We identify a gravitational-dynamical process in near-Keplerian potentials of galactic nuclei that occurs when an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) is migrating on an eccentric orbit through the stellar cluster towards the central supermassive black hole (SMBH). We find that, apart from conventional dynamical friction, the IMBH experiences an often much stronger systematic torque due to the secular (i.e., orbit-averaged) interactions with the cluster's stars. The force which results in this torque is applied, counterintuitively, in the same direction as the IMBH's precession and we refer to its action as "secular-dynamical anti-friction" (SDAF). We argue that SDAF, and not the gravitational ejection of stars, is responsible for the IMBH's eccentricity increase seen in the initial stages of previous N-body simulations. Our numerical experiments, supported by qualitative arguments, demonstrate that (1) when the IMBH's precession direction is artificially reversed, the torque changes sign as well, which decreases the orbital eccentricity, (2) the rate of eccentricity growth is sensitive to the IMBH migration rate, with zero systematic eccentricity growth for an IMBH whose orbit is artificially prevented from inward migration, and (3) SDAF is the strongest when the central star cluster is rapidly rotating. This leads to eccentricity growth/decrease for the clusters rotating in the opposite/same direction relative to the IMBH's orbital motion.
Galaxy mass and environment are known to play a key role in galaxy evolution: looking at galaxy colors at different redshifts, fixed galaxy mass and environment, offers a powerful diagnosis to disentangle the role of each. In this work, we study the simulateneous dependence of the fraction of blue galaxies fblue on secular evolution, environment and galaxy mass with a well-controlled cluster sample. We are thus able to study the evolution and respective role of the cessation of star formation history (SFH) in clusters due to galaxy mass ("mass quenching") or to environment ("environmental quenching"). We define an homogenous X-ray selected cluster sample (25 clusters with 0 < z < 1 and one cluster at z \sim 2.2), having similar masses and well-defined sizes. Using multicolor photometry and a large spectroscopic sample to calibrate photometric redshifts, we carefully estimate fblue for each cluster at different galaxy mass and cluster-centric distance bins. We then fit with a simple model the dependence of fblue on redshift (z), environment (r/r200) and galaxy mass (M). fblue increases with cluster-centric distance with a slope $1.2^{+0.4}_{-0.3}$, decreases with galaxy mass with a slope $-3.8^{+0.6}_{-0.5}$, and increases with redshift with a slope $3.2^{+0.7}_{-0.5}$. The data also require for the first time a differential evolution with galaxy mass of fblue with redshift, with lower mass galaxies evolving slower by a factor $-4.1^{+1.1}_{-0.9}$. Our study shows that the processes responsible for the cessation of star formation in clusters are effective at all epochs (z<2.2), and more effective in denser environments and for more massive galaxies. We found that the mass and environmental quenchings are separable, that environmental quenching does not change with epoch, and that mass quenching is a dynamical process, i.e. its evolutionary rate is mass-dependent. [Abridged]
We report the detection of five high-velocity stars in the core of the globular cluster NGC 2808. The stars lie on the the red giant branch and show total velocities between 40 and 45 km/s. For a core velocity dispersion sigma_c = 13.4 km/s, this corresponds to up to 3.4 sigma_c. These velocities are close to the estimated escape velocity (~ 50 km/s) and suggest an ejection from the core. Two of these stars have been confirmed in our recent integral field spectroscopy data and we will discuss them in more detail here. These two red giants are located at a projected distance of ~ 0.3 pc from the center. According to their positions on the color magnitude diagram, both stars are cluster members. We investigate several possible origins for the high velocities of the stars and conceivable ejection mechanisms. Since the velocities are close to the escape velocity, it is not obvious whether the stars are bound or unbound to the cluster. We therefore consider both cases in our analysis. We perform numerical simulations of three-body dynamical encounters between binaries and single stars and compare the resulting velocity distributions of escapers with the velocities of our stars. We compare the predictions for a single dynamical encounter with a compact object with those of a sequence of two-body encounters due to relaxation. If the stars are unbound, the encounter must have taken place recently, when the stars were already in the giant phase. After including binary fractions and black-hole retention fractions, projection effects, and detection probabilities from Monte-Carlo simulations, we estimate the expected numbers of detections for all the different scenarios. Based on these numbers, we conclude that the most likely scenario is that the stars are bound and were accelerated by a single encounter between a binary of main-sequence stars and a ~ 10 M_sun black hole.
We studied 115 red giants in the three open clusters NGC 6791, NGC 6811, and NGC 6819, based on photometric data covering more than 19 months with NASA's Kepler space telescope. We present the asteroseismic diagrams of the asymptotic parameters \Delta\nu, \delta\nu_01, \delta\nu_02 and \epsilon. When the stellar populations from the clusters are compared, we see evidence for a difference in mass of the red giant branch stars, and possibly a difference in structure of the red clump stars, from the small separations \delta\nu_01 and \delta\nu_02. Ensemble \'echelle diagrams and lower limits to the linewidth of l = 0 modes as a function of Dnu of the clusters NGC 6791 and NGC 6819 are also shown, together with a correlation between the l = 0 ridge width and T_eff. Lastly, we distinguish between red giant branch and red clump stars through the measurement of the period spacing of mixed modes in 53 stars among all the three clusters to verify the stellar classification from the color-magnitude diagram. These seismic results also allow us to identify a number of potentially interesting stars including evolved blue stragglers and binaries, as well as stars in late He-core burning phases.
We show the effectiveness of strong lensing in the characterisation of Lyman continuum emission from faint L<~0.1L* star-forming galaxies at redshift >~ 3. Past observations of L>~L* galaxies at redshift >~3 have provided upper limits of the average escape fraction of ionising radiation of fesc~5%. Galaxies with relatively high fesc (>10%) seem to be particularly rare at these luminosities, there is therefore the need to explore fainter limits. Before the advent of giant ground based telescopes, one viable way to probe fesc down to 0.05-0.15L* is to exploit strong lensing magnification. This is investigated with Monte Carlo simulations that take into account the current observational capabilities. Adopting a lensing cross-section of 10 arcmin^2 within which the magnification is higher than 1 (achievable with about 4-5 galaxy clusters), with a U-band survey depth of 30(30.5) (AB, 1-sigma), it is possible to constrain fesc for z~3 star-forming galaxies down to 15(10)% at 3-sigma for L<0.15L* luminosities. This is particularly interesting if fesc increases at fainter luminosities, as predicted from various HI reionization scenarios and radiation transfer modelling. Ongoing observational programs on galaxy clusters are discussed and offer positive prospects for the future, even though from space the HST/WFC3 instrument represents the only option we have to investigate details of the spatial distribution of the Lyman continuum emission arising from z~2-4 galaxies.
We report 4 new detections of 21-cm absorption from a systematic search of 21-cm absorption in a sample of 17 strong (Wr(MgII 2796)>1A) intervening MgII absorbers at 0.5<z<1.5. We also present 20-cm milliarcsecond scale maps of 40 quasars having 42 intervening strong MgII absorbers for which we have searched for 21-cm absorption. Combining 21-cm absorption measurements for 50 strong MgII systems from our surveys with the measurements from literature, we obtain a sample of 85 strong MgII absorbers at 0.5<z<1 and 1.1<z<1.5. We present detailed analysis of this sample, taking into account the effect of the varying 21-cm optical depth sensitivity and covering factor associated with the different quasar sight lines. We find that the 21-cm detection rate is higher towards the quasars with flat or inverted spectral index at cm wavelengths. About 70% of 21-cm detections are towards the quasars with linear size, LS<100 pc. The 21-cm absorption lines having velocity widths, DeltaV>100 km/s are mainly seen towards the quasars with extended radio morphology at arcsecond scales. However, we do not find any correlation between the integrated 21-cm optical depth or DeltaV with the LS measured from the milliarcsecond scale images. All this can be understood if the absorbing gas is patchy with a typical correlation length of ~30-100 pc. We show that within the measurement uncertainty, the 21-cm detection rate in strong MgII systems is constant over 0.5<z<1.5, i.e., over ~30% of the total age of universe. We show that the detection rate can be underestimated by up to a factor 2 if 21-cm optical depths are not corrected for the partial coverage estimated using milliarcsecond scale maps. Since stellar feedback processes are expected to diminish the filling factor of cold neutral medium over 0.5<z<1, this lack of evolution in the 21-cm detection rate in strong MgII absorbers is intriguing. [abridged]
We report a new technique to select 1.6<z<4.6 dusty Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs), over a third of which are `blobs' (LABs) with emission extended on scales of 30-100kpc. Combining data from the NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission with optical spectroscopy from the W.M. Keck telescope, we present a color criteria that yields a 78% success rate in identifying rare, dusty LAEs of which at least 37% are LABs. The objects have a surface density of only ~0.1 per square degree, making them rare enough that they have been largely missed in narrow surveys. We measured spectroscopic redshifts for 92 of these WISE-selected, typically radio-quiet galaxies and find that the LAEs (LABs) have a median redshift of 2.3 (2.5). The WISE photometry coupled with data from Herschel reveals that these galaxies have extreme far-infrared luminosities (L_IR>10^{13-14}L_sun) and warm colors, typically larger than submillimeter-selected galaxies (SMGs) and dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs). These traits are commonly associated with the dust being energized by intense AGN activity. We hypothesize that the combination of spatially extended Lyman-alpha, large amounts of warm IR-luminous dust, and rarity (implying a short-lived phase) can be explained if the galaxies are undergoing strong `feedback' transforming them from an extreme dusty starburst to a QSO.
An analysis of the kinematics of 412 stars at 1-4 kpc from the Galactic mid-plane by Moni Bidin et al. (2012) has claimed to derive a local density of dark matter that is an order of magnitude below standard expectations. We show that this result is incorrect and that it arises from the invalid assumption that the mean azimuthal velocity of the stellar tracers is independent of Galactocentric radius at all heights; the correct assumption---that is, the one supported by data---is that the circular speed is independent of radius in the mid-plane. We demonstrate that the assumption of constant mean azimuthal velocity is physically implausible by showing that it requires the circular velocity to drop more steeply than allowed by any plausible mass model, with or without dark matter, at large heights above the mid-plane. Using the correct approximation that the circular velocity curve is flat in the mid-plane, we find that the data imply a local dark-matter density of 0.008 +/- 0.002 Msun/pc^3= 0.3 +/- 0.1 Gev/cm^3, fully consistent with standard estimates of this quantity. This is the most robust direct measurement of the local dark-matter density to date.
