral galaxies. A major problem is that the deprojection of the Sersic surface brightness profile to a luminosity density cannot be executed analytically for general values of the Sersic index. Mazure & Capelato (2002) used the Mathematica computer package to derive an expression of the Sersic luminosity density in terms of the Meijer G function for integer values of the Sersic index. We generalize this work using analytical means and use Mellin integral transforms to derive an exact, analytical expression for the luminosity density in terms of the Fox H function for all values of the Sersic index. We derive simplified expressions for the luminosity density, cumulative luminosity and gravitational potential in terms of the Meijer G function for all rational values of the Sersic index and we investigate their asymptotic behaviour at small and large radii. As implementations of the Meijer G function are nowadays available both in symbolic computer algebra packages and as high-performance computing code, our results open up the possibility to calculate the density of the Sersic models to arbitrary precision.
We investigate the fine structure of magnetic fields in the atmosphere of the quiet Sun. We use photospheric magnetic field measurements from {\sc Sunrise}/IMaX with unprecedented spatial resolution to extrapolate the photospheric magnetic field into higher layers of the solar atmosphere with the help of potential and force-free extrapolation techniques. We find that most magnetic loops which reach into the chromosphere or higher have one foot point in relatively strong magnetic field regions in the photosphere. $91%$ of the magnetic energy in the mid chromosphere (at a height of 1 Mm) is in field lines, whose stronger foot point has a strength of more than 300 G, i.e. above the equipartition field strength with convection. The loops reaching into the chromosphere and corona are also found to be asymmetric in the sense that the weaker foot point has a strength $B < 300$ G and is located in the internetwork. Such loops are expected to be strongly dynamic and have short lifetimes, as dictated by the properties of the internetwork fields.
The all-particle energy spectrum as measured by the KASCADE-Grande experiment for E = 10^{16} - 10^{18} eV is presented within the framework of the QGSJET II/FLUKA hadronic interaction models. Three different methods were applied based on the muon size and the total number of charged particles individually and in combination. From the study it is found that the spectrum cannot be completely described by a smooth power law due to the presence of characteristic features.
We have investigated a time series of continuum intensity maps and corresponding Dopplergrams of granulation in a very quiet solar region at the disk center, recorded with the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX) on board the balloon-borne solar observatory Sunrise. We find that granules frequently show substructure in the form of lanes composed of a leading bright rim and a trailing dark edge, which move together from the boundary of a granule into the granule itself. We find strikingly similar events in synthesized intensity maps from an ab initio numerical simulation of solar surface convection. From cross sections through the computational domain of the simulation, we conclude that these `granular lanes' are the visible signature of (horizontally oriented) vortex tubes. The characteristic optical appearance of vortex tubes at the solar surface is explained. We propose that the observed vortex tubes may represent only the large-scale end of a hierarchy of vortex tubes existing near the solar surface.
With planets orbiting stars, a planetary mass function should not be seen as a low-mass extension of the stellar mass function, but a proper formalism needs to take care of the fact that the statistical properties of planet populations are linked to the properties of their respective host stars. This can be accounted for by describing planet populations by means of a differential planetary mass-radius-orbit function, which together with the fraction of stars with given properties that are orbited by planets and the stellar mass function allows to derive all statistics for any considered sample. These fundamental functions provide a framework for comparing statistics that result from different observing techniques and campaigns which all have their very specific selection procedures and detection efficiencies. Moreover, recent results both from gravitational microlensing campaigns and radial-velocity surveys of stars indicate that planets tend to cluster in systems rather than being the lonely child of their respective parent star. While planetary multiplicity in an observed system becomes obvious with the detection of several planets, its quantitative assessment however comes with the challenge to exclude the presence of further planets. Current exoplanet samples begin to give us first hints at the population statistics, whereas pictures of planet parameter space in its full complexity call for samples that are 2-4 orders of magnitude larger. In order to derive meaningful statistics however, planet detection campaigns need to be designed in such a way that well-defined fully-deterministic target selection, monitoring, and detection criteria are applied. The probabilistic nature of gravitational microlensing makes this technique an illustrative example of all the encountered challenges and uncertainties.
Synoptic spectroscopic observations of the U Sco 2010 outburst from maximum light to quiescence as well as a contemporaneous X-ray observation are presented and analyzed. The X-ray spectrum 52 days after outburst indicates a hot source (kTbb ~ 70 eV). . Narrow line components from the irradiated companion atmosphere were observed in hydrogen and helium optical recombination lines. The formation of a nebular spectrum is seen for the first time in this class of recurrent novae, allowing a detailed study of the ejecta using photoionization models. Unusual [OIII] auroral-to-nebular line ratios were found and possible scenarios of their origin are discussed. The modeling of the emission line spectrum suggests a highly heterogeneous ejecta with mass around or above 3 x 10-6 Msun
We have obtained 24 {\mu}m imaging, profiles and fluxes for 224 planetary nebulae (PNe) lying within the limits of the Spitzer MIPSGAL survey. It is noted that most of the PNe having extended 24 {\mu}m emission also possess circular morphologies, suggesting that the emission derives from cool grains located within the AGB mass-loss regimes. Certain of these halos are found to have a surface brightness fall-off which may be consistent with secularly invariant mass-loss within the PNe progenitors. By contrast, the 8.0 {\mu}m envelopes are detected out to smaller distances from the nuclei, and have a steeper rate of surface brightness fall-off; a phenomenon which may arise from changes in the excitation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) within external photo-dissociation regimes (PDRs). Our 24{\mu}m fluxes are compared to those in previously published studies, and this appears to indicate that many of the prior fluxes have been underestimated; a disparity may imply that previous aperture sizes were too small. We have also combined our 24 {\mu}m fluxes with measures at shorter mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths, taken with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). These are used to investigate the positioning of PNe within the IRAC-MIPSGAL colour planes. The [8.0]-[24] and [5.8]-[24] colours are found to be large, and extend over the respective ranges 3.4-8.7 mag, and 5.4-10.3 mag; indices which are only explainable where a broad range of mechanisms contribute to the fluxes, including PAH bands, cool dust continua, and a variety of ionic transitions. These and other components also affect the morphologies of the sources, and lead to wavelength dependent changes in the widths of the profiles.
We present 12mm Mopra observations of dense molecular gas towards the W28 supernova remnant (SNR) field. The focus is on the dense molecular gas towards the TeV gamma-ray sources detected by the H.E.S.S. telescopes, which likely trace the cosmic-rays from W28 and possibly other sources in the region. Using the NH3 inversion transitions we reveal several dense cores inside the molecular clouds, the majority of which coincide with high-mass star formation and HII regions, including the energetic ultra-compact HII region G5.89-0.39. A key exception to this is the cloud north east of W28, which is well-known to be disrupted as evidenced by clusters of 1720MHz OH masers and broad CO line emission. Here we detect broad NH3, up to the (9,9) transition, with linewidths up to 16 km/s. This broad NH3 emission spatially matches well with the TeV source HESS J1801-233 and CO emission, and its velocity dispersion distribution suggests external disruption from the W28 SNR direction. Other lines are detected, such as HC3N and HC5N, H2O masers, and many radio recombination lines, all of which are primarily found towards the southern high-mass star formation regions. These observations provide a new view onto the internal structures and dynamics of the dense molecular gas towards the W28 SNR field, and in tandem with future higher resolution TeV gamma-ray observations will offer the chance to probe the transport of cosmic-rays into molecular clouds.
We present 0.15" resolution observations of the 227 GHz continuum emission from the circumstellar disk around the FU-Orionis star PP 13S*. The data were obtained with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) Paired Antenna Calibration System (C-PACS), which measures and corrects the atmospheric delay fluctuations on the longest baselines of the array in order to improve the sensitivity and angular resolution of the observations. A description of the C-PACS technique and the data reduction procedures are presented. C-PACS was applied to CARMA observations of PP 13S*, which led to a factor of 1.6 increase in the observed peak flux of the source, a 36% reduction in the noise of the image, and a 52% decrease in the measured size of the source major axis. The calibrated complex visibilities were fitted with a theoretical disk model to constrain the disk surface density. The total disk mass from the best fit model corresponds to 0.06 \msun, which is larger than the median mass of a disk around a classical T Tauri star. The disk is optically thick at a wavelength of 1.3 mm for orbital radii less than 48 AU. At larger radii, the inferred surface density of the PP 13S* disk is an order of magnitude lower than that needed to develop a gravitational instability.
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is a wide (20,000 sq.deg.) and deep ugrizy imaging survey which will be sited at Cerro Pachon in Chile. A major scientific goal of LSST is to constrain dark energy parameters via the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) signal. Crucial to this technique is the measurement of well-understood photometric redshifts, derived from the survey ugrizy imaging. Here we present the results of the effect of simulated photometric redshift (PZ) errors on the reconstruction of the BAO signal. We generate many "Monte Carlo" simulations of galaxies from a model power spectrum using Fast Fourier Transform techniques. Mock galaxy properties are assigned using an algorithm that reproduces observed luminosity-color-redshift distributions from the GOODS survey. We also compare these results to those expected from a possible future spectroscopic survey such as BigBOSS.
The heating associated with the deposition of $\gamma$-rays in an accretion disk is proposed as a mechanism to facilitate the transformation of a low mass X-ray binary to the radio millisecond pulsar phase. The $\gamma$-ray emission produced in the outer gap accelerator in the pulsar magnetosphere likely irradiates the surrounding disk, resulting in its heating and to the possible escape of matter from the system. We apply the model to PSR J1023+0038, which has recently been discovered as a newly born rotation powered millisecond pulsar. The predicted $\gamma$-ray luminosity $\sim 6 \times 10^{34}~\mathrm{erg~s^{-1}}$ can be sufficient to explain the disappearance of the truncated disk existing during the 8~month$\sim 2$~yr period prior to the 2002 observations of J1023+0038 and the energy input required for the anomalously bright optical emission of its companion star.
Optical integral field spectroscopy of the archetype protoplanetary disk LV2 in the Orion Nebula is presented, taken with the VLT FLAMES/Argus fibre array. The detection of recombination lines of CII and OII from this class of objects is reported, and the lines are utilized as abundance diagnostics. The study is complemented with the analysis of HST Faint Object Spectrograph ultraviolet and optical spectra of the target contained within the Argus field of view. By subtracting the local nebula background the intrinsic spectrum of the proplyd is obtained and its elemental composition is derived for the first time. The proplyd is found to be overabundant in carbon, oxygen and neon compared to the Orion Nebula and the sun. The simultaneous coverage over LV2 of the CIII] 1908-A and [OIII] 5007-A collisionally excited lines (CELs) and CII and OII recombination lines (RLs) has enabled us to measure the abundances of C++ and O++ for LV2 with both sets of lines. The two methods yield consistent results for the intrinsic proplyd spectrum, but not for the proplyd spectrum contaminated by the generic nebula spectrum, thus providing one example where the long-standing abundance anomaly plaguing metallicity studies of HII regions has been resolved. These results would indicate that the standard forbidden-line methods used in the derivation of light metal abundances in HII regions in our own and other galaxies underestimate the true gas metallicity.
Solar oscillations are expected to be excited by turbulent flows in the intergranular lanes near the solar surface. Time series recorded by the IMaX instrument aboard the {\sc Sunrise} observatory reveal solar oscillations at high resolution, which allow studying the properties of oscillations with short wavelengths. We analyze two times series with synchronous recordings of Doppler velocity and continuum intensity images with durations of 32\thinspace min and 23\thinspace min, resp., recorded close to the disk center of the Sun to study the propagation and excitation of solar acoustic oscillations. In the Doppler velocity data, both the standing acoustic waves and the short-lived, high-degree running waves are visible. The standing waves are visible as temporary enhancements of the amplitudes of the large-scale velocity field due to the stochastic superposition of the acoustic waves. We focus on the high-degree small-scale waves by suitable filtering in the Fourier domain. Investigating the propagation and excitation of $f$- and $p_1$-modes with wave numbers $k > 1.4$\thinspace 1/Mm we find that also exploding granules contribute to the excitation of solar $p$-modes in addition to the contribution of intergranular lanes.
We study the energy flux carried by acoustic waves excited by convective motions at sub-photospheric levels. The analysis of high-resolution spectropolarimetric data taken with IMaX/Sunrise provides a total energy flux of ~ 6400--7700 Wm$^{-2}$ at a height of ~ 250 km in the 5.2-10 mHz range, i.e. at least twice the largest energy flux found in previous works. Our estimate lies within a factor of 2 of the energy flux needed to balance radiative losses from the chromosphere according to Anderson & Athay (1989) and revives interest in acoustic waves for transporting energy to the chromosphere. The acoustic flux is mainly found in the intergranular lanes but also in small rapidly-evolving granules and at the bright borders, forming dark dots and lanes of splitting granules.
The escape of charged particles accelerated by diffusive shock acceleration from supernova remnants is shown to be a more complex process than normally appreciated. Using a box model it is shown that the high-energy end of the spectrum can exhibit spectral breaks even with no formal escape as a result of geometrical dilution and changing time-scales. It is pointed out that the bulk of the cosmic ray particles at lower energies must be produced and released in the late stages of the remnant's evolution whereas the high energy particles are produced early on; this may explain recent observations of slight compositional variations with energy. Escape resulting from ion-neutral friction in dense and partially ionized media is discussed briefly and some comments made on the use of so-called "free escape boundary conditions". Finally estimates are made of the total production spectrum integrated over the life of the remnant.
We present stellar and gaseous kinematics of the inner 350 pc radius of the Seyfert galaxy Mrk1066 derived from J and Kl bands data obtained with the Gemini NIFS at a spatial resolution of 35 pc. The stellar velocity field is dominated by rotation in the galaxy plane but shows an S-shape distortion along the galaxy minor axis which seems to be due to an oval structure seen in an optical continuum image. Along this oval, between 170 and 280 pc from the nucleus we find a partial ring of low sigma (~50 km/s) attributed to an intermediate age stellar population. Fro measurements of the emission-line fluxes and profiles ([PII]1.19um, [FeII]1.26um, Pa-beta and H2 2.12um), we have constructed maps for the gas centroid velocity, velocity dispersion, as well as channel maps. The velocity fields for all emission lines are dominated by a similar rotation pattern to that observed for the stars, but are distorted by the presence of two structures: (i) a compact rotating disc with radius r~70 pc; (ii) outflows along the radio jet which is oriented approximately along the galaxy major axis. The compact rotating disc is more conspicuous in the H2 emitting gas, which presents the smallest sigma values and most clear rotation pattern, supporting a location in the galaxy plane. We estimate a gas mass for the disc of ~10^7Msun. The H2 kinematics further suggests that the nuclear disc is being fed by gas coming from the outer regions. The outflow is more conspicuous in the [FeII] emitting gas, which presents the highest sigma values (up to 150 km/s) and the highest blue and redshifts of up to 500 km/s, while the highest stellar rotation velocity is only 130 km/s. We estimate a mass-outflow rate in ionized gas of 0.06 Msun/yr. The derived kinematics for the emitting gas is similar to that observed in previous studies supporting that the H2 is a tracer of the AGN feeding and the [FeII] of its feedback.
This paper presents a principal components analysis of rotation curves from a sample of low surface brightness galaxies. The physical meaning of the principal components is investigated, and related to the intrinsic properties of the galaxies. The rotation curves are re-scaled using the optical disk scale, the resulting principal component decomposition demonstrates that the whole sample is properly approximated using two components. The ratio of the second to the first component is related to the halo steepness in the central region, is correlated to the gas fraction in the galaxy, and is un-correlated to other parameters. As a consequence the gas fraction appear as a fundamental variable with respect to the galaxies rotation curves, and its correlation with the halo steepness is especially important. Since the gas fraction is related to the degree of galaxy evolution, it is very likely that the steepness of the halo at the center is a consequence of galaxy evolution. More evolved galaxies have shallower central profile and statistically less gas, most likely as a consequence of more star formation and supernovae. The differences in evolution, gas fractions and halo central steepness of the galaxies could be due to the influence of different environments.
Based on currently available kinematic data, we have searched for stars outside the Hipparcos list that either closely encountered in the past or will encounter in the future the Solar system within several parsecs. For the first time, we have identified two single stars, GJ 3379 (G 099-049) and GJ 3323 (LHS 1723), as candidate for a close encounter with the solar orbit. The star GJ 3379 could encounter the Sun more closely to a minimum distance d_min=1.32+\-0.03 pc at time t_min=-163+\-3 thousand years. We have found two potential candidates for a close encounter that have only photometrical distances: the white dwarf SSSPM J1549-3544 without any data on its radial velocity and the L-dwarf SDSS J1416+1348. The probabilities of their penetration into the Oort cloud region are 0.09 (at a model radial velocity |V_r| = 50 km/s) and 0.05, respectively.
We use VLT/FLAMES intermediate resolution (R~6500) spectra of individual red giant branch stars in the near-infrared CaII triplet (CaT) region to investigate the wide-area metallicity properties and internal kinematics of the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph). Our final sample consists of 174 probable members of Sextans with accurate line-of-sight velocities (+- 2 km/s) and CaT [Fe/H] measurements (+- 0.2 dex). We use the MgI line at 8806.8 \AA\, as an empirical discriminator for distinguishing between probable members of the dSph (giant stars) and probable Galactic contaminants (dwarf stars). Sextans shows a similar chemo-dynamical behaviour to other Milky Way dSphs, with its central regions being more metal rich than the outer parts and with the more metal-rich stars displaying colder kinematics than the more metal-poor stars. Hints of a velocity gradient are found along the projected major axis and along an axis at P.A.=191 deg, however a larger and more spatially extended sample may be necessary to pin down the amplitude and direction of this gradient. We detect a cold kinematic substructure at the centre of Sextans, consistent with being the remnant of a disrupted very metal poor stellar cluster. We derive the most extended line-of-sight velocity dispersion profile for Sextans, out to a projected radius of 1.6 deg. From Jeans modelling of the observed line-of-sight velocity dispersion profile we find that this is consistent with both a cored dark matter halo with large core radius and cuspy halo with low concentration. The mass within the last measured point is in the range 2-4 x 10^8 M_sun, giving very large mass-to-light ratios, from 460 to 920 (M/L)_(V,sun).
Transverse oscillations and propagating waves are frequently observed in threads of solar prominences/filaments and have been interpreted as kink magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes. We investigate the spatial damping of propagating kink MHD waves in transversely nonuniform and partially ionized prominence threads. Resonant absorption and ion-neutral collisions (Cowling’s diffusion) are the damping mechanisms taken into account. The dispersion relation of resonant kink waves in a partially ionized magnetic flux tube is numerically solved by considering prominence conditions. Analytical expressions of the wavelength and damping length as functions of the kink mode frequency are obtained in the Thin Tube and Thin Boundary approximations. For typically reported periods of thread oscillations, resonant absorption is an efficient mechanism for the kink mode spatial damping, while ion-neutral collisions have a minor role. Cowling’s diffusion dominates both the propagation and damping for periods much shorter than those observed. Resonant absorption may explain the observed spatial damping of kink waves in prominence threads. The transverse inhomogeneity length scale of the threads can be estimated by comparing the observed wavelengths and damping lengths with the theoretically predicted values. However, the ignorance of the form of the density profile in the transversely nonuniform layer introduces inaccuracies in the determination of the inhomogeneity length scale.
We study the relation between the X-ray luminosity of compact sources and the SFR of the host galaxy. Our sample includes 38 galaxies for which a uniform set of X-ray, infra-red and ultraviolet data from Chandra, Spitzer and GALEX has been collected. Our primary goals are (i) to obtain a more accurate calibration of the Lx-SFR relation and (ii) to understand the origin of the dispersion in the Lx-SFR relation observed in previous studies. Preliminary results of this project are reported below.
The interstellar medium (ISM) in galaxies is multiphase and cloudy, with stars forming in the very dense, cold gas found in Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs). Simulating the evolution of an entire galaxy, however, is a computational problem which covers many orders of magnitude, so many simulations cannot reach densities high enough or temperatures low enough to resolve this multiphase nature. Therefore, the formation of GMCs is not captured and the resulting gas distribution is smooth, contrary to observations. We investigate how star formation (SF) proceeds in simulated galaxies when we obtain parsec-scale resolution and more successfully capture the multiphase ISM. Both major mergers and the accretion of cold gas via filaments are dominant contributors to a galaxy's total stellar budget and we examine SF at high resolution in both of these contexts.
Describes 10 rules that should be followed by scientist.
We report the results of a study of the intermediate and high mass stars in the young, rich star-forming complex IC 1805, based on a combination of optical, near-infrared, and mid-infrared photometry, and classification spectra. These data provide the basis for characterizing the masses and ages for stars more massive than ~2 Msun and enable a study of the frequency and character of circumstellar disks associated with intermediate- and high-mass stars. Optically thick accretion disks among stars with masses 2 < M/Msun <4 are rare (~2% of members) and absent among more massive stars. A larger fraction (~10%) of stars with masses 2 < M/Msun < 4 appear to be surrounded by disks that have evolved from the initial optically thick accretion phase. We identify four classes of such disks. These classes are based on spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of excess emsission above photospheric levels: disks that are (1) optically thin based on the magnitude of the observed excess emission from 2 to 24 um; (2) optically thin in their inner regions (r< 20 AU) and optically thick in their outer regions; (3) exhibit empty inner regions (r < 10 AU) and optically thin emission in their outer regions; and (4) exhibit empty inner regions and optically thick outer regions. We discuss, and assess the merits and liabilities of, proposed explanations for disks exhibiting these SED types and suggest additional observations that would test these proposals.
KASCADE-Grande is a large detector array dedicated for studies of high-energy cosmic rays in the primary energy range from 100 TeV to 1 EeV. The multi-detector concept of the experimental set-up offers the possibility to measure simultaneously various observables related to the electromagnetic, muonic, and hadronic air shower components. The experimental data are compared to predictions of CORSIKA simulations using high-energy hadronic interaction models (e.g. QGSJET or EPOS), as well as low-energy interaction models (e.g. FLUKA or GHEISHA). This contribution will summarize the results of such investigations. In particular, the validity of the new EPOS version 1.99 for EAS with energy around 100 PeV will be discussed.
We present results of a ^{12}CO J = 3-2 survey of 125 nearby galaxies obtained with the 10-m Heinrich-Hertz-Telescope, with the aim to characterize the properties of warm and dense molecular gas in a large variety of environments. With an angular resolution of 22'', ^{12}CO 3-2 emission was detected in 114 targets. Based on 61 galaxies observed with equal beam sizes the ^{12}CO 3-2/1-0 integrated line intensity ratio R_{31} is found to vary from 0.2 to 1.9, with an average value of 0.81. No correlations are found for R_{31} to Hubble type and far infrared luminosity. Possible indications for a correlation with inclination angle and the 60mum/100mum color temperature of the dust are not significant. Higher R_{31} ratios than in ``normal'' galaxies, hinting at enhanced molecular excitation, may be found in galaxies hosting active galactic nuclei. Even higher average values are determined for galaxies with bars or starbursts, the latter being identified by the ratio of infrared luminosity versus isophotal area, log[(L_{FIR}/L_{SUN})/(D_{25}/kpc)^2)] > 7.25. (U)LIRGs are found to have the highest averaged R_{31} value. This may be a consequence of particularly vigorous star formation activity, triggered by galaxy interaction and merger events. The nuclear CO luminosities are slightly sublinearly correlated with the global FIR luminosity in both the ^{12}CO J = 3-2 and the 1-0 lines. The slope of the log-log plots rises with compactness of the respective galaxy subsample, indicating a higher average density and a larger fraction of thermalized gas in distant luminous galaxies. While linear or sublinear correlations for the ^{12}CO J = 3-2 line can be explained, if the bulk of the observed J = 3-2 emission originates from molecular gas with densities below the critical one, the case of the ^{12}CO J = 1-0 line with its small critical density remains a puzzle.
We present preliminary results of the first near-infrared variability study of the Arches cluster, using adaptive optics data from NIRI/Gemini and NACO/VLT. The goal is to discover eclipsing binaries in this young (2.5 +- 0.5 Myr), dense, massive cluster for which we will determine accurate fundamental parameters with subsequent spectroscopy. Given that the Arches cluster contains more than 200 Wolf-Rayet and O-type stars, it provides a rare opportunity to determine parameters for some of the most massive stars in the Galaxy.
Magnetic reconnection changes the magnetic field topology and powers explosive events in astrophysical, space and laboratory plasmas. For flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the solar atmosphere, the standard model predicts the presence of a reconnecting current sheet, which has been the subject of considerable theoretical and numerical modeling over the last fifty years, yet direct, unambiguous observational verification has been absent. In this Letter we show a bright sheet structure of global length (>0.25 Rsun) and macroscopic width ((5 - 10)x10^3 km) distinctly above the cusp-shaped flaring loop, imaged during the flare rising phase in EUV. The sheet formed due to the stretch of a transequatorial loop system, and was accompanied by various reconnection signatures that have been dispersed in the literature. This unique event provides a comprehensive view of the reconnection geometry and dynamics in the solar corona.
Present treatments of eternal inflation regulate infinities by imposing a geometric cutoff. We point out that some matter systems reach the cutoff in finite time. This implies a nonzero probability for a novel type of catastrophe. According to the most successful measure proposals, our galaxy is likely to encounter the cutoff within the next 5 billion years.
Experimental searches for axions or axion-like particles rely on semiclassical phenomena resulting from the postulated coupling of the axion to two photons. Sensitive probes of the extremely small coupling constant can be made by exploiting familiar, coherent electromagnetic laboratory techniques, including resonant enhancement of transitions using microwave and optical cavities, Bragg scattering, and coherent photon-axion oscillations. The axion beam may either be astrophysical in origin as in the case of dark matter axion searches and solar axion searches, or created in the laboratory from laser interactions with magnetic fields. This note is meant to be a sampling of recent experimental results.
We derive exact theoretical value of the constant cosmic background radiation (CBR) temperature using the interconnections between the Gamow, Alpher and Herman (GAH) hot Big Bang cosmology model of the expanding Universe and the modified Freundlich redshift. As a result of this confluence an astonishing relationship between and the four fundamental physical constants is found including also the Melvin's value of the Freundlich universal constant .Then the resulting predicted the CBR temperature is . This prediction show excellent agreement with the data obtained from ground-based and balloon-borne observations and also with a mean of the perfect black-body spectrum CMB temperature measured COBE in 1992. Using a new cosmological model we determine the horizon scale, age and mass of the present observable Universe. The calculations based on discrete redshift equations for the electromagnetic, electroweak phases and Planck epoch of the Universe predicts a graviton and string masses, which are originated beyond on Planck time. The predicted graviton mass is about five orders of magnitude less than the present "the best possible upper bounds on the mass of the graviton", which may be "discovered" in the proposed LISA observations. We present quantitative results for the different quantum-cosmological parameters. Finally, it is showed that the mystery largeness and smallness dimensionless combination of the today cosmological constant and Planck length may be derived as their ratio from the Trans-Planck redshift relation. Thus is found the meaning a famous largeness cosmological number that is inverse of , and "which in 1930s was a regarded as a major problem by Eddington and Dirac".
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Using a suite of X-ray, mid-IR and optical active galactic nuclei (AGN) luminosity indicators, we search for Compton-thick (CT) AGNs with intrinsic L_X>10^42erg/s at z~0.03-0.2, a region of parameter space which is currently poorly constrained by deep narrow-field and high-energy (E>10keV) all-sky X-ray surveys. We have used the widest XMM-Newton survey (the serendipitous source catalogue) to select a representative sub-sample (14; ~10%) of the 147 X-ray undetected candidate CT AGNs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with f_X/f_[OIII]<1; the 147 sources account for ~50% of the overall Type-2 AGN population in the SDSS-XMM overlap region. We use mid-IR spectral decomposition analyses and emission-line diagnostics, determined from pointed Spitzer-IRS spectroscopic observations of these candidate CT AGNs, to estimate the intrinsic AGN emission (predicted L_X,2-10keV (0.2-30)x10^42erg/s). On the basis of the optical [OIII], mid-IR [OIV] and 6um AGN continuum luminosities we conservatively find that the X-ray emission in at least 6/14 (>43%) of our sample appear to be obscured by CT material with N_H>1.5x10^24cm^-2. Under the reasonable assumption that our 14 AGNs are representative of the overall X-ray undetected AGN population in the SDSS-XMM parent sample, we find that >20% of the optical Type-2 AGN population are likely to be obscured by CT material. This implies a space-density of log(Phi) >-4.9Mpc^-3 for CT AGNs with L_X>10^42erg/s at z~0.1, which we suggest may be consistent with that predicted by X-ray background synthesis models. Furthermore, using the 6um continuum luminosity to infer the intrinsic AGN luminosity and the stellar velocity dispersion to estimate M_BH, we find that the most conservatively identified CT AGNs in this sample may harbour some of the most rapidly growing black holes (median M_BH~3x10^7M_o) in the nearby Universe, with a median Eddington ratio of ~0.2.
Transitional T Tauri disks have optically thin holes with radii >10 AU, yet accrete at rates approaching those of conventional disks. The holes may contain multiple planets that torque gas to high radial speeds, reducing surface densities while maintaining accretion. Even with planets, there remains the problem of how outer disk gas diffuses into the hole. Here the magnetorotational instability (MRI) may erode surface layers ionized by stellar X-rays. Unlike previous work, we find that the extent to which surface layers are MRI-active is limited not by ohmic loss but by ambipolar diffusion, the latter measured by Am: the number of times a neutral H2 molecule collides with ions in a dynamical time. Simulations by Hawley & Stone (1998) showed that Am~100 was necessary for ions to drive MRI turbulence in neutrals. Even without aerosols, Am<10 for all but the most X-ray luminous systems. Realistic aerosol abundances worsen the problem. From Spitzer observations, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) populate surface layers at abundances of 1e-5--1e-2 relative to the diffuse interstellar medium. Even at these depleted abundances, PAHs reduce ionization fractions by >10. For our standard parameters, at X-ray stopping columns of 1--10 g/cm^2, we find Am~0.001--1. Ambipolar diffusion, abetted by PAHs, may shut down surface layer accretion, both in transitional and conventional hole-less disks.
The field of exoplanetary science has diversified rapidly over recent years as the field has progressed from exoplanet detection to exoplanet characterization. For those planets known to transit, the primary transit and secondary eclipse observations have a high yield of information regarding planetary structure and atmospheres. The current restriction of these information sources to short-period planets may be abated in part through refinement of orbital parameters. This allows precision targeting of transit windows and phase variations which constrain the dynamics of the orbit and the geometric albedo of the atmosphere. Here we describe the expected phase function variations at optical wavelengths for long-period planets, particularly those in the high-eccentricity regime and multiple systems in resonant and non-coplanar orbits. We apply this to the known exoplanets and discuss detection prospects and how observations of these signatures may be optimized by refining the orbital parameters.
We simulate head-on collisions from rest at large separation of binary white dwarf -- neutron stars (WDNSs) in full general relativity. Our study serves as a prelude to our analysis of the circular binary WDNS problem. We focus on compact binaries whose total mass exceeds the maximum mass that a cold degenerate star can support, and our goal is to determine the fate of such systems. A fully general relativistic hydrodynamic computation of a realistic WDNS head-on collision is prohibitive due to the large range of dynamical time scales and length scales involved. For this reason, we construct an equation of state (EOS) which captures the main physical features of NSs while, at the same time, scales down the size of WDs. We call these scaled-down WD models "pseudo-WDs (pWDs)". Using pWDs, we can study these systems via a sequence of simulations where the size of the pWD gradually increases toward the realistic case. We perform two sets of simulations; One set studies the effects of the NS mass on the final outcome, when the pWD is kept fixed. The other set studies the effect of the pWD compaction on the final outcome, when the pWD mass and the NS are kept fixed. All simulations show that 14%-18% of the initial total rest mass escapes to infinity. All remnant masses still exceed the maximum rest mass that our cold EOS can support (1.92 solar masses), but no case leads to prompt collapse to a black hole. This outcome arises because the final configurations are hot. All cases settle into spherical, quasiequilibrium configurations consisting of a cold NS core surrounded by a hot mantle, resembling Thorne-Zytkow objects. Extrapolating our results to realistic WD compactions, we predict that the likely outcome of a head-on collision of a realistic, massive WDNS system will be the formation of a quasiequilibrium Thorne-Zytkow-like object.
We present measurements of reddening due to dust using the colors of stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We measure the color of main sequence turn-off stars by finding the "blue tip" of the stellar locus: the prominent blue edge in the distribution of stellar colors. The method is sensitive to color changes of order 18, 12, 7, and 8 mmag of reddening in the colors u-g, g-r, r-i, and i-z, respectively, in regions measuring 90' by 14'. We present maps of the blue tip colors in each of these bands over the entire SDSS footprint, including the new dusty southern Galactic cap data provided by the SDSS-III. The results disfavor the best fit O'Donnell (1994) and Cardelli et al. (1989) reddening laws, but are well described by a Fitzpatrick (1999) reddening law with R_V = 3.1. The SFD dust map is found to trace the dust well, but overestimates reddening by factors of 1.4, 1.0, 1.2, and 1.4 in u-g, g-r, r-i, and i-z, largely due to the adopted reddening law. In select dusty regions of the sky, we find evidence for problems in the SFD temperature correction. A dust map normalization difference of 15% between the Galactic north and south sky may be due to these dust temperature errors.
We present results for 19 "Lyman Break Analogs" (LBAs) observed with Keck/OSIRIS with an AO-assisted spatial resolution of less than 200 pc. We detect satellites/companions, diffuse emission and velocity shear, all with high signal-to-noise ratios. These galaxies present remarkably high velocity dispersion along the line of sight(- 70 km s-1), much higher than standard star-forming spirals in the low-redshift universe. We artificially redshift our data to z - 2.2 to allow for a direct comparison with observations of high-z LBGs and find striking similarities between both samples. This suggests that either similar physical processes are responsible for their observed properties, or, alternatively, that it is very difficult to distinguish between different mechanisms operating in the low versus high redshift starburst galaxies based on the available data. The comparison between morphologies in the UV/optical continuum and our kinemetry analysis often shows that neither is by itself sufficient to confirm or completely rule out the contribution from recent merger events. We find a correlation between the kinematic properties and stellar mass, in that more massive galaxies show stronger evidence for a disk-like structure. This suggests a co-evolutionary process between the stellar mass build-up and the formation of morphological and dynamical sub-structure within the galaxy.
The largest fluctuation in the observed CMB temperature field is the dipole, its origin being usually attributed to the Doppler Effect - the Earth's velocity with respect to the CMB rest frame. The lowest order boost correction to temperature multipolar coefficients appears only as a second order correction in the temperature power spectrum, $C_{\ell}$. Since v/c - 10-3, this effect can be safely ignored when estimating cosmological parameters [4-7]. However, by cutting our galaxy from the CMB sky we induce large-angle anisotropies in the data. In this case, the corrections to the cut-sky $C_{\ell}$s show up already at first order in the boost parameter. In this paper we investigate this issue and argue that this effect might turn out to be important when reconstructing the power spectrum from the cut-sky data.