Numerical simulations of global three-dimensional (3D), self-gravitating discs with a gap opened by an embedded planet are presented. The simulations are customised to examine planetary gap stability. Previous results, obtained by Lin & Papaoizou from two-dimensional (2D) disc models, are reproduced in 3D. These include (i) the development of vortices associated with local vortensity minima at gap edges and their merging on dynamical timescales in weakly self-gravitating discs, (ii) the increased number of vortices as the strength of self-gravity is increased and their resisted merging, and (iii) suppression of the vortex instability and development of global spiral arms associated with local vortensity maxima in massive discs. The vertical structure of these disturbances are examined. In terms of the relative density perturbation, the vortex disturbance has weak vertical dependence when self-gravity is neglected. Vortices become more vertically stratified with increasing self-gravity. This effect is seen even when the unperturbed region around the planet's orbital radius has a Toomre stability parameter ~10. The spiral modes display significant vertical structure at the gap edge, with the midplane density enhancement being several times larger than that near the upper disc boundary. However, for both instabilities the vertical Mach number is typically a few per cent,and on average vertical motions near the gap edge do not dominate horizontal motions.
We present one of the first resolved maps of the [CII] 158 micron line, a powerful tracer of the star forming inter-stellar medium, at high redshift. We use the new IRAM PdBI receivers at 350 GHz to map this line in BRI 0952-0115, the host galaxy of a lensed quasar at z=4.4 previously found to be very bright in [CII] emission. The [CII] emission is clearly resolved and our data allow us to resolve two [CII] lensed images associated with the optical quasar images. We find that the star formation, as traced by [CII], is distributed over a region of ~ 1 kpc in size near the quasar nucleus, and we infer a star formation surface density >150 Msun/yr/kpc^2, similar to that observed in local ULIRGs. We also reveal another [CII] component, extended over ~ 12 kpc, and located at ~ 10 kpc from the quasar. We suggest that this component is a companion disk galaxy, in the process of merging with the quasar host, whose rotation field is distorted by the interaction with the quasar host, and where star formation, although intense, is more diffuse. These observations suggest that galaxy merging at high-z can enhance star formation at the same time in the form of more compact regions, in the vicinity of the accreting black hole, and in more extended star forming galaxies.
We present simultaneous optical and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy of 19 Swift GRB host galaxies with VLT/X-shooter with the aim of measuring their redshifts. Galaxies were selected from The Optically Unbiased GRB Host (TOUGH) survey (15 of the 19 galaxies) or because they hosted GRBs without a bright optical afterglow. Here, we provide emission-line redshifts for 13 of the observed galaxies with brightnesses between F606W > 27 mag and R=22.9 mag (median R=24.6 mag). The median redshift is z=2.1 for all, and z=2.3 for the TOUGH hosts. Our new data significantly improve the redshift completeness of the TOUGH survey, which now stands at 77% (53 out of 69 GRBs). They furthermore provide accurate redshifts for eight prototype-dark GRBs (e.g., GRBs 071021 at z=2.452 and 080207 at z=2.086), which are exemplary of GRBs where redshifts are challenging to obtain via afterglow spectroscopy. This establishes X-shooter spectroscopy as an efficient tool for redshift determination of faint, star-forming, high-redshift galaxies such as GRB hosts. It is hence a further step towards removing the bias in GRB samples that is caused by optically-dark events, and provides the basis for a better understanding of the conditions in which GRBs form. The distribution of column densities as measured from X-ray data (N_{H,X}), for example, is closely related to the darkness of the afterglow and skewed towards low N_{H, X} values in samples that are dominated by bursts with bright optical afterglows.
(Abridged) Under the hypothesis that MgII absorbers found near the minor axis of a galaxy originate in the cool phase of winds, we carry out a study to constrain the properties of large-scale outflows at redshift z >= 0.5 based on the observed relative motions of individual absorbing clouds with respect to the positions and orientations of the galaxies. We identify in the literature four highly inclined disk galaxies located within 50 kpc and with the minor axis oriented within 45 degrees of a background QSO sightline. Deep HST images of the galaxies are available for accurate morphologies of the galaxies. Echelle spectra of the QSO members are also available in public archives for resolving the velocity field of individual absorption clumps. Three galaxies in our sample are located at rho=8-34 kpc and exhibit strong associated MgII absorption feature with Wr(2796) >= 0.8 {\AA}. One galaxy, located at an impact parameters rho=48 kpc, does not show an associated MgII absorber to a 3-sigma limit of Wr(2796)=0.01{\AA}. Combining known inclination and orientation angles of the star-forming disks, and resolved absorption profiles of the associated absorbers at rho < 35 kpc, we explore the parameter space for the opening angle theta_0 and the velocity field of large-scale galactic outflows as a function of z-height, v(z). We find that the absorption profiles of the MgII doublets and FeII series are compatible with the gas being either accelerated or decelerated, depending on theta_0, though accelerated outflows are valid only for a narrow range of theta_0. Under an acceleration scenario, we compare the derived $v(z)$ with predictions from Murray et al. (2011) and find that if the gas is being accelerateted by the radiation and ram pressure forces from super star clusters, then the efficiency of thermal energy input from a supernova explosion is epsilon <= 0.01.
We combine surveys of the radio sky at frequencies 22 MHz to 1.4 GHz with data from the ARCADE-2 instrument at frequencies 3 to 10 GHz to characterize the frequency spectrum of diffuse synchrotron emission in the Galaxy. The radio spectrum steepens with frequency from 22 MHz to 10 GHz. The projected spectral index at 23 GHz derived from the low-frequency data agrees well with independent measurements using only data at frequencies 23 GHz and above. Comparing the spectral index at 23 GHz to the value from previously published analyses allows extension of the model to higher frequencies. The combined data are consistent with a power-law index beta = -2.64 +/- 0.03 at 0.31 GHz, steepening by an amount Delta beta = 0.07 every octave in frequency. Comparison of the radio data to models including the cosmic ray energy spectrum suggests that any break in the synchrotron spectrum must occur at frequencies above 23 GHz.
The dominant non-instrumental background source for space-based infrared observatories is the zo- diacal light. We present Spitzer Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) measurements of the zodiacal light at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 {\mu}m, taken as part of the instrument calibrations. We measure the changing surface brightness levels in approximately weekly IRAC observations near the north ecliptic pole (NEP) over the period of roughly 8.5 years. This long time baseline is crucial for measuring the annual sinusoidal variation in the signal levels due to the tilt of the dust disk with respect to the ecliptic, which is the true signal of the zodiacal light. This is compared to both Cosmic Background Explorer Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (COBE DIRBE) data and a zodiacal light model based thereon. Our data show a few percent discrepancy from the Kelsall et al. (1998) model including a potential warping of the interplanetary dust disk and a previously detected overdensity in the dust cloud directly behind the Earth in its orbit. Accurate knowledge of the zodiacal light is important for both extragalactic and Galactic astronomy including measurements of the cosmic infrared background, absolute measures of extended sources, and comparison to extrasolar interplanetary dust models. IRAC data can be used to further inform and test future zodiacal light models.
We present the first attempts to build a user-friendly interface for the Virtual Observatory of the University of Guanajuato. The data tables will be accessible to the public through PHP scripts and SQL database managers, such as MySQL and PostgreSQL, all administrated through phpMyAdmin and pgMyAdmin. Although it is not made public yet, this interface will be the basis upon which the final front end for our VO will be built. Furthermore, we present a preliminary version of a web front end to the publicly available stellar population synthesis code STARLIGHT (starlight.ufsc.br) which will be made available with our VO. This front end aims to provide an easy and flexible access to the code itself, letting users fit their own observed spectra with their preferred combination of physical and technical parameters, rather than making available only the results of fitting a specific sample of spectra with predefined parameters.
We report the results of a comprehensive study of the relationship between galaxy size, stellar mass and specific star-formation rate (sSFR) at redshifts 1.3<z<1.5. Based on a mass complete (M_star >= 6x10^10 Msun), spectroscopic sample from the UKIDSS Ultra-deep Survey (UDS), with accurate stellar-mass measurements derived from spectro photometric fitting, we find that at z~1.4 the location of massive galaxies on the size-mass plane is determined primarily by their sSFR. At this epoch we find that massive galaxies which are passive (sSFR <= 0.1 Gyr^-1) follow a tight size-mass relation, with half-light radii a factor f=2.4+/-0.2 smaller than their local counterparts. Moreover, amongst the passive sub-sample we find no evidence that the off-set from the local size-mass relation is a function of stellar population age. Based on a sub-sample with dynamical mass estimates we also derive an independent estimate of f=2.3+/-0.3 for the typical growth in half-light radius between z~1.4 and the present day. Focusing on the passive sub-sample, we conclude that to produce the necessary evolution predominantly via major mergers would require an unfeasible number of merger events and over populate the high-mass end of the local stellar mass function. In contrast, we find that a scenario in which mass accretion is dominated by minor mergers can produce the necessary evolution, whereby an increase in stellar mass by a factor of ~2, accompanied by an increase in size by a factor of ~3.5, is sufficient to reconcile the size-mass relation at z~1.4 with that observed locally. Finally, we note that a significant fraction (44+/-12%) of the passive galaxies in our sample have a disk-like morphology, providing additional evidence that separate physical processes are responsible for the quenching of star-formation and the morphological transformation of massive galaxies (abridged).