Gravitational-wave (GW) recoil of merging supermassive black holes (SMBHs) may influence the co-evolution of SMBHs and their host galaxies. We examine this possibility using SPH/N-body simulations of gaseous galaxy mergers in which the merged BH receives a recoil kick. This enables us to follow recoiling BHs in self-consistent, evolving merger remnants. In contrast to recent studies on similar topics, we conduct a large parameter study, generating a suite of over 200 simulations with more than 60 merger models and a range of recoil velocities (vk). Our main results are as follows. (1) BHs kicked at nearly the central escape speed (vesc) may oscillate on large orbits for up to a Hubble time, but in gas-rich mergers, BHs kicked with up to ~ 0.7 vesc may be confined to the central few kpc of the galaxy, owing to gas drag and steep central potentials. (2) vesc in gas-rich mergers may increase rapidly during final coalescence, in which case trajectories may depend on the timing of the BH merger relative to the formation of the potential well. (3) Recoil events generally reduce the lifetimes of bright active galactic nuclei (AGN), but may actually extend AGN lifetimes at lower luminosities. (4) Kinematically-offset AGN (v > 800 km s^-1) may be observable for up to ~ 10 Myr either immediately after the recoil or during pericentric passages through a gas-rich remnant. (5) Spatially-offset AGN (R > 1 kpc) generally have low luminosities and lifetimes of ~ 1 - 100 Myr. (6) Rapidly-recoiling BHs may be up to ~ 5 times less massive than their stationary counterparts. This lowers the normalization of the M-sigma relation and contributes to both intrinsic and overall scatter. (7) Finally, the displacement of AGN feedback after a recoil event enhances central star formation rates, thereby extending the starburst phase of the merger and creating a denser stellar cusp. [Abridged.]
The emission-line Be star HD 215227 lies within the positional error circle of the newly identified gamma-ray source AGL J2241+4454. We present new blue spectra of the star, and we point out the morphological and variability similarities to other Be binaries. An analysis of the available optical photometry indicates a variation with a period of 60.37 +/- 0.04 d, which may correspond to an orbital modulation of the flux from the disk surrounding the Be star. The distance to the star of 2.6 kpc and its relatively large Galactic latitude suggest that the binary was ejected from the plane by a supernova explosion that created the neutron star or black hole companion. The binary and runaway properties of HD 215227 make it an attractive candidate as the optical counterpart of AGL J2241+4454 and as a new member of the small class of gamma-ray emitting binaries.
We have completed a a new optical imaging and spectrophotometric survey of a 140 x 80 pc$^2$ region of 30 Doradus centered on R136, covering key optical diagnostic emission lines including \Ha, \Hb, \Hg, [O III] $\lambda\lambda$4363, 4959, 5007, [N II] $\lambda\lambda$6548, 6584, [S II] $\lambda\lambda$6717, 6731 [S III] $\lambda $6312 and in some locations [S III] $\lambda$9069. We present maps of fluxes and intensity ratios for these lines, and catalogs of isolated ionizing stars, elephant-trunk pillars, and edge-on ionization fronts. The final science-quality spectroscopic data products are available to the public. Our analysis of the new data finds that, while stellar winds and supernovae undoubtedly produce shocks and are responsible for shaping the nebula, there are no global spectral signatures to indicate that shocks are currently an important source of ionization. We conclude that the considerable region covered by our survey is well described by photoionization from the central cluster where the ionizing continuum is dominated by the most massive O stars. We show that if 30 Dor were viewed at a cosmological distance, its integrated light would be dominated by its extensive regions of lower surface-brightness rather than by the bright, eye-catching arcs.
The present paper describes the behavior of the rotational velocity in
metal--poor stars ([Fe/H]<-0.5 dex) in different evolutionary stages, based on
Vsini values from the literature. Our sample is comprised of stars in the field
and some Galactic globular clusters, including stars on the main sequence, the
red giant branch (RGB), and the horizontal branch (HB). The metal--poor stars
are, mainly, slow rotators, and their Vsini distribution along the HR diagram
is quite homogeneous. Nevertheless, a few moderate to high values of Vsini are
found in stars located on the main sequence and on the HB. We show that the
overall distribution of Vsini values is basically independent of metallicity
for the stars in our sample. In particular, the fast-rotating main sequence
stars in our sample present similar rotation rates as their metal-rich
counterparts, suggesting that some of them may actually be fairly young, in
spite of their low metallicity, or else that at least some of them would be
better classified as blue straggler stars. We do not find significant evidence
of evolution in Vsini values as a function of position on the RGB; in
particular, we do not confirm previous suggestions that stars close to the RGB
tip rotate faster than their less evolved counterparts. While the presence of
fast rotators among moderately cool blue HB stars has been suggested to be due
to angular momentum transport from a stellar core that has retained significant
angular momentum during its prior evolution, we find that any such transport
mechanisms must likely operate very fast as the star arrives on the zero-age HB
(ZAHB), since we do not find a link between evolution off the ZAHB and Vsini
values.
We present an extensive tabulation of all quantities discussed in this paper,
including rotation velocities, temperatures, gravitie
The NaI and BGO detectors on the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on Fermi are now being used for long-term monitoring of the hard X-ray/low energy gamma-ray sky. Using the Earth occultation technique as demonstrated previously by the BATSE instrument on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, GBM can be used to produce multiband light curves and spectra for known sources and transient outbursts in the 8 keV to 1 MeV energy range with its NaI detectors and up to 40 MeV with its BGO detectors. Over 85% of the sky is viewed every orbit, and the precession of the Fermi orbit allows the entire sky to be viewed every ~26 days with sensitivity exceeding that of BATSE at energies below ~25 keV and above ~1.5 MeV. We briefly describe the technique and present preliminary results using the NaI detectors after the first two years of observations at energies above 100 keV. Eight sources are detected with a significance greater than 7 sigma: the Crab, Cyg X-1, SWIFT J1753.5-0127, 1E 1740-29, Cen A, GRS 1915+105, and the transient sources XTE J1752-223 and GX 339-4. Two of the sources, the Crab and Cyg X-1, have also been detected above 300 keV.
We analyze the physical processes of gap formation in an inviscid protoplanetary disk with an embedded protoplanet using two-dimensional local shearing-sheet model. Spiral density wave launched by the planet shocks and the angular momentum carried by the wave is transferred to the background flow. The exchange of the angular momentum can affect the mass flux in the vicinity of the planet to form an underdense region, or gap, around the planetary orbit. We first perform weakly non-linear analyses to show that the specific vorticity formed by shock dissipation of density wave can be a source of mass flux in the vicinity of the planet, and that the gap can be opened even for low-mass planets unless the migration of the planet is substantial. We then perform high resolution numerical simulations to check analytic consideration. By comparing the gap opening timescale and type I migration timescale, we propose a criterion for the formation of underdense region around the planetary orbit that is qualitatively different from previous studies. The minimum mass required for the planet to form a dip is twice as small as previous studies if we incorporate the standard values of type I migration timescale, but it can be much smaller if there is a location in the disk where type I migration is halted.
Dwarf elliptical galaxies are frequently excluded from bright galaxy samples because they do not follow the same linear relations in diagrams involving effective half light radii R_e or mean effective surface brightnesses <mu>_e. However, using two linear relations which unite dwarf and bright elliptical galaxies we explain how these lead to curved relations when one introduces either the half light radius or the associated surface brightness. In particular, the curved <mu>_e - R_e relation is derived here. This and other previously misunderstood curved relations, once heralded as evidence for a discontinuity between faint and bright elliptical galaxies at M_B ~ -18 mag, actually support the unification of such galaxies as a single population whose structure (i.e. stellar concentration) varies continuously with stellar luminosity and mass.
Context: Until now, there have only been seven quasars at z>4.5 whose the high-resolution radio structure had been studied in detail with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) imaging. Aims: We almost double the number of VLBI-imaged quasars at these high redshifts with the aim of studying their redshift-dependent structural and physical properties in a larger sample. Methods: We observed five radio quasars (J0813+3508, J1146+4037, J1242+5422, J1611+0844, and J1659+2101) at 4.5<z<5 with the European VLBI Network (EVN) at 1.6 GHz on 29 October 2008 and at 5 GHz on 22 October 2008. The angular resolution achieved ranges from 1.5 to 25 milli-arcseconds (mas), depending on the observing frequency, the position angle in the sky, and the source's celestial position. Results: The sources are all somewhat extended on mas scales, but compact enough to be detected at both frequencies. With one exception of a flat-spectrum source (J1611+0844), their compact emission is characterised by a steep radio spectrum. We found no evidence of Doppler-boosted radio emission in the quasars in our sample. The radio structure of one of them (J0813+3508) is extended to ~7", which corresponds to 43 kpc projected linear size. Many of the highest redshift compact radio sources are likely to be young, evolving objects, far-away cousins of the powerful gigahertz peaked-spectrum (GPS) and compact steep-spectrum (CSS) sources that populate the Universe at lower redshifts.
We report on an on-going near-IR adaptive optics survey targeting interacting luminous IR galaxies. High-spatial resolution NIR data are crucial to enable interpretation of kinematic, dynamical and star formation (SF) properties of these very dusty objects. Whole progenitor nuclei in the interactions can be missed if only optical HST imaging is used. Here we specifically present the latest results regarding core-collapse supernovae found within the highly extincted nuclear regions of these galaxies. Direct detection and study of such highly obscured CCSNe is crucial for revising the optically-derived SN rates used for providing an independent measurement of the SF history of the Universe. We also present thus-far the first NIR luminosity functions of super star cluster (SSC) candidates. The LFs can then be used to constrain the formation and evolution of SSCs via constraints based on initial mass functions and cluster disruption models.
The broad-line region (BLR) disappears in many low-luminosity AGNs, the reason of which is still controversial. The BLRs in AGNs are believed to be associated with the outflows from the accretion disks. Most of the low-luminosity AGNs (LLAGNs) contain advection dominated accretion flows (ADAFs), which are very hot and have a positive Bernoulli parameter. ADAFs are therefore associated with strong outflows. We estimate the cooling of the outflows from the ADAFs, and find that the gases in such hot outflows always cannot be cooled efficiently by bremsstrahlung radiation. The ADAF may co-exist with the standard disk, i.e., the inner ADAF connects to the outer thin accretion disk at radius R_tr, in the sources accreting at slightly lower than the critical rate. For the ADAFs with >0.001 L_edd, a secondary small inner cold disk is suggested to co-exist with the ADAF due to the condensation process. We estimate the Compton cooling of the outflow, of which the soft seed photons either come from the outer cold disk or the secondary inner cold disk. It is found that the gas in the outflow far from the ADAF may be efficiently cooled to form BLR clouds due to the soft seed photons emitted from the cold disks, provided the transition radius of the ADAF to the outer cold disk is small or/and the secondary small cold disk has a luminosity >0.003L_edd. The BLR clouds can still be formed in the outflows from the outer cold thin disks, if the transition radius is not very large. For the sources with <0.001L_edd, the inner small cold disk is evaporated completely in the ADAF and outer thin accretion disk may be suppressed by the ADAF, which leads to the disappearance of the BLR. The physical implications of this scenario on the double-peaked broad-line emitters are also discussed.
From July 2008 to October 2009, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST) has detected 320 Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). About 20% of these events are classified as short based on their T90 duration below 2 s. We present here for the first time time-resolved spectroscopy at timescales as short as 2 ms for the three brightest short GRBs observed with GBM. The time-integrated spectra of the events deviate from the Band function, indicating the existence of an additional spectral component, which can be fit by a power-law with index ~-1.5. The time-integrated Epeak values exceed 2 MeV for two of the bursts, and are well above the values observed in the brightest long GRBs. Their Epeak values and their low-energy power-law indices ({\alpha}) confirm that short GRBs are harder than long ones. We find that short GRBs are very similar to long ones, but with light curves contracted in time and with harder spectra stretched towards higher energies. In our time-resolved spectroscopy analysis, we find that the Epeak values range from a few tens of keV up to more than 6 MeV. In general, the hardness evolutions during the bursts follows their flux/intensity variations, similar to long bursts. However, we do not always see the Epeak leading the light-curve rises, and we confirm the zero/short average light-curve spectral lag below 1 MeV, already established for short GRBs. We also find that the time-resolved low-energy power-law indices of the Band function mostly violate the limits imposed by the synchrotron models for both slow and fast electron cooling and may require additional emission processes to explain the data. Finally, we interpreted these observations in the context of the current existing models and emission mechanisms for the prompt emission of GRBs.
The channeling of the ion recoiling after a collision with a WIMP changes the ionization signal in direct detection experiments, producing a larger signal than otherwise expected. We give estimates of the fraction of channeled recoiling ions in NaI (Tl), Si and Ge crystals using analytic models produced since the 1960's and 70's to describe channeling and blocking effects. We find that the channeling fraction of recoiling lattice nuclei is smaller than that of ions that are injected into the crystal and that it is strongly temperature dependent.
We present high-precision radial velocity observations of WASP-17 throughout the transit of its close-in giant planet, using the MIKE spectrograph on the 6.5m Magellan Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. By modeling the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, we find the sky-projected spin-orbit angle to be lambda = 167.4 \pm 11.2 deg. This independently confirms the previous finding that WASP-17b is on a retrograde orbit, suggesting it underwent migration via a mechanism other than just the gravitational interaction between the planet and the disk. Interestingly, our result for lambda differs by 45 \pm 13 deg from the previously announced value, and we also find that the spectroscopic transit occurs 15 \pm 5 min earlier than expected, based on the published ephemeris. The discrepancy in the ephemeris highlights the need for contemporaneous spectroscopic and photometric transit observations whenever possible.
In this paper we analyze the behavior of the daily Sunspot Number from the Sunspot Index Data Center (SIDC), the mean Magnetic Field strength from the National Solar Observatory/Kitt Peak (NSO/KP) and Total Solar Irradiance means from Virgo/SoHO, in the context of the $q$--Triplet which emerges within nonextensive statistical mechanics. Distributions for the mean solar Magnetic Field show two different behaviors, with a $q$--Gaussian for scales of 1 to 16 days and a Gaussian for scales longer than 32 days. The latter corresponds to an equilibrium state. Distributions for Total Solar Irradiance also show two different behaviors (approximately Gaussian) for scales of 128 days and longer, consistent with statistical equilibrium and $q$--Gaussian for scales $<$ 128 days. Distributions for the Sunspot Number show a $q$--Gaussian independent of timescales, consistent with a nonequilibrium state. The values obtained ("$q$--Triplet"$\equiv$$\{$$q$$_{stat}$,$q$$_{sen}$,$q$$_{rel}$$\}$) demonstrate that the Gaussian or $q$--Gaussian behavior of the aforementioned data depends significantly on timescales. These results point to strong multifractal behavior of the dataset analyzed, with the multifractal level decreasing from Sunspot Number to Total Solar Irradiance. In addition, we found a numerically satisfied dual relation between $q_{stat}$ and $q_{sen}$.
The effects of pinning between fluxoids and vortices in the core of a neutron star, on the dynamics of the core neutron superfluid are considered. The pinning impedes, but does not absolutely block, any radial as well as {\em azimuthal} motion of the neutron vortices with respect to the lattice of fluxoids. The time scale for the coupling of rotation of the core superfluid to the rest of the star is calculated, allowing for the effect of the finite frictional force on the neutron vortices due to their pinning with the fluxoids. This turns out to be the dominant mechanism for the coupling of the core of a neutron star to its crust, as compared to the role of electron scattering, for most cases of interest. Furthermore, different behaviors for the post-glitch response of the core superfluid are distinguished that might be tested against the relevant observational data. Also, a conceptually important case (and controversial too, in the earlier studies on the role of the crustal superfluid) is realized where a superfluid may remain decoupled in spite of an spinning up of its vortices.
We have recently identified a previously unknown radial migration mechanism resulting from the overlap of spiral and bar resonances in galactic discs (Minchev & Famaey 2010, Minchev et al. 2010). This new mechanism is much more efficient than mixing by transient spirals and its presence is unavoidable in all barred galaxies, such as our own Milky Way. The consequences of this are a strong flattening in the metallicity gradient in the disc, an extended disc profile, and the formation of a thick disc component, all taking place in only a couple of Gyr. This timescale is drastically shorter than previously expected and thus can put strong constraints on the longevity, strength and pattern speeds of the Galactic bar and Spiral Structure.
We develop the halo model of large-scale structure as an accurate tool for probing primordial non-Gaussianity. In this study we focus on understanding the matter clustering at several redshifts. The primordial non-Gaussianity is modeled as a quadratic correction to the local Gaussian potential, and is characterized by the parameter f_NL. In our formulation of the halo model we pay special attention to the effect of halo exclusion, and show that this can potentially solve the long standing problem of excess power on large scales in this model. The model depends on the mass function, clustering and density profiles of halos. We test these ingredients using a large ensemble of high-resolution Gaussian and non-Gaussian numerical simulations. In particular, we provide a first exploration of how density profiles change in the presence of primordial non-Gaussianities. We find that for f_NL positive/negative high mass halos have an increased/decreased core density, so being more/less concentrated than in the Gaussian case. We also examine the halo bias and show that, if the halo model is correct, then there is a small asymmetry in the scale-dependence of the bias on very large scales, which arises because the Gaussian bias must be renormalized. We show that the matter power spectrum is modified by ~2.5% and ~3.5% on scales k~1.0 h/Mpc at z=0 and z=1, respectively. Our halo model calculation reproduces the absolute amplitude to within 10% and the ratio of non-Gaussian to Gaussian spectra to within 1%. We also measure the matter correlation functions and find similarly good agreement between the model and the data. We anticipate that this modeling will be useful for constraining f_NL from measurements of the shear correlation function in future weak lensing surveys such as Euclid.
The wavelet transform has been used for numerous studies in astrophysics, including signal--noise periodicity and decomposition as well as the signature of differential rotation in stellar light curves. In the present work, we apply the Morlet wavelet with an adjustable parameter $a$, which can be fine-tuned to produce optimal resolutions of time and frequency, and the Haar wavelet for decomposition at levels of light curves. We use the WaveLab--package (library of Matlab routines for wavelet analysis) for the decomposition and a modified version of Colorado--package for the wavelet maps of synthetic and observed light curve. From different applications, including Virgo/SoHO, NSO/Kitt Peak, Voyager 1 and Sunspot data and synthetic light curve produced by different simulators, we show that this technique is a solid procedure to extract the stellar rotation period and possible variations due to active regions evolution. In this paper we show the Morlet Wavelet Amplitude Maps, respectively corresponding to oscillations in the photospheric magnetic field of the Sun (NSO/Kitt Peak data), the daily averages of the magnetic field strength B versus time measured by Voyager 1 (V1) during 1978, and synthetic light curve produced by A. F. Lanza. We can also identify the noise level, as well as the contribution for the light curves produced by intensity, variability and mean lifetime of spots. Thus, we can identify clearly the temporal evolution of the rotation period in relation to other periodicity phenomena affecting stellar light curves. In this context, because the wavelet technique is a powerful tool to solve, in particular, not trivial cases of light curves, we are confident that such a procedure will play an important role on the CoRoT data analysis.
Indirect Dark Matter searches are based on the observation of secondary particles produced by the annihilation or decay of Dark Matter. Among them, gamma-rays are perhaps the most promising messengers, as they do not suffer deflection or absorption on Galactic scales, so their observation would directly reveal the position and the energy spectrum of the emitting source. Here, we study the detailed gamma-ray energy spectrum of Kaluza--Klein Dark Matter in a theory with 5 Universal Extra Dimensions. We focus in particular on the two body annihilation of Dark Matter particles into a photon and another particle, which produces monochromatic photons, resulting in a line in the energy spectrum of gamma rays. Previous calculations in the context of the five dimensional UED model have computed the line signal from annihilations into \gamma \gamma, but we extend these results to include \gamma Z and \gamma H final states. We find that these spectral lines are subdominant compared to the predicted \gamma \gamma signal, but they would be important as follow-up signals in the event of the observation of the \gamma \gamma line, in order to distinguish the 5d UED model from other theoretical scenarios.
Thermally-driven atmospheric escape evolves from an organized outflow (hydrodynamic escape) to escape on a molecule by molecules basis (Jeans escape) with increasing Jeans parameter, the ratio of the gravitational to thermal energy of molecules in a planet's atmosphere. This transition is described here using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method for a single component spherically symmetric atmosphere. When the heating is predominantly below the lower boundary of the simulation region, R0, and well below the exobase, this transition is shown to occur over a surprisingly narrow range of Jeans parameters evaluated at R0: {\lambda}0 ~ 2-3. The Jeans parameter {\lambda}0 ~ 2.1 roughly corresponds to the upper limit for isentropic, supersonic outflow and for {\lambda}0 >3 escape occurs on a molecule by molecule basis. For {\lambda}0 > ~6, it is shown that the escape rate does not deviate significantly from the familiar Jeans rate evaluated at the nominal exobase, contrary to what has been suggested. Scaling by the Jeans parameter and the Knudsen number, escape calculations for Pluto and an early Earth's atmosphere are evaluated, and the results presented here can be applied to thermally-induced escape from a number of solar and extrasolar planetary bodies.
Emission-line galaxies are important targets for understanding the chemical evolution of galaxies in the universe. Deep, narrow-band imaging surveys allow to detect and study the flux and the equivalent widths (EW) of the emission line studied. The present work has been developed within the context of the OTELO project, an emission line survey using the Tunable Filters (TF) of OSIRIS, the first generation instrument on the GTC 10.4m telescope located in La Palma, Spain, that will observe through selected atmospheric windows relatively free of sky emission lines. With a total survey area of 0.1 square degrees distributed in different fields, reaching a 5 \sigma depth of 10^-18 erg/cm^2/s and detecting objects of EW < 0.3 A, OTELO will be the deepest emission line survey to date. As part of the OTELO preparatory activities, the objective of this study is to determine the best combination of sampling and full width at half maximum (FWHM) for the OSIRIS tunable filters for deblending H\alpha from [NII] lines by analyzing the flux errors obtained. We simulated the OTELO data by convolving a complete set of synthetic HII galaxies in EW with different widths of the OSIRIS TFs. We estimated relative flux errors of the recovered H\alpha and [NII]6583 lines. We found that, for the red TF, a FWHM of 12 A and a sampling of 5 A is an optimal combination that allow deblending H\alpha from the [NII]6583 line with a flux error lower than 20%. This combination will allow estimating SFRs and metallicities using the H\alpha flux and the N2 method, respectively.
Variations in the spatial configuration of the interstellar magnetic field (ISMF) near the Sun can be constrained by comparing the ISMF direction at the heliosphere found from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft (IBEX) observations of a 'Ribbon' of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), with the ISMF direction derived from optical polarization data for stars within ~40 pc. Using interstellar polarization observations towards ~30 nearby stars within 90 deg of the heliosphere nose, we find that the best fits to the polarization position angles are obtained for a magnetic pole directed towards ecliptic coordinates of lambda, beta 263 deg, 37 deg (or galactic coordinates of L,B 38 deg, 23deg), with uncertainties of +/- 35 deg, based on the broad minimum of the best fits and the range of data quality. This magnetic pole is 33 deg from the magnetic pole that is defined by the center of the arc of the ENA Ribbon. The IBEX ENA ribbon is seen in sightlines that are perpendicular to the ISMF as it drapes over the heliosphere. The similarity of the polarization and Ribbon directions for the local ISMF suggest that the local field is coherent over scale sizes of tens of parsecs. The ISMF vector direction is nearly perpendicular to the flow of local ISM through the local standard of rest, supporting a possible local ISM origin related to an evolved expanding magnetized shell. The local ISMF direction is found to have a curious geometry with respect to the cosmic microwave background dipole moment.
Although helioseismology has been used as an effective tool for studying the physical mechanisms acting in most of the solar interior, the microscopic and dynamics of the deep core is still not well understood. Helioseismological anomalies may be partially resolved if the Sun captures light, non-annihilating dark matter particles, a currently discussed dark matter candidate that is motivated by recent direct detection limits. Once trapped, such particles (4-10 GeV) naturally fill the solar core. With the use of a well-defined stellar evolution code that takes into account an accurate description of the capture of dark matter particles by the Sun, we investigate the impact of such particles in its inner core. Even a relatively small amount of dark matter particles in the solar core will leave an imprint on the absolute frequency values of gravity modes, as well as the equidistant spacing between modes of the same degree. The period separation for gravity modes could reveal changes of up to 3% for annihilating dark matter and of up to 20% for non-annihilating dark matter. This effect is most pronounced in the case of the gravity dipole (l=1) modes.
Space-based projects are providing a wealth of high-quality asteroseismic data, including frequencies for a large number of stars showing solar-like oscillations. These data open the prospect for precise determinations of key stellar parameters, of particular value to the study of extra-solar planetary systems. Given the quantity of the available and expected data it is important to develop efficient and reliable techniques for analyzing them, including the determination of stellar parameters from the observed frequencies. Here we present the SEEK package developed for the analysis of asteroseismic data from the Kepler mission. A central goal of the package is to obtain a fast and automatic determination of the stellar radius and other parameters, in a form that is statistically well-defined. The algorithms are tested by comparing the results of the analysis with independent measurements of stellar radius and mass, for a sample of well-observed stars. We conclude that the SEEK package fixes stellar parameters with accuracy and precision.
We analyzed XMM-Newton observations of two center-filled supernova remnants, G27.8+0.6 and G28.8+1.5, to search for pulsars/pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) and other types of neutron stars associated with these remnants. We discovered a PWN candidate within the extent of the centrally-peaked radio emission of G27.8+0.6. The X-ray morphology of the PWN candidate and its position with respect to the host supernova remnant suggest that the alleged pulsar might be moving away from the supernova remnant's center with a transverse velocity of around 100-200 km/s. The majority of the detected X-ray point sources in both fields are classified as main-sequence stars, based on their bright optical counterparts and relatively soft X-ray spectra. The remaining medium-hard and hard sources are most probably either AGNs or cataclysmic variables, although we cannot completely rule out the possibility that some of these sources are neutron stars.
We present new results from pitch angle scattering law, dynamical Monte Carlo simulations of the parallel collisionless shock, including the energetic particles acceleration. Under the pitch angle scattering law, we model the basic physics of thermal particles scattering off magnetic irregularities with multiple scattering angular distributions algorithm. This algorithm requires elastic collisions with the prescribed scattering angular distribution function, and conservation of energy in the particle's local flow frame during the scattering process. Meanwhile, the scattering time is assumed a constant parameter characterizing the entire scattering process, this implies that a particle's mean free path is proportional to its velocity. In this model, we apply two typical scattering angular distribution functions: Gaussian scattering angular distribution function and isotropic scattering angular distribution function, the Gaussian scattering angular distribution will be concentrated in comparatively smaller angles during the entire scattering process, and the isotropic scattering angular distribution will be concentrated in comparatively larger angles. As a result, there are power-law tails on spectra and a dynamical range as the shock develops. In present simulation results from four cases applying four different scattering angular distributions, we find that the shock compression ratios are positively correlated with the values of the standard deviation of the scattering angular distributions, but the subshock compression ratios are inversely correlated with standard deviation values, also we find that applying a smaller-angle scattering simulation will produce a slightly softer subshock energy spectrum index, and applying a larger-angle scattering simulation will produce a slightly harder subshock energy spectrum index.
The results of a coordinated space-based photometric and ground-based spectroscopic observing campaign on the enigmatic gamma-ray binary LS 5039 are reported. Sixteen days of observations from the MOST satellite have been combined with high-resolution optical echelle spectroscopy from the 2.3m ANU Telescope in Siding Spring, Australia. These observations were used to measure the orbital parameters of the binary and to study the properties of stellar wind from the O primary. We found that any broad-band optical photometric variability at the orbital period is below the 2 mmag level, supporting the scenario that the orbital eccentricity of the system is near the 0.24 +/- 0.08 value implied by our spectroscopy, which is lower than values previously obtained by other workers. The low amplitude optical variability also implies the component masses are at the higher end of estimates based on the primary's O6.5V((f)) spectral type with a primary mass of ~26 solar masses and a mass for the compact star of at least 1.8 solar masses. The mass loss rate from the O primary was determined to be 3.7E-7 to 4.8E-7 solar masses per year.
Bernstein et al. (2004) found that the population of faint (R>26) trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) known at that time was dominated by "Classical" objects, which have low inclinations (i<5 degrees) and distances 40--45 AU. Since those observations, the number of faint TNOs whose orbits are sufficiently well known to be classified as "Classical" or "Excited" has grown from seven to 39. We analyze the dynamical classifications of faint TNOs known today and find that this population is dominated by Excited objects. We discuss some implications of this result.
Helicity measures complexity in the field. Magnetic helicity is given by a volume integral over the scalar product of magnetic field {\bf B} and its vector potential {\bf A}. A direct computation of magnetic helicity in the solar atmosphere is not possible due to unavailability of the observations at different heights and also due to non-uniqueness of {\bf A}. The force-free parameter $\alpha$ has been used as a proxy of magnetic helicity for a long time. We have clarified the physical meaning of $\alpha$ and its relationship with the magnetic helicity. We have studied the effect of polarimetric noise on estimation of various magnetic parameters. Fine structures of sunspots in terms of vertical current ($J_z$) and $\alpha$ have been examined. We have introduced the concept of signed shear angle (SSA) for sunspots and established its importance for non force-free fields. We find that there is no net current in sunspots even in presence of a significant twist, showing consistency with their fibril-bundle nature. The finding of existence of a lower limit of SASSA for a given class of X-ray flare will be very useful for space weather forecasting. A good correlation is found between the sign of helicity in the sunspots and the chirality of the associated chromospheric and coronal features. We find that a large number of sunspots observed in the declining phase of solar cycle 23 do not follow the hemispheric helicity rule whereas most of the sunspots observed in the beginning of new solar cycle 24 do follow. This indicates a long term behaviour of the hemispheric helicity patterns in the Sun. The above sums up my PhD thesis.
In a force-free magnetic field, there is no interaction of field and the plasma in the surrounding atmosphere i.e., electric currents are aligned with the magnetic field, giving rise to zero Lorentz force. The computation of many magnetic parameters like magnetic energy, gradient of twist of sunspot magnetic fields (computed from the force-free parameter $\alpha$), including any kind of extrapolations heavily hinge on the force-free approximation of the photospheric magnetic fields. The force-free magnetic behaviour of the photospheric sunspot fields has been examined by \cite{metc95} and \cite{moon02} ending with inconsistent results. \cite{metc95} concluded that the photospheric magnetic fields are far from the force-free nature whereas \cite{moon02} found the that the photospheric magnetic fields are not so far from the force-free nature as conventionally regarded. The accurate photospheric vector field measurements with high resolution are needed to examine the force-free nature of sunspots. We use high resolution vector magnetograms obtained from the Solar Optical Telescope/Spectro-Polarimeter (SOT/SP) aboard Hinode to inspect the force-free behaviour of the photospheric sunspot magnetic fields. Both the necessary and sufficient conditions for force-freeness are examined by checking global as well as as local nature of sunspot magnetic fields. We find that the sunspot magnetic fields are very close to the force-free approximation, although they are not completely force-free on the photosphere.
Two formation scenarios are investigated for type Ia supernovae in elliptical galaxies: the single degenerate scenario (a white dwarf reaching the Chandrasekhar limit through accretion of matter transferred from its companion star in a binary) and the double degenerate scenario (the inspiraling and merging of two white dwarfs in a binary as a result of the emission of gravitational wave radiation). A population number synthesis code is used, which includes the latest physical results in binary evolution and allows to differentiate between certain physical scenarios (such as the description of common envelope evolution) and evolutionary parameters (such as the mass transfer efficiency during Roche lobe overflow). The thus obtained theoretical distributions of type Ia supernova delay times are compared to those that are observed, both in morphological shape and absolute number of events. The critical influence of certain parameters on these distributions is used to constrain their values. The single degenerate scenario alone is found to be unable in reproducing the morphological shape of the observational delay time distribution, while use of the double degenerate one (or a combination of both) does result in fair agreement. Most double degenerate type Ia supernovae are formed through a normal, quasi-conservative Roche lobe overflow followed by a common envelope phase, not through two successive common envelope phases as is often assumed. This may cast doubt on the determination of delay times by using analytical formalisms, as is sometimes done in other studies. The theoretical absolute number of events in old elliptical galaxies lies a factor of at least three below the rates that are observed. While this may simply be the result of observational uncertainties, a better treatment of the effects of rotation on stellar structure could mitigate the discrepancy.
A fraction of gamma-ray bursts exhibit distinct spectral features in their prompt emission below few 10s of keV that exceed simple extrapolations of the low-energy power-law portion of the Band spectral model. This is also true for the prompt optical emission observed in several bursts. Through Monte Carlo simulations, we model such low-energy spectral excess components as hadronic cascade emission initiated by photomeson interactions of ultra-high-energy protons accelerated within GRB outflows. Synchrotron radiation from the cascading, secondary electron-positron pairs can naturally reproduce the observed soft spectra in the X-ray band, and in some cases the optical spectra as well. These components can be directly related to the higher energy radiation at GeV energies due to the hadronic cascades. Depending on the spectral shape, the total energy in protons is required to be comparable to or appreciably larger than the observed total photon energy. In particular, we apply our model to the excess X-ray and GeV emission of GRB 090902B, and the bright optical emission of the "naked-eye" GRB 080916B. Besides the hard GeV components detected by {\it Fermi}, such X-ray or optical spectral excesses are further potential signatures of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray production in gamma-ray bursts.
We analyze a sample of 23 supermassive elliptical galaxies (central velocity dispersion larger than 330 km s-1), drawn from the SDSS. For each object, we estimate the dynamical mass from the light profile and central velocity dispersion, and compare it with the stellar mass derived from stellar population models. We show that these galaxies are dominated by luminous matter within the radius for which the velocity dispersion is measured. We find that the sizes and stellar masses are tightly correlated, with Re ~ M*^{1.1}$, making the mean density within the de Vaucouleurs radius a steeply declining function of M*: rho_e ~ M*^{-2.2}. These scalings are easily derived from the virial theorem if one recalls that this sample has essentially fixed (but large) sigma_0. In contrast, the mean density within 1 kpc is almost independent of M*, at a value that is in good agreement with recent studies of z ~ 2 galaxies. The fact that the mass within 1 kpc has remained approximately unchanged suggests assembly histories that were dominated by minor mergers -- but we discuss why this is not the unique way to achieve this. Moreover, the total stellar mass of the objects in our sample is typically a factor of ~ 5 larger than that in the high redshift (z ~ 2) sample, an amount which seems difficult to achieve. If our galaxies are the evolved objects of the recent high redshift studies, then we suggest that major mergers were required at z > 1.5, and that minor mergers become the dominant growth mechanism for massive galaxies at z < 1.5.
Using high-resolution (~85000) and high signal-to-noise ratio (~200) optical spectra acquired with the European Southern Observatory Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph, we have determined the interstellar column densities of C2 for six Galactic lines of sight with E(B- V) ranging from 0.33 to 1.03. For our purposes, we identified and measured absorption lines belonging to the (1, 0), (2, 0) and (3, 0) Phillips bands A1{\Pi}u-X1{\Sigma}+g. We report on the identification of a few lines of the C2 (4, 0) Phillips system towards HD 147889. The curve-of-growth method is applied to the equivalent widths to determine the column densities of the individual rotational levels of C2. The excitation temperature is extracted from the rotational diagrams. The physical parameters of the intervening molecular clouds (e.g. gas kinetic temperatures and densities of collision partners) were estimated by comparison with the theoretical model of excitation of C2.
This paper presents a finding of the correlation between the width of a strong diffuse interstellar band at 6196A and the excitation temperature of C2 based on high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio spectra. The excitation temperature was determined from absorption lines of the Phillips A-X and Mulliken D-X systems. The width and shape of the narrow 6196A DIB profile apparently depend on the C2 temperature, being broader for higher values.
In this paper, we present new data with interstellar C2 (Phillips bands A-X), from observations made with the Ultraviolet-Visual Echelle Spectrograph of the European Southern Observatory. We have determined the interstellar column densities and excitation temperatures of C2 for nine Galactic lines. For seven of these, C2 has never been observed before, so in this case the still small sample of interstellar clouds (26 lines of sight), where a detailed analysis of C2 excitation has been made, has increased significantly. This paper is a continuation of previous works where interstellar molecules (C2 and diffuse interstellar bands) have been analysed. Because the sample of interstellar clouds with C2 has increased, we can show that the width and shape of the profiles of some diffuse interstellar bands (6196 and 5797 A) apparently depend on the gas kinetic and rotational temperatures of C2; the profiles are broader because of the higher values of the gas kinetic and rotational temperatures of C2. There are also diffuse interstellar bands (4964 and 5850 A) for which this effect does not exist.
We consider the radial migration of vortices in two-dimensional isothermal gaseous disks. We find that a vortex core, orbiting at the local gas velocity, induces velocity perturbations that propagate away from the vortex as density waves. The resulting spiral wave pattern is reminiscent of an embedded planet. There are two main causes for asymmetries in these wakes: geometrical effects tend to favor the outer wave, while a radial vortensity gradient leads to an asymmetric vortex core, which favors the wave at the side that has the lowest density. In the case of asymmetric waves, which we always find except for a disk of constant pressure, there is a net exchange of angular momentum between the vortex and the surrounding disk, which leads to orbital migration of the vortex. Numerical hydrodynamical simulations show that this migration can be very rapid, on a time scale of a few thousand orbits, for vortices with a size comparable to the scale height of the disk. We discuss the possible effects of vortex migration on planet formation scenarios.
Some 8000 images obtained with the SECIS fast-frame CCD camera instrument located at Lusaka, Zambia, during the total eclipse of 21 June 2001 have been analyzed to search for short-period oscillations in intensity that could be a signature of solar coronal heating mechanisms by MHD wave dissipation. Images were taken in white- light and Fe XIV green-line (5303 A) channels over 205 seconds (frame rate 39 s-1), approximately the length of eclipse totality at this location, with a pixel size of four arcseconds square. The data are of considerably better quality than were obtained during the 11 August 1999 total eclipse, observed by us (Rudawy et al.: Astron. Astrophys. 416, 1179, 2004), in that the images are much better exposed and enhancements in the drive system of the heliostat used gave a much improved image stability. Classical Fourier and wavelet techniques have been used to analyze the emission at 29518 locations, of which 10714 had emission at reasonably high levels, searching for periodic fluctuations with periods in the range 0.1-17 seconds (frequencies 0.06-10 Hz). While a number of possible periodicities were apparent in the wavelet analysis, none of the spatially and time-limited periodicities in the local brightness curves was found to be physically important. This implies that the pervasive Alfven wave-like phenomena (Tomczyk et al.: Science 317, 1192, 2007) using polarimetric observations with the CoMP instrument do not give rise to significant oscillatory intensity fluctuations.
As the Universe emerged from its initial hot and dense phase, its chemical composition was extremely simple, being limited to stable H and He isotopes, and traces of Li. The first stars that formed had such initial composition. However, they quickly began to produce a whole array of heavier nuclei, polluting the interstellar medium. While none among these first stars has been detected to date, an increasing sample exists of their direct descendant, stars with heavy elements content of the order of 1/1000 of the solar value, or less. In most cases, such stars should have formed at redshift of about 10 or beyond, and their chemical composition can provide crucial constraints to the nature of the very first stars. Extremely metal poor (EMP) stars are exceedingly rare. We used the low resolution spectra obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to search for EMP candidates: results of VLT-UVES high resolution follow-up for 16 of them is presented here. A newly developed automatic abundance analysis and parameter determination code, MyGIsFOS, has been employed to analyze the detailed chemical abundances of such stars.
We employ the Sagdeev pseudo-potential method to investigate the propagation of nonlinear ion waves in a relativistically degenerate electron-ion plasmas. The matching criteria for existence of such nonlinear excitations are numerically investigated in terms of the relativity measure (relativistic degeneracy parameter) of electrons and the allowed Mach-number range for propagation of such waves is evaluated. It is shown that the electron relativistic degeneracy parameter has significant effects on nonlinear wave dynamics in superdense degenerate plasmas such as that encountered in white dwarfs and the cores of massive planets.
Theoretical studies suggest that C/O and Mg/Si are the most important elemental ratios in determining the mineralogy of terrestrial planets. The C/O ratio controls the distribution of Si among carbide and oxide species, while Mg/Si gives information about the silicate mineralogy. We present a detailed and uniform study of C, O, Mg and Si abundances for 61 stars with detected planets and 270 stars without detected planets from the homogeneous high-quality unbiased HARPS GTO sample, together with 39 more planet-host stars from other surveys. We determine these important mineralogical ratios and investigate the nature of the possible terrestrial planets that could have formed in those planetary systems. We find mineralogical ratios quite different from those of the Sun, showing that there is a wide variety of planetary systems which are not similar to Solar System. Many of planetary host stars present a Mg/Si value lower than 1, so their planets will have a high Si content to form species such as MgSiO$_{3}$. This type of composition can have important implications for planetary processes like plate tectonics, atmospheric composition or volcanism.
We present a new sample of Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) sources with radio luminosity below 10^26 W/Hz at 1.4 GHz called the low luminosity compact (LLC) objects. The sources have been selected from FIRST survey and observed with MERLIN at L-band and C-band. The main criterion used for selection was luminosity of the objects and approximately one third of the CSS sources from the new sample have a value of radio luminosity comparable to FRIs. About 80% of the sources have been resolved and about 30% of them have weak extended emission and disturbed structures when compared with the observations of higher luminosity CSS sources. We studied correlation between radio power and linear size, and redshift with a larger sample that included also published samples of compact objects and large scale FRIIs and FRIs. The low luminosity compact objects occupy the space in radio power versus linear size diagram below the main evolutionary path of radio objects. We suggest that many of them might be short-lived objects, and their radio emission may be disrupted several times before becoming FRIIs. We conclude that there exists a large population of short-lived low luminosity compact objects unexplored so far and part of them can be precursors of large scale FRIs.
The impact of magnetic field decay on radiative activity of quaking neutron star undergoing Lorentz-force-driven torsional seismic vibrations about axis of its dipole magnetic moment is studied. We found that monotonic depletion of internal magnetic field pressure is accompanied by the loss of vibration energy of the star that causes its vibration period to lengthen at a rate proportional to the rate of magnetic field decay. Particular attention is given to the magnetic-field-decay induced conversion of the energy of differentially rotational Alfven vibrations into the energy of oscillating magneto-dipole radiation. A set of representative examples of magnetic field decay illustrating the vibration energy powered emission with elongating periods produced by quaking neutron star are considered and discussed in the context of theory of magnetars.
This is the second in a series of papers concerning a new sample of low luminosity compact (LLC) objects. Here we discuss the optical properties of the sample based on Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) images and spectra. We have generated different diagnostic diagrams and classified the sources as high and low excitation galaxies (HEG and LEG, respectively). We have studied the jet-host interactions, relation between radio and optical line emission and evolution of the radio source within a larger sample that included also the published samples of compact steep spectrum (CSS), gigahertz peaked spectrum (GPS) sources and FRII and FRI objects. The optical and radio properties of the LLC sample are in general consistent with brighter CSS and large-scale radio sources, although the LLC objects have lower values of [OIII] luminosity than the more powerful CSS sources (L_1.4GHz>10^25 W/Hz). However, when LLC are added to the other samples, HEG and LEG seem to follow independent, parallel evolutionary tracks. Regarding ionization mechanisms, LLC and luminous CSS objects behave like FRII sources, while FRI seem to belong to a different group of objects. Based on our results, we propose the independent, parallel evolutionary tracks for HEG and LEG sources, evolving from GPS - CSS - FR.
The forthcoming release of data from the Planck mission, and possibly from the next round of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) observations, make it necessary to revise the evaluations of relic gravitational waves in the existing data and, at the same time, to refine the assumptions and data analysis techniques in preparation for the arrival of new data. We reconsider with the help of the commonly used CosmoMC numerical package the previously found indications of relic gravitational waves in the 7-year (WMAP7) data. The CosmoMC approach reduces the confidence of these indications from approximately 2$\sigma$ level to approximately 1$\sigma$ level, but the indications do not disappear altogether. We critically analyze the assumptions that are currently used in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data analyses and outline the strategy that should help avoid the oversight of relic gravitational waves in the CMB data. The prospects of confident detection of relic gravitational waves by the Planck satellite have worsened, but they are still good. It appears that more effort will be required in order to mitigate the foreground contamination.
We report the results of a search for O VI absorption in the spectra of 80 hot DA white dwarfs observed by the FUSE satellite. We have carried out a detailed analysis of the radial velocities of interstellar and (where present) stellar absorption lines for the entire sample of stars. In approximately 35% of cases (where photospheric material is detected), the velocity differences between the interstellar and photospheric components were beneath the resolution of the FUSE spectrographs. Therefore, in 65% of these stars the interstellar and photospheric contributions could be separated and the nature of the O VI component unambiguously determined. Furthermore, in other examples, where the spectra were of a high signal-to-noise, no photospheric material was found and any O VI detected was assumed to be interstellar. Building on the earlier work of Oegerle et al. (2005) and Savage & Lehner (2006), we have increased the number of detections of interstellar O VI and, for the first time, compared their locations with both the soft X-ray background emission and new detailed maps of the distribution of neutral gas within the local interstellar medium. We find no strong evidence to support a spatial correlation between O VI and SXRB emission. In all but a few cases, the interstellar O VI was located at or beyond the boundaries of the local cavity. Hence, any T ~ 300,000K gas responsible for the O VI absorption may reside at the interface between the cavity and surrounding medium or in that medium itself. Consequently, it appears that there is much less O VI-bearing gas than previously stated within the inner rarefied regions of the local interstellar cavity.
In this paper we will discuss the images of Planetary Nebulae that have recently been obtained with PACS and SPIRE on board the Herschel satellite. This comprises results for NGC 650 (the little Dumbbell nebula), NGC 6853 (the Dumbbell nebula), and NGC 7293 (the Helix nebula).
We report new observations of atomic and molecular gas in a volume limited sample of elliptical galaxies. Combining the elliptical sample with an earlier and similar lenticular one, we show that cool gas detection rates are very similar among low luminosity E and SO galaxies but are much higher among luminous S0s. Using the combined sample we revisit the correlation between cool gas mass and blue luminosity which emerged from our lenticular survey, finding strong support for previous claims that the molecular gas in ellipticals and lenticulars has different origins. Unexpectedly, however, and contrary to earlier claims, the same is not true for atomic gas. We speculate that both the AGN feedback and merger paradigms might offer explanations for differences in detection rates, and might also point towards an understanding of why the two gas phases could follow different evolutionary paths in Es and S0s. Finally we present a new and puzzling discovery concerning the global mix of atomic and molecular gas in early type galaxies. Atomic gas comprises a greater fraction of the cool ISM in more gas rich galaxies, a trend which can be plausibly explained. The puzzle is that galaxies tend to cluster around molecular-to-atomic gas mass ratios near either 0.05 or 0.5.
High precision fast photometry from ground-based observatories is a challenge due to intensity fluctuations (scintillation) produced by the Earth's atmosphere. Here we describe a method to reduce the effects of scintillation by a combination of pupil reconjugation and calibration using a comparison star. Because scintillation is produced by high altitude turbulence, the range of angles over which the scintillation is correlated is small and therefore simple correction by a comparison star is normally impossible. We propose reconjugating the telescope pupil to a high dominant layer of turbulence, then apodizing it before calibration with a comparison star. We find by simulation that given a simple atmosphere with a single high altitude turbulent layer and a strong surface layer a reduction in the intensity variance by a factor of ~30 is possible. Given a more realistic atmosphere as measured by SCIDAR at San Pedro M\'artir we find that on a night with a strong high altitude layer we can expect the median variance to be reduced by a factor of 11. By reducing the scintillation noise we will be able to detect much smaller changes in brightness. If we assume a 2 m telescope and an exposure time of 30 seconds a reduction in the scintillation noise from 0.78 mmag to 0.21 mmag is possible, which will enable the routine detection of, for example, the secondary transits of extrasolar planets from the ground.
We study a coupled quintessence model in which the interaction with the dark matter sector is a function of the quintessence potential. Such a coupling can arise from a field dependent mass term for the dark matter field. The dynamical analysis of a standard quintessence potential coupled with the interaction explored here shows that the system possesses a late time accelerated attractor. In light of these results, we perform a fit to the most recent Supernovae Ia, Cosmic Microwave Background and Baryon Acoustic Oscillation data sets. Constraints arising from weak equivalence principle violation arguments are also discussed.
We report the results of dynamical simulations, covering Gyr timescales, of fictitious Scattered Disk Objects as a follow-up to an earlier study by Fern\'andez et al. (2004: {\it Icarus} {\bf 172}, 372). Our dynamical model is similar in that it does not include external agents like passing stars or the Galactic tide. Only the four giant planets are explicitly treated as perturbers. We analyze the random-walk behaviour of the inverse semi-major axis by means of a simplified circular restricted 3-body problem as an approximate analogue. Our results concerning the role of resonant effects and the transfer efficiency into the orbital energy domain of the inner Oort Cloud are in broad agreement with the earlier papers, and we confirm the important role of external objects (with perihelia beyond Neptune's orbit) in feeding the Oort Cloud. We estimate the efficiency of this transfer to be even somewhat higher than previously found.
Water is the main component of interstellar ice mantles, is abundant in the solar system and is a crucial ingredient for life. The formation of this molecule in the interstellar medium cannot be explained by gas-phase chemistry only and its surface hydrogenation formation routes at low temperatures (O, O2, O3 channels) are still unclear and most likely incomplete. In a previous paper we discussed an unexpected zeroth-order H2O production behavior in O2 ice hydrogenation experiments compared to the first-order H2CO and CH3OH production behavior found in former studies on hydrogenation of CO ice. In this paper we experimentally investigate in detail how the structure of O2 ice leads to this rare behavior in reaction order and production yield. In our experiments H atoms are added to a thick O2 ice under fully controlled conditions, while the changes are followed by means of reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). The H-atom penetration mechanism is systematically studied by varying the temperature, thickness and structure of the O2 ice. We conclude that the competition between reaction and diffusion of the H atoms into the O2 ice explains the unexpected H2O and H2O2 formation behavior. In addition, we show that the proposed O2 hydrogenation scheme is incomplete, suggesting that additional surface reactions should be considered. Indeed, the detection of newly formed O3 in the ice upon H-atom exposure proves that the O2 channel is not an isolated route. Furthermore, the addition of H2 molecules is found not to have a measurable effect on the O2 reaction channel.
Water is abundantly present in the Universe. It is the main component of interstellar ice mantles and a key ingredient for life. Water in space is mainly formed through surface reactions. Three formation routes have been proposed in the past: hydrogenation of surface O, O2, and O3. In a previous paper [Ioppolo et al., Astrophys. J., 2008, 686, 1474] we discussed an unexpected non-standard zeroth-order H2O2 production behaviour in O2 hydrogenation experiments, which suggests that the proposed reaction network is not complete, and that the reaction channels are probably more interconnected than previously thought. In this paper we aim to derive the full reaction scheme for O2 surface hydrogenation and to constrain the rates of the individual reactions. This is achieved through simultaneous H-atom and O2 deposition under ultra-high vacuum conditions for astronomically relevant temperatures. Different H/O2 ratios are used to trace different stages in the hydrogenation network. The chemical changes in the forming ice are followed by means of reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). New reaction paths are revealed as compared to previous experiments. Several reaction steps prove to be much more efficient (H + O2) or less efficient (H + OH and H2 + OH) than originally thought. These are the main conclusions of this work and the extended network concluded here will have profound implications for models that describe the formation of water in space.
We develop a general theory of buoyancy instabilities in the electron-ion plasma with the electron heat flux based not upon MHD equations, but using a multicomponent plasma approach in which the momentum equation is solved for each species. We investigate the geometry in which the background magnetic field is perpendicular to the gravity and stratification. General expressions for the perturbed velocities are given without any simplifications. Collisions between electrons and ions are taken into account in the momentum equations in a general form, permitting us to consider both weakly and strongly collisional objects. However, the electron heat flux is assumed to be directed along the magnetic field that implies a weakly collisional case. Using simplifications justified for an investigation of buoyancy instabilities with the electron thermal flux, we derive simple dispersion relations both for collisionless and collisional cases for arbitrary directions of the wave vector. The collisionless dispersion relation considerably differs from that obtained in the MHD framework and is similar to the Schwarzschild's criterion. This difference is connected with simplified assumptions used in the MHD analysis of buoyancy instabilities and with the role of the longitudinal electric field perturbation which is not captured by the ideal MHD equations. The results obtained can be applied to clusters of galaxies and other astrophysical objects.
GeV and TeV gamma rays have been detected from the supernova remnant W28 and its surroundings. Such emission correlates quite well with the position of dense and massive molecular clouds and thus it is often interpreted as the result of hadronic cosmic ray interactions in the dense gas. Constraints on the cosmic ray diffusion coefficient in the region can be obtained, under the assumption that the cosmic rays responsible for the gamma ray emission have been accelerated in the past at the supernova remnant shock, and subsequently escaped in the surrounding medium. In this scenario, gamma ray observations can be explained only if the diffusion coefficient in the region surrounding the supernova remnant is significantly suppressed with respect to the average galactic one.
By means of a one-zone evolutionary model we study the co-evolution of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies, as a function of the accretion radiative efficiency, dark matter content and cosmological infall of gas. In particular, the radiation feedback is computed by using the self-regulated Bondi accretion. The models are characterized by strong oscillations when the galaxy is in the AGN state with a high accretion luminosity. We found that these one-zone models are able to reproduce two important phases of galaxy evolution, namely an obscured-cold phase when the bulk of star formation and black hole accretion occur, and the following quiescent hot phase in which accretion remains highly sub-Eddington. A Compton-thick phase is also found in almost all models, associated with the cold phase. An exploration of the parameter space reveals that the best agreement with the present day Magorrian relation is obtained, indipendently of the dark matter halo mass, for galaxies with low-mass seed black hole, and the accretion radiative efficiency ~0.1.
We present the first numerical result of full-GR simulations for the collapse of a rotating high-entropy stellar core to a BH and accretion disk. The simulations are performed taking into account the relevant microphysics such as nuclear-theory-based finite-temperature EOS, weak interaction processes, and neutrino cooling in a general relativistic leakage scheme. The initial core is modeled by a spherical configuration with a constant $Y_e = 0.5$ and s = 8 $k_B$, with rotational profiles added. In all models, collapse to a BH proceeds as follows: In the early phase, the core collapses and then experiences a gas-pressure-dominated bounce. Because the bounce is too weak to halt the collapse, a BH with the initial mass of $\sim 6$--$7M_{\odot}$ is eventually formed. Subsequent evolution depends sensitively on the amount of rotation. For the case that the rotation is not fast, a geometrically thin accretion disk is formed around the BH, and a standing shock wave is formed in the inner part of the disk. For the moderately rotating case, the thin disk expands eventually to be a geometrically thick torus after sufficient accumulation of the thermal energy generated at the shocks, and then, convection occurs inside the torus, because a region with negative entropy gradient emerges due to the interplay of the shock heating, neutrino cooling, and the neutrino trapping. In the long-term evolution of the torus, neutrino luminosities vary violently with time because of the convective motion. For the rapidly rotating case, by contrast, a geometrically thick torus is immediately formed soon after the BH formation. Based on our results, we describe a scenario for the generation of relativistic jets of long gamma-ray bursts in the collapse of a population III star. We also estimate GW due to anisotropic emission of neutrinos, and find that it may have a larger amplitude than previously estimated.
We have simulated a Galactic population of young pulsars and compared with the Fermi LAT sample, constraining the birth properties, beaming and evolution of these spin-powered objects. Using quantitative tests of agreement with the distributions of observed spin and pulse properties, we find that short birth periods P_0 ~ 50ms and gamma-ray beams arising in the outer magnetosphere, dominated by a single pole, are strongly preferred. The modeled relative numbers of radio-detected and radio-quiet objects agree well with the data. Although the sample is local, extrapolation to the full Galaxy implies a gamma-ray pulsar birthrate 1/(59 yr). This is shown to be in good agreement with the estimated Galactic core collapse rate and with the local density of OB star progenitors. We give predictions for the numbers of expected young pulsar detections if Fermi LAT observations continue 10 years and estimate the (small) contributions of unresolved young pulsars to the Galactic gamma-ray background.
The WASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) project is an exoplanet transit survey that has been automatically taking wide field images since 2004. Two instruments, one in La Palma and the other in South Africa, continually monitor the night sky, building up light curves of millions of unique objects. These light curves are used to search for the characteristics of exoplanetary transits. This first public data release (DR1) of the WASP archive makes available all the light curve data and images from 2004 up to 2008 in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. A web interface (www.wasp.le.ac.uk/public/) to the data allows easy access over the Internet. The data set contains 3 631 972 raw images and 17 970 937 light curves. In total the light curves have 119 930 299 362 data points available between them.
PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 is a binary system where a 48 ms pulsar orbits a massive Be star with a highly eccentric orbit (e=0.87) with a period of 3.4 years. The system exhibits variable, non-thermal radiation visible from radio to very high energies (VHE) around periastron passage. This radiation is thought to originate from particles accelerated in the shock region between the pulsar wind (PW) and stellar outflows. The consistency of the H.E.S.S. data with the inverse Compton (IC) scenario is studied in the context of dominant orbital phase dependent adiabatic losses. The dependence of the observed TeV flux with the separation distance is analyzed. Model calculations based on IC scattering of shock accelerated PW electrons and UV photons are performed. Different non-radiative cooling profiles are suggested for the primary particle population to account for the variable TeV flux. The TeV fluxes obtained with H.E.S.S. in the years 2004 and 2007 seem to be only dependent on the binary separation. The presented results hint at a peculiar non-radiative cooling profile around periastron dominating the VHE emission in PSR B1259-63. The location of the stellar disc derived from this non-radiative cooling profile is in good agreement with that inferred from radio observations.
We have detected an Halpha bow shock nebula around PSR J1741-2054, a pulsar discovered through its GeV gamma-ray pulsations. The pulsar is only ~1.5" behind the leading edge of the shock. Optical spectroscopy shows that the nebula is non-radiative, dominated by Balmer emission. The Halpha images and spectra suggest that the pulsar wind momentum is equatorially concentrated and implies a pulsar space velocity ~150km/s, directed 15+/-10deg out of the plane of the sky. The complex Halpha profile indicates that different portions of the post-shock flow dominate line emission as gas moves along the nebula and provide an opportunity to study the structure of this unusual slow non-radiative shock under a variety of conditions. CXO ACIS observations reveal an X-ray PWN within this nebula, with a compact ~2.5" equatorial structure and a trail extending several arcmin behind. Together these data support a close (<0.5kpc) distance, a spin geometry viewed edge-on and highly efficient gamma-ray production for this unusual, energetic pulsar.
We report the discovery of a Saturn-sized planet transiting a V = 11.3, K4 dwarf star every 3.9 d. WASP-29b has a mass of 0.24+/-0.02 M_Jup and a radius of 0.79+/-0.05 R_Jup, making it the smallest planet so far discovered by the WASP survey, and the exoplanet most similar in mass and radius to Saturn. The host star WASP-29 has an above-Solar metallicity and fits a possible correlation for Saturn-mass planets such that planets with higher-metallicity host stars have higher core masses and thus smaller radii.
The spectacular variability of microquasars has led to a long string of efforts in order to classify their observed behaviors in a few states. The progress made in the understanding of the Quasi-Periodic Oscillations observed in these objects now makes it possible to develop a new way to find order in their behavior, based on the theorized physical processes associated with these oscillations. This will also have the interest of reuniting microquasars in a single classification based on the physical processes at work and therefore independent of their specificities (mass, variation timescale, outburst history, etc.). This classification is aimed to be a tool to further our understanding of microquasars behavior and not to replace phenomenological states. We start by considering three instabilities that can cause accretion in the disk. We compare the conditions for their development, and the Quasi-Periodic Oscillations they can be expected to produce, with the spectral states in which these Quasi-Periodic Oscillations are observed and sometimes coexist. From the three instabilities that we proposed to explain the three states of GRS 1915+105 we actually found the theoretical existence of four states. We compared those four states with observations and also how those four states can be seen in a model-independent fashion. Those four state can be used to find an order in microquasar observations, based on the properties of the Quasi-Periodic Oscillations and the physics of the associated instabilities.
In this research note we analyze the role of convective overshooting on the production of s-nuclei in massive stars during their core He-burning phase. Using the "post-processing" technique, we explore the role of the convective overshooting on the production of s-nuclei in stellar models of different initial mass and metallicity ($15 \leq M_{ZAMS}/M_{\odot} \leq 25$; $10^{-4} \leq Z \leq 0.02$), considering a range of values for the parameter $f$ which determines the overall efficiency of convective overshooting. We find enhancements in the production of s-nuclei until a factor $\sim 6$ (measured as the average overproduction factor of the 6 s-only nuclear species with $60\lesssim A\lesssim90$) in all our models of different initial mass and metallicity having $f$ in the range $0.01-0.035$ (i.e. models with overshooting), compared to the production obtained with "no-overshooting" models (i.e. models having the same initial mass and metallicity but $f=10^{-5}$). Moreover the results indicate that the link between the overhooting parameter $f$ and the s-process efficiency is essentially monotonic in all our models of different initial mass and metallicity. Also evident is the higher s-process efficiency when, for a given f value, we progressively increase both the mass of the models from 15 M$_\odot$ to 25 M$_\odot$ and the Z value from 10$^{-4}$ to 0.02. The possible consequences of these results on some open questions linked to the s-process weak component efficiency, as well as a "rule of thumb" to evaluate the impact of the convective overshooting on the yields of a generation of stars, are also briefly discussed.
We have incorporated the oblate distortion of the shape of the star due to the stellar rotation, which modifies the finite disk correction factor (f_D) in the m-CAK hydrodynamical model. We implement a simplified version for the f_D allowing us to solve numerically the non-linear m- CAK momentum equation.We solve this model for a classical Be star in the polar and equatorial directions. The star's oblateness modifies the polar wind, which is now much faster than the spherical one, mainly because the wind receives radiation from a larger (than the spherical) stellar surface. In the equatorial direction we obtain slow solutions, which are even slower and denser than the spherical ones. For the case when the stellar rotational velocity is about the critical velocity, the most remarkable result of our calculations is that the density contrast between the equatorial density and the polar one, is about 100. This result could explain a long-standing problem on Be stars.
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a general purpose high energy particle detector which will be deployed on the International Space Station (ISS) at the end of 2010 - beginning of 2011 to conduct a unique 10 to 18 year mission of fundamental physics research in space. Among the physics objectives of AMS are a search for an understanding of Dark Matter, Antimatter, the origin of cosmic rays and the exploration of new physics phenomena not possible to study from ground based experiments. This article reviews the status of the AMS-02 detector construction, detector calibration results as well as AMS physics potential for new phenomena searches.
The line driven- and rotation modulated-wind theory predicts an alternative slow solution, besides from the standard m-CAK solution, when the rotational velocity is close to the critical velocity. We study the behaviour of the winds of A-type supergiants (Asg) and show that under particular conditions, e.g., when the \delta line-force parameter is about 0.25, the slow solution could exist over the whole star, even for the cases when the rotational speed is slow or zero. We discuss density and velocity profiles as well as possible observational counterparts.
An unusual Eddington-limited thermonuclear X-ray burst was detected from the accreting neutron star in 2S 0918-549 with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. The burst commenced with a brief (40 ms) precursor and maintained near-Eddington fluxes during the initial 77 s. These characteristics are indicative of a nova-like expulsion of a shell from the neutron star surface. Starting 122 s into the burst, the burst shows strong (87 +/- 1% peak-to-peak amplitude) achromatic fluctuations for 60 s. We speculate that the fluctuations are due to Thompson scattering by fully-ionized inhomogeneities in a resettling accretion disk that was disrupted by the effects of super-Eddington fluxes. An expanding shell may be the necessary prerequisite for the fluctuations.
We present time dependent modeling based on the accretion disk limit cycle model for a 270 d light curve of the short period SU UMa-type dwarf nova V344 Lyr taken by Kepler. The unprecedented precision and cadence (1 minute) far surpass that generally available for long term light curves. The data encompass two superoutbursts and 17 normal (i.e., short) outbursts. The main decay of the superoutbursts is nearly perfectly exponential, decaying at a rate ~12 d/mag, while the much more rapid decays of the normal outbursts exhibit a faster-than-exponential shape. Our modeling using the basic accretion disk limit cycle can produce the main features of the V344 Lyr light curve, including the peak outburst brightness. Nevertheless there are obvious deficiencies in our model light curves: (1) The rise times we calculate, both for the normal and superoutbursts, are too fast. (2) The superoutbursts are too short. (3) The shoulders on the rise to superoutburst have more structure than the shoulder in the observed superoutburst and are too slow, comprising about a third to half of the total viscous plateau, rather than the ~10% observed. However, one of the alpha_{cold} -> alpha_{hot} interpolation schemes we investigate (one that is physically motivated) does yield longer superoutbursts with suitably short, less structured shoulders.
We consider the evolution of primordial black holes by including non-stationarity in their formation process and accretion of radiation in Brans-Dicke theory. Specifically, we focus on how $\eta$, the fraction of the horizon mass the black hole comprises capturing non-stationarity, affects the lifetimes of these primordial black holes. Our calculation reveals that the primordial black hole dynamics is controlled by the product $f\eta$ where $f$ is the accretion efficiency. We also estimate the impact of $\eta$ through $f\eta$ on the primordial black holes' initial mass fraction constraint obtained from the $\gamma$-ray background limit.
We discuss the possible influence of a cosmic magnetic field on the macroscopic quantum tunneling process associated, in a cosmological context, to the decay of the "false vacuum." We find a close analogy with the effects of an external magnetic field applied to a Josephson junction in the context of low-temperature/high-temperature superconducting devices.
We derive analytic solutions for the potential and field in a one-dimensional system of masses or charges with periodic boundary conditions, in other words Ewald sums for one dimension. We also provide a set of tools for exploring the system evolution and show that it's possible to construct an efficient algorithm for carrying out simulations. In the cosmological setting we show that two approaches for satisfying periodic boundary conditions, one overly specified and the other completely general, provide a nearly identical clustering evolution until the number of clusters becomes small, at which time the influence of any size-dependent boundary cannot be ignored. Finally we compare the results with other recent work with the hope of providing clarification over differences these issues have induced. We explain that modern formulations of physics require a well defined potential which is not available if the forces are screened directly.
If the present dark matter in the Universe annihilates into Standard Model particles, it must contribute to the fluxes of cosmic rays that are detected on the Earth, and in particular, to the observed gamma ray fluxes. The magnitude of such contribution depends on the particular dark matter candidate, but certain features of the produced photon spectra may be analyzed in a rather model-independent fashion. In this work we provide the complete photon spectra coming from WIMP annihilation into Standard Model particle-antiparticle pairs obtained by extensive Monte Carlo simulations. We present results for each individual annihilation channel and provide analytical fitting formulae for the different spectra for a wide range of WIMP masses.
In this paper we consider Chameleonic Generalized Brans--Dicke Cosmology in the framework of FRW universes. The bouncing solution and phantom crossing is investigated for the model. Two independent cosmological tests: Cosmological Redshift Drift (CRD) and distance modulus are applied to test the model with the observation.
Here, I discuss the cosmological constant (CC) problems, in particular paying attention to the vanishing cosmological constant. There are three cosmological constant problems in particle physics. Hawking's idea of calculating the probability amplitude for our Universe is peaked at CC = 0 which I try to obtain after the initial inflationary period using a self-tuning model. I review what has been discussed on the Hawking type calculation, and present a (probably) correct way to calculate the amplitude, and show that the Kim-Kyae-Lee self-tuning model allows a finite range of parameters for the CC = 0 to have a singularly large probability, approached from the AdS side.
In this paper we extend our previous works on spherically symmetric accretion onto black holes and super-spinars to the case in which the fluid has a finite angular momentum initially. We run 2.5D and 3D general relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of the accretion of a fat disk. We study how the accretion process changes by changing the values of the parameters of our model. We show that the value of the fluid angular momentum critically determines turn-on and off the production of powerful equatorial outflows around super-spinars. For corotating disks, equatorial outflows are efficiently generated, even for relatively low spin parameters or relatively large super-spinar radii. For counterrotating disks, equatorial outflows are instead significantly suppressed, and they are possible only in limited cases. We also study accretion around a tilted disk.
We propose a cosmological model in the framework of the Poincare gauge theory of gravity (PG). The gravitational Lagrangian is quadratic in curvature and torsion. In our specific model, the Lagrangian contains (i) the curvature scalar W and the curvature pseudo-scalar X linearly and quadratically (including a WX-term) and (ii) pieces quadratic in the torsion vector T and the torsion axial} vector A (including a TA-term). We show generally that in quadratic PG models we have nearly the same number of parity conserving terms (`world') and of parity violating terms (`shadow world'). This offers new perspectives in cosmology for the coupling of gravity to matter and antimatter. Our specific model generalizes the fairly realistic `torsion cosmologies' of Shie-Nester-Yo (2008) and Chen et al. (2009). With a Friedman type ansatz for an orthonormal coframe and a Lorentz connection, we derive the two field equations of PG in an explicit form and discuss their general structure in detail. In particular, the second field equation can be reduced to first order ordinary differential equations for the curvature pieces W(t) and X(t). Including these along with certain relations obtained from the first field equation and curvature definitions, we present a first order system of equations suitable for numerical evolution. This is deferred to the second, numerical part of this paper.
Cosmologists such Sakharov, Alfv\'en, Klein, Weizs\"acker, Gamow and Harrison all disregarded the distribution of baryons and antibaryons immediately prior to freeze-out in trying to elucidate the circumstances that explained hadron distribution in the early universe. They simply accepted a uniform distribution: each baryon paired with an antibaryon. Their acceptance of this assumption resulted in theoretical difficulties that could not be overcome. This essay discards this assumption of homogeneity or uniformity. Although this essay does deal with early-universe matters, it is not meant to indicate any involvement in energy distribution functions nor in any symmetry-asymmetry controversies. Cluster formation is strictly geometric. This essay has value as far as problems early cosmologists faced but also should complete the historic record.
The Virgo detector is a kilometer-length interferometer for gravitational wave detection located near Pisa (Italy). During its second science run (VSR2) in 2009, six months of data were accumulated with a sensitivity close to its design. In this paper, the methods used to determine the parameters for sensitivity estimation and gravitational wave reconstruction are described. The main quantities to be calibrated are the frequency response of the mirror actuation and the sensing of the output power. Focus is also put on their absolute timing. The monitoring of the calibration data as well as the parameter estimation with independent techniques are discussed to provide an estimation of the calibration uncertainties. Finally, the estimation of the Virgo sensitivity in the frequency-domain is described and typical sensitivities measured during VSR2 are shown.