Empirical evidences show that planetary tides may influence solar activity: 1) the 11-yr Schwabe sunspot number cycle is constrained between the spring tidal period of Jupiter and Saturn, 9.93 yr, and the tidal orbital period of Jupiter, 11.86 yr, and a model based on these cycles reconstructs solar dynamics at multiple time ; 2) a measure of the alignment of Venus, Earth and Jupiter reveals quasi 11.07-yr cycles well correlated to the 11-year Schwabe solar cycles; 3) there exists a 11.08 yr cyclical recurrence in the solar jerk-shock vector, which is induced mostly by Mercury and Venus. However, Newtonian classical physics fails to explain the phenomenon. Only by means of a significant nuclear fusion amplification of the tidal gravitational potential energy released in the Sun, may planetary tides produce irradiance output oscillations with a sufficient magnitude to influence solar dynamo processes. Here we use an adaptation of the well-known mass-luminosity relation to calculate a conversion factor between the solar luminosity and the potential gravitational power associated to the mass lost by nuclear fusion: the average estimated amplification factor is A=4,250,000. We use this magnification factor to evaluate the theoretical luminosity oscillations that planetary tides may potentially stimulate inside the solar core by making its nuclear fusion rate oscillate. By converting the power related to this energy into solar irradiance units at 1 AU we find that the tidal oscillations may be able to theoretically induce an oscillating luminosity increase from 0.05-0.65 $W/m^{2}$ to 0.25-1.63 $W/m^{2}$, which is a range compatible with the ACRIM satellite observed total solar irradiance fluctuations. In conclusion, the Sun, by means of its nuclear active core, may be working as a great amplifier of the small planetary tidal energy dissipated in it.
Previous work on neutrino emission from proto-neutron stars which employed full solutions of the Boltzmann equation showed that the average energies of emitted electron neutrinos and antineutrinos are closer to one another than predicted by older, more approximate work. This in turn implied that the neutrino driven wind is proton rich during its entire life, precluding $r$-process nucleosynthesis and the synthesis of Sr, Y, and Zr. This work relied on charged current neutrino interaction rates that are appropriate for a free nucleon gas. Here, it is shown in detail that the inclusion of the nucleon potential energies and collisional broadening of the response significantly alters this conclusion. Iso-vector interactions, which give rise to the nuclear symmetry energy, produce a difference between neutron and proton single-particle energies $\Delta U=U_n-U_p$ and alter the kinematics of the charged current reaction. In neutron-rich matter, and for a given neutrino/antineutrino energy, the rate for $\nu_e+n\rightarrow e^-+p$ is enhanced while $ \bar{\nu}_e+p\rightarrow n+e^+$ is suppressed because the $Q$ value for these reactions is altered by $\pm\Delta U$, respectively. Collisional broadening acts to enhance both $\nu_e$ and $\bar{\nu}_e$ cross-sections, but mean field shifts have a larger effect. Therefore, electron neutrinos decouple at lower temperature than when the nucleons are assumed to be free and have lower average energies. The change is large enough to allow for a reasonable period of time when the neutrino driven wind is predicted to be neutron rich. It is also shown that the electron fraction in the wind is influenced by the nuclear symmetry energy.
Models of stellar structure and evolution can be constrained by measuring accurate parameters of detached eclipsing binaries in open clusters. Multiple binary stars provide the means to determine helium abundances in these old stellar systems, and in turn, to improve estimates of their age. In the first paper of this series, we demonstrated how measurements of multiple eclipsing binaries in the old open cluster NGC6791 sets tighter constraints on the properties of stellar models than has previously been possible, thereby potentially improving both the accuracy and precision of the cluster age. Here we add additional constraints and perform an extensive model comparison to determine the best estimates of the cluster age and helium content, employing as many observational constraints as possible. We improve our photometry and correct empirically for differential reddening effects. We then perform an extensive comparison of the CMDs and eclipsing binary measurements to Victoria and DSEP isochrones to estimate cluster parameters. We also reanalyse a spectrum of the star 2-17 to improve [Fe/H] constraints. We find a best estimate of the age of ~8.3 Gyr while demonstrating that remaining age uncertainty is dominated by uncertainties in the CNO abundances. The helium mass fraction is well constrained at Y = 0.30 \pm 0.01 resulting in dY/dZ ~ 1.4 assuming that such a relation exists. During the analysis we firmly identify blue straggler stars, including the star 2-17, and find indications for the presence of their evolved counterparts. Our analysis supports the RGB mass-loss found from asteroseismology and we determine precisely the absolute mass of stars on the lower RGB, 1.15\pm0.02Msun. This will be an important consistency check for the detailed asteroseismology of cluster stars.
The prompt emission of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) is usually well described by the Band function: two power-laws joined smoothly at a given break energy. In addition to the Band component, a few bursts (GRB941017, GRB090510, GRB090902B and GRB090926A) show clear evidence for a distinct high-energy spectral component, which in some cases evolves independently from the prompt keV component and is well described by a power-law (PL), sometimes with a cut-off energy; this component is found to have long duration, even longer than the burst itself for all the four bursts. Here we report the observation of an anomalous short duration high energy component in GRB980923. GRB980923 is one of the brightest Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) observed by BATSE. Its light curve is characterized by a rapid variability phase lasting \sim 40 s, followed by a smooth emission tail lasting \sim 400 s. A detailed joint analysis of BATSE (LAD and SD) and EGRET TASC data of GRB980923 reveles the presence of an anomalous keV to MeV component in the spectrum that evolves independently from the prompt keV one. This component is well described by a PL with a spectral index of 1.44 and lasts only \sim 2 s; it represents one of the three clearly separated spectral components identified in GRB980923, the other two being the keV prompt emission, well described by the Band function and the tail, well fit by a Smoothly Broken Power Law (SBPL).
We investigate the properties of interstellar dust in the Galactic center region toward the Arches and Quintuplet clusters. With the Fourier Transform Spectrometer of the AKARI/Far-Infrared Surveyor, we performed the far-infrared (60 - 140 cm^-1) spectral mapping of an area of about 10' x 10' which includes the two clusters to obtain a low-resolution (R = 1.2 cm^-1) spectrum at every spatial bin of 30" x 30". We derive the spatial variations of dust continuum emission at different wavenumbers, which are compared with those of the [O III] 88 micron (113 cm^-1) emission and the OH 119 micron (84 cm^-1) absorption. The spectral fitting shows that two dust modified blackbody components with temperatures of ~20 K and ~50 K can reproduce most of the continuum spectra. For some spectra, however, we find that there exists a significant excess on top of a modified blackbody continuum around 80 - 90 cm^-1 (110 - 130 microns). The warmer dust component is spatially correlated well with the [O III] emission and hence likely to be associated with the highly-ionized gas locally heated by intense radiation from the two clusters. The excess emission probably represents a dust feature, which is found to be spatially correlated with the OH absorption and a CO cloud. We find that a dust model including micron-sized graphite grains can reproduce the observed spectrum with the dust feature fairly well.
Magnetic flux redistribution lies at the heart of the problem of star formation in dense cores of molecular clouds that are magnetized to a realistic level. If all of the magnetic flux of a typical core were to be dragged into the central star, the stellar field strength would be orders of magnitude higher than the observed values. This well-known "magnetic flux problem" can in principle be resolved through non-ideal MHD effects. Two dimensional (axisymmetric) calculations have shown that ambipolar diffusion, in particular, can transport magnetic flux outward relative to matter, allowing material to enter the central object without dragging the field lines along. We show through simulations that such axisymmetric protostellar accretion flows are unstable in three dimensions to magnetic interchange instability in the azimuthal direction. The instability is driven by the magnetic flux redistributed from the matter that enters the central object. It typically starts to develop during the transition from the prestellar phase of star formation to the protostellar mass accretion phase. In the latter phase, the magnetic flux is transported outward mainly through advection, by strongly magnetized low-density regions that expand against the collapsing inflow. The tussle between the gravity-driven infall and magnetically driven expansion leads to a filamentary inner accretion flow, more disordered than previously pictured. The efficient outward transport of magnetic flux by advection lowers the field strength at small radii, making the magnetic braking less efficient and the formation of rotationally supported disks easier in principle. However, we find no evidence for such disks in any of our rotating collapse simulations. We conclude that the inner protostellar accretion flow is shaped to a large extent by this magnetic interchange instability. How disks form in such an environment is unclear.
The Pipe Nebula is a molecular cloud hosting the B59 region as its only active star-forming clump. While the particular importance of outflows in active star forming regions is subject of debate, the quiet nature of the gas in B59 makes it a good site to directly see the impact of protostellar feedback on the quiescent dense gas. Using HARP at the JCMT, we mapped the B59 region with the J=3-2 transition of 12CO to study the kinematics and energetics of the outflows, and 13CO and C18O to study the overall dynamics of the ambient cloud, the physical properties of the gas, and the hierarchical structure of the region. The B59 region has a total of 30Msun of cold and quiescent material, mostly gravitationally bound, with narrow line widths throughout. Such low levels of turbulence in non-star-forming sites of B59 are indicative of the intrinsic initial conditions of the cloud. On the other hand, close to the forming protostars the impact of the outflows is observed as a localised increase of both line widths from 0.3 km/s to 1 km/s, and 13CO excitation temperatures by 2-3K. The impact of the outflows is also evident in the low column density material which shows signs of being pushed, shaped and carved by the outflow bow shocks as they pierce their way out of the cloud. Much of this structure is readily apparent in a dendrogram analysis of the cloud. B59's low mass, intrinsically quiescent gas and small number of protostars, allows the identification of specific regions of the outflows' interaction with the dense gas. Our study suggests that outflows are an important mechanism in injecting and sustaining supersonic turbulence at sub-parsec scales. We find that only a fraction of the outflow energy is deposited as turbulent energy of the gas. This turbulent energy is sufficient to slow down the collapse of the region.
We study the multi-dimensional geometry of supernova (SN) explosions by means of spectropolarimetric observations of stripped-envelope SNe, i.e., SNe without a H-rich layer. We perform spectropolarimetric observations of 2 stripped-envelope SNe, the Type Ib SN 2009jf and the Type Ic SN 2009mi. Both objects show non-zero polarization at the wavelength of the strong lines. They also show a loop in the Stokes Q-U diagram, which indicates a non-axisymmetric, three-dimensional ion distribution in the ejecta. We show that five out of six stripped-envelope SNe which have been observed spectropolarimetrically so far show such a loop. This implies that a three-dimensional geometry is common in stripped-envelope SNe. We find that stronger lines tend to show higher polarization. This effect is not related to the geometry, and must be corrected to compare the polarization of different lines or different objects. Even after the correction, however, there remains a dispersion of polarization degree among different objects. Such a dispersion might be caused by three-dimensional clumpy ion distributions viewed from different directions.