We identify models of supersymmetric hybrid inflation in which the tensor-to-scalar ratio, a canonical measure of gravity waves produced during inflation, can be as large as 0.03 or so, which will be tested by the Planck satellite experiment. The scalar spectral index lies within the WMAP one sigma bounds, while $|d n_s / d\ln k| \lesssim 0.01$.
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The tenth part of the OGLE-III Catalog of Variable Stars contains 125 Double
Periodic Variables (DPVs) from the Large Magellanic Cloud. DPVs are
semi-detached binaries which show additional variability with a period around
33 times longer than the orbital period. The cause of this long cycle is not
known and previous studies suggest it involves circumbinary matter.
We discuss the properties of the whole sample of the LMC DPVs and put more
attention to particularly interesting objects which may be crucial for
verifying hypothesis explaining long cycle variability. Secondary eclipses of
one of the objects disappear during some orbital cycles and primary eclipses
are deeper during long cycle minimum.
Type-IIn supernovae (SNe), which are characterized by strong interaction of their ejecta with the surrounding circumstellar matter (CSM), provide a unique opportunity to study the mass-loss history of massive stars shortly before their explosive death. We present the discovery and follow-up observations of a Type IIn SN, PTF 09uj, detected by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). Serendipitous observations by GALEX at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths detected the rise of the SN light curve prior to the PTF discovery. The UV light curve of the SN rose fast, with a time scale of a few days, to a UV absolute AB magnitude of about -19.5. Modeling our observations, we suggest that the fast rise of the UV light curve is due to the breakout of the SN shock through the dense CSM (n~10^10 cm^-3). Furthermore, we find that prior to the explosion the progenitor went through a phase of high mass-loss rate (~0.1 solar mass per year) that lasted for a few years. The decay rate of this SN was fast relative to that of other SNe IIn.
We highlight how the mass-radius relation of cluster-forming cores combined with an external tidal field can influence infant weight-loss and disruption likelihood of clusters after gas expulsion. Specifically, we study how the relation between the bound fraction of stars staying in clusters at the end of violent relaxation and the cluster-forming core mass is affected by the slope and normalization of the core mass-radius relation. Assuming mass-independent star formation efficiency and gas-expulsion time-scale $\tau_{GExp}/\tau_{cross}$ and a given external tidal field, it is found that constant surface density cores and constant radius cores have the potential to lead to the preferential removal of high- and low-mass clusters, respectively. In contrast, constant volume density cores result in mass-independent cluster infant weight-loss, as suggested by observations. Our modelling includes predictions about the evolution of high-mass cluster-forming cores, a regime not yet covered by the observations. An overview of various issues directly affected by the nature of the core mass-radius relation is presented (e.g. cluster mass function, galaxy star formation histories, globular cluster self-enrichment). Finally, we emphasize that observational mass-radius data-sets of dense gas regions must be handled with caution as they may be the imprint of the molecular tracer used to map them, rather than reflecting cluster formation conditions. [Abridged]
The possibility is explored that accretion on an intermediate mass black hole contributes to the ionisation of the interstellar medium of the Compact Blue Dwarf galaxy MRK996. Chandra observations set tight upper limits (99.7 per cent confidence level) in both the X-ray luminosity of the posited AGN, Lx(2-10keV)<3e40erg/s, and the black hole mass, <1e4/\lambda Msolar, where \lambda, is the Eddington ratio. The X-ray luminosity upper limit is insufficient to explain the high ionisation line [OIV]25.89\mu m, which is observed in the mid-infrared spectrum of the MRK996 and is proposed as evidence for AGN activity. This indicates that shocks associated with supernovae explosions and winds of young stars must be responsible for this line. It is also found that the properties of the diffuse X-ray emission of MRK996 are consistent with this scenario, thereby providing direct evidence for shocks that heat the galaxy's interstellar medium and contribute to its ionisation.
The existence of stable magnetic configurations in white dwarfs, neutron stars and various non-convective stellar {regions} is now well recognized. It has recently been shown numerically that various families of equilibria, including axisymmetric mixed poloidal-toroidal configurations, are stable. Here we test the stability of an analytically-derived non force-free magnetic equilibrium, using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations: the mixed configuration is compared with the dynamical evolution of its purely poloidal and purely toroidal components, both known to be unstable. The mixed equilibrium shows no sign of instability under white noise perturbations. {This configuration therefore provides a good description of magnetic equilibrium topology inside non-convective stellar objects and will be useful to initialize magneto-rotational transport in stellar evolution codes.
We use data from the Herschel-ATLAS to investigate the evolution of the
far-infrared--radio correlation over the redshift range 0<z<0.5. Using the
total far-infrared luminosity of all >5sigma sources in the Herschel-ATLAS
Science Demonstration Field and cross-matching these data with radio data from
the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimetres (FIRST) survey and the
NRAO VLA Northern Sky Survey (NVSS), we obtain 104 radio counterparts to the
Herschel sources. With these data we find no evidence for evolution in the
far-infrared--radio correlation over the redshift range 0<z<0.5, where the
median value for the ratio between far-infrared and radio luminosity, $q_{\rm
IR}$, over this range is $q_{\rm IR} = 2.40\pm 0.12$ (and a mean of $q_{\rm
IR}=2.52 \pm 0.03$ accounting for the lower limits), consistent with both the
local value determined from {\em IRAS} and values derived from surveys
targeting the high-redshift Universe. By comparing the radio fluxes of our
sample measured from both FIRST and NVSS we show that previous results
suggesting an increase in the value of $q_{\rm IR}$ from high to low redshift
may be the result of resolving out extended emission of the low-redshift
sources with relatively high-resolution interferometric data, although AGN
contamination could still play a significant role.
We also find tentative evidence that the longer wavelength, cooler dust is
heated by an evolved stellar population which does not trace the star-formation
rate as closely as the shorter wavelength $\ltsim 250~\mu$m emission or the
radio emission, supporting suggestions based on detailed models of individual
galaxies.
Three years ago, the report of a solitary radio burst was thought to be the first discovery of a rare, impulsive event of unknown extragalactic origin (Lorimer et al. 2007). The extragalactic interpretation was based on the swept-frequency nature of the event, which followed the dispersive delay expected from an extragalactic pulse. We report here on the detection of 16 pulses, the bulk of which exhibit a frequency sweep with a shape and magnitude resembling the Lorimer Burst. These new events were detected in a sidelobe of the Parkes Telescope and are of clearly terrestrial origin, with properties unlike any known sources of terrestrial broad-band radio emission. The new detections cast doubt on the extragalactic interpretation of the original burst, and call for further sophistication in radio-pulse survey techniques to identify the origin of the anomalous terrestrial signals and definitively distinguish future extragalactic pulse detections from local signals. The ambiguous origin of these seemingly dispersed, swept-frequency signals suggest that radio-pulse searches using multiple detectors will be the only experiments able to provide definitive information about the origin of new swept-frequency radio burst detections.
We present the first detailed classification of the structures of Class 0 cores in a high resolution simulation of a giant molecular cloud. The simulated cloud contains 10^4 solar masses and produces over 350 cores which allows for meaningful statistics. Cores are classified into three types according to how much they depart from spherical symmetry. We find that three quarters of the cores are better described as irregular filaments than as spheres. Recent Herschel results have shown that cores are formed within a network of filaments, which we find has had a significant impact on the resulting core geometries. We show that the column densities and ram pressure seen by the protostar are not uniform and generally peak along the axes of the filament. The angular momentum vector of the material in the cores varies both in magnitude and direction, which will cause the rotation vector of the central source to fluctuate during the collapse of the core. In the case of the more massive stars, accretion from the environment outside the original core volume is even more important than that from the core itself. This additional gas is primarily accreted onto the cores along the dense filaments in which the cores are embedded, and the sections of the surfaces of the cores which do not coincide with a filament have very little additional material passing through them. The assumption of spherical symmetry cannot be applied to the majority of collapsing cores, and is never a good description of how stars accrete gas from outside the original core radius. This has ramifications for our understanding of collapsing cores, in particular their line profiles, the effect of radiation upon them and their ability to fragment.
Analyzing simulated EAS events generated with the CORSIKA code, the characteristics of lateral distribution of electrons in EAS around the knee energy region of the primary energy spectrum have been studied and compared with experimental observations. The differences between the EGS4 and the NKG output of CORSIKA in respect to electron radial density distribution have been investigated. The relation between lateral and longitudinal age parameters has been studied after introducing the notion of the local age parameter that reflects the profile of the lateral distribution of electrons in EAS. The present analysis motivates the inclusion of the lateral shower age in a multiparameter study of EAS to extract information on hadronic interactions and primary composition.
The Mount Wilson Ca HK survey revealed magnetic activity variations in a large sample of solar-type stars with timescales ranging from 2.5 to 25 years. This broad range of cycle periods is thought to reflect differences in the rotational properties and the depths of the surface convection zones for stars with various masses and ages. In 2007 we initiated a long-term monitoring campaign of Ca II H and K emission for a sample of 57 southern solar-type stars to measure their magnetic activity cycles and their rotational properties when possible. We report the discovery of a 1.6-year magnetic activity cycle in the exoplanet host star iota Horologii, and we obtain an estimate of the rotation period that is consistent with Hyades membership. Future asteroseismic observations can be compared to those obtained near the magnetic minimum in 2006 to search for cycle-induced shifts in the oscillation frequencies. If such short activity cycles are common in F stars, then NASA's Kepler mission should observe their effects in many of its long-term asteroseismic targets.
The common-envelope (CE) phase is an important stage in the evolution of binary stellar populations. The most common way to compute the change in orbital period during a CE is to relate the binding energy of the envelope of the Roche-lobe filling giant to the change in orbital energy. Especially in population-synthesis codes, where the evolution of millions of stars must be computed and detailed evolutionary models are too expensive computationally, simple approximations are made for the envelope binding energy. In this study, we present accurate analytic prescriptions based on detailed stellar-evolution models that provide the envelope binding energy for giants with metallicities between Z = 10-4 and Z = 0.03 and masses between 0.8 Msun and 100 Msun, as a function of the metallicity, mass, radius and evolutionary phase of the star. Our results are also presented in the form of electronic data tables and Fortran routines that use them. We find that the accuracy of our fits is better than 15% for 90% of our model data points in all cases, and better than 10% for 90% of our data points in all cases except the asymptotic giant branches for three of the six metallicities we consider. For very massive stars (M > 50 Msun), when stars lose more than ~20% of their initial mass due to stellar winds, our fits do not describe the models as accurately. Our results are more widely applicable - covering wider ranges of metallicity and mass - and are of higher accuracy than those of previous studies.
We describe a new inquiry design aimed at teaching advanced high-school to senior college students the basics of stellar populations. The inquiry is designed to have students come up with their own version of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram as a tool to understand how stars evolve based on their color, mass, and luminosity. The inquiry makes use of pictures and spectra of stars, which the students analyze and interpret to answer the questions they come up with at the beginning. The students undergo a similar experience to real astronomers, using the same tools and methods to figure out the phenomena they are trying to understand. Specifically, they use images and spectra of stars, and organize the data via tables and plots to find trends that will then enable them to answer their questions. The inquiry also includes a "thinking tool" to help connect the trends students observe to the larger picture of stellar evolution. We include a description of the goals of the inquiry, the activity description, the motivations and thoughts that went into the design of the inquiry, and reflections on how the inquiry activity worked in practice.
We report on a dusty Mg~II absorber associated with the quasar SDSSJ003545.13+011441.2 (hereafter J0035+0114) at $z$=1.5501, which is the strongest one among the three Mg~II absorbers along the sight line of quasar. The two low redshift intervening absorbers are at $z$=0.7436, 0.5436, respectively. Based on the photometric and spectroscopic data of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (hereafter SDSS), we infer the rest frame color excess E(\bv) due to the associated dust is more than 0.07 by assuming a Small Magellanic Cloud (hereafter SMC) type extinction curve. Our follow-up moderate resolution spectroscopic observation at the 10-m Keck telescope with the ESI spectrometer enable us to reliably identify most of the important metal elements, such as Zn, Fe, Mn, Mg, Al, Si, Cr, and Ni in the associated system. We measure the column density of each species and detect significant dust depletion. In addition, we develop a simulation technique to gauge the significance of 2175-{\AA} dust absorption bump on the SDSS quasar spectra. By using it, we analyze the SDSS spectrum of J0035+0114 for the presence of a associated 2175-{\AA} extinction feature and report a tentative detection at $\sim$2$\sigma$ significant level.
We present the column densities of heavy-elements and dust depletion studies in twostrong Mg~II absorption systems at $z\sim1.4$ displaying the 2175-{\AA} dust extinction feature. Column densities are measured from low-ionization absorption lines using Apparent Optical Depth Method on the Keck/ESI spectra. We find the dust depletion patterns resemble to that of cold diffuse clouds in the Milky Way (MW). The values, [Fe/Zn]$\approx -1.5$ and [Si/Zn]$<-0.67$, are among the highest dust depletion measured for quasar absorption line systems. In another 2175-{\AA} absorber at $z$=1.64 toward the quasar SDSS J160457.50+220300.5, Noterdaeme et al. (2009) reported a similar dust depletion measurement ([Fe/Zn]=$-1.47$ and [Si/Zn]=$-1.07$) and detected C~I and CO absorption lineson its VLT/UVES spectrum. We conclude that heavy dust depletion (i.e. a characteristic of cold dense clouds in MW) is required to produce a pronounced 2175-{\AA} extinction bump.
We present interferometric observations of the Be star Zeta Tau obtained using the MIRC beam combiner at the CHARA Array. We resolved the disk during four epochs in 2007-2009. We fit the data with a geometric model to characterize the circumstellar disk as a skewed elliptical Gaussian and the central Be star as a uniform disk. The visibilities reveal a nearly edge-on disk with a FWHM major axis of ~ 1.8 mas in the H-band. The non-zero closure phases indicate an asymmetry within the disk. Interestingly, when combining our results with previously published interferometric observations of Zeta Tau, we find a correlation between the position angle of the disk and the spectroscopic V/R ratio, suggesting that the tilt of the disk is precessing. This work is part of a multi-year monitoring campaign to investigate the development and outward motion of asymmetric structures in the disks of Be stars.
The most massive neutron stars constrain the behavior of ultra-dense matter, with larger masses possible only for increasingly stiff equations of state. Here, we present evidence that the black widow pulsar, PSR B1957+20, has a high mass. We took spectra of its strongly irradiated companion and found an observed radial-velocity amplitude of K_obs=324+/-3 km/s. Correcting this for the fact that, due to the irradiation, the center of light lies inward relative to the center of mass, we infer a true radial-velocity amplitude of K_2=353+/-4 km/s and a mass ratio q=M_PSR/M_2=69.2+/-0.8. Combined with the inclination i=65+/-2 deg inferred from models of the lightcurve, our best-fit pulsar mass is M_PSR=2.40+/-0.12 M_sun. We discuss possible systematic uncertainties, in particular in the lightcurve modeling. Taking an upper limit of i<85 deg based on the absence of radio eclipses at high frequency, combined with a conservative lower-limit to the motion of the center of mass, K_2>343 km/s (q>67.3), we infer a lower limit to the pulsar mass of M_PSR>1.66 M_sun.
Determination of whether the Harrison--Zel'dovich spectrum for primordial scalar perturbations is consistent with observations is sensitive to assumptions about the reionization scenario. In light of this result, we revisit constraints on inflationary models using more general reionization scenarios. While the bounds on the tensor-to-scalar ratio are largely unmodified, when different reionization schemes are addressed, hybrid models are back into the inflationary game. In the general reionization picture, we reconstruct both the shape and amplitude of the inflaton potential. We find a broader spectrum of potential shapes when relaxing the simple reionization restriction. An upper limit of $10^{16}$ GeV to the amplitude of the potential is found, regardless of the assumptions on the reionization history.
Based on the recent very deep near-infrared imaging of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field with WFC3 on the Hubble Space Telescope, five groups published most probable samples of galaxies at z~8, selected by the so-called dropout method or photometric redshift; e.g., Y_105-dropouts (Y_105-J_125 > 0.8). These studies are highly useful for investigating both the early star formation history of galaxies and the sources of cosmic re-ionization. In order to better understand these issues, we carefully examine if there are low-$z$ interlopers in the samples of z~8 galaxy candidates. We focus on the strong emission-line galaxies at z~2 in this paper. Such galaxies may be selected as Y_105-dropouts since the [OIII] lambda 5007 emission line is redshifted into the J_125-band. We have found that the contamination from such low-$z$ interlopers is negligibly small. Therefore, all objects found by the five groups are free from this type of contamination. However, it remains difficult to extract real z~8 galaxies because all the sources are very faint and the different groups have found different candidates. With this in mind, we construct a robust sample of eight galaxies at z~8 from the objects found by the five groups: each of these 8 objects has been selected by at least two groups. Using this sample, we discuss their UV continuum slope. We also discuss the escape fraction of ionizing photons adopting various metallicities. Our analysis suggests that massive stars forming in low-metallicity gas (Z~5 \times 10^-4 Z_sun) can be responsible for the completion of cosmic re-ionization if the escape fraction of ionizing continuum from galaxies is as large as 0.5, and this is consistent with the observed blue UV continua.
Simulations estimating the differential brightness temperature of the redshifted 21-cm from the epoch of reionization (EoR) often assume that the spin temperature is decoupled from the background CMB temperature and is much larger than it. Although a valid assumption towards the latter stages of the reionization process, it does not necessarily hold at the earlier epochs. Violation of this assumption will lead to fluctuations in differential brightness temperature that are neither driven by density fluctuations nor by HII regions. Therefore, it is vital to calculate the spin temperature self-consistently by treating the Lyman-alpha and collisional coupling of spin temperature to the kinetic temperature. In this paper we develop an extension to the BEARS algorithm, originally developed to model reionization history, to include these coupling effects. Here we simulate the effect in ionization and heating for three models in which the reionization is driven by stars, miniqsos or a mixture of both.We also perform a number of statistical tests to quantify the imprint of the self-consistent inclusion of the spin temperature decoupling from the CMB. We find that the evolution of the spin temperature has an impact on the measured signal specially at redshifts higher than 10 and such evolution should be taken into account when one attempts to interpret the observational data.
A basic aim of ongoing and upcoming cosmological surveys is to unravel the mystery of dark energy. In the absence of a compelling theory to test, a natural approach is to better characterize the properties of dark energy in search of clues that can lead to a more fundamental understanding. One way to view this characterization is the improved determination of the redshift-dependence of the dark energy equation of state parameter, w(z). To do this requires a robust and bias-free method for reconstructing w(z) from data that does not rely on restrictive expansion schemes or assumed functional forms for w(z). We present a new nonparametric reconstruction method that solves for w(z) as a statistical inverse problem, based on a Gaussian Process representation. This method reliably captures nontrivial behavior of w(z) and provides controlled error bounds. We demonstrate the power of the method on different sets of simulated supernova data; the approach can be easily extended to include diverse cosmological probes.
As an extension of the project in Kato et al. (2009, arXiv:0905.1757), we collected times of superhump maxima for 61 SU UMa-type dwarf novae mainly observed during the 2009-2010 season. The newly obtained data confirmed the basic findings reported in Kato et al. (2009): the presence of stages A-C, as well as the predominance of positive period derivatives during stage B in systems with superhump periods shorter than 0.07 d. There was a systematic difference in period derivatives for systems with superhump periods longer than 0.075 d between this study and Kato et al. (2009). We suggest that this difference is possibly caused by the relative lack of frequently outbursting SU UMa-type dwarf novae in this period regime in the present study. We recorded a strong beat phenomenon during the 2009 superoutburst of IY UMa. The close correlation between the beat period and superhump period suggests that the changing angular velocity of the apsidal motion of the elliptical disk is responsible for the variation of superhump periods. We also described three new WZ Sge-type objects with established early superhumps and one with likely early superhumps. We also suggest that two systems, VX For and EL UMa, are WZ Sge-type dwarf novae with multiple rebrightenings. The O-C variation in OT J213806.6+261957 suggests that the frequent absence of rebrightenings in very short-Porb objects can be a result of sustained superoutburst plateau at the epoch when usual SU UMa-type dwarf novae return to quiescence preceding a rebrightening. We also present a formulation for a variety of Bayesian extension to traditional period analyses.
Diffusive shock acceleration at collisionless shocks is thought to be the source of many of the energetic particles observed in space. Large-scale spatial variations of the magnetic field has been shown to be important in understanding observations. The effects are complex, so here we consider a simple, illustrative model. Here, we solve numerically the Parker transport equation for a shock in the presence of large-scale sinusoidal magnetic-field variations. We demonstrate that the familiar planar-shock results can be significantly altered as a consequence of large-scale, meandering magnetic lines of force. Because perpendicular diffusion coefficient $\kappa_\perp$ is generally much smaller than parallel diffusion coefficient $\kappa_\parallel$, the energetic charged particles are trapped and preferentially accelerated along the shock front in the regions where the connection points of magnetic field lines intersecting the shock surface converge, and thus create the "hot spots" of the accelerated particles. For the regions where the connection points separate from each other, the acceleration to high energies will be suppressed. Further, the particles diffuse away from the "hot spot" regions and modify the spectra of downstream particle distribution. These features are qualitatively similar to the recent Voyager's observation in the Heliosheath. These results are potentially important for particle acceleration at shocks propagating in turbulent magnetized plasmas as well as those which contain large-scale nonplanar structures. Examples include anomalous cosmic rays accelerated by the solar wind termination shock, energetic particles observed in propagating heliospheric shocks, and galactic cosmic rays accelerated by supernova blast waves, etc.
The particle production process is reviewed, through which cosmic inflation can produce a scale invariant superhorizon spectrum of perturbations of suitable fields starting from their quantum fluctuations. Afterwards, in the context of the inflationary paradigm, a number of mechanisms (e.g. curvaton, inhomogeneous reheating etc.) through which such perturbations can source the curvature perturbation in the Universe and explain the formation of structures such as galaxies are briefly described. Finally, the possibility that cosmic vector fields also contribute to the curvature perturbation (e.g. through the vector curvaton mechanism) is considered and its distinct observational signatures are discussed, such as correlated statistical anisotropy in the spectrum and bispectrum of the curvature perturbation.
As Lyman-alpha photons are scattered by neutral hydrogen, a change with redshift in the Lyman-alpha equivalent width distribution of distant galaxies offers a promising probe of the degree of ionization in the intergalactic medium and hence when cosmic reionization ended. This simple test is complicated by the fact that Lyman-alpha emission can also be affected by the evolving astrophysical details of the host galaxies. In the first paper in this series, we demonstrated both a luminosity and redshift dependent trend in the fraction of Lyman-alpha emitters seen within color-selected Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) over the range 3<z<6; lower luminosity galaxies and those at higher redshift show an increased likelihood of strong emission. Here we present the results from much deeper 12.5 hour exposures with the Keck DEIMOS spectrograph focused primarily on LBGs at z~6 which enable us to confirm the redshift dependence of line emission more robustly and to higher redshift than was hitherto possible. We find 54+/-11% of faint z~6 LBGs show strong (W_0>25 A) emission, an increase of 1.6x from a similar sample observed at z~4. With a total sample of 74 z~6 LBGs, we determine the luminosity-dependent Lyman-alpha equivalent width distribution. Assuming continuity in these trends to the new population of z~7 sources located with the Hubble WFC3/IR camera, we predict that unless the neutral fraction rises in the intervening 200 Myr, the success rate for spectroscopic confirmation using Lyman-alpha emission should be high.
We present VLT spectroscopy and NTT photometry of the faint cataclysmic binary SDSS J003941.06+005427.5. This object shows triple-peaked H-alpha emission with all three peaks variable in both strength and velocity. We measure an orbital period of 91.395 +/- 0.093 min from the velocity variations of the wings of the H-alpha emission line. Using the GALEX and SDSS photometry of this object, we determine a white dwarf temperature of 15000 K and a very late (>=L2) spectral type for the companion star. These measurements, plus the relatively long orbital period, suggest that SDSS J003941.06+005427.5 may be a post-bounce cataclysmic variable. Doppler maps of the H-alpha and He I 6678A emission features show an accretion disc with a non-uniform brightness and departures from Keplerian flow. The third emission peak is detected only in H-alpha and at a relatively low velocity amplitude of 202 +/- 3 km/s. We are unable to explain this emission as arising from either the white dwarf, the secondary star, or the accretion disc. We tentatively attribute this mysterious central peak to a coronal loop anchored at the secondary star. If confirmed, this would be the first example of a slingshot prominence in a CV with a low mass-transfer rate and/or a fully convective secondary star.
Thorough analysis of the multicolour CCD observations of the RRab-type variable, CZ Lacertae is presented. The observations were carried out in two consecutive observing seasons in 2004 and 2005 within the framework of the Konkoly Blazhko Survey of bright, northern, short-period RRab variables. The O-C variation of CZ Lac indicated that a significant period decrease took place just around the time of the CCD observations. Our data gave a unique opportunity to study the related changes in the pulsation and modulation properties of a Blazhko star in detail. Two different period components ($\approx$14.6 d and $\approx$18.6 d) of the Blazhko modulation were identified. Both modulation components had similar strength. The periods and amplitudes of the modulations changed significantly from the first season to the next, meanwhile, the mean pulsation amplitude slightly decreased. The modulation frequencies were in a 5:4 resonance ratio in the first observing season then the frequencies shifted in opposite directions, and their ratio was close to the 4:3 resonance in the next season. The interaction of the two modulations caused beating with a period of 74~d in the first season, which resembled the 4-yr-long cycle of the $\approx$40-d modulation of RR Lyr. The mean values of the global physical parameters and their changes with Blazhko phase of both modulation components were determined by the Inverse Photometric Method.
Context: The small radius and high density of CoRoT-7b implies that this transiting planet belongs to a different species than all transiting planets that have previously been found. Current models suggest that this is the first transiting rocky planet found outside the solar system. Given that the planet orbits a solar-like star at a distance of only 4.5 R*, it is expected that material from its surface is released which would then form an exosphere. AIMS: {Our aim is to constrain the properties of the exosphere by observing the planet in and out-of-transit. The detection of the exosphere of CoRoT-7b would for the first time allow to study the material originating from the surface of a rocky extrasolar planet. We survey the whole optical spectrum for any lines originating from the planet, particularly focusing on spectral-lines like those that have been detected in Mercury, and Io in our solar-system.} Methods: Given that it is expected that lines originating from the exosphere will be narrow, we observed CoRoT-7b at high-resolution with UVES on the VLT. By subtracting the two spectra from each other, we search for emission and absorption lines originating from the exosphere of CoRoT-7b. Results: In the first step we focus on Ca\,I, Ca\,II, Na, because these lines have been detected in Mercury. Since the S/N-ratio of the spectra is as high as 300, we derive firm upper limits in the range between 1.6E-18 and 3.2E-18 Wm-2. For CaO we find an upper limit of 1.0E-17 Wm-2. We also search for emission lines originating from the plasma torus fed by volcanic activity and derive upper limits for these lines as well. We finally search the whole spectrum for the presence of other lines originating from the planet. Conclusions: Except for CaO, the upper limits derived correspond to 2E-6 to 6E-6 L*. Our observations certainly rule out the extreme views of CoRoT-7b.
The pair-correlations between the positions of the six known planets in the exoplanetary system HD 10180 are studied. There are six non-trivial and almost equally spaced peaks. This demonstrates longer-ranged positional order between the orbits and suggests a seventh orbit at 0.92 AU that is consistent with these correlations.
We study the propagation of waves from the photosphere to the chromosphere of sunspots. From time series of cospatial Ca II H (including its line blends) intensity spectra and polarimetric spectra of Si I 1082.7 nm and He I 1083.0 nm we retrieve the line-of-sight velocity at several heights. The analysis of the phase difference and amplification spectra shows standing waves for frequencies below 4 mHz and propagating waves for higher frequencies, and allows us to infer the temperature and height where the lines are formed. Using these observational data, we have constructed a model of sunspot, and we have introduced the velocity measured with the photospheric Si I 1082.7 nm line as a driver. The numerically propagated wave pattern fits reasonably well with the observed using the lines formed at higher layers, and the simulations reproduce many of the observed features. The observed waves are slow MHD waves propagating longitudinally along field lines.
Fundamental constants are a cornerstone of our physical laws. Any constant varying in space and/or time would reflect the existence of an almost massless field that couples to matter. This will induce a violation of the universality of free fall. It is thus of utmost importance for our understanding of gravity and of the domain of validity of general relativity to test for their constancy. We thus detail the relations between the constants, the tests of the local position invariance and of the universality of free fall. We then review the main experimental and observational constraints that have been obtained from atomic clocks, the Oklo phenomenon, Solar system observations, meteorites dating, quasar absorption spectra, stellar physics, pulsar timing, the cosmic microwave background and big bang nucleosynthesis. At each step we describe the basics of each system, its dependence with respect to the constants, the known systematic effects and the most recent constraints that have been obtained. We then describe the main theoretical frameworks in which the low-energy constants may actually be varying and we focus on the unification mechanisms and the relations between the variation of different constants. To finish, we discuss the more speculative possibility of understanding their numerical values and the apparent fine-tuning that they confront us with.
Recent analyses of the fluctuations of the soft Diffuse X-ray Background (DXB) have provided indirect detection of a component consistent with the elusive Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM). In this work we use theoretical predictions obtained from hydrodynamical simulations to investigate the angular correlation properties of the WHIM in emission and assess the possibility of indirect detection with next-generation X-ray missions. Our results indicate that the angular correlation signal of the WHIM is generally weak but dominates the angular correlation function of the DXB outside virialized regions. Its indirect detection is possible but requires rather long exposure times [0.1-1] Ms, large (~1{\deg} x1{\deg}) fields of view and accurate subtraction of isotropic fore/background contributions, mostly contributed by Galactic emission. The angular correlation function of the WHIM is positive for {\theta} < 5' and provides limited information on its spatial distribution. A satisfactory characterization of the WHIM in 3D can be obtained through spatially resolved spectroscopy. 1 Ms long exposures with next generation detectors will allow to detect ~400 O VII+O VIII X-ray emission systems that we use to trace the spatial distribution of the WHIM. We predict that these observations will allow to estimate the WHIM correlation function with high statistical significance out to ~10 Mpc h^-1 and characterize its dynamical state through the analysis of redshift-space distortions. The detectable WHIM, which is typically associated with the outskirts of virialized regions rather than the filaments has a non-zero correlation function with slope {\gamma} = -1.7 \pm 0.1 and correlation length r0 = 4.0 \pm 0.1 Mpc h^-1 in the range r = [4.5, 12] Mpc h^-1. Redshift space distances can be measured to assess the dynamical properties of the gas, typically infalling onto large virialized structures.
The baryonic acoustic oscillations are features in the spatial distribution of the galaxies which, if observed at different epochs, probe the nature of the dark energy. In order to be able to measure the parameters of the dark energy equation of state to high precision, a huge sample of galaxies has to be used. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will survey the optical sky with 6 filters from 300nm and 1100nm, such that a catalog of galaxies with photometric redshifts will be available for dark energy studies. In this article, we will give a rough estimate of the impact of the photometric redshift uncertainties on the computation of the dark energy parameter through the reconstruction of the BAO scale from a simulated photometric catalog.
Earlier measurements of the masses and radii of the detached eclipsing binary V20 in the open cluster NGC 6791 were accurate enough to demonstrate that there are significant differences between current stellar models. Here we improve on those results and add measurements of two additional detached eclipsing binaries, the cluster members V18 and V80. The enlarged sample sets much tighter constraints on the properties of stellar models than has hitherto been possible, thereby improving both the accuracy and precision of the cluster age. We employed (i) high-resolution UVES spectroscopy of V18, V20 and V80 to determine their spectroscopic effective temperatures, [Fe/H] values, and spectroscopic orbital elements, and (ii) time-series photometry from the Nordic Optical Telescope to obtain the photometric elements. The masses and radii of the V18 and V20 components are found to high accuracy, with errors on the masses in the range 0.27-0.36% and errors on the radii in the range 0.61-0.92%. V80 is found to be magnetically active, and more observations are needed to determine its parameters accurately. The metallicity of NGC 6791 is measured from disentangled spectra of the binaries and a few single stars to be [Fe/H]= +0.29 \pm 0.03 (random) \pm 0.07 (systematic). The cluster reddening and apparent distance modulus are found to be E(B - V) = 0.160 \pm 0.025 and (m - M)V = 13.51 \pm 0.06 . A first model comparison shows that we can constrain the helium content of the NGC 6791 stars, and thus reach a more accurate age than previously possible. It may be possible to constrain additional parameters, in particular the C, N, and O abundances. This will be investigated in paper II.
Identification of gamma-ray-emitting Galactic sources is a long-standing problem in astrophysics. One such source, 1AGL J2022+4032, coincident with the interior of the radio shell of the supernova remnant Gamma Cygni (SNR G78.2+2.1) in the Cygnus Region, has recently been identified by Fermi as a gamma-ray pulsar, LAT PSR J2021+4026. We present long-term observations of 1AGL J2022+4032 with the AGILE gamma-ray telescope, measuring its flux and light curve. We compare the light curve of 1AGL J2022+4032 with that of 1AGL J2021+3652 (PSR J2021+3651), showing that the flux variability of 1AGL J2022+4032 appears to be greater than the level predicted from statistical and systematic effects and producing detailed simulations to estimate the probability of the apparent observed variability. We evaluate the possibility that the gamma-ray emission may be due to the superposition of two or more point sources, some of which may be variable, considering a number of possible counterparts. We consider the possibility of a nearby X-ray quiet microquasar contributing to the flux of 1AGL J2022+4032 to be more likely than the hypotheses of a background blazar or intrinsic gamma-ray variabilty of LAT PSR J2021+4026.
We present 27 binary lens candidates from OGLE-III Early Warning System database for the seasons 2006--2008. The candidates have been selected by visual light curves inspection. Our sample of binary lens events consists now of 78 stellar systems and 7 extrasolar planets of OGLE-III published elsewhere. Examining the distribution of stellar binaries we find that the number of systems per logarithmic mass ratio interval increases with mass ratio q, in contradiction with our previous findings. Stellar binaries belong to the region 0.03<q<1 and there is a gap between them and a separate population of planets.
We analyze uncertainties in the cosmic X-ray background measurements performed by the INTEGRAL observatory. We find that the most important effect limiting the accuracy of the measurements is related to the intrinsic background variation in detectors. Taking into account all of the uncertainties arising during the measurements we conclude that the X-ray background intensity obtained in the INTEGRAL observations is compatible with the historic X-ray background observations performed by the HEAO-1 satellite.
We present an Echelle+CCD, high S/N, high resolution (R = 20\,000) spectroscopic atlas of 108 well-known objects representative of the most common types of peculiar and variable stars. The wavelength interval extends from 4600 to 9400 Ang, and includes the RAVE, Gaia and HERMES wavelength ranges. Multi-epoch spectra are provided for the majority of observed stars. A total of 425 spectra of peculiar stars are presented, which have been collected during 56 observing nights between November 1998 and August 2002. The spectra are given in FITS format and heliocentric wavelengths, with accurate subtraction of both the sky background and the scattered light. Auxiliary material useful for custom applications (telluric dividers, spectro-photometric stars, flat-field tracings) is also provided. The atlas aims to provide a homogeneous database of the spectral appearance of stellar peculiarities, a tool useful both for classification purposes and inter-comparison studies. It could also serve the planning for and training of automated classification algorithms designed for RAVE, Gaia, HERMES and other large scale spectral surveys. The spectrum of XX Oph is discussed in some detail as an example of the content of the present atlas.
Directional detection is a promising search strategy to discover galactic Dark Matter. Taking advantage on the rotation of the Solar system around the Galactic center through the Dark Matter halo, it allows to show a direction dependence of WIMP events. Data of directional detectors are composed of energy and a 3D track for each recoiling nuclei. Here, we present a Bayesian analysis method dedicated to data from upcoming directional detectors. However, we focus only on the angular part of the event distribution, arguing that the energy part of the background distribution is unknown. Two different cases are considered: a positive or a null detection of Dark Matter. In the first scenario, we will present a map-based likelihood method allowing to recover the main incoming direction of the signal and its significance, thus proving its Galactic origin. In the second scenario, a new statistical method is proposed. It is based on an extended likelihood in order to set robust and competitive exclusion limits. This method has been compared to two other methods and has been shown to be optimal in any detector configurations. Eventually, prospects for the MIMAC project are presented in the case of a 10 kg CF4 detector with an exposition time of 3 years.
We study the nonlinear growth of kinetic gyroresonance instability of cosmic rays (CRs) induced by large scale compressible turbulence. This feedback of cosmic rays on turbulence was shown to induce an important scattering mechanism in addition to direct interaction with the compressible turbulence. The linear growth is bound to saturate due to the wave-particle interactions. By balancing increase of CR anisotropy via the large scale compression and its decrease via the wave-particle scattering, we find the steady state solutions. The nonlinear suppression due to the wave-particle scattering limit the energy range of CRs that can excite the instabilities and be scattered by the induced slab waves. The direct interaction with large scale compressible modes still appears to be the dominant mechanism for isotropization of high energy cosmic rays (> 100 GeV).
We demonstrate a new way of studying interplanetary magnetic field -- atomic alignment. Instead of sending thousands of space probes, atomic alignment allows magnetic mapping with any ground telescope facilities equipped with spectro-polarimeter. The polarization of spectral lines that are pumped by the anisotropic radiation from the sun is influenced by the magnetic alignment, which happens for weak magnetic field (<1G). As a result, the line polarization becomes an excellent tracer of the embedded magnetic field. The method is illustrated by the specific cases of Io and comet Halley that we consider. Magnetometer data from the Galileo mission Io flyby (2002) were used in order to construct the topology of the magnetic field around Jupiter. So as to the data from the vega mission comet Halley flyby(1986). A uniform density distribution of Na was considered and polarization at each point was then constructed. Both spatial and temporal variations of turbulent magnetic field can be traced with this technique as well. For remote regions like the the boundary with interstellar medium, atomic alignment provides a unique diagnostics of magnetic field, which is crucial for understanding the physical processes like the IBEX ribbons discovered recently.
We present multi-wavelength linear polarimetric observations for 44 stars of the NGC 1893 young open cluster region along with V-band polarimetric observations of stars of other four open clusters located between l ~160 to ~175 degree. We found evidence for the presence of two dust layers located at a distance of ~170 pc and ~360 pc. The dust layers produce a polarization Pv ~2.2%. It is evident from the clusters studied in the present work that, in the Galactic longitude range l ~160 to 175 degree and within the Galactic plane (|b| < 2 degree), the polarization angles remain almost constant, with a mean ~163 degree and a dispersion of 6 degree. The small dispersion in polarization angle could be due to the presence of uniform dust layer beyond 1 kpc. Present observations reveal that in case of NGC 1893, the foreground two dust layers, in addition to the intracluster medium, seems to be responsible for the polarization effects. It is also found that towards the direction of NGC 1893, the dust layer that exists between 2-3 kpc has a negligible contribution towards the total observed polarization. The weighted mean for percentage of polarization (Pmax) and the wavelength at maximum polarization ({\lambda}max) are found to be 2.59 \pm 0.02% and 0.55 \pm 0.01 \mum respectively. The estimated mean value of {\lambda}max indicates that the average size of the dust grains within the cluster is similar to that in the general interstellar medium. The spatial variation of the polarization is found to decrease towards the outer region of the cluster. In the present work, we support the notion, as already has been shown in previous studies, that polarimetry, in combination with (U-B)/(B-V) colour-colour diagram, is a useful tool for identifying non-members in a cluster.
We conduct 3D magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations in order to test the stability of the magnetic equilibrium configuration described by Duez & Mathis (2010). This analytically-derived configuration describes the lowest energy state for a given helicity in a stellar radiation zone. The necessity of taking into account the non force-free property of the large-scale, global field is here emphasized. We then show that this configuration is stable. It therefore provides a useful model to initialize the magnetic topology in upcoming MHD simulations and stellar evolution codes taking into account magneto-rotational transport processes.
Experiments are in progress to prepare for intensity interferometry with arrays of air Cherenkov telescopes. At the Bonneville Seabase site, near Salt Lake City, a testbed observatory has been set up with two 3-m air Cherenkov telescopes on a 23-m baseline. Cameras are being constructed, with control electronics for either off- or online analysis of the data. At the Lund Observatory (Sweden), in Technion (Israel) and at the University of Utah (USA), laboratory intensity interferometers simulating stellar observations have been set up and experiments are in progress, using various analog and digital correlators, reaching 1.4 ns time resolution, to analyze signals from pairs of laboratory telescopes.
We present simulations of magneto-acoustic wave propagation in a magnetic, plane-parallel stratified solar model atmosphere, employing the CO5BOLD-code. The tests are carried out for two models of the solar atmosphere, which are similar to the ones used by Cally (2007) and Schunker & Cally (2006). The two models differ only in the orientation of the magnetic field. A qualitative comparison shows good agreement between the numerical results and the results from ray theory. The tests are done in view of the application of the present numerical code for the computation of energy fluxes of propagating acoustic waves into a dynamically evolving magnetic solar atmosphere. For this, we consider waves with frequencies above the acoustic cut-off frequency.
Weak lensing surveys exploit measurements of galaxy ellipticities. These measurements are subject to errors which degrade the cosmological information that can be extracted from the surveys. Here we propose a way of using the galaxy data themselves to calibrate the measurement errors. In particular, the cosmic shear field, which causes the galaxies to appear elliptical, also changes their sizes and fluxes. Information about the sizes and fluxes of the galaxies can be added to the shape information to obtain more robust information about the cosmic shear field. The net result will be tighter constraints on cosmological parameters such as those which describe dark energy.
One prediction of particle acceleration in the supernova remnants in the magnetic wind of exploding Wolf Rayet and Red Super Giant stars is that the final spectrum is a composition of a spectrum $E^{-7/3}$ and a polar cap component of $E^{-2}$ at the source. This polar cap component contributes to the total energy content with only a few percent, but dominates the spectrum at higher energy. The sum of both components gives spectra which curve upwards. The upturn was predicted to occur always at the same rigidity. An additional component of cosmic rays from acceleration by supernovae exploding into the Inter-Stellar Medium (ISM) adds another component for Hydrogen and for Helium. After transport the predicted spectra $J(E)$ for the wind-SN cosmic rays are $E^{-8/3}$ and $E^{-7/3}$; the sum leads to an upturn from the steeper spectrum. An upturn has now been seen. Here, we test the observations against the predictions, and show that the observed properties are consistent with the predictions. Hydrogen can be shown to also have a noticeable wind-SN-component. The observation of the upturn in the heavy element spectra being compatible with the same rigidity for all heavy elements supports the magneto-rotational mechanism for these supernovae. This interpretation predicts the observed upturn to continue to curve upwards and approach the $E^{-7/3}$ spectrum. If confirmed, this would strengthen the case that supernovae of very massive stars with magnetic winds are important sources of Galactic cosmic rays.
Very few molecular species have been detected in circumstellar disks surrounding young stellar objects. We are carrying out an observational study of the chemistry of circumstellar disks surrounding T Tauri and Herbig Ae stars. First results of this study are presented in this note. We used the EMIR receivers recently installed at the IRAM 30m telescope to carry a sensitive search for molecular lines in the disks surrounding AB Aur, DM Tau, and LkCa 15. We detected lines of the molecules HCO+, CN, H2CO, SO, CS, and HCN toward AB Aur. In addition, we tentatively detected DCO+ and H2S lines. The line profiles suggest that the CN, HCN, H2CO, CS and SO lines arise in the disk. This makes it the first detection of SO in a circumstellar disk. We have unsuccessfully searched for SO toward DM Tau and LkCa 15, and for c-C3H2 toward AB Aur, DM Tau, and LkCa 15. Our upper limits show that contrary to all the molecular species observed so far, SO is not as abundant in DM Tau as it is in AB Aur. Our results demonstrate that the disk associated with AB Aur is rich in molecular species. Our chemical model shows that the detection of SO is consistent with that expected from a very young disk where the molecular adsorption onto grains does not yet dominate the chemistry.
Linear instability of two equilibrium configurations with either poloidal (I) or toroidal (II) dominant magnetic field components are studied in thin vertically-isothermal Keplerian discs. Solutions of the stability problem are found explicitly by asymptotic expansions in the small aspect ratio of the disc. In both equilibrium configurations the perturbations are decoupled into in-plane and vertical modes. For equilibria of type I those two modes are the Alfv\'en-Coriolis and sound waves, while for equilibria of type II they are the inertia-Coriolis and magnetosonic waves. Exact expressions for the growth rates as well as the number of unstable modes for type I equilibria are derived. Those are the discrete counterpart of the continuous infinite homogeneous cylinder magnetorotational (MRI) spectrum. The axisymmetric MRI is completely suppressed by large toroidal magnetic fields and leaves the system exclusively to the non-modal algebraic growth mechanism which occurs due to the rotation shear. This generates the inertia-Coriolis driven magnetosonic modes and leads to their non-resonant or resonant coupling that induces, respectively, the linear or quadratic in time growth of perturbations.
Sub milli-arcsecond imaging in the visible band will provide a new perspective in stellar astrophysics. Even though stellar intensity interferometry was abandoned more than 40 years ago, it is capable of imaging and thus accomplishing more than the measurement of stellar diameters as was previously thought. Various phase retrieval techniques can be used to reconstruct actual images provided a sufficient coverage of the interferometric plane is available. Planned large arrays of Air Cherenkov telescopes will provide thousands of simultaneously available baselines ranging from a few tens of meters to over a kilometer, thus making imaging possible with unprecedented angular resolution. Here we investigate the imaging capabilities of arrays such as CTA or AGIS used as Stellar Intensity Interferometry receivers. The study makes use of simulated data as could realistically be obtained from these arrays. A Cauchy-Riemann based phase recovery allows the reconstruction of images which can be compared to the pristine image for which the data were simulated. This is first done for uniform disk stars with different radii and corresponding to various exposure times, and we find that the uncertainty in reconstructing radii is a few percent after a few hours of exposure time. Finally, more complex images are considered, showing that imaging at the sub-milli-arc-second scale is possible.
We present two-dimensional simulations of wave propagation in a realistic, non-stationary model of the solar atmosphere. This model shows a granular velocity field and magnetic flux concentrations in the intergranular lanes similar to observed velocity and magnetic structures on the Sun and takes radiative transfer into account. We present three cases of magneto-acoustic wave propagation through the model atmosphere, where we focus on the interaction of different magneto-acoustic wave at the layer of similar sound and Alfv\'en speeds, which we call the equipartition layer. At this layer the acoustic and magnetic mode can exchange energy depending on the angle between the wave vector and the magnetic field vector. Our results show that above the equipartition layer and in all three cases the fast magnetic mode is refracted back into the solar atmosphere. Thus, the magnetic wave shows an evanescent behavior in the chromosphere. The acoustic mode, which travels along the magnetic field in the low plasma-$\beta$ regime, can be a direct consequence of an acoustic source within or outside the low-$\beta$ regime, or it can result from conversion of the magnetic mode, possibly from several such conversions when the wave travels across a series of equipartition layers.
We present K-band integral field spectroscopy of the bipolar post-AGB object IRAS 18276-1431 (OH 17.7-2.0) using SINFONI on the VLT. This allows us to image both the continuum and molecular features in this object from 1.95-2.45{\mu}m with a spatial resolution down to 70 mas and a spectral resolution of approx. 5000. We detect a range of H2 ro-vibrational emission lines which are consistent with shock excitation in regions of dense (approx. 10^7 cm^-3) gas with shock velocities in the range 25 - 30 km/s. The distribution of H2 emission in the bipolar lobes suggests that a fast wind is impinging on material in the cavity walls and tips. H2 emission is also seen along a line of sight close to the obscured star as well as in the equatorial region to either side of the stellar position which has the appearance of a ring with radius 0.3 arcsec. This latter feature may be radially cospatial with the boundary between the AGB and post-AGB winds. The first overtone 12^CO bandheads are observed longward of 2.29 {\mu}m with the v = 2-0 bandhead prominently in emission. The CO emission has the same spatial distribution as the K-band continuum and therefore originates from an unresolved central source close to the star. We interpret this as evidence for ongoing mass loss in this object. This conclusion is further supported by a rising K-band continuum indicating the presence of warm dust close to the star, possibly down to the condensation radius. The red-shifted scattered peak of the CO bandhead is used to estimate a dust velocity along the bipolar axis of 95 km/s for the collimated wind. This places a lower limit of approx. 125 yr on the age of the bipolar cavities, meaning that the collimated fast wind turned on very soon after the cessation of AGB mass loss.
Aims. We present the results of our detailed spectroscopic and photometric
analysis of two previously unknown < 1 M{_\sun} detached eclipsing binaries:
ASAS J045304-0700.4 and ASAS J082552-1622.8.
Methods. With the HIgh Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) on the Keck-I
telescope, we obtained spectra of both objects covering large fractions of
orbits of the systems. We also obtained V and I band photometry with the 1.0-m
Elizabeth telescope of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). The
orbital and physical parameters of the systems were derived with the PHOEBE and
JKTEBOP codes. We investigated the evolutionary status of both binaries with
several sets of widely-used isochrones.
Results. Our modelling indicates that (1) ASAS J045304-0700.4 is an old,
metal-poor, active system with component masses of M1 = 0.8452 \pm 0.0056
M$_\odot$, M2 = 0.8390 \pm 0.0056 M$_\odot$ and radii of R1 = 0.848 \pm 0.005
R$_\odot$ and R2 = 0.833 \pm 0.005 R$_\odot$, which places it at the end of the
Main Sequence evolution - a stage rarely observed for this type of stars. (2)
ASAS J082552-1622.8 is a metal-rich, active binary with component masses of M1
= 0.703 \pm 0.003 M$_\odot$, M2 = 0.687 \pm 0.003 M$_\odot$ and radii of R1 =
0.694(+0.007-0.011) R$_\odot$ and R2 = 0.699(+0.011-0.014) R$_\odot$. Both
systems show significant out-of-eclipse variations, probably owing to large,
cold spots. we also investigated the influence of a third light in the second
system.
The physical interpretation of spectro-interferometric data is strongly model-dependent. On one hand, models involving elaborate radiative transfer solvers are too time consuming in general to perform an automatic fitting procedure and derive astrophysical quantities and their related errors. On the other hand, using simple geometrical models does not give sufficient insights into the physics of the object. We propose to stand in between these two extreme approaches by using a physical but still simple parameterised model for the object under consideration. Based on this philosophy, we developed a numerical tool optimised for mid-infrared (mid-IR) interferometry, the fast ray-tracing algorithm for circumstellar structures (FRACS) which can be used as a stand-alone model, or as an aid for a more advanced physical description or even for elaborating observation strategies. FRACS is based on the ray-tracing technique without scattering, but supplemented with the use of quadtree meshes and the full symmetries of the axisymmetrical problem to significantly decrease the necessary computing time to obtain e.g. monochromatic images and visibilities. We applied FRACS in a theoretical study of the dusty circumstellar environments (CSEs) of B[e] supergiants (sgB[e]) in order to determine which information (physical parameters) can be retrieved from present mid-IR interferometry (flux and visibility). From a set of selected dusty CSE models typical of sgB[e] stars we show that together with the geometrical parameters (position angle, inclination, inner radius), the temperature structure (inner dust temperature and gradient) can be well constrained by the mid-IR data alone. Our results also indicate that the determination of the parameters characterising the CSE density structure is more challenging but, in some cases, upper limits as well as correlations on the parameters characterising the mass loss can be obtained. Good constraints for the sgB[e] central continuum emission (central star and inner gas emissions) can be obtained whenever its contribution to the total mid-IR flux is only as high as a few percents. Ray-tracing parameterised models such as FRACS are thus well adapted to prepare and/or interpret long wavelengths (from mid-IR to radio) observations at present (e.g. VLTI/MIDI) and near-future (e.g. VLTI/MATISSE, ALMA) interferometers.
We analyse a large sample of galactic planetary nebulae based on their chemical composition and morphology. A recent morphological classification system is adopted, and several elements are considered, namely He, N, O, S, Ar, Ne, and C in order to investigate the correlations involving these elements and the different PN types. Special emphasis is given to the differences between symmetric (round or elliptical) nebulae and those that present some degree of asymmetry (bipolars or bipolar core objects). The results are compared with previous findings both for PN in the Galaxy and in the Magellanic Clouds.
We extend our modeling of the ionization structure of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) accretion-disk winds, previously applied to Seyfert galaxies, to a population of quasi-stellar-objects (QSOs) of much lower X-ray-to-UV flux ratios, i.e. smaller $\alpha_{\rm ox}$ index, motivated by UV/X-ray ionized absorbers with extremely high outflow velocities in UV-luminous QSOs. We demonstrate that magnetically-driven winds ionized by a spectrum with $\alpha_{\rm ox} \simeq -2$ can produce the charge states responsible for \civ ~and \fexxv/\fexxvi ~absorption in wind regions with corresponding maximum velocities of $v$(\civ) $\lsim 0.1c$ and $v({\rm \fexxv}) \lsim 0.6 c$ (where $c$ is the speed of light) and column densities $N_H \sim 10^{23}-10^{24}$ cm$^{-2}$, in general agreement with observations. In contrast to the conventional radiation-driven wind models, {\it high-velocity flows are always present in our MHD-driven winds} but manifest in the absorption spectra only for $\alpha_{\rm ox} \lsim -2$, as larger $\alpha_{\rm ox}$ values ionize the wind completely out to radii too large to demonstrate the presence of these high velocities. We thus predict increasing velocities of these ionized absorbers with decreasing (steeper) $\alpha_{\rm ox}$, a quantity that emerges as the defining parameter in the kinematics of the AGN UV/X-ray absorbers.
Recent numerical simulations of sunspots suggest that overturning convection is responsible for the existence of penumbral filaments and the Evershed flow, but there is little observational evidence of this process. Here we carry out a spectroscopic search for small-scale convective motions in the penumbra of a sunspot located 5 deg away from the disk center. The position of the spot is very favorable for the detection of overturning downflows at the edges of penumbral filaments. Our analysis is based on measurements of the Fe I 709.0 nm line taken with the Littrow spectrograph of the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope under excellent seeing conditions. We compute line bisectors at different intensity levels and derive Doppler velocities from them. The velocities are calibrated using a nearby telluric line, with systematic errors smaller than 150 m/s. Deep in the photosphere, as sampled by the bisectors at the 80%-88% intensity levels, we always observe blueshifts or zero velocities. The maximum blueshifts reach 1.2 km/s and tend to be cospatial with bright penumbral filaments. In the line core we detect blueshifts for the most part, with small velocities not exceeding 300 m/s. Redshifts also occur, but at the level of 100-150 m/s, and only occasionally. The fact that they are visible in high layers casts doubts on their convective origin. Overall, we do not find indications of downflows that could be associated with overturning convection at our detection limit of 150 m/s. Either no downflows exist, or we have been unable to observe them because they occur beneath tau=1 or the spatial resolution/height resolution of the measurements is still insufficient.
Large radio astronomy multi-element interferometers are frequently used as single dishes in a tied-array mode when signals from separate antennas are added. Phase shifts arising during wave propagation through a turbulent atmosphere can significantly reduce the effective area of an equivalent single dish. I aim to give estimates of the impact of the ionosphere and troposphere on the effectiveness of a radio interferometer working in tied-array mode. Statistical estimates of the effective area are calculated and the power-law of turbulent atmosphere irregularities has been used. A simple method of tied-array calibration using optimization techniques is proposed. The impact of phase errors on the effectiveness of tied-arrays are given for low and high frequencies. Computer simulations demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed calibration algorithm.
Radio frequency interference (RFI) already limits the sensitivity of existing radio telescopes in several frequency bands and may prove to be an even greater obstacle for future generation instruments to overcome. I aim to create a structure of radio astronomy correlators which will be statistically stable (robust) in the presence of interference. A statistical analysis of the mixture of system noise + signal noise + RFI is proposed here which could be incorporated into the block diagram of a correlator. Order and rank statistics are especially useful when calculated in both temporal and frequency domains. Several new algorithms of robust correlators are proposed and investigated here. Computer simulations and processing of real data demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithms.
A selection of statistically stable (robust) algorithms for data variance calculating has been made. Their properties have been analyzed via computer simulation. These algorithms would be useful if adopted in radio astronomy observations in the presence of strong sporadic radio frequency interference (RFI). Several observational results have been presented here to demonstrate the effectiveness of these algorithms in RFI mitigation.
We present the analysis of two epochs of JHKs band data obtained with ESO's AO system NACO on the planetary microlensing event MOA-2007-BLG-192. By separating the microlens event from unrelated ambient stars in the crowded field, thanks to the high spatial resolution of NACO we improve the constraints on the mass and distance of the MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb system. To calibrate our AO photometry with respect to the standard 2MASS system we follow a two-step approach. We first align IRSF JHKs photometry with the 2MASS catalog and then finally gauge the NACO photometry with the calibrated IRSF data. We detect light from the host star of MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb, which significantly reduces the uncertainties in its characteristics from previous analyses. We find that MOA-2007-BLG-192L is most likely a very low mass late type M-dwarf (0.084 ^{+0.015}_{-0.012} Sol mass) at a distance of 660^{+100}_{-70} pc orbited by a $3.2^{+5.2}_{-1.8} Earth mass super-Earth at 0.66^{+0.11}_{-0.06} AU.
We show that transient resonances occur in the two body problem in general relativity, in the highly relativistic, extreme mass-ratio regime for spinning black holes. These resonances occur when the ratio of polar and radial orbital frequencies, which is slowly evolving under the influence of gravitational radiation reaction, passes through a low order rational number. At such points, the adiabatic approximation to the orbital evolution breaks down, and there is a brief but order unity correction to the inspiral rate. Corrections to the gravitational wave signal's phase due to resonance effects scale as the square root of the inverse of mass of the small body, and thus become large in the extreme-mass-ratio limit, dominating over all other post-adiabatic effects. The resonances make orbits more sensitive to changes in initial data (though not quite chaotic), and are genuine non-perturbative effects that are not seen at any order in a standard post-Newtonian expansion. Our results apply to an important potential source of gravitational waves, the gradual inspiral of white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes into much more massive black holes. It is hoped to exploit observations of these sources to map the spacetime geometry of black holes. However, such mapping will require accurate models of binary dynamics, which is a computational challenge whose difficulty is significantly increased by resonance effects. We estimate that the resonance phase shifts will be of order a few tens of cycles for mass ratios $\sim 10^{-6}$, by numerically evolving fully relativistic orbital dynamics supplemented with an approximate, post-Newtonian self-force.
We calculate the pair-annihilation cross section of real scalar singlet dark matter into two mono-energetic photons. We derive constraints on the theory parameter space from the Fermi limits on gamma-ray lines, and we compare with current limits from direct dark matter detection. We show that the new limits, albeit typically relevant only when the dark matter mass is close to half the Standard Model Higgs mass, rule out regions of the theory parameter space that are otherwise not constrained by other observations or experiments. In particular, the new excluded regions partly overlap with the parameter space where real scalar singlet dark matter might explain the anomalous signals observed by CDMS. We also calculate the lifetime of unstable vacuum configurations in the scalar potential, and show that the gamma-ray limits are quite relevant in regions where the electro-weak vacuum is meta-stable with a lifetime longer than the age of the universe.
We reconsider Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation of dark matter (DM) into leptons to explain PAMELA and Fermi electron and positron observations, in light of possible new effects from substructure. There is strong tension between getting a large enough lepton signal while respecting constraints on the fluxes of associated gamma rays. We first show that these constraints become significantly more stringent than in previous studies when the contributions from background e^+ e^- are taken into account, so much so that even cored DM density profiles are ruled out. We then show how DM annihilations within subhalos can get around these constraints. Specifically, if most of the observed lepton excess comes from annihilations in a nearby (within 1 kpc) subhalo along a line of sight toward the galactic center, it is possible to match both the lepton and gamma ray observations. We demonstrate that this can be achieved in a simple class of particle physics models in which the DM annihilates via a hidden leptophilic U(1) vector boson, with explicitly computed Sommerfeld enhancement factors. Gamma ray constraints on the main halo annihilations (and CMB constraints from the era of decoupling) require the annihilating component of the DM to be subdominant, of order 10^-2 of the total DM density.
Quantum fluctuations of a nonminimally coupled scalar field in D-dimensional homogeneous and isotropic background are calculated within the operator formalism in curved models with time evolutions of the scale factor that allow smooth transitions between contracting and expanding and between decelerating and accelerating regimes. The coincident propagator is derived and used to compute the one-loop backreaction from the scalar field. The inflationary infrared divergences are absent in Bunch-Davies vacuum when taking into account a preceding cosmological era or spatial curvature which can be either positive or negative. It is found that asymptotically, the backreaction energy density in the minimally coupled case grows logarithmically with the scale factor in quasi-de Sitter space, and in a class of models decays in slow-roll inflation and grows as a power-law during super-inflation. The backreaction increases generically in a contracting phase or in the presence of a negative nonminimal coupling. The effects of the coupling and renormalization scale upon the quantum fluctuations together with the novel features due to nontrivial time evolution and spatial curvature are clarified with exact solutions and numerical examples.
Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes (TGFs) are very short bursts of high energy photons and electrons originating in Earth's atmosphere. We present here a localization study of TGFs carried out at gamma-ray energies above 20 MeV based on an innovative event selection method. We use the AGILE satellite Silicon Tracker data that for the first time have been correlated with TGFs detected by the AGILE Mini-Calorimeter. We detect 8 TGFs with gamma-ray photons of energies above 20 MeV localized by the AGILE gamma-ray imager with an accuracy of 5-10 degrees at 50 MeV. Remarkably, all TGF-associated gamma rays are compatible with a terrestrial production site closer to the sub-satellite point than 400 km. Considering that our gamma rays reach the AGILE satellite at 540 km altitude with limited scattering or attenuation, our measurements provide the first precise direct localization of TGFs from space.
The LISA PathFinder DMU (Data Management Unit) flight model was formally accepted by ESA and ASD on 11 February 2010, after all hardware and software tests had been successfully completed. The diagnostics items are scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2010. In this paper we review the requirements and performance of this instrumentation, specially focusing on the Radiation Monitor and the DMU, as well as the status of their programmed use during mission operations, on which work is ongoing at the time of writing.
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X-rays give direct evidence of instabilities, time-variable structure, and shock heating in the winds of O stars. The observed broad X-ray emission lines provide information about the kinematics of shock-heated wind plasma, enabling us to test wind-shock models. And their shapes provide information about wind absorption, and thus about the wind mass-loss rates. Mass-loss rates determined from X-ray line profiles are not sensitive to density-squared clumping effects, and indicate mass-loss rate reductions of factors of 3 to 6 over traditional diagnostics that suffer from density-squared effects. Broad-band X-ray spectral energy distributions also provide mass-loss rate information via soft X-ray absorption signatures. In some cases, the degree of wind absorption is so high that the hardening of the X-ray SED can be quite significant. We discuss these results as applied to the early O stars zeta Pup (O4 If), 9 Sgr (O4 V((f))), and HD 93129A (O2 If*).
High contrast imaging at optical wavelengths is limited by the modest correction of conventional near-IR optimized AO systems.We take advantage of new fast and low-readout-noise detectors to explore the potential of fast imaging coupled to post-processing techniques to detect faint companions to stars at small separations. We have focused on I-band direct imaging of the previously detected brown dwarf binary HD130948BC,attempting to spatially resolve the L2+L2 benchmark system. We used the Lucky-Imaging instrument FastCam at the 2.5-m Nordic Telescope to obtain quasi diffraction-limited images of HD130948 with ~0.1" resolution.In order to improve the detectability of the faint binary in the vicinity of a bright (I=5.19 \pm 0.03) solar-type star,we implemented a post-processing technique based on wavelet transform filtering of the image which allows us to strongly enhance the presence of point-like sources in regions where the primary halo dominates. We detect for the first time the BD binary HD130948BC in the optical band I with a SNR~9 at 2.561"\pm 0.007" (46.5 AU) from HD130948A and confirm in two independent dataset that the object is real,as opposed to time-varying residual speckles.We do not resolve the binary, which can be explained by astrometric results posterior to our observations that predict a separation below the NOT resolution.We reach at this distance a contrast of dI = 11.30 \pm 0.11, and estimate a combined magnitude for this binary to I = 16.49 \pm 0.11 and a I-J colour 3.29 \pm 0.13. At 1", we reach a detectability 10.5 mag fainter than the primary after image post-processing. We obtain on-sky validation of a technique based on speckle imaging and wavelet-transform processing,which improves the high contrast capabilities of speckle imaging.The I-J colour measured for the BD companion is slightly bluer, but still consistent with what typically found for L2 dwarfs(~3.4-3.6).
We find the orbit of the Neptune-sized exoplanet HAT-P-11b to be highly inclined relative to the equatorial plane of its host star. This conclusion is based on spectroscopic observations of two transits, which allowed the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect to be detected with an amplitude of 1.5 m/s. The sky-projected obliquity is 103_{-10}^{+26} degrees. This is the smallest exoplanet for which spin-orbit alignment has been measured. The result favors a migration scenario involving few-body interactions followed by tidal dissipation. This finding also conforms with the pattern that the systems with the weakest tidal interactions have the widest spread in obliquities. We predict that the high obliquity of HAT-P-11 will be manifest in transit light curves from the Kepler spacecraft: starspot-crossing anomalies will recur at most once per stellar rotation period, rather than once per orbital period as they would for a well-aligned system.
Binaries provide empirical key constraints for star formation theories, like the overall binary fraction, mass ratio distribution and the separation distribution. They play a crucial role to calibrate the output of theoretical models, like absolute magnitudes, colors and effective temperature depending on mass, metallicity and age. We present first results of our on-going high-resolution imaging survey of late type brown dwarfs. The survey aims at resolving tight brown dwarf binary systems to better constrain the T dwarf binary fraction. We intent to follow-up the individual binaries to determine orbital parameters. Using NACO at the VLT we performed AO-assisted near-infrared observations of SDSS J2052-1609. High-spatial resolution images of the T1 dwarf were obtained in H and Ks filters. We resolved SDSS J2052-1609 into a binary system with a separation of 0.101" \pm 0.001". Archival data from HST/NICMOS taken one year previous to our observations proves the components to be co-moving. Using the flux ratio between the components we infer J, H and Ks magnitudes for the resolved system. From the near-IR colors we estimate spectral types of T1 +1 -4 and T2.5 \pm 1 for component A and B, respectively. A first estimate of the total system mass yields Mtot > 78 Mjup, assuming a circular orbit.
We present a catalog of photometrically variable stars discovered within two 21'.3 X 21'.3 fields centered on the Cygnus OB2 association. There have hitherto been no deep optical variability studies of Cyg OB2 despite it being replete with early-type massive stars, perhaps due to the high and variable extinction (up to A_V ~ 20) that permeates much of the region. Here we provide results of the first variability study with this combination of spatial coverage (~ 0.5 deg) and photometric depth (R ~ 21 mag). We find 121 stars to be variable in both R- and I-band, 116 of them newly discovered. Of the 121 variables, we identify 27 eclipsing binaries (EBs) and eclipsing binary candidates, 20 potential Herbig Ae/Be stars, and 52 pulsating variables. Confirming both the status and the cluster membership of the Herbig Ae/Be stars would address the uncertainty regarding the age and star formation history of Cyg OB2. We match our catalog to known variables and binaries in the region, 2MASS near-IR (NIR) data, and Chandra X-ray observations to find counterparts to new variables in other wavelengths.
A star formation efficiency per free fall time that evolves over the life time of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) may have important implications for models of supersonic turbulence in molecular clouds or for the relation between star formation rate and H2 surface density. We discuss observational data that could be interpreted as evidence of such a time variability. In particular, we investigate a recent claim based on measurements of H2 and stellar masses in individual GMCs. We show that this claim depends crucially on the assumption that H2 masses do not evolve over the life times of GMCs. We exemplify our findings with a simple toy model that uses a constant star formation efficiency and, yet, is able to explain the observational data.
Dusty, star forming galaxies contribute to a bright, currently unresolved cosmic far-infrared background. Deep Herschel-SPIRE images designed to detect and characterize the galaxies that comprise this background are highly confused, such that the bulk lies below the classical confusion limit. We analyze three fields from the HerMES programme in all three SPIRE bands (250, 350, and 500 microns); parameterized galaxy number count models are derived to a depth of ~2 mJy/beam, approximately 4 times the depth of previous analyses at these wavelengths, using a P(D) (probability of deflection) approach for comparison to theoretical number count models. Our fits account for 64, 60, and 43 per cent of the far-infrared background in the three bands. The number counts are consistent with those based on individually detected SPIRE sources, but generally inconsistent with most galaxy number counts models, which generically overpredict the number of bright galaxies and are not as steep as the P(D)-derived number counts. Clear evidence is found for a break in the slope of the differential number counts at low flux densities. Systematic effects in the P(D) analysis are explored. We find that the effects of clustering have a small impact on the data, and the largest identified systematic error arises from uncertainties in the SPIRE beam.
We report the detection of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for the eccentric, super-Neptune exoplanet HAT-P-11b, based on radial velocity measurements taken with HDS mounted on the Subaru 8.2m telescope, and simultaneous photometry with the FTN 2.0m telescope, both located in Hawai'i. The observed radial velocities during a planetary transit of HAT-P-11b show a persistent blue-shift, suggesting a spin-orbit misalignment in the system. The best-fit value for the projected spin-orbit misalignment angle is $\lambda= 103_{-19}^{+23}$ deg. Our result supports the notion that eccentric exoplanetary systems are likely to have significant spin-orbit misalignment (e.g., HD 80606, WASP-8, WASP-14, WASP-17, and XO-3). This fact suggests that not only hot-Jupiters but also super-Neptunes like HAT-P-11b had once experienced dynamical processes such as planet-planet scattering or the Kozai migration.