We investigate if there is a difference in the lithium abundances of stars belonging to two halo populations of F and G main-sequence stars previously found to differ in [alpha/Fe] for the metallicity range -1.4 < [Fe/H] < -0.7. Li abundances are derived from the LiI 6707.8 A line measured in high-resolution spectra using MARCS model atmospheres. Furthermore, masses of the stars are determined from the logTeff - logg diagram by interpolating between Yonsei-Yale evolutionary tracks. There is no significant systematic difference in the lithium abundances of high- and low-alpha halo stars. For the large majority of stars with masses 0.7 < M/M_sun < 0.9 and heavy-element mass fractions 0.001 < Z < 0.006, the Li abundance is well fitted by a relation A(Li) = a0 + a1 M + a2 Z + a3 M Z, where a0, a1, a2, and a3 are constants. Extrapolating this relation to Z = 0 leads to a Li abundance close to the primordial value predicted from standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis calculations and the WMAP baryon density. The relation, however, does not apply to stars with [Fe/H] < -1.5. We suggest that metal-rich halo stars were formed with a Li abundance close to the primordial value, and that lithium in their atmospheres has been depleted in time with an approximately linear dependence on stellar mass and Z. The lack of a systematic difference in the Li abundances of high- and low-alpha stars indicates that an environmental effect is not important for the destruction of lithium.
In this work, we investigate the eclipse timing of the polar binary HU Aquarii that has been observed for almost two decades. Recently, Qian et al. attributed large (O-C) deviations between the eclipse ephemeris and observations to a compact system of two massive jovian companions. We improve the Keplerian, kinematic model of the Light Travel Time (LTT) effect and re-analyse the whole currently available data set. We add almost 60 new, yet unpublished, mostly precision light curves obtained using the time high-resolution photo-polarimeter OPTIMA, as well as photometric observations performed at the MONET/N, PIRATE and TCS telescopes. We determine new mid--egress times with a mean uncertainty at the level of 1 second or better. We claim that because the observations that currently exist in the literature are non-homogeneous with respect to spectral windows (ultraviolet, X-ray, visual, polarimetric mode) and the reported mid--egress measurements errors, they may introduce systematics that affect orbital fits. Indeed, we find that the published data, when taken literally, cannot be explained by any unique solution. Many qualitatively different and best-fit 2-planet configurations, including self-consistent, Newtonian N-body solutions may be able to explain the data. However, using high resolution, precision OPTIMA light curves, we find that the (O-C) deviations are best explained by the presence of a single circumbinary companion orbiting at a distance of ~4.5 AU with a small eccentricity and having ~7 Jupiter-masses. This object could be the next circumbinary planet detected from the ground, similar to the announced companions around close binaries HW Vir, NN Ser, UZ For, DP Leo or SZ Her, and planets of this type around Kepler-16, Kepler-34 and Kepler-35.
In magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), the magnetic field is evolved by the induction equation and coupled to the gas dynamics by the Lorentz force. We perform numerical smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics (Spmhd) simulations and study the influence of a numerical magnetic divergence. For instabilities arising from divergence B related errors, we find the hyperbolic/parabolic cleaning scheme suggested by Dedner et al. 2002 to give good results and prevent numerical artifacts from growing. Additionally, we demonstrate that certain current Spmhd implementations of magnetic field regularizations give rise to unphysical instabilities in long-time simulations. We also find this effect when employing Euler potentials (divergenceless by definition), which are not able to follow the winding-up process of magnetic field lines properly. Furthermore, we present cosmological simulations of galaxy cluster formation at extremely high resolution including the evolution of magnetic fields. We show synthetic Faraday rotation maps and derive structure functions to compare them with observations. Comparing all the simulations with and without divergence cleaning, we are able to confirm the results of previous simulations performed with the standard implementation of MHD in Spmhd at normal resolution. However, at extremely high resolution, a cleaning scheme is needed to prevent the growth of numerical errors at small scales.
We report new constraints on the galaxy luminosity function at z~9 based on observations carried out with ESO/VLT FORS2, HAWK-I and X-Shooter around the lensing cluster A2667, as part of our project aimed at selecting z~7-10 candidates accessible to spectroscopy. Only one J-dropout source was selected in this field fulfilling the color and magnitude criteria. This source was recently confirmed as a mid-z interloper based on X-Shooter spectroscopy. The depth and the area covered by our survey are well suited to set strong constraints on the bright-end of the galaxy luminosity function and hence on the star formation history at very high redshift. The non-detection of reliable J-dropout sources over the ~36arcmin2 field of view towards A2667 was used to carefully determine the lens-corrected effective volume and the corresponding upper-limit on the density of sources. The strongest limit is obtained for Phi(M_{1500}=-21.4+/-0.50)<6.70x10^{-6}Mpc^{-3}mag^{-1} at z~9. A maximum-likelihood fit of the luminosity function using all available data points including the present new result yields M*>-19.7 with fixed alpha=-1.74 and Phi*=1.10x10^{-3}Mpc^{-3}. The corresponding star formation rate density should be rho_{SFR}<5.97x10^{-3}M_{solar}/yr/Mpc^{3} at z~9. These results are in good agreement with the most recent estimates already published in this range of redshift and for this luminosity domain. This new result confirms the decrease in the density of luminous galaxies at very high-redshift, hence providing strong constraints for the design of future surveys aiming to explore the very high-redshift Universe.
We report an X-ray study of the evolved Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) G156.2+5.7 based on six pointing observations with Suzaku. The remnant's large extent (100$\arcmin$ in diameter) allows us to investigate its radial structure in the northwestern and eastern directions from the apparent center. The X-ray spectra were well fit with a two-component non-equilibrium ionization model representing the swept-up interstellar medium (ISM) and the metal-rich ejecta. We found prominent central concentrations of Si, S and Fe from the ejecta component; the lighter elements of O, Ne and Mg were distributed more uniformly. The temperature of the ISM component suggests a slow shock (610-960 km s$^{-1}$), hence the remnant's age is estimated to be 7,000-15,000 yr, assuming its distance to be $\sim$1.1 kpc. G156.2+5.7 has also been thought to emit hard, non-thermal X-rays, despite being considerably older than any other such remnant. In response to a recent discovery of a background cluster of galaxies (2XMM J045637.2+522411), we carefully excluded its contribution, and reexamined the origin of the hard X-ray emission. We found that the residual hard X-ray emission is consistent with the expected level of the cosmic X-ray background. Thus, no robust evidence for the non-thermal emission was obtained from G156.2+5.7. These results are consistent with the picture of an evolved SNR.
We present a study of the mechanical power generated by both winds and jets across the black hole mass scale. We begin with the study of ionized X-ray winds and present a uniform analysis using Chandra grating spectra. The high quality grating spectra facilitate the characterization of the outflow velocity, ionization and column density of the absorbing gas. We find that the kinetic power of the winds scales with increasing bolometric luminosity as log(L_wind) \propto (1.57 \pm 0.07) log(L_Bol). This means that SMBH may be more efficient than stellar-mass black holes in launching winds. In addition, the simplicity of the scaling may suggest common driving mechanisms across the mass scale. For comparison, we next examine jet production, estimating jet power based on the energy required to inflate local bubbles. The jet relation is log(L_Jet)\propto (1.18\pm0.24) log(L_Bol). The energetics of the bubble associated with Cygnus X-1 are particularly difficult to determine, and the bubble could be a background SNR. If we exclude Cygnus X-1, then the jets follow a consistent relation to the winds within errors but with a higher normalization, log(L_Jet) \propto (1.34 \pm 0.50) log(L_Bol). The formal consistency in the wind and jet scaling relations suggests that a common launching mechanism may drive both flows; magnetic processes are viable possibilities. We also examine winds with especially high velocities, v > 0.01c. These ultra-fast outflows tend to resemble the jets more than the winds, indicating we may be observing a regime in which winds become jets. This study allows for the total power from black hole accretion, both mechanical and radiative, to be characterized in a simple manner and suggests a possible connection between winds and jets. Finally, we find at low Eddington fractions, the jet power is dominant, and at high Eddington fractions the wind power is dominant.
Using the HI Emission/Absorption method, we resolve the kinematic distance ambiguity and derive distances for 149 of 182 (82%) HII regions discovered by the Green Bank Telescope HII Region Discovery Survey (GBT HRDS). The HRDS is an X-band (9GHz, 3cm) GBT survey of 448 previously unknown HII regions in radio recombination line and radio continuum emission. Here we focus on HRDS sources from 67deg. > l > 18deg., where kinematic distances are more reliable. The 25 HRDS sources in this zone that have negative recombination line velocities are unambiguously beyond the orbit of the Sun, up to 20kpc distant. They are the most distant HII regions yet discovered. We find that 61% of HRDS sources are located at the far distance, 31% at the tangent point distance, and only 7% at the near distance. "Bubble" HII regions are not preferentially at the near distance (as was assumed previously) but average 10kpc from the Sun. The HRDS nebulae, when combined with a large sample of HII regions with previously known distances, show evidence of spiral structure in two circular arc segments of mean Galactocentric radii of 4.25 and 6.0kpc. We perform a thorough uncertainty analysis to analyze the effect of using different rotation curves, streaming motions, and a change to the Solar circular rotation speed. The median distance uncertainty for our sample of HII regions is only 0.5kpc, or 5%. This is significantly less than the median difference between the near and far kinematic distances, 6kpc. The basic Galactic structure results are unchanged after considering these sources of uncertainty.
We investigate the motion of test bodies with internal structure in General Relativity. With the help of a multipolar approximation method for extended test bodies we derive the equations of motion up to the quadrupolar order. The motion of pole-dipole and quadrupole test bodies is studied in the context of the Kerr geometry. For an explicit quadrupole model, which includes spin and tidal interactions, the motion in the equatorial plane is characterized by an effective potential and by the binding energy. We compare our findings to recent results for the conservative part of the self-force of bodies in extreme mass ratio situations. Possible implications for gravitational wave physics are outlined.