Cosmological galaxy formation models predict the existence of dark matter minihalos surrounding galaxies and in filaments connecting groups of galaxies. The more massive of these minihalos are predicted to host HI gas that should be detectable by current radio telescopes such as the GBT. We observed the region including the M81/M82 and NGC 2403 galaxy groups, searching for observational evidence of an HI component associated with dark matter halos within the "M81 Filament", using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The map covers an 8.7 degree x 21.3 degree (480 kpc x 1.2 Mpc) region centered between the M81/M82 and NGC 2403 galaxy groups. Our observations cover a wide velocity range, from -890 to 1320 km/s, which spans much of the range predicted by cosmological N-body simulations for dark matter minihalo velocities. Our search is not complete in the velocity range -210 to 85 km/s, containing Galactic emission and the HVC Complex A. For an HI cloud at the distance of M81, with a size < 10 kpc, our average 5-sigma mass detection limit is 3.2 x 10^6 M_Sun, for a linewidth of 20 km/s. We compare our observations to two large cosmological N-body simulations and find that the simulation predicts a significantly greater number of detectable minihalos than are found in our observations, and that the simulated minihalos do not match the phase space of observed HI clouds. These results place strong constraints on the HI gas that can be associated with dark-matter halos. Our observations indicate that the majority of extragalactic HI clouds with a mass greater than 10^6 M_Sun are likely to be generated through tidal stripping caused by galaxy interactions.
We find that, even in the presence of discreteness noise, a Gaussianizing transform (producing a more-Gaussian one-point distribution) reduces nonlinearities in the power spectra of cosmological matter and galaxy density fields, in many cases drastically. Although Gaussianization does increase the effective shot noise, it also increases the power spectrum's fidelity to the linear power spectrum on scales where the shot noise is negligible. Gaussianizing also increases the Fisher information in the power spectrum in all cases and resolutions, although the gains are smaller in redshift space than in real space. We also find that the gain in cumulative Fisher information from Gaussianizing peaks at a particular grid resolution that depends on the sampling level.
We investigate statistical equilibrium of Cr in the atmospheres of late-type stars. The main goal is to ascertain the reason for a systematic abundance discrepancy between Cr I and Cr II lines, which is often encountered in spectroscopic analyses of metal-poor stars. Up to now, all these studies relied on the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) in the spectrum modelling. For the first time, we perform NLTE calculations in subdwarfs and subgiants of different metallicities. We show that the LTE assumption is inadequate to describe excitation-ionization equilibrium of Cr I/Cr II in stellar atmospheres and, as a result, leads to large errors in abundances. In particular, the NLTE abundance corrections to Cr I lines range from $+0.3$ to $+0.5$ dex at low [Fe/H]. The NLTE [Cr/Fe] trend in the halo and the disk is flat and can be reproduced by most of the models of Galactic chemical evolution with standard prescriptions for Cr and Fe nucleosynthesis.
We performed deep photometry of the central region of Galactic globular
cluster M15 from archival Hubble Space Telescope data taken on the High
Resolution Channel and Solar Blind Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Our data set consists of images in far-UV (FUV$_{140}$; F140LP), near-UV
(NUV$_{220}$; F220W), and blue (B$_{435}$; F435W) filters. The addition of an
optical filter complements previous UV work on M15 by providing an additional
constraint on the UV-bright stellar populations. Using color-magnitude diagrams
(CMDs) we identified several populations that arise from non-canonical
evolution including candidate blue stragglers, extreme horizontal branch stars,
blue hook stars (BHks), cataclysmic variables (CVs), and helium-core white
dwarfs (He WDs). Due to preliminary identification of several He WD and BHk
candidates, we add M15 as a cluster containing a He WD sequence and suggest it
be included among clusters with a BHk population.
We also investigated a subset of CV candidates that appear in the gap between
the main sequence (MS) and WDs in FUV$_{140}-$NUV$_{220}$ but lie securely on
the MS in NUV$_{220}-$B$_{435}$. These stars may represent a magnetic CV or
detached WD-MS binary population. Additionally, we analyze our candidate He WDs
using model cooling sequences to estimate their masses and ages and investigate
the plausibility of thin vs. thick hydrogen envelopes. Finally, we identify a
class of UV-bright stars that lie between the horizontal branch and WD cooling
sequences, a location not usually populated on cluster CMDs. We conclude these
stars may be young, low-mass He WDs.
Isochrones for ages > 4 Gyr and metallicities in the range -2.5 < [Fe/H] < +0.3 that take the diffusion of helium and recent advances in stellar physics into account are compared with observations in the Johnson-Cousins BV(RI)_C photometric system for several open and globular star clusters. The adopted color-Teff relations include those which we have derived from the latest MARCS model atmospheres and empirical transformations for dwarf and subgiant stars given by Casagrande et al (2010, A&A, 512, 54; CRMBA). Those reported by VandenBerg & Clem (2003, AJ, 126, 778) have also been considered, mainly to resolve some outstanding questions concerning them. Remarkably, when the subdwarfs in the CRMBA data set that have sigma_pi/pi < 0.15 are superimposed on a set of 12 Gyr isochrones spanning a wide range in [Fe/H], the inferred metallicities and effective temperatures agree, in the mean, with those given by CRMBA to within +/- 0.05 dex and +/- 10 K, respectively. Thus the hot Teff scale derived by CRMBA is nearly identical with that predicted by stellar models and consequently, there is excellent consistency between theory and observations on the H-R diagram and the different color-magnitude diagrams considered in this investigation. To obtain similar consistency, the colors obtained from the MARCS and VandenBerg & Clem B-V vs. Teff relations for metal-poor dwarf stars should be adjusted to the red by 0.02-0.03 mag. In general, isochrones that employ the CRMBA transformations provide reasonably good fits to our BV(RI)_C photometry for main-sequence stars in the globular clusters 47 Tuc, M3, M5, M92 and NGC 1851 - but not the cluster giants (when adopting the synthetic MARCS colors). We speculate that differences between the actual heavy-element mixtures and those assumed in the theoretical models may be the primary cause of this difficulty.
Massive metal-poor stars might end their life by directly collapsing into massive (~25-80 Msun) black holes (BHs). We derive the number of massive BHs (N_BH) that are expected to form per galaxy via this mechanism. We select a sample of 66 galaxies with X-ray coverage, measurements of the star formation rate (SFR) and of the metallicity. We find that N_BH correlates with the number of observed ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) per galaxy (N_ULX) in this sample. We discuss the dependence of N_ULX and of N_BH on the SFR and on the metallicity.
Recent models of the formation of ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) predict that they preferentially form in low-metallicity environments. We look at the metallicity of the nebula surrounding NGC 1313 X-2, one of the best-studied ULXs. Simple estimates, based on the extrapolation of the metallicity gradient within NGC 1313, or on empirical calibrations (relating metallicity to strong oxygen lines) suggest a quite low metal content (Z ~ 0.1 Zsun). But such estimates do not account for the remarkably strong X-ray flux irradiating the nebula. Then, we build photoionization models of the nebula using CLOUDY; using such models, the constraints on the metallicity weaken substantially, as we find 0.15 Zsun <= Z <= 0.5 Zsun.
We present near-infrared spectroscopic observations from VLT ISAAC of thirteen 250\mu m-luminous galaxies in the CDF-S, seven of which have confirmed redshifts which average to <z > = 2.0 \pm 0.4. Another two sources of the 13 have tentative z > 1 identifications. Eight of the nine redshifts were identified with H{\alpha} detection in H- and K-bands, three of which are confirmed redshifts from previous spectroscopic surveys. We use their near-IR spectra to measure H{\alpha} line widths and luminosities, which average to 415 \pm 20 km/s and 3 \times 10^35 W (implying SFR(H{\alpha})~200 M_\odot /yr), both similar to the H{\alpha} properties of SMGs. Just like SMGs, 250 \mu m-luminous galaxies have large H{\alpha} to far-infrared (FIR) extinction factors such that the H{\alpha} SFRs underestimate the FIR SFRs by ~8-80 times. Far-infrared photometric points from observed 24\mu m through 870\mu m are used to constrain the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) even though uncertainty caused by FIR confusion in the BLAST bands is significant. The population has a mean dust temperature of Td = 52 \pm 6 K, emissivity {\beta} = 1.73 \pm 0.13, and FIR luminosity LFIR = 3 \times 10^13 L_\odot. Although selection at 250\mu m allows for the detection of much hotter dust dominated HyLIRGs than SMG selection (at 850\mu m), we do not find any >60 K 'hot-dust' HyLIRGs. We have shown that near-infrared spectroscopy combined with good photometric redshifts is an efficient way to spectroscopically identify and characterise these rare, extreme systems, hundreds of which are being discovered by the newest generation of IR observatories including the Herschel Space Observatory.
We derive new constraints on the coupling of heavy pseudoscalar (axion-like) particles to photons, based on the gamma ray flux expected from the decay of these particles into photons. After being produced in the supernova core, these heavy axion-like particles would escape and a fraction decay into photons before reaching the Earth. We have calculated the expected flux on Earth of these photons from the supernovae SN 1987A and Cassiopeia A and compared our results to data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. This analysis provides strong constraints on the parameter space for axion-like particles. For a particle mass of 100 MeV, we find that the Peccei-Quinn constant, $f_{pq}$, must be greater than $10^{15}$ GeV. Alternatively, for $\fa=10^{12}$ GeV, we exclude the mass region between approximately 50 keV and 1 GeV
This paper considers gravitational perturbations in geometrically thin disks with rotation curves dominated by a central object, but with substantial contributions from magnetic pressure and tension. The treatment is general, but the application is to the circumstellar disks that arise during the gravitational collapse phase of star formation. We find the dispersion relation for spiral density waves in these generalized disks and derive the stability criterion for axisymmetric $(m=0)$ disturbances (the analog of the Toomre parameter $Q_T$) for any radial distribution of the mass-to-flux ratio $\lambda$. The magnetic effects work in two opposing directions: on one hand, magnetic tension and pressure stabilize the disk against gravitational collapse and fragmentation; on the other hand, they also lower the rotation rate making the disk more unstable. For disks around young stars the first effect generally dominates, so that magnetic fields allow disks to be stable for higher surface densities and larger total masses. These results indicate that magnetic fields act to suppress the formation of giant planets through gravitational instability. Finally, even if gravitational instability can form a secondary body, it must lose an enormous amount of magnetic flux in order to become a planet; this latter requirement represents an additional constraint for planet formation via gravitational instability and places a lower limit on the electrical resistivity.
In 1970, the Soviet Lunokhod 1 rover delivered a French-built laser reflector to the Moon. Although a few range measurements were made within three months of its landing, these measurements---and any that may have followed---are unpublished and unavailable. The Lunokhod 1 reflector was, therefore, effectively lost until March of 2010 when images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) provided a positive identification of the rover and determined its coordinates with uncertainties of about 100 m. This allowed the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation (APOLLO) to quickly acquire a laser signal. The reflector appears to be in excellent condition, delivering a signal roughly four times stronger than its twin reflector on the Lunokhod 2 rover. The Lunokhod 1 reflector is especially valuable for science because it is closer to the Moon's limb than any of the other reflectors and, unlike the Lunokhod 2 reflector, we find that it is usable during the lunar day. We report the selenographic position of the reflector to few-centimeter accuracy, comment on the health of the reflector, and illustrate the value of this reflector for achieving science goals.
Condensate clouds are a salient feature of L dwarf atmospheres, but have been assumed to play little role in shaping the spectra of the coldest T-type brown dwarfs. Here we report evidence of condensate opacity in the near-infrared spectrum of the brown dwarf candidate Ross 458C, obtained with the Folded-Port Infrared Echellette (FIRE) spectrograph at the Magellan Telescopes. These data verify the low-temperature nature of this source, indicating a T8 spectral classification, log Lbol/Lsun = -5.62+/-0.03, Teff = 650+/-25 K, and a mass at or below the deuterium burning limit. The data also reveal enhanced emission at K-band associated with youth (low surface gravity) and supersolar metallicity, reflecting the properties of the Ross 458 system (age = 150-800 Myr, [Fe/H] = +0.2 to +0.3). We present fits of FIRE data for Ross 458C, the T9 dwarf ULAS J133553.45+113005.2, and the blue T7.5 dwarf SDSS J141624.08+134826.7B, to cloudless and cloudy spectral models from Saumon & Marley. For Ross 458C we confirm a low surface gravity and supersolar metallicity, while the temperature differs depending on the presence (635 [+25,-35] K) or absence (760 [+70,-45] K) of cloud extinction. ULAS J1335+1130 and SDSS J1416+1348B have similar temperatures (595 [+25,-45] K), but distinct surface gravities (log g = 4.0-4.5 cgs versus 5.0-5.5 cgs) and metallicities ([M/H] ~ +0.2 versus -0.2). In all three cases, cloudy models provide better fits to the spectral data, significantly so for Ross 458C. These results indicate that clouds are an important opacity source in the spectra of young cold T dwarfs, and should be considered when characterizing the spectra of planetary-mass objects in young clusters and directly-imaged exoplanets. The characteristics of Ross 458C suggest it could itself be regarded as a planet, albeit one whose cosmogony does not conform with current planet formation theories.
We present 11 years of HIRES precision radial velocities (RV) of the nearby M3V star Gliese 581, combining our data set of 122 precision RVs with an existing published 4.3-year set of 119 HARPS precision RVs. The velocity set now indicates 6 companions in Keplerian motion around this star. Differential photometry indicates a likely stellar rotation period of ~94 days and reveals no significant periodic variability at any of the Keplerian periods, supporting planetary orbital motion as the cause of all the radial velocity variations. The combined data set strongly confirms the 5.37-day, 12.9-day, 3.15-day, and 67-day planets previously announced by Bonfils et al. (2005), Udry et al. (2007), and Mayor et al (2009). The observations also indicate a 5th planet in the system, GJ 581f, a minimum-mass 7.0 M_Earth planet orbiting in a 0.758 AU orbit of period 433 days and a 6th planet, GJ 581g, a minimum-mass 3.1 M_Earth planet orbiting at 0.146 AU with a period of 36.6 days. The estimated equilibrium temperature of GJ 581g is 228 K, placing it squarely in the middle of the habitable zone of the star and offering a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet around a very nearby star. That a system harboring a potentially habitable planet has been found this nearby, and this soon in the relatively early history of precision RV surveys, indicates that eta_Earth, the fraction of stars with potentially habitable planets, is likely to be substantial. This detection, coupled with statistics of the incompleteness of present-day precision RV surveys for volume-limited samples of stars in the immediate solar neighborhood suggests that eta_Earth could well be on the order of a few tens of percent. If the local stellar neighborhood is a representative sample of the galaxy as a whole, our Milky Way could be teeming with potentially habitable planets.
We study how joint shear and magnification measurements improve the statistical precision of weak lensing mass calibration experiments, relative to standard shear-only analysis. For our magnification measurements, we consider not only the impact of lensing on the source density of galaxies, but also the apparent increase in source sizes. The combination of all three lensing probes - density, size, and shear - can improve the statistical precision of mass estimates by as much as 40% - 50%. This number is insensitive to survey assumptions, though it depends on the degree of knowledge of the parameters controlling the magnification measurements, and on the value of the parameter q that characterizes the response of the source population to magnification. Furthermore, the combination of magnification and shear allows for powerful cross-checks on residual systematics (such as point spread function corrections) at the few percent level.
We present a photometric analysis of the galaxy cluster Abell 1763 at visible and infrared wavelengths. Included are fully reduced images in r', J, H, and Ks obtained using the Palomar 200in telescope, as well as the IRAC and MIPS images from Spitzer. The cluster is covered out to approximately 3 virial radii with deep 24um imaging (a 5? depth of 0.2 mJy). This same field of 40' by 40' is covered in all four IRAC bands as well as the longer wavelength MIPS bands (70 and 160um). The r' imaging covers 0.8 deg2 down to 25.5 magnitudes, and overlaps with most of the MIPS field of view. The J, H, Ks images cover the cluster core and roughly half of the filament galaxies, which extend towards the neighboring cluster, Abell 1770. This first, in a series of papers on Abell 1763, discusses the data reduction methods and source extraction techniques used for each dataset. We present catalogs of infrared (IR) sources (with 24 and/or 70um emission) and their corresponding emission in the optical (u', g', r', i', z'), and Near- to Far-IR (J, H, Ks, IRAC, and MIPS 160um). We provide the catalogs and reduced images to the community through the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA).
The Abell 1763 superstructure at z=0.23 contains the first galaxy filament to be directly detected using mid-infrared observations. Our previous work has shown that the frequency of starbursting galaxies, as characterized by 24{\mu}m emission is much higher within the filament than at either the center of the rich galaxy cluster, or the field surrounding the system. New VLA and XMM-Newton data are presented here. We use the radio and X-ray data to examine the fraction and location of active galaxies, both active galactic nuclei (AGN) and starbursts. The radio far-infrared correlation, X-ray point source location, IRAC colors, and quasar positions are all used to gain an understanding of the presence of dominant AGN. We find very few MIPS-selected galaxies that are clearly dominated by AGN activity. Most radio selected members within the filament are starbursts. Within the supercluster, 3 of 8 spectroscopic members detected both in the radio and in the mid-infrared are radio-bright AGN. They are found at or near the core of Abell 1763. The five starbursts are located further along the filament. We calculate the physical properties of the known wide angle tail (WAT) source which is the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) of Abell 1763. A second double lobe source is found along the filament well outside of the virial radius of either cluster. The velocity offset of the WAT from the X-ray centroid, and the bend of the WAT in the intracluster medium (ICM) are both consistent with ram pressure stripping, indicative of streaming motions along the direction of the filament. We consider this as further evidence of the cluster-feeding nature of the galaxy filament.
Based on new and archival Chandra observations of the Sombrero galaxy (M 104), we study the diffuse X-ray emission in and around its massive stellar bulge. The 2-6 keV unresolved emission from the bulge region closely follows the K-band star light and most likely arises from unresolved stellar sources. At lower energies, however, the unresolved emission reaches a galactocentric radius of at least 23 kpc, significantly beyond the extent of the starlight, clearly indicating the presence of diffuse hot gas. We isolate the emission of the gas by properly accounting for the emission from unresolved stellar sources, predominantly cataclysmic variables and coronally active binaries, whose quasi-universal X-ray emissivity is recently established. We find a gas temperature of ~0.6 keV with little variation across the field of view, except for a lower temperature of ~0.3 keV along the stellar disk. We measure a total intrinsic 0.3-2 keV luminosity of ~2e39 erg/s, which is comparable to the prediction by the latest galaxy formation models for disk galaxies as massive as Sombrero. However, such numerical models do not fully account for internal feedback processes, such as nuclear feedback and stellar feedback, against accretion from the intergalactic medium. On the other hand, we find no evidence for either the nucleus or the very modest star-forming activities in the disk to be a dominant heating source for the diffuse gas. We also show that neither the expected energy released by Type Ia supernovae nor the expected mass returned by evolved stars is recovered by observations. We argue that in Sombrero a galactic-scale subsonic outflow of hot gas continuously removes much of the "missing" energy and mass input from the bulge region. The observed density and temperature distributions of such an outflow, however, continues to pose challenges to theoretical studies.
We have observed 7 new transits of the 'hot Jupiter' WASP-5b using a 61 cm telescope located in New Zealand, in order to search for transit timing variations (TTVs) which can be induced by additional bodies existing in the system. When combined with other available photometric and radial velocity (RV) data, we find that its transit timings do not match a linear ephemeris; the best fit \chi^2 values of 32.2 with 9 degrees of freedom indicates that a marginal TTV signal has been observed at a confidence level of 99.982 %, or 3.7 \sigma. The standard deviation of the TTVs is as large as 70 s, and if this is real, it cannot be explained by other effects than that due to an additional body or bodies. We put the upper limit on the RV amplitude due to the possible secondary body as 21 m s^{-1}, which corresponds to its mass of 22-70 M_{Earth} over the period ratio from 0.2 to 5.0. From the TTVs data, using the numerical simulations, we place more stringent limits down to 2 M_{Earth} near 1:2 and 2:1 MMRs at the 3 \sigma level, assuming that the two planets are co-planer. We also put the upper limit on Trojan mass as 43 M_{Earth} (3 \sigma) using both RV and photometric data. Further follow-up photometric and spectroscopic observations will be required to confirm the reality of the TTV signal. Results such as these will provide important information for the migration mechanisms of planetary systems.
Context: In order to study the evolution of Li in the Galaxy it is necessary to observe dwarf or subgiant stars. Abridged Although Li has been extensively studied in the Galactic disk and halo, to date there is only one uncertain detection of Li in an unevolved bulge star. AIMS: Our aim with this study is to provide the first clear detection of Li in the Galactic bulge, based on an analysis of a dwarf star that has largely retained its initial Li abundance. METHODS: We have performed a detailed elemental abundance analysis of the bulge dwarf star MOA-2010-BLG-285S using a high-resolution, and high signal-to-noise spectrum obtained with the UVES spectrograph at the VLT when the object was optically magnified during a gravitational microlensing event (visual magnification A~550 during observation). The lithium abundance was determined through synthetic line profile fitting of the 7Li resonance doublet line at 670.8 nm. The results have been corrected for departures from LTE. Results: MOA-2010-BLG-285S is, at [Fe/H]=-1.23, the most metal-poor dwarf star detected so far in the Galactic bulge. Its old age (12.5 Gyr) and enhanced [alpha/Fe] ratios agree well with stars in the thick disk at similar metallicity. This star represents the first unambiguous detection of Li in a metal-poor dwarf star in the Galactic bulge. We find an NLTE corrected Li abundance of log e(Li)=2.16, which is consistent with values derived for Galactic disk and halo dwarf stars at similar metallicities and temperatures. Conclusion: Our results show that there are no signs of Li enrichment or production in the Galactic bulge during its earliest phases. Observations of Li in other galaxies (omega Cen) and other components of the Galaxy suggest further that the Spite plateau is universal.
We calculate multi-color light curves (LCs) of Type IIP supernovae (SNe) exploded within dense circumstellar matter (CSM). Multi-color LCs are calculated by using a multi-group radiation hydrodynamics code STELLA. If CSM is dense enough, kinetic energy of SN ejecta is efficiently converted to thermal energy which is eventually emitted as radiation. Thus, such Type IIP SNe are expected to become brighter than usual Type IIP SNe, especially in ultraviolet (UV). We calculate LCs for several CSM and explosion properties, i.e., mass-loss rates, radii of CSM, density slopes of CSM, explosion energies of SN ejecta, and SN progenitors inside, to see the effect of them on LCs. We find that when mass-loss rate is higher than about 10^{-4} Msun/yr, Type IIP SNe become bright in UV in early epochs due to the interaction between SN ejecta and CSM. We compare our model LCs to those of UV-bright Type IIP SN 2009kf and show that the mass-loss rate of the progenitor of SN 2009kf just before or at the time of the explosion is likely to be higher than 10^{-4} Msun/yr. Combined with the fact that SN 2009kf is likely to be an energetic explosion and have large 56Ni production which implies that the progenitor of SN 2009kf is a massive red supergiant (RSG), our results indicate that there could be some mechanism to induce extensive mass loss in massive RSGs just before or at the time of their explosions.
We present here results of an optical spectroscopic study of a new Cataclysmic Variable SDSS J001856.93+345444.3. We demonstrate that the most probable value of the orbital period of the system is Porb = 0.6051 \pm 0.022 days (=14.5226 hours), based on the measurements of radial velocity of a complex of absorption features emanating from the K2-K4V type secondary component. However, the radial velocity measurements from the emission lines are best folded with the period Pem = 0.5743day (=13.78 hours). The gamma-velocity of the emission lines varies significantly from epoch to epoch. There is an underlying broader and weaker component to the emission lines, which we could not resolve. Based on the appearance of the emission lines, the presence of very strong He II lines and the moderate polarization detected by Dillon et al. (2008), we conclude that SDSS J0018+3454 is an asynchronous magnetic CV (Polar).
We present here results of numerical calculations demonstrating that the very long periodic variability detected in the Cataclysmic Variable FS Aur can be the result of eccentricity modulation of a close binary (CB) orbit induced by the presence of a third body on a circumbinary orbit. A third component with a substellar mass on a circular, relatively close orbit, modulates the mass transfer rate of the binary on much longer time scales than periods within the triple system. We also report here preliminary results of X-ray observations of FS Aur, providing further evidence that it contains magnetic and freely precessing white dwarf. These two findings allow us to incorporate the new and previously stressed hypothesis on the nature of FS Aur into one consistent model.
The planetary system around the M star Gliese 581 contains at least three close-in potentially low-mass planets, GL 581 c, d, and e. In order to address the question of the habitability of GL 581 d, we performed detailed atmospheric modeling studies for several planetary scenarios. A 1D radiative-convective model was used to calculate temperature and pressure profiles of model atmospheres, assumed to be composed of molecular nitrogen, water, and carbon dioxide. The model allows for changing surface pressures caused by evaporation/condensation of water and carbon dioxide. Furthermore, the treatment of the energy transport has been improved in the model to account in particular for high CO2, high-pressure Super-Earth conditions. For four high-pressure scenarios of our study, the resulting surface temperatures were above 273 K, indicating a potential habitability of the planet. These scenarios include three CO2-dominated atmospheres (95% CO2 concentration with 5, 10, and 20 bar surface pressure) and a high-pressure CO2-enriched atmosphere (5% CO2 concentration with 20 bar surface pressure). For all other considered scenarios, the calculated GL 581 d surface temperatures were below the freezing point of water, suggesting that GL 581 d would not be habitable then. The results for our CO2-dominated scenarios confirm very recent model results by Wordsworth et al. (2010). However, our model calculations imply that also atmospheres that are not CO2-dominated (i.e., 5% vmr instead of 95% vmr) could result in habitable conditions for GL 581 d.
Intensity interferometry permits very long optical baselines and the observation of sub-milliarcsecond structures. Using planned kilometric arrays of air Cherenkov telescopes at short wavelengths, intensity interferometry may increase the spatial resolution achieved in optical astronomy by an order of magnitude, inviting detailed studies of the shapes of rapidly rotating hot stars with structures in their circumstellar disks and winds, or mapping out patterns of nonradial pulsations across stellar surfaces. Signal-to-noise in intensity interferometry favors high-temperature sources and emission-line structures, and is independent of the optical passband, be it a single spectral line or the broad spectral continuum. Prime candidate sources have been identified among classes of bright and hot stars. Observations are simulated for telescope configurations envisioned for large Cherenkov facilities, synthesizing numerous optical baselines in software, confirming that resolutions of tens of microarcseconds are feasible for numerous astrophysical targets.
We present a summary of main results from the studies performed in the series of papers "The chemical composition of the Orion star forming region". We reinvestigate the chemical composition of B-type stars in the Orion OB1 association by means of state-of-the-art stellar atmosphere codes, atomic models and techniques, and compare the resulting abundances with those obtained from the emission line spectra of the Orion nebula (M42), and recent determinations of the Solar chemical composition.
We present the IACOB spectroscopic database, an homogeneous set of high quality, high resolution spectra of Galactic O- and B-type stars obtained with the FIES spectrograph attached to the Nordic Optical Telescope. We also present some results from ongoing projects using the IACOB database.
Low multipole amplitudes in the Cosmic Microwave Background CMB radiation can be explained by selection rules from the underlying multiply-connected homotopy. We apply a multipole analysis to the harmonic bases and introduce point symmetry.We give explicit results for two cubic 3-spherical manifolds and lowest polynomial degrees, and derive three new spherical 3-manifolds.
Kilometric-scale optical imagers seem feasible to realize by intensity interferometry, using telescopes primarily erected for measuring Cherenkov light induced by gamma rays. Planned arrays envision 50--100 telescopes, distributed over some 1--4 km$^2$. Although array layouts and telescope sizes will primarily be chosen for gamma-ray observations, also their interferometric performance may be optimized. Observations of stellar objects were numerically simulated for different array geometries, yielding signal-to-noise ratios for different Fourier components of the source images in the interferometric $(u,v)$-plane. Simulations were made for layouts actually proposed for future Cherenkov telescope arrays, and for subsets with only a fraction of the telescopes. All large arrays provide dense sampling of the $(u,v)$-plane due to the sheer number of telescopes, irrespective of their geographic orientation or stellar coordinates. However, for improved coverage of the $(u,v)$-plane and a wider variety of baselines (enabling better image reconstruction), an exact east-west grid should be avoided for the numerous smaller telescopes, and repetitive geometric patterns avoided for the few large ones. Sparse arrays become severely limited by a lack of short baselines, and to cover astrophysically relevant dimensions between 0.1--3 milliarcseconds in visible wavelengths, baselines between pairs of telescopes should cover the whole interval 30--2000 m.
We present a study of the impact of different model groups in the detection of circumstellar debris disks. Almost all previous studies in this field have used Kurucz model spectra to predict the stellar contribution to the flux at the wavelength of observation thus determining the existence of a disk excess. Only recently have other model groups or families like Marcs and NextGen-Phoenix become available to the same extent. This study aims to determine whether the predicted stellar flux of a disk target can change with the choice of model family - can a disk excess be present in the use of one model family whilst being absent from another? A simple comparison of Kurucz model spectra with Mrcs and NextGen model spectra of identical stellar parameters was conducted and differences were present at near-infrared wavelengths. Model spectra often do not extend in wavelength to that of observation and therefore extrapolation of the spectrum is required. In extrapolation of model spectra to the Spitzer MIPS passbands, prediction of the stellar contribution differed by 5 % at 70mum for F, G and early K spectral types with differences increasing to 15% for early M dwarfs. Analysis of the Spitzer MIPS 24mum observations of 37 F, G and K solar-like stars in the Pleiades cluster was conducted. In using Kurucz model spectra, 7 disk excesses were detected while only 3 and 4 excesses were detected in using Marcs and NextGen-Phoenix model spectra respectively.
We explore the cosmological consequences of the recently released Union2 sample of 557 Type Ia supernovae. Combining this latest SNIa dataset with the baryon acoustic oscillation results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey measurements and the CMB anisotropy data from the WMAP 7 year observations, we measure the dark energy density function $f(z)\equiv \rho_{de}(z)/\rho_{de}(0)$ as a free function of redshift. Three model-independent parametrization methods (the binned parametrization, the polynomial interpolation parametrization, and the Chebyshev polynomial parametrization) are used in this paper. We obtain the following results. First, although these parametrization methods are quite different from each other, the best-fit results of these parametrizations appear to favor an oscillating $f(z)$ along with redshift $z$. Second, the Union2 dataset is still consistent with a cosmological constant at 1$\sigma$ confidence level. Therefore, this latest SNIa dataset is quite different from the Constitution SNIa dataset, which more favors a dynamical dark energy.
Using a recent catalogue of extragalactic Faraday rotation derived from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey we have found an agreement between Faraday rotation structure and the HI emission structure of a High Velocity Cloud (HVC) associated with the Leading Arm of the Magellanic System. We suggest that this morphological agreement is indicative of Faraday rotation through the HVC. Under this assumption we have used 48 rotation measures through the HVC, together with estimates of the electron column density from H-\alpha\ measurements and QSO absorption lines to estimate a strength for the line-of-sight component of the coherent magnetic field in the HVC of <B_{||}> > 6 {\rm \mu G}$. A coherent magnetic field of this strength is more than sufficient to dynamically stabilize the cloud against ram pressure stripping by the Milky Way halo and may also provide thermal insulation for the cold cloud. We estimate an upper limit to the ratio of random to coherent magnetic field of $B_{r}/B_{||} < 0.8$, which suggests that the random field does not dominate over the coherent field as it does in the Magellanic Clouds from which this HVC likely originates.
Planets can form and survive in close binaries, although dynamical interactions with the secondary component can actually significantly impact the giant planet formation and evolution. Rare close binaries hosting giant planets offer therefore an ideal laboratory to explore the properties and the stability of such extreme planetary systems. In the course of our CFHT and VLT coronographic imaging survey dedicated to the search for faint companions of exoplanet host stars, a close (about 20 AU) secondary stellar companion to the exoplanet host HD196885 A was discovered. For more than 4 years, we have used the NaCo near-infrared adaptive optics instrument to monitor the astrometric position of HD196885 B relative to A. The system was observed at five different epochs from August 2005 to August 2009 and accurate relative positions were determined. Our observations fully reject the stationary background hypothesis for HD196885 B. The two components are found to be comoving. The orbital motion of HD196885 B is well resolved and the orbital curvature is even detected. From our imaging data combined with published radial velocity measurements, we refine the complete orbital parameters of the stellar component. We derive for the first time its orbital inclination and its accurate mass. We find also solutions for the inner giant planet HD196885 Ab compatible with previous independent radial velocity studies. Finally, we investigate the stability of the inner giant planet HD196885 Ab due to the binary companion proximity. Our dynamical simulations show that the system is currently and surprisingly more stable in a high mutual inclination configuration that falls in the Kozai resonance regime. If confirmed, this system would constitute one of the most compact non-coplanar systems known so far. It would raise several questions about its formation and stability
The timescape cosmology has been proposed as a viable alternative to homogeneous cosmologies with dark energy. It realises cosmic acceleration as an apparent effect that arises in calibrating average cosmological parameters in the presence of spatial curvature and gravitational energy gradients that grow large with the growth of inhomogeneities at late epochs. Recently Kwan, Francis and Lewis [arXiv:0902.4249] have claimed that the timescape model provides a relatively poor fit to the Union and Constitution supernovae compilations, as compared to the standard Lambda CDM model. We show this conclusion is a result of systematic issues in supernova light curve fitting, and of failing to exclude data below the scale of statistical homogeneity, z < 0.033. Using all currently available supernova datasets (Gold07, Union, Constitution, MLCS17, MLCS31, SDSS-II, CSP, Union2), and making cuts at the statistical homogeneity scale, we show that data reduced by the SALT/SALT-II fitters provides Bayesian evidence that favours the spatially flat Lambda CDM model over the timescape model, whereas data reduced with MLCS2k2 fitters gives Bayesian evidence which favours the timescape model over the Lambda CDM model. We discuss the questions of extinction and reddening by dust, and of intrinsic colour variations in supernovae which do not correlate with the decay time, and the likely impact these systematics would have in a scenario consistent with the timescape model.
Bursts of particle production during inflation provide a well-motivated mechanism for creating bump like features in the primordial power spectrum. Current data constrains these features to be less than about 5% the size of the featureless primordial power spectrum at wavenumbers of about 0.1 h Mpc^{-1}. We forecast that the Planck cosmic microwave background experiment will be able to strengthen this constraint to the 0.5% level. We also predict that adding data from a square kilometer array (SKA) galaxy redshift survey would improve the constraint to about the 0.1% level. For features at larger wave-numbers, Planck will be limited by Silk damping and foregrounds. While, SKA will be limited by non-linear effects. We forecast for a Cosmic Inflation Probe (CIP) galaxy redshift survey, similar constraints can be achieved up to about a wavenumber of 1 h Mpc^{-1}.
Orbital evolution of spherical interplanetary dust particles in the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt zone is treated for semimajor axes 30-50 AU. Besides solar gravity, also solar electromagnetic and corpuscular radiation, and, fast interstellar gas flow are important forces influencing motion of the particles. The solar electromagnetic radiation is represented by the Poynting-Robertson effect and the solar corpuscular radiation corresponds to the solar wind. Time-variability of the non-radial solar wind can significantly increase dust lifetime in the zone. The average time for the particle stay in the zone is more than 30-times greater than the conventional case of constant (time independent) radial solar wind offers, for the particles of tens micrometers in size. This holds for the most realistic material properties of the particles: $\bar{Q}'_{pr} =$ 1, where $\bar{Q}'_{pr}$ is the dimensionless efficiency factor for electromagnetic radiation pressure. If $\bar{Q}'_{pr} =$ 1/2, then the average time of the particle stay in the zone is only 4-times the conventional value. The approach used in the paper illustrates the relevance of the solar wind action in comparison with the Poynting-Robertson effect. The results have an important consequence for our understanding of the structure of dust distribution in the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt zone, and, also, of dust belts in other stellar systems.
We use the Herschel-ATLAS science demonstration data to investigate the star-formation properties of radio-selected galaxies in the GAMA-9h field as a function of radio luminosity and redshift. Radio selection at the lowest radio luminosities, as expected, selects mostly starburst galaxies. At higher radio luminosities, where the population is dominated by AGN, we find that some individual objects are associated with high far-infrared luminosities. However, the far-infrared properties of the radio-loud population are statistically indistinguishable from those of a comparison population of radio-quiet galaxies matched in redshift and K-band absolute magnitude. There is thus no evidence that the host galaxies of these largely low-luminosity (Fanaroff-Riley class I), and presumably low-excitation, AGN, as a population, have particularly unusual star-formation histories. Models in which the AGN activity in higher-luminosity, high-excitation radio galaxies is triggered by major mergers would predict a luminosity-dependent effect that is not seen in our data (which only span a limited range in radio luminosity) but which may well be detectable with the full Herschel-ATLAS dataset.
We show that the existence of a degenerate halo of sterile neutrinos with rest mass of 17.4 keV near the Galactic Center can account for both the excess 8.7 keV emission observed by the $Suzaku$ mission and the power needed ($10^{40}$ erg s$^{-1}$) to maintain the high temperature of the hot gas (8 keV) near the Galactic Center. The required decay rate and mixing angle of the sterile neutrinos are $\Gamma \ge 5 \times 10^{-20}$ s$^{-1}$ and $\sin^22 \theta \sim 10^{-3}-10^{-4}$ respectively. These values are consistent with a low reheating temperature in the inflation model, and suggest the exciting possibility that the sterile - active neutrino oscillation can be visible in near future experiments.
A survey of the Galactic plane in the region $-60\degree \leq l \leq
30\degree$, $|b| \leq 0.25\degree$ was carried out using the seven-beam Parkes
Methanol Multibeam (MMB) receiver, which operates at a frequency of 6.5 GHz.
Three pulsars were discovered, and 16 previously known pulsars detected. In
this paper we present two previously-unpublished discoveries, both with
extremely high dispersion measures, one of which is very close, in angular
distance, to the Galactic centre. The survey data also contain the first known
detection, at radio frequencies, of the radio magnetar PSR J1550-5418. Our
survey observation was made 46 days prior to that previously published and
places constraints on the beginning of pulsed radio emission from the source.
The detection of only three previously undiscovered pulsars argues that there
are few pulsars in the direction of the inner Galaxy whose flux density
spectrum is governed by a flat power law. However, these pulsars would be
likely to remain undetected at lower frequencies due to the large amount of
scatter broadening which affects pulsars with high values of dispersion
measure. Surveys with future telescopes at high observing frequencies will,
therefore, play an important role in the discovery of pulsars at the Galactic
centre. By simulating pulsar surveys of the Galaxy with Phase 1 SKA at
frequencies of 1.4 GHz and 10 GHz, we find that high-frequency observations are
the only way to discover and observe the Galactic-centre pulsar population.
Within the umbrae of sunspots, convection is generally inhibited by the presence of strong vertical magnetic fields. However, convection is not completely suppressed in these regions: bright features, known as umbral dots, are probably associated with weak, isolated convective plumes. Motivated by observations of umbral dots, we carry out numerical simulations of three-dimensional, compressible magnetoconvection. By following solution branches into the subcritical parameter regime (a region of parameter space in which the static solution is linearly stable to convective perturbations), we find that it is possible to generate a solution which is characterised by a single, isolated convective plume. This solution is analogous to the steady magnetohydrodynamic convectons that have previously been found in two-dimensional calculations. These results can be related, in a qualitative sense, to observations of umbral dots.
In this paper we present an analysis of the physical and chemical conditions
of the planetary nebula NGC 40 through spatially-resolved spectroscopic maps.
We also introduce a new algorithm --2D_NEB-- based on the well-established IRAF
nebular package, which was developed to enable the use of the spectroscopic
maps to easily estimate the astrophysical quantities of ionised nebulae. The
2D_NEB was benchmarked, and we clearly show that it works properly, since it
compares nicely with the IRAF nebular software.
Using this software, we derive the maps of several physical parameters of NGC
40. From these maps, we conclude that Te[NII] shows only a slight temperature
variation from region to region, with its values constrained between ~8,000 K
and ~9,500 K. Electron densities, on the other hand, have a much more prominent
spatial variation, as Ne[SII] values vary from ~1,000 cm^(-3) to ~3,000
cm^(-3). Maps of the chemical abundances also show significant variations. From
the big picture of our work, we strongly suggest that analysis with spatial
resolution be mandatory for more complete study of the physical and chemical
properties of planetary nebulae.
The anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) are computed for the half-turn space E_2 which represents a compact flat model of the Universe, i.e. one with finite volume. This model is inhomogeneous in the sense that the statistical properties of the CMB depend on the position of the observer within the fundamental cell. It is shown that the half-turn space describes the observed CMB anisotropies on large scales better than the concordance model with infinite volume. For most observer positions it matches the temperature correlation function even slightly better than the well studied 3-torus topology.
The automated detection of solar features is a technique which is relatively underused but if we are to keep up with the flow of data from spacecraft such as the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory, then such techniques will be very valuable to the solar community. Automated detection techniques allow us to examine a large set of data in a consistent way and in relatively short periods of time allowing for improved statistics to be carried out on any results obtained. This is particularly useful in the field of sunspot study as catalogues can be built with sunspots detected and tracked without any human intervention and this provides us with a detailed account of how various sunspot properties evolve over time. This article details the use of the Sunspot Tracking And Recognition Algorithm (STARA) to create a sunspot catalogue. This catalogue is then used to analyse the magnetic fields in sunspot umbrae from 1996-2010, taking in the whole of solar cycle 23.
We present an analysis of small-scale, periodic, solar-wind density enhancements (length-scales as small as \approx 1000 Mm) observed in images from the Heliospheric Imager (HI) aboard STEREO A. We discuss their possible relationship to periodic fluctuations of the proton density that have been identified at 1 AU using in-situ plasma measurements. Specifically, Viall, Kepko, and Spence (2008) examined 11 years of in-situ solar-wind density measurements at 1 AU and demonstrated that not only turbulent structures, but also non-turbulent periodic density structures exist in the solar wind with scale sizes of hundreds to one thousand Mm. In a subsequent paper, Viall, Spence, and Kasper (2009) analyzed the {\alpha} to proton solar-wind abundance ratio measured during one such event of periodic density structures, demonstrating that the plasma behavior was highly suggestive that either temporally or spatially varying coronal source plasma created those density structures. Large periodic density structures observed at 1 AU, which were generated in the corona, can be observable in coronal and heliospheric white-light images if they possess sufficiently high density contrast. Indeed, we identify such periodic density structures as they enter the HI field of view and follow them as they advect with the solar wind through the images. The smaller periodic density structures that we identify in the images are comparable in size to the larger structures analyzed in-situ at 1 AU, yielding further evidence that periodic density enhancements are a consequence of coronal activity as the solar wind is formed.
We perform population synthesis studies of different types of neutron stars
taking into account the magnetic field decay. For the first time, we confront
our results with observations using {\it simultaneously} the Log N -- Log S
distribution for nearby isolated neutron stars, the Log N -- Log L distribution
for magnetars, and the distribution of radio pulsars in the $P$ -- $\dot P$
diagram. We find that our theoretical model is consistent with all sets of data
if the initial magnetic field distribution function follows a log-normal law
with $<\log (B_0/[G]) > \sim 13.25$ and $\sigma_{\log B_0}\sim 0.6$. The
typical scenario includes about 10% of neutron stars born as magnetars,
significant magnetic field decay during the first million years of a NS life.
Evolutionary links between different subclasses may exist, although robust
conclusions are not yet possible.
We apply the obtained field distribution and the model of decay to study
long-term evolution of neuton stars till the stage of accretion from the
interstellar medium. It is shown that though the subsonic propeller stage can
be relatively long, initially highly magnetized neutron stars ($B_0 > \sim
10^{13}$ G) reach the accretion regime within the Galactic lifetime if their
kick velocities are not too large. The fact that in previous studies made $>$10
years ago, such objects were not considered results in a slight increase of the
Accretor fraction in comparison with earlier conclusions. Most of the neutron
stars similar to the Magnificent seven are expected to become accreting from
the interstellar medium after few billion years of their evolution. They are
the main predecestors of accreting isolated neutron stars.
We investigate the phase difference of the sunspot cycles in the two
hemispheres and compare it with the latitudinal sunspot distribution. If the
north-south phase difference exhibits a long-term tendency, it should not be
regarded as a stochastic phenomenon.
We use datasets of historical sunspot records and drawings made by
Staudacher, Hamilton, Gimingham, Carrington, Spouml;rer, and Greenwich
observers, as well as the sunspot activity during the Maunder minimum
reconstructed by Ribes and Nesme-Ribes.
We employ cross-recurrence plots to analyse north-south phase differences. We
show that during the last 300 years, the persistence of phase-leading in one of
the hemispheres exhibits a secular variation. Changes from one hemisphere to
the other leading in phase were registered near 1928 and 1968 as well as two
historical ones near 1783 and 1875.
A long-term anticorrelation between the hemispheric phase differences in the
sunspot cycles and the latitudinal distribution of sunspots was traced since
1750.
We measured the trigonometric annual parallax of H$_2$O maser source associated with the massive star-forming regions IRAS 06061+2151 with VERA. The annual parallax of $0.496\pm0.031$ mas corresponding to a distance of $2.02^{+0.13}_{-0.12}$ kpc was obtained by 10 epochs of observations from 2007 October to 2009 September. This distance was obtained with a higher accuracy than the photometric distance previously measured, and places IRAS 06061+2151 in the Perseus spiral arm. We found that IRAS 06061+2151 also has a peculiar motion of larger than 15 km s$^{-1}$ counter to the Galactic rotation. That is similar to five sources in the Perseus spiral arm, whose parallaxes and proper motions have already been measured with higher accuracy. Moreover, these sources move at on average 27 km s$^{-1}$ toward the Galactic center and counter to the Galactic rotation.
The large scale pattern in the arrival directions of extragalactic cosmic rays that reach the Earth is different from that of the flux arriving to the halo of the Galaxy as a result of the propagation through the galactic magnetic field. Two different effects are relevant in this process: deflections of trajectories and (de)acceleration by the electric field component due to the galactic rotation. The deflection of the cosmic ray trajectories makes the flux intensity arriving to the halo from some direction to appear reaching the Earth from another direction. This applies to any intrinsic anisotropy in the extragalactic distribution or, even in the absence of intrinsic anisotropies, to the dipolar Compton-Getting anisotropy induced when the observer is moving with respect to the cosmic rays rest frame. For an observer moving with the solar system, cosmic rays traveling through far away regions of the Galaxy also experience an electric force coming from the relative motion (due to the rotation of the Galaxy) of the local system in which the field can be considered as being purely magnetic. This produces small changes in the particles momentum that can originate large scale anisotropies even for an isotropic extragalactic flux.
A promising method to detect earth-sized exoplanets is the timing analysis of a known transit. The technique allows a search for variations in transit duration or center induced by the perturbation of a third body, e.g. a second planet or an exomoon. To this aim, TASTE (The Asiago Survey for Timing transit variations of Exoplanets) project will collect high-precision, short-cadence light curves for a selected sample of transits by using imaging differential photometry at the Asiago 1.82m telescope. The first light curves show that our project can already provide a competitive timing accuracy, as well as a significant improvement over the orbital parameters. We derived refined ephemerides for HAT-P-3b and HAT-P-14b with only one transit each, thanks to a timing accuracy of 11 and 25 s, respectively.
The data reduction pipeline for the VLT 2nd generation instrument X-Shooter uses a physical model to determine the optical distortion and derive the wavelength calibration. The parameters of this model describe the positions, orientations, and other physical properties of the optical components in the spectrograph. They are updated by an optimisation process that ensures the best possible fit to arc lamp line positions. ESO Quality Control monitors these parameters along with all of the usual diagnostics. This enables us to look for correlations between inferred physical changes in the instrument and, for example, instrument temperature sensor readings.
In this paper we consider an holographic model of dark energy, where the length scale is the Hubble radius, in a non flat geometry. The model contains the possibility to alleviate the cosmic coincidence problem, and also incorporate a mechanism to obtain the transition from decelerated to an accelerated expansion regime. We derive an analytic form for the Hubble parameter in a non flat universe, and using it, we perform a Bayesian analysis of this model using SNIa, BAO and CMB data. We find from this analysis that the data favored a small value for $\Omega_k$, however high enough to still produce cosmological consequences.
We present new imaging data and archival multiwavelength observations of the little studied emission nebula K 1-6 and its central star. Narrow-band images in H-alpha (+ [NII]) and [OIII] taken with the Faulkes Telescope North reveal a stratified, asymmetric, elliptical nebula surrounding a central star which has the colours of a late G- or early K-type subgiant or giant. GALEX ultraviolet images reveal a very hot subdwarf or white dwarf coincident in position with this star. The cooler, optically dominant star is strongly variable with a period of 21.312 +/- 0.008 days, and is possibly a high amplitude member of the RS CVn class, although an FK Com classification is also possible. Archival ROSAT data provide good evidence that the cool star has an active corona. We conclude that K 1-6 is most likely an old bona fide planetary nebula at a distance of ~1.0 kpc, interacting with the interstellar medium, and containing a binary or ternary central star. The observations and data analyses reported in this paper were conducted in conjunction with Year 11 high school students as part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant science education project, denoted Space To Grow, conducted jointly by professional astronomers, educational researchers, teachers, and high-school students.
We report the detection of a 0.6 M_J extrasolar planet by WASP-South, WASP-25b, transiting its solar-type host star every 3.76 days. A simultaneous analysis of the WASP, FTS and Euler photometry and CORALIE spectroscopy yields a planet of R_p = 1.22 R_J and M_p = 0.58 M_J around a slightly metal-poor solar-type host star, [Fe/H] = -0.05 \pm 0.10, of R_{\ast} = 0.92 R_{\odot} and M_{\ast} = 1.00 M_{\odot}. WASP-25b is found to have a density of \rho_p = 0.32 \rho_J, a low value for a sub-Jupiter mass planet. We investigate the relationship of planetary radius to planetary equilibrium temperature and host star metallicity for transiting exoplanets with a similar mass to WASP-25b, finding that these two parameters explain the radii of most low-mass planets well.
In this work we measure the merger fraction, f_m, of L_B >= L*_B galaxies in the VVDS-Deep spectroscopic Survey. We define kinematical close pairs as those galaxies with a separation in the sky plane 5h^-1 kpc < r_p <= r_p^max and a relative velocity Delta v <= 500 km s^-1 in redshift space. We vary r_p^max from 30h^-1 kpc to 100h^-1 kpc. We study f_m in two redshift intervals and for several values of mu, the B-band luminosity ratio of the galaxies in the pair, from 1/2 to 1/10. We take mu >= 1/4 and 1/10 <= mu < 1/4 as major and minor mergers. The merger fraction increases with z and its dependence on mu is described well as f_m (>= mu) proportional to mu^s. The value of s evolves from s = -0.64 +- 0.13 at z = 0.8 to s = -1.11 +- 0.19 at z = 0.5. The fraction of minor mergers for bright galaxies decreases with redshift as a power-law (1+z)^m with index m = -0.4 +- 0.6 for the merger fraction and m = -0.8 +- 0.9 for the merger rate. We split our principal galaxies in red and blue by their rest-frame NUV-r colour, finding that i) f_m is higher for red galaxies, ii) f_m^red does not evolve with z, and iii) f_m^blue evolves dramatically. Our results show that the mass of normal L_B >= L*_B galaxies has grown ~25% since z ~ 1 because of minor and major mergers. The relative contribution of the mass growth by merging is ~25% due to minor mergers and ~75% due to major ones. The relative effect of merging is more important for red than for blue galaxies, with red galaxies subject to 0.6 minor and 0.7 major mergers since z~1, which leads to a mass growth of ~40% and a size increase by a factor of 2. Our results also suggest that, for blue galaxies, minor mergers likely lead to early-type spirals rather than elliptical galaxies. These results show that minor merging is a significant but not dominant mechanism driving the mass growth of galaxies in the last ~8 Gyr (Abriged).
We present the classification of 197 point sources observed with the Infrared Spectrograph in the SAGE-Spec Legacy program on the Spitzer Space Telescope. We introduce a decision-tree method of object classification based on infrared spectral features, continuum and spectral energy distribution shape, bolometric luminosity, cluster membership, and variability information, which is used to classify the SAGE-Spec sample of point sources. The decision tree has a broad application to mid-infrared spectroscopic surveys, where supporting photometry and variability information are available. We use these classifications to make deductions about the stellar populations of the Large Magellanic Cloud and the success of photometric classification methods. We find 90 asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, 29 young stellar objects, 23 post-AGB objects, 19 red supergiants, eight stellar photospheres, seven background galaxies, seven planetary nebulae, two HII regions and 12 other objects, seven of which remain unclassified.
We present results from numerical simulations of the interaction of internal gravity waves (IGW) with magnetic fields in the radiative interior of the Sun. In this second paper, the waves are forced self-consistently by an overlying convection zone and a toroidal magnetic field is imposed in the stably stratified layer just underneath convection zone. Consistent with the results of previous analytic and simple numerical calculations, we find a strong wave-field interaction, in which waves are reflected in the field region. The wave-field interaction and wave reflection depend on the field strength as well as adopted values of the diffusivities. In some cases wave reflection leads to an increased mean flow in the field region. In addition to reproducing some of the features of our simpler models, we find additional complex behaviour in these more complete and realistic calculations.
According to a recent ray-based asymptotic theory, the high-frequency p-mode spectrum of rapidly rotating stars is a superposition of frequency subsets associated with dynamically independent regions of the ray-dynamics phase space. At high rotation rates corresponding to typical $\delta$ Scuti stars, two frequency subsets are expected to be visible : a regular frequency subset described by a Tassoul like formula and an irregular frequency subset with specific statistical properties. In this paper, we investigate whether the regular patterns can be detected in the resulting spectrum. We compute the autocorrelation function of synthetic spectra where the frequencies follow the asymptotic theory, the relative amplitudes are simply given by the modes' disk-averaging factors, and the frequency resolution is that of a CoRoT long run. Our first results are that (i) the detection of regular patterns strongly depends on the ratio of regular over irregular modes, (ii) low inclination angle configurations are more favorable than near equator-on configurations, (iii) in the absence of differential rotation, the $2 \Omega$ rotational splitting between $m=1$ and $m=-1$ modes is an easy feature to detect.
Recently, Fossati et al. observed that the UV transit of WASP-12b showed an early ingress compared to the optical transit. We suggest that the resulting early ingress is caused by a bow shock ahead of the planetary orbital motion. In this Letter we investigate the conditions that might lead to the formation of such a bow shock. We consider two scenarios: (1) the stellar magnetic field is strong enough to confine the hot coronal plasma out to the planetary orbit and (2) the stellar magnetic field is unable to confine the plasma, which escapes in a wind. In both cases, a shock capable of compressing plasma to the observed densities will form around the planet for plasma temperatures T < (4 - 5) x 10^6 K. In the confined case, the shock always forms directly ahead of the planet, but in the wind case the shock orientation depends on the wind speed and hence on the plasma temperature. For higher wind temperatures, the shock forms closer to the line of centers between the planet and the star. We conclude that shock formation leading to an observable early UV ingress is likely to be a common feature of transiting systems and may prove to be a useful tool in setting limits on planetary magnetic field strengths Bp. In the case of WASP-12b, we derive an upper limit of about Bp=24 G.
We present a numerical Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) study of the dependence of stellar mass and angular momentum- loss rates on the orbital distance to close-in giant planets. We find that the mass loss rate drops by a factor of $\approx$1.5-2, while the angular momentum loss rate drops by a factor of $\approx$4 as the distance decreases past the Alfv\'en surface. This reduction in angular momentum loss is due to the interaction between the stellar and planetary Alfv\'en surfaces, which modifies the global structure of the stellar corona and stellar wind on the hemisphere facing the planet, as well as the opposite hemisphere. The simulation also shows that the magnitude of change in angular momentum loss rate depends mostly on the strength of the planetary magnetic field and not on its polarity. The interaction however, begins at greater separation if the overall field topology of the star and the planet are of anti-aligned. Our results are consistent with evidence for excess angular momentum in stars harboring close-in giant planets, and show that the reduction in wind-driven angular momentum loss can compete with, and perhaps dominate, spin-up due to tidal interaction.
We study the influence of various magnetic diffusivity profiles on the
evolution of the poloidal and toroidal magnetic fields in a kinematic flux
transport dynamo model for the Sun. The diffusivity is a poorly understood
ingredient in solar dynamo models. We mathematically construct various
theoretical profiles of the depth-dependent diffusivity, based on constraints
from mixing length theory and turbulence, and on comparisons of poloidal field
evolution on the Sun with that from the flux-transport dynamo model.
We then study the effect of each diffusivity profile in the cyclic evolution
of the magnetic fields in the Sun, by solving the mean-field dynamo equations.
We investigate effects on the solar cycle periods, the maximum tachocline field
strengths, and the evolution of the toroidal and poloidal field structures
inside the convection zone, due to different diffusivity profiles.
We conduct three experiments: (I) comparing very different magnetic
diffusivity profiles; (II) comparing different locations of diffusivity
gradient near the tachocline for the optimal profile; and (III) comparing
different slopes of diffusivity gradient for an optimal profile.
Based on these simulations, we discuss which aspects of depth-dependent
diffusivity profiles may be most relevant for magnetic flux evolution in the
Sun, and how certain observations could help improve knowledge of this dynamo
ingredient.
We present observations of high temperature emission from the core of a solar active region using instruments on Hinode and SDO. These multi-instrument observations allow us to determine both the distribution of plasma temperatures as well as their temporal evolution. We find that in the core the differential emission measure distribution is sharply peaked near 4 MK and falls off sharply at both higher and lower temperatures. Perhaps most significantly, the emission measure at 0.5 MK is reduced by more than two orders of from the peak at 4 MK. We also find that the temporal evolution in broad-band soft X-ray images is relatively constant over about 6 hours of observing. Observations in the cooler SDO/AIA bandpasses, such as Fe IX/Fe X 171 A, generally do not show cooling loops in the core of the active region, consistent with the steady emission observed at high temperatures. Finally, we find that the high temperature emission is easily reconciled with a simple steady heating model. Impulsive heating models, in contrast, do not adequately reproduce the high temperature emission and predict low temperature emission that is approximately an order of magnitude too large. These results provide further evidence that the heating of high temperature loops in the core of an active region is effectively steady. We also present an initial look at images from the SDO/AIA 94 A channel, which is sensitive to Fe XVIII.
We present new observations from Z-Spec, a broadband 200 - 300 GHz spectrometer, of sub-millimeter bright lensed sources recently detected by the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS). Four out of five sources observed were detected in CO, and their redshifts measured using a new redshift finding algorithm that uses combinations of the signal-to-noise of all the lines falling in the Z-Spec bandpass to determine redshifts with high confidence, even in cases where the signal-to-noise in individual lines is low. Lower limits for the dust masses (~a few 10^8 M_sun) and spatial extents (~1 kpc equivalent radius) are derived from the continuum spectral energy distributions, corresponding to dust temperatures between 54 and 69 K. The dust and gas properties, as determined by the CO line luminosities, are characteristic of dusty starburst galaxies, with star formation rates of 10^2-10^3 M_sun/yr. In the LTE approximation, we derive relatively low CO excitation temperature(<100 K) and optical depths (tau < 1). Using a maximum likelihood technique, we perform a non-LTE excitation analysis of the detected CO lines in each galaxy to further constrain the bulk molecular gas properties. We find that the mid-J CO lines measured by Z-Spec localize the best solutions to either a high-temperature / low-density region, or a low-temperature / high-density region near the LTE solution, with the optical depth varying accordingly. Future observations of CO(1-0) or other molecular lines should help distinguish these scenarios and further illuminate the star-formation history of these galaxies.
Hyperspectral imaging has proven its efficiency for target detection applications but the acquisition mode and the data rate are major issues when dealing with real-time detection applications. It can be useful to use snapshot spectral imagers able to acquire all the spectral channels simultaneously on a single image sensor. Such snapshot spectral imagers suffer from the lack of spectral resolution. It is then mandatory to carefully select the spectral content of the acquired image with respect to the proposed application. We present a novel approach of hyperspectral band selection for target detection which maximizes the contrast between the background and the target by proper optimization of positions and linewidths of a limited number of filters. Based on a set of tunable band-pass filters such as Fabry-Perot filters, the device should be able to adapt itself to the current scene and the target looked for. Simulations based on real hyperspectral images show that such snapshot imagers could compete well against hyperspectral imagers in terms of detection efficiency while allowing snapshot acquisition, and real-time detection.
The effect of a magnetized plasma on the resonant photoproduction of axions on the electromagnetic multipole components of the medium, $i \to f+a$, has been considered. It has been shown that the axion resonant emissivity, due to various reactions involving particles of the medium, is naturally expressed in terms of the emissivity of the photon $\to$ axion transition. The number of axions produced by the equilibrium cosmic microwave background radiation in the magnetar magnetosphere has been calculated. It has been shown that the resonant mechanism under consideration is inefficient for the production of cold dark mass.
There exists an observed "desert" spanning six orders of magnitude between ${\cal O}(0.5)$ eV and ${\cal O}(0.5)$ MeV in the fermion mass spectrum. We argue that it might accommodate one or more keV sterile neutrinos as a natural candidate for warm dark matter. To illustrate this point of view, we simply assume that there is one keV sterile neutrino $\nu^{}_4$ and its flavor eigenstate $\nu^{}_s$ weakly mixes with three active neutrinos. We clarify different active-sterile neutrino mixing factors for the radiative decay of $\nu^{}_4$ and $\beta$ decays in a self-consistent parametrization. A direct detection of this keV sterile neutrino dark matter in the laboratory is in principle possible since the $\nu^{}_4$ component of $\nu^{}_e$ can leave a distinct imprint on the electron energy spectrum when it is captured on radioactive $\beta$-decaying nuclei. We carry out an analysis of its signatures in the capture reactions $\nu^{}_e + ^3{\rm H} \to ^3{\rm He} + e^-$ and $\nu^{}_e + ^{106}{\rm Ru} \to ^{106}{\rm Rh} + e^-$ against the $\beta$-decay backgrounds, and conclude that this experimental approach might not be hopeless in the long run.
Understanding and predicting the formation of shell structure from nuclear forces is a central challenge for nuclear physics. While the magic numbers N=2,8,20 are generally well understood, N=28 is the first standard magic number that is not reproduced in microscopic theories with two-nucleon forces. In this Letter, we show that three-nucleon forces give rise to repulsive interactions between two valence neutrons that correctly lead to 48Ca as a magic nucleus, with a high 2+ excitation energy and a concentrated magnetic dipole transition strength. Towards the neutron drip line, we robustly predict a shell closure at N=34. The repulsive three-nucleon mechanism improves the agreement with experimental binding energies and suggests the drip line around 60Ca.
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I discuss some differences between the observed spectral states of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) and the canonical scheme of spectral states defined in Galactic black holes. The standard interpretation of ULXs with a curved spectrum, or a moderately steep power-law with soft excess and high-energy downturn, is that they are an extension of the very high state, up to luminosities ~ 1 to 3 L_{Edd}. Two competing models are Comptonization in a warm corona, and slim disk; I suggest bulk motion Comptonization in the radiatively-driven outflow as another possibility. The interpretation of ULXs with a hard power-law spectrum is more problematic. Some of them remain in that state over a large range of luminosities; others switch directly to a curved state without going through a canonical high/soft state. I suggest that those ULXs are in a high/hard state not seen in Galactic black holes; that state may overlap with the low/hard state at lower accretion rates, and extend all the way to Eddington accretion rates. If some black holes can reach Eddington accretion rates without switching to a standard-disk-dominated state, it is also possible that they never quench their steady jets.
Observations show that nearly all star clusters and stellar populations contain blue straggler stars (BSs). BSs in a cluster can significantly enhance the integrated spectrum of the host population, preferentially at short wavelengths, and render it much bluer in photometric colours. Current theoretical simple stellar population (SSP) models constructed within the traditional framework of single and binary stellar evolution cannot fully account for the impact of these objects on the integrated spectral properties of stellar populations. Using conventional SSP models without taking into account BS contributions may significantly underestimate a cluster's age and/or metallicity, simply because one has to balance the observed bluer colours (or a bluer spectrum) with a younger age and/or a lower metallicity. Therefore, inclusion of BS contributions in SSP models is an important and necessary improvement for population synthesis and its applications. Here, we present a new set of SSP models, which include BS contributions based on our analysis of individual star clusters. The models cover the wavelength range from 91~{\AA} to 160~$\mu$m, ages from 0.1 to 20 Gyr and metallicities $Z=0.0004, 0.004, 0.008, 0.02$ (solar) and 0.05. We use the observed integrated spectra of several Magellanic Cloud star clusters to cross-check and validate our models. The results show that the age predictions from our models are closer to those from isochrone fitting in the clusters' colour-magnitude diagrams compared to age predictions based on standard SSP models.
We analyze the impact of Fermi gamma-ray observations (primarily non-detections) of selected nearby galaxies, including dwarf spheroidals, and of clusters of galaxies on decaying dark matter models. We show that the fact that galaxy clusters do not shine in gamma rays puts the most stringent limits available to-date on the lifetime of dark matter particles for a wide range of particle masses and decay final states. In particular, our results rule out the possibility of ascribing to decaying dark matter both the increasing positron fraction reported by PAMELA and the high-energy feature in the electron-positron spectrum measured by Fermi. Observations of nearby dwarf galaxies and of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) do not provide as strong constraints as those from galaxy clusters, while still improving on previous limits in some cases.
Small amplitude oscillations are observed in red giant branch (RGB) stars.
Data on such oscillations are a source of information about the objects,
notably about properties of convection in their envelopes and about the systems
these objects inhabit. The OGLE-III catalog contains data for about 80 thousand
small amplitude variable red giants (OSARGs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
We want to explain variability in OSARGs as the solar-like oscillation and to
associate the peaks in power spectra with frequencies of acoustic modes. We use
data on reddening-free magnitudes of the objects and interpret them in terms of
stellar physical parameters using tabulated isochrones calculated for ages and
composition parameters corresponding to the upper RGB of the LMC. Massive data
on the peak frequencies and amplitudes are compared with expectations for
stochastically excited oscillations. The frequencies are also compared with
those calculated for radial modes in envelope models with parameters taken from
the isochrones.
In stars close to the tip of the RGB, the peaks in power spectra are found in
the 0.1-1.0 $\mu$Hz range, which is consistent with extrapolation of the
frequency-luminosity relation for the solar-like oscillation. The dominant
peaks occur close to the first two radial overtones. The increase in amplitude
with luminosity is slower than linear. The exponent s=0.9 is similar to what is
found from recent analysis of CoRoT data on less luminous red giants. Frequency
separations between dominant peaks are found to be smaller by about 20% than
calculated separations between these modes. After examining various
possibilities, we left this discrepancy unexplained.
The small amplitude variability of stars at the RGB tip is likely to be
caused by a stochastic excitation of acoustic oscillations, but interpreting of
individual peaks in power spectra presents a problem.
We present an ultra-deep survey for Neptune Trojans using the Subaru 8.2-m and Magellan 6.5-m telescopes. The survey reached a 50% detection efficiency in the R-band at 25.7 magnitudes and covered 49 square degrees of sky. This depth corresponds to Neptune Trojans that are about 16 km in radius (assuming an albedo of 0.05). A paucity of smaller Neptune Trojans (radii < 45 km) compared to larger ones was found. The brightest Neptune Trojans appear to follow a steep power-law slope (q = 5+-1) similar to the brightest objects in the other known stable reservoirs such as the Kuiper Belt, Jupiter Trojans and main belt asteroids. We find a roll-over for the Neptune Trojans that occurs around a radii of r=45+-10 km (23.5+-0.3 mags), which is also very similar to the other stable reservoirs. All the observed stable regions in the the solar system show evidence for Missing Intermediate Sized Planetesimals (MISPs). This indicates a primordial and not collisional origin, which suggests planetesimal formation proceeded directly from small to large objects. The scarcity of intermediate and smaller sized Neptune Trojans may limit them as being a strong source for the short period comets.
The discovery of 9 new brown-dwarf candidates orbiting stars in the CORALIE and HARPS radial-velocity surveys is reported. New CORALIE radial velocities yielding accurate orbits of 6 previously-known hosts of potential brown-dwarf companions are presented. Including targets selected from the literature, 33 hosts of potential brown-dwarf companions are examined. Employing innovative methods, we use the new reduction of the Hipparcos data to fully characterise the astrometric orbits of 6 objects, revealing M-dwarf companions with masses between 90 M_Jup and 0.52 M_Sun. Additionally, the masses of two companions can be restricted to the stellar domain. The companion to HD 137510 is found to be a brown dwarf. At 95 % confidence, the companion of HD 190228 is also a brown dwarf. The remaining 23 companions persist as brown-dwarf candidates. Based on the CORALIE planet-search sample, we obtain an upper limit of 0.6 % for the frequency of brown-dwarf companions around Sun-like stars. We find that the companion-mass distribution function is rising at the lower end of the brown-dwarf mass range, suggesting that in fact we are detecting the high-mass tail of the planetary distribution.
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) describes the mass distribution of stars at the time of their formation and is of fundamental importance for many areas of astrophysics. The IMF is reasonably well constrained in the disk of the Milky Way but we have very little direct information on the form of the IMF in other galaxies and at earlier cosmic epochs. Here we investigate the stellar mass function in elliptical galaxies by measuring the strength of the Na I doublet and the Wing-Ford molecular FeH band in their spectra. These lines are strong in stars with masses <0.3 Msun and weak or absent in all other types of stars. We unambiguously detect both signatures, consistent with previous studies that were based on data of lower signal-to-noise ratio. The direct detection of the light of low mass stars implies that they are very abundant in elliptical galaxies, making up >80% of the total number of stars and contributing >60% of the total stellar mass. We infer that the IMF in massive star-forming galaxies in the early Universe produced many more low mass stars than the IMF in the Milky Way disk, and was probably slightly steeper than the Salpeter form in the mass range 0.1 - 1 Msun.
We present HST/WFPC2 broadband and ground-based Halpha images, H I 21-cm emission maps, and low-resolution optical spectra of the nearby galaxy ESO 1327-2041, which is located 38 arcsec (14 kpc in projection) west of the quasar PKS 1327-206. Our HST images clearly show that ESO 1327-2041 is the result of a recent merger that may have ejected a hypercompact galaxy nucleus from the system. Our ground-based Halpha images reveal the presence of several H II regions in an inclined disk near the galaxy's center. The WFPC2 images also reveal an extended spiral arm that was previously classified as a polar ring and our optical spectra show Halpha emission from several H II regions in this arm located ~5 arcsec from the quasar position (~2 kpc in projection). Absorption associated with ESO 1327-2041 is found in H I 21-cm, optical, and near-UV spectra of PKS 1327-206. We find two absorption components at cz = 5255 and 5510 km/s in the H I 21-cm absorption spectrum, which match the velocities of previously discovered metal-line components. We attribute the 5510 km/s absorber to disk gas in the extended spiral arm and the 5255 km/s absorber to high-velocity gas that has been tidally stripped from the disk of ESO 1327-2041. The complexity of the galaxy/absorber relationships for these very nearby H I 21-cm absorbers suggests that the standard view of high redshift damped Lyman-alpha absorbers is oversimplified in many cases.