The standard model of cosmology predicts that more than 95% matter in the universe consists of dark components namely dark matter and dark energy. In spite of several attempts to measure these components, there is not a single direct observational evidence for these components till date. Hence, different alternate models of cosmology have been put forward by different authors. However, most of these models have their own problems. Therefore, in this paper, a new cosmological model has been proposed. This model is based on the Machian gravity model, which will be discussed in detail in a later paper. The model can provide an exactly similar cosmology as that of the standard cosmological model without demanding any ad-hoc dark matter or dark energy components. The paper shows that when the field equations from Machian gravity (a 5 dimensional model) are projected to the 4-dimensional space-time, some new mathematical terms arise in the equations that behave exactly like dark matter and dark energy. These mathematical terms come completely from the geometry of the universe and therefore these do not have any connection with the real matter. As the General theory of Relativity does not follow Mach's principle, the FLRW model that is based on GR, cannot provide the correct solution to the cosmological model and demands extra forms of matter and energy to give any predictions consistent with the observations.
The 130 GeV gamma-ray line based on tentative analyses on the Fermi-LAT data is hard to be understood with dark matter annihilation in the conventional framework of the MSSM. We point out that it can be nicely explained with two body decay of a scalar dark matter ($\tilde{\phi}_{\rm DM}\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$) by the dimension 6 operator suppressed with the mass of the grand unification scale ($\sim 10^{16}$ GeV), ${\cal L}\supset|\tilde{\phi}_{\rm DM}|^2F_{\mu\nu}F^{\mu\nu}/M_{\rm GUT}^2$, in which the scalar dark matter $\tilde{\phi}_{\rm DM}$ develops a TeV scale vacuum expectation value. We propose a viable model, which can explain the 130 GeV gamma-ray line and also the abundance of $\tilde{\phi}_{\rm DM}$.
Theorists are often told to express things in the "observational plane". One can do this for space-time geometry, considering "visual" observations of matter in our universe by a single observer over time, with no assumptions about isometries, initial conditions, nor any particular relation between matter and geometry, such as Einstein's equations. Using observables as coordinates naturally leads to a parametrization of space-time geometry in terms of other observables, which in turn prescribes an observational program to measure the geometry. Under the assumption of vorticity-free matter flow we describe this observational program, which includes measurements of gravitational lensing, proper motion, and redshift drift. Only 15% of the curvature information can be extracted without long time baseline observations, and this increases to 35% with observations that will take decades. The rest would likely require centuries of observations. The formalism developed is exact, non-perturbative, and more general than the usual cosmological analysis.
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We constructed a hyper-parameter statistical method to quantify the difference between predicted velocities derived from the observed galaxy distribution in the IRAS-PSCz redshift survey and peculiar velocities measured using different distance indicators. In our analysis we find that the model-data comparison becomes unreliable beyond 70 Mpc/h because of the inadequate sampling of prominent, distant superclusters like the Shapley Concentration by IRAS galaxies. On the other hand, the analysis of the velocity residuals show that the PSCz gravity field provides an adequate model to the local, <= 70 Mpc/h, peculiar velocity field. The hyper-parameter combination of ENEAR, SN, A1SN and SFI++ catalogues constrains the amplitude of the linear flow to \beta=0.53 \pm 0.01. For an rms density fluctuations in the PSCz galaxy number density \sigma_8^{\rm gal}=0.42\pm0.03, we obtain an estimate of the growth rate of density fluctuations $f\sigma_{8}(z\sim0) = 0.42 \pm 0.03$, which is in excellent agreement with independent estimates based on different techniques.
Aims: We assess the sensitivity of void shapes to the nature of dark energy that was pointed out in recent studies. We investigate whether or not void shapes are useable as an observational probe in galaxy redshift surveys. We focus on the evolution of the mean void ellipticity and its underlying physical cause. Methods: We analyse the morphological properties of voids in five sets of cosmological N-body simulations, each with a different nature of dark energy. Comparing voids in the dark matter distribution to those in the halo population, we address the question of whether galaxy redshift surveys yield sufficiently accurate void morphologies. Voids are identified using the parameter free Watershed Void Finder. The effect of redshift distortions is investigated as well. Results: We confirm the statistically significant sensitivity of voids in the dark matter distribution. We identify the level of clustering as measured by \sigma_8(z) as the main cause of differences in mean void shape <\epsilon>. We find that in the halo and/or galaxy distribution it is practically unfeasible to distinguish at a statistically significant level between the various cosmologies due to the sparsity and spatial bias of the sample.
The objective of this paper is to determine the level of obscured star formation activity and dust attenuation in a sample of gamma-ray burst (GRB) hosts; and to test the hypothesis that GRB hosts have properties consistent with those of the general star-forming galaxy populations. We present a radio continuum survey of all z<1 GRB hosts in The Optically Unbiased GRB Host (TOUGH) sample supplemented with radio data for all (mostly pre-Swift) GRB-SN hosts discovered before October 2006. We present new radio data for 22 objects and have obtained a detection for three of them (GRB 980425, 021211, 031203; none in the TOUGH sample), increasing the number of radio-detected GRB hosts from two to five. The star formation rate (SFR) for the GRB 021211 host of ~825 Mo yr^-1, the highest ever reported for a GRB host, places it in the category of ultraluminous infrared galaxies. We found that at least 63% of GRB hosts have SFR < 100 Mo yr^-1 and at most 8% can have SFR > 500 Mo yr^-1. For the undetected hosts the mean radio flux (<35 uJy 3sigma) corresponds to an average SFR < 15 Mo yr^-1. Moreover, ~92% of the z<1 GRB hosts have ultraviolet dust attenuation A_UV < 6.7 mag (visual attenuation A_V < 3 mag). Hence we did not find evidence for large dust obscuration in a majority of GRB hosts. Finally, we found that the distributions of SFRs and A_UV of GRB hosts are consistent with those of Lyman break galaxies, Halpha emitters at similar redshifts and of galaxies from cosmological simulations. The similarity of the GRB population with other star-forming galaxies is consistent with the hypothesis that GRBs, a least at z<1, trace a large fraction of all star formation, and are therefore less biased indicators than once thought.
We investigate the error properties of certain galaxy luminosity function (GLF) estimators. Using a cluster expansion of the density field, we show how, for both volume and flux limited samples, the GLF estimates are covariant. The covariance matrix can be decomposed into three pieces: a diagonal term arising from Poisson noise; a sample variance term arising from large-scale structure in the survey volume; an occupancy covariance term arising due to galaxies of different luminosities inhabiting the same cluster. To evaluate the theory one needs: the mass function and bias of clusters, and the conditional luminosity function (CLF). We use a semi-analytic model (SAM) galaxy catalogue from the Millennium run N-body simulation and the CLF of Yang et al. (2003) to explore these effects. The GLF estimates from the SAM and the CLF qualitatively reproduce results from the 2dFGRS. We also measure the luminosity dependence of clustering in the SAM and find reasonable agreement with 2dFGRS results for bright galaxies. However, for fainter galaxies, L<L*, the SAM overpredicts the relative bias by ~10-20%. We use the SAM data to estimate the errors in the GLF estimates for a volume limited survey of volume V~0.13 [Gpc/h]^3. We find that different luminosity bins are highly correlated: for L<L* the correlation coefficient is r>0.5. Our theory is in good agreement with these measurements. These strong correlations can be attributed to sample variance. For a flux-limited survey of similar volume, the estimates are only slightly less correlated. We explore the importance of these effects for GLF model parameter estimation. We show that neglecting to take into account the bin-to-bin covariances can lead to significant systematic errors in best-fit parameters.
We present new ~1" resolution data of the dense molecular gas in the central 50-100 pc of four nearby Seyfert galaxies. PdBI observations of HCN and, in 2 of the 4 sources, simultaneously HCO+ allow us to carefully constrain the dynamical state of the dense gas surrounding the AGN. Analysis of the kinematics shows large line widths of 100-200 km/s FWHM that can only partially arise from beam smearing of the velocity gradient. The observed morphological and kinematic parameters (dimensions, major axis position angle, red and blue channel separation, and integrated line width) are well reproduced by a thick disk, where the emitting dense gas has a large intrinsic dispersion (20-40 km/s), implying that it exists at significant scale heights (25-30% of the disk radius). To put the observed kinematics in the context of the starburst and AGN evolution, we estimate the Toomre Q parameter. We find this is always greater than the critical value, i.e. Q is above the limit such that the gas is stable against rapid star formation. This is supported by the lack of direct evidence, in these 4 Seyfert galaxies, for on-going star formation close around the AGN. Instead, any current star formation tends to be located in a circumnuclear ring. We conclude that the physical conditions are indeed not suited to star formation within the central ~100 pc.
Using observations in the COSMOS field, we report an intriguing correlation between the star formation activity of massive (~10^{11.4}\msol) central galaxies, their stellar masses, and the large-scale (~10 Mpc) environments of their group-mass (~10^{13.6}\msol) dark matter halos. Probing the redshift range z=[0.2,1.0], our measurements come from two independent sources: an X-ray detected group catalog and constraints on the stellar-to-halo mass relation derived from a combination of clustering and weak lensing statistics. At z=1, we find that the stellar mass in star-forming centrals is a factor of two less than in passive centrals at the same halo mass. This implies that the presence or lack of star formation in group-scale centrals cannot be a stochastic process. By z=0, the offset reverses, probably as a result of the different growth rates of these objects. A similar but weaker trend is observed when dividing the sample by morphology rather than star formation. Remarkably, we find that star-forming centrals at z~1 live in groups that are significantly more clustered on 10 Mpc scales than similar mass groups hosting passive centrals. We discuss this signal in the context of halo assembly and recent simulations, suggesting that star-forming centrals prefer halos with higher angular momentum and/or formation histories with more recent growth; such halos are known to evolve in denser large-scale environments. If confirmed, this would be evidence of an early established link between the assembly history of halos on large scales and the future properties of the galaxies that form inside them.
AGN, powered by accretion onto SMBHs, are thought to be scaled up versions of Galactic black hole X-ray binaries (BH-XRBs). In the past few years evidence of such correspondence include similarities in the broadband shape of the X-ray variability power spectra, with characteristic bend times-scales scaling with mass. We have performed a uniform analysis of the power spectrum densities (PSDs) of 104 nearby (z<0.4) AGN using 209 XMM-Newton/pn observations. The PSDs have been estimated in three energy bands: 0.2-10, 0.2-2, and 2-10 keV. The sample comprises 61 Type-1 AGN, 21 Type-2 AGN, 15 NLSy1, and 7 BLLACS. We have fitted each PSD to two models: (1) a single power-law model and (2) a bending power-law model. Among the entire sample, 72% show significant variability in at least one of the three bands tested. A high percentage of low-luminosity AGN do not show any significant variability. The PSD of the majority of the variable AGN was well described by a simple power-law with a mean index of 2. In 15 sources we found that the bending power law model was preferred with a mean slope of 3 and a mean bend frequency of 2.E-04 Hz. Only KUG1031+398 (REJ1034+396) shows evidence for quasi-periodic oscillations. The `fundamental plane' relating variability timescale, black hole mass, and luminosity is demonstrated using the new X-ray timing results presented here together with a compilation of the previously detected timescales from the literature. Both quantitative (i.e. scaling with BH mass) and qualitative (overall PSD shapes) found in this sample of AGN are in agreement with the expectations for the SMBHs and BH-XRBs being the same phenomenon scaled-up with the size of the BH. The steep PSD slopes above the high frequency bend bear a closer resemblance to those of the `soft/thermal dominated' BH-XRB states than other states.
Locating the centers of dark matter halos is critical for understanding the mass profiles of halos as well as the formation and evolution of the massive galaxies that they host. The task is observationally challenging because we cannot observe halos directly, and tracers such as bright galaxies or X-ray emission from hot plasma are imperfect. In this paper we quantify the consequences of miscentering on the weak lensing signal from a sample of 129 X-ray selected galaxy groups in the COSMOS field with redshifts 0<z<1 and halo masses in the range 10^13 - 10^14 M_sun. By measuring the stacked lensing signal around eight different candidate centers (such as the brightest member galaxy, the mean position of all member galaxies, or the X-ray centroid), we determine which candidates best trace the center of mass in halos. In this sample of groups, we find that massive galaxies near the X-ray centroids trace the center of mass to <~75 kpc, while the X-ray position and centroids based on the mean position of member galaxies have larger offsets primarily due to the statistical uncertainties in their positions (typically ~50-150 kpc). Approximately 30% of groups in our sample have ambiguous centers with multiple bright or massive galaxies, and these groups show disturbed mass profiles that are not well fit by standard models, suggesting that they are merging systems. We find halo mass estimates from stacked weak lensing can be biased low by 5-30% if inaccurate centers are used and the issue of miscentering is not addressed.
X-ray grating observations have revealed great detail in the spectra of Novae
in the Super Soft Source (SSS) phase. Notable features in the SSS spectra are
blue-shifted absorption lines, P-Cygni line profiles, and the absence of strong
ionization edges, all of which are indicators of an expanding atmosphere.
We present, and make publicly available, a set of 672 wind-type (WT)
synthetic spectra, obtained from the expanding NLTE SSS models introduced in
Van Rossum 2010 with the PHOENIX stellar atmosphere code. The set presented in
this paper is limited to solar abundances with the aim to focus on the basic
model parameters and their effect on the spectra, providing the basis upon
which abundance effects can be studied using a much bigger non-solar set in the
next paper in this series.
We fit the WT spectra to the five grating spectra taken in the SSS phase of
nova V4743 Sgr 2003 as an example application of the WT models. Within the
limits of solar abundances we demonstrate that the following parameters are
constrained by the data (in order of decreasing accuracy): column density N_H,
bolometric luminosity L_bol, effective temperature T_eff, white dwarf radius R,
wind asymptotic velocity v_inf, and the mass-loss rate M_dot. The models are
also sensitive to the assumed white dwarf mass M_wd but the effect on the
spectra can largely be compensated by the other model parameters. The WT
spectra with solar abundances fit the data better than abundance optimized
hydro-static models.
We have exploited the new, deep, near-infrared UltraVISTA imaging of the COSMOS field, in tandem with deep optical and mid-infrared imaging, to conduct a new search for luminous galaxies at redshifts z ~ 7. The unique multi-wavelength dataset provided by VISTA, CFHT, Subaru, HST and Spitzer over a common area of 1 deg^2 has allowed us to select galaxy candidates at z > 6.5 by searching first for Y+J-detected (< 25 AB mag) objects which are undetected in the CFHT+HST optical data. This sample was then refined using a photometric redshift fitting code, enabling the rejection of lower-redshift galaxy contaminants and cool galactic M,L,T dwarf stars.The final result of this process is a small sample of (at most) ten credible galaxy candidates at z > 6.5 which we present in this paper. The first four of these appear to be robust galaxies at z > 6.5, and fitting to their stacked SED yields z = 6.98+-0.05 with a stellar mass M* = 5x10^9 Msun, and rest-frame UV spectral slope beta = -2.0+-0.2. The next three are also good candidates for z > 6.5 galaxies, but the possibility that they are low-redshift galaxies or dwarf stars cannot be excluded. Our final subset of three additional candidates is afflicted not only by potential dwarf-star contamination, but also contains objects likely to lie at redshifts just below z = 6.5. We show that the three even-brighter z > 7 galaxy candidates reported in the COSMOS field by Capak et al. (2011) in fact all lie at z ~ 1.5-3.5. Consequently the new z ~ 7 galaxies reported here are the first credible z ~ 7 Lyman-break galaxies discovered in the COSMOS field and, as the most UV-luminous discovered to date at these redshifts, are prime targets for deep follow-up spectroscopy. We explore their physical properties, and briefly consider the implications of their inferred number density for the form of the galaxy luminosity function at z = 7.
Using infrared, radio continuum and spectral observations, we performed a
detailed investigation of the HII region RCW175. We determined that RCW175,
which actually consists of two separate HII regions, G29.1-0.7 and G29.0-0.6,
is located at a distance of 3.2+/-0.2 kpc. Based on the observations we infer
that the more compact G29.0-0.6 is less evolved than G29.1-0.7 and was possibly
produced as a result of the expansion of G29.1-0.7 into the surrounding
interstellar medium. We compute a star formation rate for RCW175 of
(12.6+/-1.9)x10^{-5} M_{\sun}/yr, and identified 6 possible young stellar
object candidates within its vicinity. Additionally, we estimate that RCW175
contains a total dust mass of 215+/-53 M_{\sun}.
RCW175 has previously been identified as a source of anomalous microwave
emission (AME), an excess of emission at cm wavelengths often attributed to
electric dipole radiation from the smallest dust grains. We find that the AME
previously detected in RCW175 is not correlated with the smallest dust grains
(polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or small carbonaceous dust grains), but
rather with the exciting radiation field within the region. This is a similar
result to that found in the Perseus molecular cloud, another region which
harbors AME, suggesting that the radiation field may play a pivotal role in the
production of this new Galactic emission mechanism. Finally, we suggest that
these observations may hint at the importance of understanding the role played
by the major gas ions in spinning dust models.
Motivated by the stringent flux limits for UHE neutrinos coming from gamma ray burst or active galactic nuclei, we explore the possibility that the active neutrinos generated in such astrophysical objects could oscillate to sterile right handed states due to a neutrino magnetic moment mu_nu. We find that a value as small as mu_nu ~1E-15 mu_B could produce such a transition thanks to the intense magnetic fields that are expected in these objects.
As a demonstration of the capabilities of the new Oxford SWIFT integral field spectrograph, we present first observations for a set of 14 early-type galaxies in the core of the Coma cluster. Our data consist of I- and z-band spatially resolved spectroscopy obtained with the Oxford SWIFT spectrograph, combined with r-band photometry from the SDSS archive for 14 early- type galaxies. We derive spatially resolved kinematics for all objects from observations of the calcium triplet absorption features at \sim 8500 {AA} . Using this kinematic information we classify galaxies as either Fast Rotators or Slow Rotators. We compare the fraction of fast and slow rotators in our sample, representing the densest environment in the nearby Universe, to results from the ATLAS3D survey, finding the slow rotator fraction is \sim 50 per cent larger in the core of the Coma cluster than in the Virgo cluster or field, a 1.2 {\sigma} increase given our selection criteria. Comparing our sample to the Virgo cluster core only (which is 24 times less dense than the Coma core) we find no evidence of an increase in the slow rotator fraction. Combining measurements of the effective velocity dispersion {\sigma_e} with the photometric data we determine the Fundamental Plane for our sample of galaxies. We find the use of the average velocity dispersion within 1 effective radius, {\sigma_e}, reduces the residuals by 13 per cent with respect to comparable studies using central velocity dispersions, consistent with other recent integral field Fundamental Plane determinations.
We consider the density profile of the central region of dark matter haloes.
It turns out that under very general conditions the profile is universal: it
depends almost not at all on the properties of the initial perturbation and is
very akin, but not identical, to the Einasto profile.
We estimate the size of the 'central core' of the distribution, i.e., the
extent of the very central region with a respectively gentle profile, and show
that the cusp formation is unlikely, even if the dark matter is cold. We also
indicate that the density profile of the outer part ($r>0.5 R_{vir}$) of the
haloes significantly depends on the initial conditions and should not be
universal, in contrast to the central area. All these results can be useful
both to indirect search of the dark matter and to N-body simulations of the
structure formation.
In this paper we investigate the space and velocity distributions of old neutron stars (aged 109 to 1010 yr) in our Galaxy. Galactic old Neutron Stars (NSs) population fills a torus-like area extending to a few tens kiloparsecs above the galactic plane. The initial velocity distribution of NSs is not well known, in this work we adopt a three component initial distribution, as given by the contribution of kick velocities, circular velocities and Maxwellian velocities. For the spatial initial distribution we use a Gamma function. We then use Monte Carlo simulations to follow the evolution of the NSs under the influence of the Paczy{\P}nski Galactic gravitational potential. Our calculations show that NS orbits have a very large Galactic radial expansion and that their radial distribution peak is quite close to their progenitors' one. We also study the NS vertical distribution and find that it can well be described by a double exponential low. Finally, we investigate the correlation of the vertical and radial distribution and study the radial dependence of scale-heights.