Deneb is often considered the prototypical A-type supergiant, and is one of the visually most luminous stars in the Galaxy. A-type supergiants are potential extragalactic distance indicators, but the variability of these stars needs to be better characterized before this technique can be considered reliable. We analyzed 339 high resolution echelle spectra of Deneb obtained over the five-year span of 1997 through 2001 as well as 370 Stromgren photometric measurements obtained during the same time frame. Our spectroscopic analysis included dynamical spectra of the H-alpha profile, H-alpha equivalent widths, and radial velocities measured from Si II 6347, 6371. Time-series analysis reveals no obvious cyclic behavior that proceeds through multiple observing seasons, although we found a suspected 40 day period in two, non-consecutive observing seasons. Some correlations are found between photometric and radial velocity data sets, and suggest radial pulsations at two epochs. No correlation is found between the variability of the H-alpha profiles and that of the radial velocities or the photometry. Lucy (1976) found evidence that Deneb was a long period single-lined spectroscopic binary star, but our data set shows no evidence for radial velocity variations caused by a binary companion.
Future galactic supernovae will provide an extremely long baseline for studying the properties and interactions of neutrinos. In this paper, we discuss the possibility of using such an event to constrain (or discover) the effects of exotic physics in scenarios that are not currently constrained and are not accessible with reactor or solar neutrino experiments. In particular, we focus on the cases of neutrino decay and quantum decoherence. We calculate the expected signal from a core-collapse supernova in both current and future water Cerenkov, scintillating, and liquid argon detectors, and find that such observations will be capable of distinguishing between many of these scenarios. Additionally, future detectors will be capable of making strong, model-independent conclusions by examining events associated with a galactic supernova's neutronization burst.
The separation of the Milky Way disk into a thin and thick component is supported by differences in the spatial, kinematic and metallicity distributions of their stars. These differences have led to the view that the thick disk formed early via a cataclysmic event and constitutes fossil evidence of the hierarchical growth of the Milky Way. We show here, using N-body simulations, how a double-exponential vertical structure, with stellar populations displaying similar dichotomies can arise purely through internal evolution. In this picture, stars migrate radially, while retaining nearly circular orbits, as described by Sellwood & Binney (2002). As stars move outwards they populate a thickened component. Such stars found at the present time in the solar neighborhood formed early in the disk's history at smaller radii where stars are more metal-poor and alpha-enhanced, leading to the properties observed for thick disk stars. Classifying stars as members of the thin or thick disk by either velocity or metallicity leads to an apparent separation in the other property as observed. This scenario is supported by the SDSS observation that stars in the transition region do not show any correlation between rotational velocity and metallicity. The good qualitative agreement between our simulation and observations in the Milky Way hint that the thick disk may be a ubiquitous galaxy feature generated by stellar migration. Nonetheless, we cannot exclude that some fraction of the thick disk is a fossil of a past more violent history, nor can this scenario explain thick disks in all galaxies.
We show that a relativistic gamma-ray burst (GRB) jet can potentially pierce the envelope of very massive first generation star (Population III; Pop III) by using the stellar density profile to estimate both the jet luminosity (via accretion) and its penetrability. The jet breakout is possible even if the Pop III star has a supergiant hydrogen envelope without mass loss, thanks to the long-lived powerful accretion of the envelope itself. While the Pop III GRB is estimated to be energetic $E_{\gamma,\mathrm{iso}}\sim 10^{55}$ erg, the supergiant envelope hides the initial bright phase into the cocoon component, leading to a GRB with a long duration $\sim 1000(1+z)$ sec and an ordinary isotropic luminosity $\sim 10^{52}$ erg s$^{-1}$ ($\sim 10^{-9}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ at redshift $z\sim 20$). The neutrino-annihilation is not effective for Pop III GRBs because of a low central temperature, while the magnetic mechanism is viable. We also derive analytic estimates of the breakout conditions, which are applicable to various progenitor models. The GRB luminosity and duration are found to be very sensitive to the core and envelope mass, providing possible probes of the first luminous objects at the end of the high redshift dark ages.
Even though the dark-matter power spectrum in the absence of biasing predicts a number density of halos n(M) ~ M^-2 (i.e. a Schechter alpha value of -2) at the low-mass end (M < 10^10 M_solar), hydrodynamic simulations have typically produced values for stellar systems in good agreement with the observed value alpha ~ -1. We explain this with a simple physical argument and show that an efficient external gas-heating mechanism (such as the UV background included in all hydro codes) will produce a critical halo mass below which halos cannot retain their gas and form stars. We test this conclusion with GADGET-2-based simulations using various UV backgrounds, and for the first time we also investigate the effect of an X-ray background. We show that at the present epoch alpha is depends primarily on the mean gas temperature at the star-formation epoch for low-mass systems (z <~ 3): with no background we find alpha ~ -1.5, with UV only alpha ~ -1.0, and with UV and X-rays alpha ~ -0.75. We find the critical final halo mass for star formation to be ~4x10^8 M_solar with a UV background and ~7x10^8 M_solar with UV and X-rays.
In this work we have developed a new stochastic model for the fluctuations in lightcurves of accreting black holes. The model is based on a linear combination of stochastic processes and is also the solution to the linear diffusion equation perturbed by a spatially correlated noise field. This allows flexible modeling of the power spectral density (PSD), and we derive the likelihood function for the process, enabling one to estimate the parameters of the process, including break frequencies in the PSD. Our statistical technique is computationally efficient, unbiased by aliasing and red noise leak, and fully accounts for irregular sampling and measurement errors. We show that our stochastic model provides a good approximation to the X-ray lightcurves of galactic black holes, and the optical and X-ray lightcurves of AGN. We use the estimated time scales of our stochastic model to recover the correlation between characteristic time scale of the high frequency X-ray fluctuations and black hole mass for AGN, including two new `detections' of the time scale for Fairall 9 and NGC 5548. We find a tight anti-correlation between the black hole mass and the amplitude of the driving noise field, which is proportional to the amplitude of the high frequency X-ray PSD, and we estimate that this parameter gives black hole mass estimates to within ~ 0.2 dex precision, potentially the most accurate method for AGN yet. We also find evidence that ~ 13% of AGN optical PSDs fall off flatter than 1 / f^2, and, similar to previous work, find that the optical fluctuations are more suppressed on short time scales compared to the X-rays, but are larger on long time scales, suggesting the optical fluctuations are not solely due to reprocessing of X-rays.
Neutral outflows have been detected in many ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) via the Na I D $\lambda\lambda 5890, 5896$ absorption-line doublet. For the first time, we have mapped and analyzed the 2-D kinematics of a cool neutral outflow in a ULIRG, F10565+2448, using the integral field unit (IFU) on Gemini North to observe the Na I D feature. At the same time we have mapped the ionized outflow with the [NII] and H$\alpha$ emission lines. We find a systemic rotation curve that is consistent with the rotation of the molecular disk determined from previous CO observations. The absorption lines show evidence of a nuclear outflow with a radial extent of at least 3 kpc, consistent with previous observations. The strength of the Na I D lines have a strong, spatially resolved correlation with reddening, suggesting that dust is present in the outflow. Surprisingly, the outflow velocities of the neutral gas show a strong asymmetry in the form of a major-axis gradient that is opposite in sign to disk rotation. This is inconsistent with entrained material rotating along with the galaxy or with a tilted minor-axis outflow. We hypothesize that this unusual behavior is due to an asymmetry in the distribution of the ambient gas. We also see evidence of asymmetric ionized outflow in the emission-line velocity map, which appear to be decoupled from the neutral outflow. Our results strengthen the hypothesis that ULIRG outflows differ in morphology from those in more quiescent disk galaxies.
Fundamental changes are taking place in the way we do astronomy. In twenty
years time, it is likely that most astronomers will never go near a
cutting-edge telescope, which will be much more efficiently operated in service
mode. They will rarely analyse data, since all the leading-edge telescopes will
have pipeline processors. And rather than competing to observe a particularly
interesting object, astronomers will more commonly group together in large
consortia to observe massive chunks of the sky in carefully designed surveys,
generating petabytes of data daily.
We can imagine that astronomical productivity will be higher than at any
previous time. PhD students will mine enormous survey databases using
sophisticated tools, cross-correlating different wavelength data over vast
areas, and producing front-line astronomy results within months of starting
their PhD. The expertise that now goes into planning an observation will
instead be devoted to planning a foray into the databases. In effect, people
will plan observations to use the Virtual Observatory. Here I examine the
process of astronomical discovery, take a crystal ball to see how it might
change over the next twenty years, and identify further opportunities for the
future, as well as identifying pitfalls against which we must remain vigilant.
We investigate the deposition of energy due to the annihilations of neutrinos and antineutrinos on the rotation axis of rotating neutron and quark stars, respectively. The source of the neutrinos is assumed to be a neutrino-cooled accretion disk around the compact object. Under the assumption of the separability of the neutrino null geodesic equation of motion we obtain the general relativistic expression of the energy deposition rate for arbitrary stationary and axisymmetric space-times. The neutrino trajectories are obtained by using a ray tracing algorithm, based on numerically solving the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for neutrinos by reversing the proper time evolution. We obtain the energy deposition rates for several classes of rotating neutron stars, described by different equations of state of the neutron matter, and for quark stars, described by the MIT bag model equation of state and in the CFL (Color-Flavor-Locked) phase, respectively. The electron-positron energy deposition rate on the rotation axis of rotating neutron and quark stars is studied for two accretion disk models (isothermal disk and accretion disk in thermodynamical equilibrium). Rotation and general relativistic effects modify the total annihilation rate of the neutrino-antineutrino pairs on the rotation axis of compact stellar, as measured by an observer at infinity. The differences in the equations of state for neutron and quark matter also have important effects on the spatial distribution of the energy deposition rate by neutrino-antineutrino annihilation.
We show that the expansion of ejecta in Tycho's supernova remnant (SNR) is consistent with a spherically symmetric shell, based on Suzaku measurements of the Doppler broadened X-ray emission lines. All the strong K_alpha line emission show broader widths at the center than at the rim, while the centroid energies are constant across the remnant (except for Ca). This is the pattern expected for Doppler broadening due to expansion of the SNR ejecta in a spherical shell. To determine the expansion velocities of the ejecta, we applied a model for each emission line feature having two Gaussian components separately representing red- and blue-shifted gas, and inferred the Doppler velocity difference between these two components directly from the fitted centroid energy difference. Taking into account the effect of projecting a three-dimensional shell to the plane of the detector, we derived average spherical expansion velocities independently for the K_alpha emission of Si, S, Ar, and Fe, and K_beta of Si. We found that the expansion velocities of Si, S, and Ar ejecta of 4700+/-100 km/s are distinctly higher than that obtained from Fe K_alpha emission, 4000+/-300 km/s, which is consistent with segregation of the Fe in the inner ejecta. Combining the observed ejecta velocities with the ejecta proper-motion measurements by Chandra, we derived a distance to the Tycho's SNR of 4+/-1 kpc.
In almost all of plasma theories for astrophysical objects, we have assumed the charge quasi-neutrality of unmagnetized plasmas in global scales. This assumption has been justified because if there is a charged plasma, it induces electric field which attracts the opposite charge, and this opposite charge reduces the charge separation. Here, we report a newly discovered instability which causes a charge separation in a rotating plasma inside of an inner most stable circular orbit (ISCO) around a black hole. The growth rate of the instability is smaller than that of the disk instability even in the unstable disk region and is forbidden in the stable disk region outside of the ISCO. However, this growth rate becomes comparable to that of the disk instability when the plasma density is much lower than a critical density inside of the ISCO. In such case, the charge separation instability would become apparent and cause the charged accretion into the black hole, thus charge the hole up.
Aims: We investigate the spatial distribution of dust emission around Tycho's SNR to understand its origin. We distinguish the dust associated with the SNR from that of the surrounding ISM. Methods: We performed mid- to far-infrared imaging observations of the remnant at wavelengths of 9, 15, 18, 24, 65, 90, 140, and 160um using the Infrared Camera and the Far-Infrared Surveyor onboard AKARI. We compared the AKARI images with the Suzaku X-ray image and the 12CO image of Tycho's SNR. Results: All the AKARI images except the 9, 140, and 160um band images show a shell-like emission structure with brightness peaks at the north east (NE) and north west (NW) boundaries, sharply outlining part of the X-ray shell. The 140 and 160um bands are dominated by cold dust emission from the surrounding ISM near the NE boundary. Conclusion: We conclude that the dust emission at the NE boundary comes from the ambient cloud interacting with the shock front, while the origin of the dust emission at the NW boundary is rather unclear because of the absence of prominent interstellar clouds near the corresponding region. We cannot rule out the possibility that the latter is mostly of an SN ejecta origin.
We investigate observational constraints on the generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG) model by using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. With the cosmology-independent Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at high redshift, as well as the Union2 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) set, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) observation from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP7) result, and the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) observation from the spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) galaxy sample, the best-fit values of the GCG model parameters are The best-fit values of the GCG model parameters are $A_S$=$0.7475_{-0.0539}^{+0.0556}(1\sigma)_{-0.0816}^{+0.0794}(2\sigma)$, $\alpha$=$-0.0256_{-0.1326}^{+0.1760}(1\sigma)_{-0.1907}^{+0.2730}(2\sigma)$, with the effective matter density $\Omega_{m}=0.2628_{-0.0153}^{+0.0155}(1\sigma)_{-0.0223}^{+0.0236}(2\sigma)$, which are more stringent than the previous results for constraint on GCG model parameters.
We describe the results of a deep survey for Ly alpha emission line galaxies at z~3.1, carried out with the multislit imaging spectroscopy (MSIS) technique, with the FORS2 spectrograph on VLT-UT1. We discuss the criteria used to select the emission line galaxies and present the main physical characteristics of the sample: redshift, observed flux and equivalent width distributions.
We present the first interpretation of the Stokes profile asymmetries measured in the FeI 630 nm lines by SOT/SP, in both quiet Sun internetwork (IN) and network regions. The inversion is carried out under the hypothesis of MISMA, where the unresolved structure is assumed to be optically thin. We analyze a 29.52"x31.70" subfield carefully selected to be representative of the properties of a 302"x162" quiet Sun field-of-view at disk center. The inversion code is able to reproduce the observed asymmetries in a very satisfactory way. The inversion code interprets 25% of inverted profiles as emerging from pixels in which both positive and negative polarities coexist. kG field strengths are found at the base of the photosphere in both network and IN; in the case of the latter, both kG fields and hG fields are admixed. When considering the magnetic properties at the mid photosphere most kG fields are gone, and the statistics is dominated by hG fields. We constrain the magnetic field of only 4.5% of the analyzed photosphere (and this percentage reduces to 1.3% when referred to all pixels, including those with low polarization not analyzed). The rest of the plasma is consistent with the presence of weak fields not contributing to the detected polarization signals. The average flux densities derived in the full subfield and in IN regions are higher than the ones derived from the same dataset by Milne-Eddington inversion. The existence of large asymmetries in SOT/SP polarization profiles is uncovered. These are not negligible in quiet Sun data. The MISMA inversion code reproduces them in a satisfactory way, and provides a statistical description of the magnetized IN and network which partly differs and complements the results obtained so far. From this it follows the importance of having a complete interpretation of the line profile shapes.
A method to calculate light curves of the gravitational microlensing of the Ellis wormhole is derived in the weak-field limit. In this limit, lensing by the wormhole produces one image outside the Einstein ring and one other image inside. The weak-field hypothesis is a good approximation in Galactic lensing if the throat radius is less than $10^{11} km$. The light curves calculated have gutters of approximately 4% immediately outside the Einstein ring crossing times. The magnification of the Ellis wormhole lensing is generally less than that of Schwarzschild lensing. The optical depths and event rates are calculated for the Galactic bulge and Large Magellanic Cloud fields according to bound and unbound hypotheses. If the wormholes have throat radii between 100 and $10^7 km$, are bound to the galaxy, and have a number density that is approximately that of ordinary stars, detection can be achieved by reanalyzing past data. If the wormholes are unbound, detection using past data is impossible.
The implications of a QCD phase transition at high temperatures and densities for core-collapse supernovae are discussed. For a strong first order phase transition to quark matter, various scenarios have been put forward in the literature. Here, detailed numerical simulations including neutrino transport are presented, where it is found that a second shock wave due to the QCD phase transition emerges shortly after bounce. It is demonstrated that such a supernova banging twice results in a second peak in the antineutrino spectrum. This second peak is clearly detectable in present neutrino detectors for a galactic supernova.
Extending the population synthesis method to isolated young cooling white dwarfs we are able to confront our model assumptions with observations made in ROSAT All-Sky Survey (Fleming et al., 1996). This allows us to check model parameters such as evolution of spectra and separation of heavy elements in DA WD envelopes. It seems like X-ray spectrum temperature of these objects is given by the formula T_{X-ray} = min(T_eff, T_max). We have obtained DA WD's birth rate and upper limit of the X-ray spectrum temperature: DA birth rate $= 0.61\times 10^{-12}$ in cubic parsec per year and T_max = 41000 K. These values are in good correspondence with values obtained by other authors (Liebert et al., 2004; Wolff et al., 1996). From this fact we also conclude that our population synthesis method is applicable to the population of close-by isolated cooling white dwarfs as well as to the population of the isolated cooling neutron stars.
A Scintillator Deposited CCD (SDCCD) is a wide-band X-ray detector consisting of a CCD and a scintillator directly attached to each other. We assembled the newly developed SDCCD that the scintillator CsI(Tl) is below the fully depleted CCD. The incident X-rays enter the CCD depletion layer first. Then, X-rays passing through the depletion layer are absorbed in the CsI(Tl). The contact surface of the CCD is a back-illuminated side so that we can have good light collection efficiency. In our experimental setup, we confirmed good performance of our SDCCD detecting many emission lines up to 88\,keV that comes from $^{109}$Cd.
Numerous cosmological simulations have been performed to study the formation of the first objects. We present the results of high resolution 3-D cosmological simulations of primordial objects formation using the adaptive mesh refinement code FLASH by including in an approximate manner the radiative transfer effects of Lyman alpha photons. We compare the results of a Lyman alpha trapping case inside gas clouds with atomic and molecular hydrogen cooling cases.The principal objective of this research is to follow the collapse of a zero metallicity halo with an effective equation of state (that accounts for the trapping) and to explore the fate of a halo in each of the three cases, specifically, the impact of thermodynamics on fragmentation of halos.Our results show that in the case of Lyman alpha trapping, fragmentation is halted and a massive object is formed at the center of a halo. The temperature of the gas remains well above $10^{4}$ K and the halo is not able to fragment to stellar masses. In the atomic cooling case, gas collapses into one or two massive clumps in contrast to the Lyman alpha trapping case. For the molecular hydrogen cooling case, gas cools efficiently and fragments.The formation of massive primordial objects is thus strongly dependent on the thermodynamics of the gas. A salient feature of our results is that for the formation of massive objects, e.g. intermediate mass black holes, feedback effects are not required to suppress $H_{2}$ cooling, as molecular hydrogen is collisionally dissociated at temperatures higher than $10^{4}$ K as a consequence of Lyman alpha trapping.
In this paper we study the effect of the anisotropic stress generated by neutrinos on the propagation of primordial cosmological gravitational waves. The presence of anisotropic stress, like the one generated by free-streaming neutrinos, partially absorbs the gravitational waves (GWs) propagating across the Universe. We find that in the standard case of three neutrino families, 22% of the intensity of the wave is absorbed, in fair agreement with previous studies. We have also calculated the maximum possible amount of damping, corresponding to the case of a flat Universe completely dominated by ultrarelativistic collisionless particles. In this case 43% of the intensity of the wave is absorbed. Finally, we have taken into account the effect of collisions, using a simple form for the collision term parameterized by the mean time between interactions, that allows to go smoothly from the case of a tigthly-coupled fluid to that of a collisionless gas. The dependence of the absorption on the neutrino energy density and on the effectiveness of the interactions opens the interesting possibility of observing spectral features related to particular events in the thermal history of the Universe, like neutrino decoupling and electron-positron annihilation, both occurring at T~1 MeV. GWs entering the horizon at that time will have today a frequency $\nu\sim 10^{-9} \Hz$, a region that is going to be probed by Pulsar Timing Arrays.
I present simple but robust estimates of the types of sources making up the faint, sub-microJy radio sky. These include, not surprisingly, star-forming galaxies and radio-quiet AGN but also two "new" populations, that is low radio power ellipticals and dwarf galaxies, the latter likely constituting the most numerous component of the radio sky. I then estimate for the first time the X-ray, optical, and mid-infrared fluxes these objects are likely to have, which are very important for source identification and the synergy between the upcoming SKA and its various pathfinders with future missions in other bands. On large areas of the sky the SKA, and any other radio telescope producing surveys down to at least the microJy level, will go deeper than all currently planned (and past) sky surveys, with the possible exception of the optical ones from PAN-STARRS and the LSST. SPICA, JWST, and in particular the Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) will be a match to the next generation radio telescopes but only on small areas and above ~ 0.1 - 1 microJy (at 1.4 GHz), while even IXO will only be able to detect a small (tiny) fraction of the microJy (nanoJy) population in the X-rays. On the other hand, most sources from currently planned all-sky surveys, with the likely exception of the optical ones, will have a radio counterpart within the reach of the SKA. JWST and the ELTs might turn out to be the main, or perhaps even the only, facilities capable of securing optical counterparts and especially redshifts of microJy radio sources. Because of their sensitivity, the SKA and its pathfinders will have a huge impact on a number of topics in extragalactic astronomy including star-formation in galaxies and its co-evolution with supermassive black holes, radio-loudness and radio-quietness in AGN, dwarf galaxies, and the main contributors to the radio background.[ABRIDGED]
X-ray bursting neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries constitute an appropriate source class to constrain masses and radii of neutron stars, but a sufficiently extended set of corresponding model atmospheres is necessary for these investigations. We computed such a set of model atmospheres and emergent spectra in a plane-parallel, hydrostatic, and LTE approximation with Compton scattering taken into account. The models were calculated for six different chemical compositions: pure hydrogen and pure helium atmospheres, and atmospheres with solar mix of hydrogen and helium, and various heavy element abundances Z = 1, 0.3, 0.1, and 0.01 Z_sun. For each chemical composition the models are computed for three values of surface gravity, log g =14.0, 14.3, and 14.6, and for 20 values of the luminosity in units of the Eddington luminosity, L/L_Edd, in the range 0.001--0.98. The emergent spectra of all models are redshifted and fitted by a diluted blackbody in the RXTE/PCA 3--20 keV energy band, and corresponding values of the color correction (hardness factors) f_c are presented. Theoretical dependences f_c - L/L_Edd can fitted to the observed dependence K^{-1/4} - F of the blackbody normalization K on flux during cooling stages of X-ray bursts to determine the Eddington flux and the ratio of the apparent neutron star radius to the source distance. If the distance is known, these parameters can be transformed to the constraints on neutron star mass and radius. The theoretical atmosphere spectra can also be used for direct comparison with the observed X-ray burst spectra.
Deep spectroscopy of the planetary nebula (PN) NGC\,6153 shows that its heavy element abundances derived from optical recombination lines (ORLs) are ten times higher than those derived from collisionally excited lines (CELs), and points to the existence of H-deficient inclusions embedded in the diffuse nebula. In this study, we have constructed chemically homogeneous and bi-abundance three-dimensional photoionization models, using the Monte Carlo photoionization code {\sc mocassin}. We attempt to reproduce the multi-waveband spectroscopic and imaging observations of NGC\,6153, and investigate the nature and origin of the postulated H-deficient inclusions, as well as their impacts on the empirical nebular analyses assuming a uniform chemical composition. Our results show that chemically homogeneous models yield small electron temperature fluctuations and fail to reproduce the strengths of ORLs from C, N, O and Ne ions. In contrast, bi-abundance models incorporating a small amount of metal-rich inclusions ($\sim 1.3$ per cent of the total nebular mass) are able to match all the observations within the measurement uncertainties. The metal-rich clumps, cooled down to a very low temperature ($\sim 800$~K) by ionic infrared fine-structure lines, dominate the emission of heavy element ORLs, but contribute almost nil to the emission of most CELs. We find that the abundances of C, N, O and Ne derived empirically from CELs, assuming a uniform chemical composition, are about 30 per cent lower than the corresponding average values of the whole nebula, including the contribution from the H-deficient inclusions. Ironically, in the presence of H-deficient inclusions, the traditional standard analysis of the optical helium recombination lines, assuming a chemically homogeneous nebula, overestimates the helium abundance by 40 per cent.
We are carrying out a search for all radio loud Active Galactic Nuclei observed with XMM-Newton, including targeted and field sources to perform a multi-wavelength study of these objects. We have cross-correlated the Veron-Cetty & Veron (2010) catalogue with the XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue (2XMMi) and found about 4000 matched sources. A literature search provided radio, optical, and X-ray data for 403 sources. Here we summarize the first results of our study.
In this paper we start from the original formulation of the galileon model with the original choice for couplings to gravity. Within this framework we find that there is still a subset of possible Lagrangians that give selfaccelerating solutions with stable spherically symmetric solutions. This is a certain constrained subset of the third order galileon which has not been explored before. We develop and explore the background cosmological evolution of this model drawing intuition from other even more restricted galileon models. The numerical results confirm the presence of selfacceleration, but also reveals a possible instability with respect to galileon perturbations.
We study simultaneous X-ray and optical observations of three intermediate polars EX Hya, V1223 Sgr and TV Col with the aim to understand the propagation of matter in their accretion flows. We show that in all cases the power spectra of flux variability of binary systems in X-rays and in optical band are similar to each other and the majority of X-ray and optical fluxes are correlated with time lag <1 sec. These findings support the idea that optical emission of accretion disks, in these binary systems,largely originates as reprocessing of X-ray luminosity of their white dwarfs. In the best obtained dataset of EX Hya we see that the optical lightcurve unambiguously contains some component, which leads the X-ray emission by ~7 sec. We interpret this in the framework of the model of propagating fluctuations and thus deduce the time of travel of the matter from the innermost part of the truncated accretion disk to the white dwarf surface. This value agrees very well with the time expected for matter threaded onto the magnetosphere of the white dwarf to fall to its surface. The datasets of V1223 Sgr and TV Col in general confirm these findings,but have poorer quality.
It has been proposed to study gravitational lenses from measurements of the spectrum of the fluctuations of the output current of a quadratic detector. The spatial correlation coefficient of the source is the fundamental parameter of the technique. The experimental work discussed in this article confirms that the correlation coefficient must be evaluated at the frequencies of the spectrum of the current fluctuations. This validates a powerful yet simple technique to find unresolved gravitational lenses and to study the lensing event and the source. The validation is needed before starting the extensive theoretical and observational work that must now follow.
(abridged) We review recent studies of chirality using circularly polarized light, along with the birth and evolution of life and planetary systems. Terrestrial life consists almost exclusively of one enantiomer, left-handed amino acids. This characteristic feature is called homochirality, whose origin is still unknown. The route to homogeneity of chirality would be connected with the origin and development of life on early Earth along with evolution of the solar system. Detections of enantiomeric excess in several meteorites support the possibility that the seed of life was injected from space, considering the possible destruction and racemization in the perilous environment on early Earth. Circularly polarized light could bring the enantiomeric excess of prebiotic molecules in space. Recent experimental works on photochemistry under ultraviolet circularly polarized light are remarkable. Recent astronomical observations by imaging polarimetry of star-forming regions are now revealing the distribution of circularly polarized light in space. Astrobiological view on chirality of life would contribute to understanding of the origin and development of life, from the birth and the end of stars and planetary systems in space. Deep insights on terrestrial life, extrasolar life, and the origin of life in the universe, would be brought by consideration of both of the place where life is able to live, the "habitable" zone, and the place where life is able to originate, what we shall call the "originable" zone.
I present some results of 3D spectroscopy for a small sample of dwarf elliptical galaxies, mostly members of small groups. The galaxies under consideration have a typical absolute magnitude of -18 (B-band), and at the Kormendy's relation they settle within a transition zone between the main cloud of giant ellipticals and the sequence of diffuse ellipticals. By measuring Lick indices and investigating radial profiles of the SSP-equivalent ages and metallicities of the stellar populations in their central parts, I have found evolutionary distinct cores in all of them. Typically, the ages of these cores are 2-4 Gyr, and the metallicities are higher than the solar one. Outside the cores, the stellar populations are always old, T>12 Gyr, and the metallicities are subsolar. This finding implies that the well-known correlation between the stellar age and the total mass (luminosity) of field ellipticals (Trager et al. 2000, Caldwell et al. 2003, Howell 2005) may be in fact a direct consequence of a larger contribution of nuclear starbursts into the integrated stellar population in dwarfs with respect to giants, and does not relate to `downsizing'.
We review recent insights into the dynamics of the solar convection zone obtained from global numerical simulations, focusing on two recent developments in particular. The first is quasi-cyclic magnetic activity in a long-duration dynamo simulation. Although mean fields comprise only a few percent of the total magnetic energy they exhibit remarkable order, with multiple polarity reversals and systematic variability on time scales of 6-15 years. The second development concerns the maintenance of the meridional circulation. Recent high-resolution simulations have captured the subtle nonlinear dynamical balances with more fidelity than previous, more laminar models, yielding more coherent circulation patterns. These patterns are dominated by a single cell in each hemisphere, with poleward and equatorward flow in the upper and lower convection zone respectively. We briefly address the implications of and future of these modeling efforts.
We investigate the relationship between black hole mass (MBH) and Doppler boosted emission for BL Lacertae type objects (BL Lacs) detected in the SDSS and FIRST surveys. The synthesis of stellar population and bidimensional decomposition methods allows us to disentangle the components of the host galaxy from that of the nuclear black hole in their optical spectra and images, respectively. We derive estimates of black hole masses via stellar velocity dispersion and bulge luminosity. We find that masses delivered by both methods are consistent within errors. There is no difference between the black hole mass ranges for high-synchrotron peaked BL Lacs (HBL) and low-synchrotron peaked BL Lacs (LBL). A correlation between the black-hole mass and radio, optical and X-ray luminosity has been found at a high significance level. The optical-continuum emission correlates with the jet luminosity as well. Besides, X-ray and radio emission are correlated when HBLs and LBLs are considered separately. Results presented in this work: (i) show that the black hole mass does not decide the SED shapes of BL Lacs, (ii) confirm that X-ray and optical emission is associated to the relativistic jet, and (iii) present evidence of a relation between MBH and Doppler boosted emission, which among BL Lacs may be understood as a close relation between faster jets and more massive black holes.
One of the mechanisms suggested for the L to T dwarf spectral type transition is the appearance of relatively cloud-free regions across the disk of brown dwarfs as they cool. The existence of partly cloudy regions has been supported by evidence for variability in dwarfs in the late L to early T spectral range, but no self-consistent atmosphere models of such partly cloudy objects have yet been constructed. Here we present a new approach for consistently modeling partly cloudy brown dwarfs and giant planets. We find that even a small fraction of cloud holes dramatically alter the atmospheric thermal profile, spectra, and photometric colors of a given object. With decreasing cloudiness objects briskly become bluer in J - K and brighten in J band, as is observed at the L/T transition. Model spectra of partly cloudy objects are similar to our models with globally homogenous, but thinner, clouds. Hence spectra alone may not be sufficient to distinguish partial cloudiness although variability and polarization measurements are potential observational signatures. Finally we note that partial cloud cover may be an alternative explanation for the blue L dwarfs.
It was recently suggested that the magnetic component of Gravitational Waves (GWs) is relevant in the evaluation of frequency response functions of gravitational interferometers. In this paper we extend the analysis to the magnetic component of the scalar mode of GWs which arise from scalar-tensor gravity theory. In the low-frequency approximation, the response function of ground-based interferometers is calculated. The angular dependence of the electric and magnetic contributions to the response function is discussed. Finally, for an arbitrary frequency range, the proper distance between two test masses is calculated and its usefulness in the high-frequency limit for space-based interferometers is briefly considered.
The null geodesic equations that describe motion of photons in Kerr spacetime are solved exactly in the presence of the cosmological constant $\Lambda$. The exact solution for the deflection angle for generic light orbits (i.e. non-polar, non-equatorial) is calculated in terms of the generalized hypergeometric functions of Appell and Lauricella. We then consider the more involved issue in which the black hole acts as a `gravitational lens'. The constructed Kerr black hole gravitational lens geometry consists of an observer and a source located far away and placed at arbitrary inclination with respect to the black hole's equatorial plane. The resulting lens equations are solved elegantly in terms of Appell-Lauricella hypergeometric functions and the Weierstrass elliptic function. We then, systematically, apply our closed form solutions for calculating the image and source positions of generic photon orbits that solve the lens equations and reach an observer located at various values of the polar angle for various values of the Kerr parameter and the first integrals of motion. In this framework, the magnification factors for generic orbits are calculated in closed analytic form for the first time. The exercise is repeated with the appropriate modifications for the case of a non-zero cosmological constant.
In this paper, we consider a chaotic inflation model where the role of inflaton is played by the Higgs triplet in type II seesaw mechanism for generating the small masses of left-handed neutrinos. Leptogenesis could happen after inflation. This model is constructed without introducing supersymmetry (SUSY).
The gravitational-wave signals emitted by Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals will be hidden in the instrumental LISA noise and the foreground noise produced by galactic binaries in the LISA band. Then, we need accurate gravitational-wave templates to extract these signals from the noise and obtain the relevant physical parameters. This means that in the modeling of these systems we have to take into account how the orbit of the stellar-mass compact object is modified by the action of its own gravitational field. This effect can be described as the action of a local force, the self-force. We present a time-domain technique to compute the self-force for geodesic eccentric orbits around a non-rotating massive black hole. To illustrate the method we have applied it to a testbed model consisting of scalar charged particle orbiting a non-dynamical black hole. A key feature of our method is that it does not introduce a small scale associated with the stellar-mass compact object. This is achieved by using a multidomain framework where the particle is located at the interface between two subdomains. In this way, we just have to evolve homogeneous wave-like equations with smooth solutions that have to be communicated across the subdomain boundaries using appropriate junction conditions. The numerical technique that we use to implement this scheme is the pseudospectral collocation method. We show the suitability of this technique for the modeling of Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals and show that it can provide accurate results for the self-force.
LISA should detect gravitational waves from tens to hundreds of systems containing black holes with mass in the range from 10 thousand to 10 million solar masses. Black holes in this mass range are not well constrained by current electromagnetic observations, so LISA could significantly enhance our understanding of the astrophysics of such systems. In this paper, we describe a framework for combining LISA observations to make statements about massive black hole populations. We summarise the constraints that LISA observations of extreme-mass-ratio inspirals might be able to place on the mass function of black holes in the LISA range. We also describe how LISA observations can be used to choose between different models for the hierarchical growth of structure in the early Universe. We consider four models that differ in their prescription for the initial mass distribution of black hole seeds, and in the efficiency of accretion onto the black holes. We show that with as little as 3 months of LISA data we can clearly distinguish between these models, even under relatively pessimistic assumptions about the performance of the detector and our knowledge of the gravitational waveforms.
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