Simple stellar population (SSP) synthesis models are useful tools for studying the nature of unresolved star clusters in external galaxies. However, the plethora of currently available SSP models gives rise to significant and poorly documented systematic differences. Here we consider the outputs of the commonly used Bruzual & Charlot and GALEV models, as well as a recently updated SSP model suite which attempts to include the contributions of binary merger products in the form of blue straggler stars (BS-SSP). We rederive the ages, metallicities, extinction values and masses of 445 previously observed globular-like clusters in M31 based on chi-square minimisation of their spectral energy distributions with respect to these three different SSP models and adopting a Chabrier-like stellar initial mass function. A comparison between our new results and previous estimates of the same parameters shows that the Bruzual & Charlot models yield the youngest ages and lowest masses, while adoption of the BS-SSP models results in the oldest ages and highest mass estimates. Similarly, the GALEV SSP models produce the lowest metallicities, with the highest values resulting from the BS-SSP model suite. These trends are caused by intrinsic differences associated with the models, and are not significantly affected by the well-known age-metallicity degeneracy. Finally, we note that the mass function of the massive M31 star clusters is similar to that of the Milky Way's globular clusters, which implies that the two star cluster systems likely formed under similar environmental conditions.
We analyze properties of the unique nova-like star AE Aquarii identified with a close binary system containing a red dwarf and a very fast rotating magnetized white dwarf. It cannot be assigned to any of the three commonly adopted sub-classes of Cataclysmic Variables: Polars, Intermediate Polars, and Accreting non-magnetized White Dwarfs. Our study has shown that the white dwarf in AE Aqr is in the ejector state and its dipole magnetic moment is $\mu ~ 1.5 \times 10^{34} G cm^3$. It switched into this state due to intensive mass exchange between the system components during a previous epoch. A high rate of disk accretion onto the white dwarf surface resulted in temporary screening of its magnetic field and spin-up of the white dwarf to its present spin period. Transition of the white dwarf to the ejector state had occurred at a final stage of the spin-up epoch as its magnetic field emerged from the accreted plasma due to diffusion. In the frame of this scenario AE Aqr represents a missing link in the chain of Polars evolution and the white dwarf resembles a recycled pulsar.
Collisions of particles in black holes' ergospheres may result in an arbitrarily large center of mass energy. This led recently to the suggestion (Banados et al., 2009) that black holes can act as ultimate particle accelerators. If the energy of an outgoing particle is larger than the total energy of the infalling particles the energy excess must come from the rotational energy of the black hole and hence this must involve a Penrose process. However, while the center of mass energy diverges the position of the collision makes it impossible for energetic particles to escape to infinity. Following an earlier work on collisional Penrose processes (Piran & Shaham 1977) we show that even under the most favorable idealized conditions the maximal energy of an escaping particle is only a modest factor above the total initial energy of the colliding particles. This implies that one shouldn't expect collisions around a black hole to act as spectacular cosmic accelerators.
During 2003 and 2004 the Anomalous X-Ray Pulsar XTE J1810-197 went through a series of four bursts. The spectrum in the tail of one of these bursts shows a strong, significant emission feature ~13 keV, thereby encoding a wealth of information about the environment surrounding this object. In this paper we analyse this emission feature considering both cyclotron and atomic emission processes and weigh our findings against three leading AXP models: the Magnetar model, Fall-back disk model and the Quark nova model. We find that atomic emission from Rubidium within a Keplerian ring ($\sim$15 km from a compact object of $\sim 2M_\odot$) is the most consistent scenario with the observations, supporting the Quark nova model. Cyclotron emission from an atmosphere a few hundred meters thick also fits the feature well, but is ruled out on account of its positional coincidence in three separate AXP sources.
A combination of ground-based and spacecraft observations has uncovered two black holes of 10 billion solar masses in the nearby Universe. The finding sheds light on how these cosmic monsters co-evolve with galaxies.
We study orbital modulation of X-rays from Cyg X-3, using data from Swift, INTEGRAL and RXTE. Given the wealth of the presently available data and an improved calculation method, we obtain energy-dependent folded and averaged light curves with unprecedented accuracy. We find that above ~5 keV, the modulation depth decreases with the increasing energy, which is consistent with the modulation being caused by both bound-free absorption and Compton scattering in the stellar wind of the donor, with minima corresponding to the highest optical depth, which occurs around the superior conjunction. We find a decrease of the depth below ~3 keV, which appears to be due to re-emission of the absorbed continuum by the wind in soft X-ray lines. Based on the shape of the folded light curves, any X-ray contribution from the jet in Cyg X-3, which emits gamma-rays detected at energies $>0.1$ GeV in soft spectral states, is found to be minor up to ~100 keV. We also calculate phase-resolved RXTE X-ray spectra, and show the difference between the spectra corresponding to phases around the superior and inferior conjunctions can indeed be accounted for by a combined effect of bound-free absorption in an ionized medium and Compton scattering.
We present Spitzer Space Telescope and Herschel Space Observatory infrared observations of the recurrent nova T Pyx during its 2011 eruption, complemented by ground-base optical-infrared photometry. We find that the eruption has heated dust in the pre-existing nebulosity associated with T Pyx. This is most likely interstellar dust swept up by T Pyx - either during previous eruptions or by a wind - rather than the accumulation of dust produced during eruptions.
This is the third paper in a series aiming at the analysis of nitrogen abundances in O-type stars, to enable further constraints on the early evolution of massive stars. We provide first theoretical predictions for the NIV4058/NIII4640 emission line ratio in dependence of various parameters, and confront them with results from the analysis of a sample of early LMC/SMC O-stars. Stellar and wind parameters are determined by line profile fitting of H/He/N lines, exploiting the helium and nitrogen ionization balance. Corresponding synthetic spectra are calculated using the NLTE atmospheric code FASTWIND. Though there is a monotonic relationship between the emission line ratio and Teff, all other parameters being equal, theoretical predictions indicate additional dependencies, most notably, on the nitrogen abundance. These basic predictions are confirmed by results from atmospheric code CMFGEN. The effective temperatures for the earliest O-stars, inferred from the nitrogen ionization balance, are partly considerably hotter than indicated by previous studies. Consistent with earlier results, effective temperatures increase from supergiants to dwarfs for all spectral types in the LMC. The relation between observed NIV4058/NIII4640 emission line ratio and Teff, for a given luminosity class, turned out to be quite monotonic for our sample stars, and fairly consistent with our model predictions. The scatter within a spectral sub-type is mainly produced by abundance effects. Our findings suggest that the Walborn et al. (2002) classification scheme is able to provide a meaningful relation between spectral type and Teff, provided that it is possible to discriminate for the luminosity class. This might be difficult to achieve in low-Z environments such as the SMC, owing to rather low wind-strengths. According to our predictions, the major bias of the classification scheme is due to nitrogen content.
We investigate baroclinic instability in flow conditions relevant to hot extrasolar planets. The instability is important for transporting and mixing heat, as well as for influencing large-scale variability on the planets. Both linear normal mode analysis and non-linear initial value calculations are carried out -- focusing on the freely-evolving, adiabatic situation. Using a high-resolution general circulation model (GCM) which solves the traditional primitive equations, we show that large-scale jets similar to those observed in current GCM simulations of hot extrasolar giant planets are likely to be baroclinically unstable on a timescale of few to few tens of planetary rotations, generating cyclones and anticyclones that drive weather systems. The growth rate and scale of the most unstable mode obtained in the linear analysis are in qualitative, good agreement with the full non-linear calculations. In general, unstable jets evolve differently depending on their signs (eastward or westward), due to the change in sign of the jet curvature. For jets located at or near the equator, instability is strong at the flanks -- but not at the core. Crucially, the instability is either poorly or not at all captured in simulations with low resolution and/or high artificial viscosity. Hence, the instability has not been observed or emphasized in past circulation studies of hot extrasolar planets.
We present multi-band optical photometry of 94 spectroscopically-confirmed Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) in the redshift range 0.0055 to 0.073, obtained between 2006 and 2011. There are a total of 5522 light curve points. We show that our natural system SN photometry has a precision of roughly 0.03 mag or better in BVr'i', 0.06 mag in u', and 0.07 mag in U for points brighter than 17.5 mag and estimate that it has a systematic uncertainty of 0.014, 0.010, 0.012, 0.014, 0.046, and 0.073 mag in BVr'i'u'U, respectively. Comparisons of our standard system photometry with published SN Ia light curves and comparison stars reveal mean agreement across samples in the range of ~0.00-0.03 mag. We discuss the recent measurements of our telescope-plus-detector throughput by direct monochromatic illumination by Cramer et al (in prep.). This technique measures the whole optical path through the telescope, auxiliary optics, filters, and detector under the same conditions used to make SN measurements. Extremely well-characterized natural-system passbands (both in wavelength and over time) are crucial for the next generation of SN Ia photometry to reach the 0.01 mag accuracy level. The current sample of low-z SN Ia is now sufficiently large to remove most of the statistical sampling error from the dark energy error budget. But pursuing the dark-energy systematic errors by determining highly-accurate detector passbands, combining optical and near-infrared (NIR) photometry and spectra, using the nearby sample to illuminate the population properties of SN Ia, and measuring the local departures from the Hubble flow will benefit from larger, carefully measured nearby samples.
Two varieties of the universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) viz., the Kroupa and the Chabrier IMF, have emerged over the last decade to explain the observed distribution of stellar masses. The possibility of the universal nature of the stellar IMF leads us to the interesting prospect of a universal mode of star-formation. It is well-known that turbulent fragmentation of gas in the interstellar medium produces a lognormal distribution of density which is further reflected by the mass-function for clumps at low and intermediate masses. Stars condense out of unstable clumps through a complex interplay between a number of dynamic processes which must be accounted for when tracing the origin of the stellar IMF. In the present work, applying the theory of gravitational fragmentation we first derive the mass function (MF) for clumps. Then a core mass function (CMF) is derived by allowing the clumps to fragment, having subjected each one to a random choice of gas temperature. Finally, the stellar IMF is derived by applying a random core-to-star conversion efficiency, $\epsilon$, in the range of 5%-15% to each CMF. We obtain a power-law IMF that has exponents within the error-bars on the Kropua IMF. This derived IMF is preceded by a similar core mass function which suggests, gravoturbulent fragmentation plays a key role in assembling necessary conditions that relate the two mass-functions. In this sense the star-formation process, at least at low redshifts where gas cooling is efficient, is likely to be universal. We argue that the observed knee in the CMF and the stellar IMF may alternatively be interpreted in terms of the characteristic temperature at which gas in potential star-forming clouds is likely to be found. Our results also show that turbulence in star-forming clouds is probably driven on large spatial scales with a power-spectrum steeper than Kolmogorov-type.
There is some controversy on the nature of dust clouds found in direction of the interacting galaxy triplett M81, M82, and NGC3077. Are they associated with the tidal arms seen in HI around those galaxies or are they simply Galactic foreground clouds? Data from the SPIRE instrument onboard HERSCHEL and MIPS onboard of SPITZER are used to derive physical parameters for the dust clouds. These observions are compared to CO clouds previously mapped with the IRAM and the FCRAO radio telescopes.SPIRE and MIPS maps show several dust clouds north of M81 and south of NGC3077. Modelling of the dust emission provides total hydrogen column densities between 1.5 and 5.0 * 10^20 cm^-2. Dust temperatures are between 13 to 17K. No significant difference in the dust emission can be found between individual clouds. It is shown that CO line emission provides the best clues on the origin of those clouds. Most of the clouds seen towards M81 are associated with small-area molecular structures (SAMS), i.e. tiny CO clouds of Galactic origin. The clouds seen towards NGC3077 are partly associated with the tidal arms and are partly in the Galactic foreground associated with SAMS.
The Durham adaptive optics real-time controller is a generic, high performance real-time control system for astronomical adaptive optics systems. It has recently had new features added as well as performance improvements, and here we give details of these, as well as ways in which optimisations can be made for specific adaptive optics systems and hardware implementations. We also present new measurements that show how this real-time control system could be used with any existing adaptive optics system, and also show that when used with modern hardware, it has high enough performance to be used with most Extremely Large Telescope adaptive optics systems.
We find that a sunspot with positive polarity had an obvious counter-clockwise rotation and resulted in the formation and eruption of an inverse S-shaped filament in NOAA active region (AR) 08858 from 2000 February 9 to 10. The sunspot had two umbrae which rotated around each other by 195 degrees within about twenty-four hours. The average rotation rate was nearly 8 degrees per hour. The fastest rotation in the photosphere took place during 14:00UT to 22:01UT on February 9, with the rotation rate of nearly 16 degrees per hour. The fastest rotation in the chromosphere and the corona took place during 15:28UT to 19:00UT on February 9, with the rotation rate of nearly 20 degrees per hour. Interestingly, the rapid increase of the positive magnetic flux just occurred during the fastest rotation of the rotating sunspot, the bright loop-shaped structure and the filament. During the sunspot rotation, the inverse S-shaped filament gradually formed in the EUV filament channel. The filament experienced two eruptions. In the first eruption, the filament rose quickly and then the filament loops carrying the cool and the hot material were seen to spiral into the sunspot counterclockwise. About ten minutes later, the filament became active and finally erupted. The filament eruption was accompanied with a C-class flare and a halo coronal mass ejection (CME). These results provide evidence that sunspot rotation plays an important role in the formation and eruption of the sigmoidal active-region filament.
We investigate the range of covering factors (determined from the ratio of IR to UV/optical luminosity) seen in luminous quasars using a combination of data from the WISE, UKIDSS and SDSS surveys. Accretion disk (UV/optical) and obscuring dust (IR) luminosities are measured via the use of a simple three component SED model. We use these estimates to investigate the distribution of covering factors and its relationship to both accretion luminosity and IR SED shape. The distribution of covering factors (f_C) is observed to be log-normal, with a bias-corrected mean of <log10 f_C>=-0.48 and standard deviation of 0.19. The fraction of IR luminosity emitted in the near-IR (1--5 micron) is found to be high (~40 per cent), and dependant on covering factor.
Radiative losses from optically thin plasma are an important ingredient for modeling plasma confined in the solar corona. Spectral models are continuously updated to include the emission from more spectral lines, with significant effects on radiative losses, especially around 1 MK. We investigate the effect of changing the radiative losses temperature dependence due to upgrading of spectral codes on predictions obtained from modeling plasma confined in the solar corona. The hydrodynamic simulation of a pulse-heated loop strand is revisited comparing results using an old and a recent radiative losses function. We find significant changes in the plasma evolution during the late phases of plasma cooling: when the recent radiative loss curve is used, the plasma cooling rate increases significantly when temperatures reach 1-2 MK. Such more rapid cooling occurs when the plasma density is larger than a threshold value, and therefore in impulsive heating models that cause the loop plasma to become overdense. The fast cooling has the effect of steepening the slope of the emission measure distribution of coronal plasmas with temperature at temperatures lower than ~2 MK. The effects of changes in the radiative losses curves can be important for modeling the late phases of the evolution of pulse-heated coronal loops, and, more in general, of thermally unstable optically thin plasmas.
We empirically test the relation between the SFR(LIR) derived from the infrared luminosity, LIR, and the SFR(Ha) derived from the Ha emission line luminosity using simple conversion relations. We use a sample of 474 galaxies at z = 0.06 - 0.46 with both Ha detection (from 20k zCOSMOS survey) and new far-IR Herschel data (100 and 160 {\mu}m). We derive SFR(Ha) from the Ha extinction corrected emission line luminosity. We find a very clear trend between E(B - V) and LIR that allows to estimate extinction values for each galaxy even if the Ha emission line measurement is not reliable. We calculate the LIR by integrating from 8 up to 1000 {\mu}m the SED that is best fitting our data. We compare SFR(Ha) with the SFR(LIR). We find a very good agreement between the two SFR estimates, with a slope of m = 1.01 \pm 0.03 in the SFR(LIR) vs SFR(Ha) diagram, a normalization constant of a = -0.08 \pm 0.03 and a dispersion of sigma = 0.28 dex.We study the effect of some intrinsic properties of the galaxies in the SFR(LIR)-SFR(Ha) relation, such as the redshift, the mass, the SSFR or the metallicity. The metallicity is the parameter that affects most the SFR comparison. The mean ratio of the two SFR estimators log[SFR(LIR)/SFR(Ha)] varies by approx. 0.6 dex from metal-poor to metal-rich galaxies (8.1 < log(O/H) + 12 < 9.2). This effect is consistent with the prediction of a theoretical model for the dust evolution in spiral galaxies. Considering different morphological types, we find a very good agreement between the two SFR indicators for the Sa, Sb and Sc morphologically classified galaxies, both in slope and normalization. For the Sd, irregular sample (Sd/Irr), the formal best-fit slope becomes much steeper (m = 1.62 \pm 0.43), but it is still consistent with 1 at the 1.5 sigma level, because of the reduced statistics of this sub-sample.
Assuming only Einstein's general theory of relativity, it is shown that the present observational data make it inevitable that (i) the cosmological constant Lambda must be non-zero and (ii) must be positive and less or of order $10^{-124}$ in Planck units. The co-moving radius R(t_0) of the spherical visible universe which is bounded by the surface of the last scatter, and the mass-energy M(t_0) contained therein lead to an outwardly accelerating cosmological expansion corresponding to that observed. The dark energy does not require a modification of general relativity but follows from it.
In the parts of the solar corona and solar wind that experience the fewest Coulomb collisions, the component proton, electron, and heavy ion populations are not in thermal equilibrium with one another. Observed differences in temperatures, outflow speeds, and velocity distribution anisotropies are useful constraints on proposed explanations for how the plasma is heated and accelerated. This paper presents new predictions of the rates of collisionless heating for each particle species, in which the energy input is assumed to come from magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. We first created an empirical description of the radial evolution of Alfven, fast-mode, and slow-mode MHD waves. This model provides the total wave power in each mode as a function of distance along an expanding flux tube in the high-speed solar wind. Next we solved a set of cascade advection-diffusion equations that give the time-steady wavenumber spectra at each distance. An approximate term for nonlinear coupling between the Alfven and fast-mode fluctuations is included. For reasonable choices of the parameters, our model contains enough energy transfer from the fast mode to the Alfven mode to excite the high-frequency ion cyclotron resonance. This resonance is efficient at heating protons and other ions in the direction perpendicular to the background magnetic field, and our model predicts heating rates for these species that agree well with both spectroscopic and in situ measurements. Nonetheless, the high-frequency waves comprise only a small part of the total Alfvenic fluctuation spectrum, which remains highly two-dimensional as is observed in interplanetary space.
Impact basins identified by Mariner 10 and Messenger flyby images provide us a fossilized record of the impactor flux of asteroids on Mercury during the last stages of the early Solar System. The distribution of these basins is not uniform across the surface, and is consistent with a primordial synchronous rotation (Wieczorek et al. 2012). By analyzing the size of the impacts, we show that the distribution for asteroid diameters D < 110 km is compatible with an index power law of 1.2, a value that matches the predicted primordial distribution of the main-belt. We then derive a simple collisional model coherent with the observations, and when combining it with the secular evolution of the spin of Mercury, we are able to reproduce the present 3/2 spin-orbit resonance (about 50% of chances), as well as a primordial synchronous rotation. This result is robust with respect to variations in the dissipation and collisional models, or in the initial spin state of the planet.
Recent studies on stellar evolution have shown that the properties of compact objects strongly depend on metallicity of the environment in which they were formed. In this work, we study how the metallicity of the stellar population can affect unresolved gravitational waves background from extragalactic compact binaries. We obtain a suit of models of compact binaries using population synthesis code and estimate the gravitational wave background they produce. Our results show a double peaked structure for all considered models with the first peak between 30-100Hz caused by the binary black holes population and the second between 500-1000Hz corresponding to the double neutron stars population. We discuss the detectability of gravitational waves background with second (Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo) and third (Einstein Telescope) generation detectors.
Cosmic Flows is a program to determine galaxy distances for 30,000 galaxies with systematic errors below 2%, almost ten times the number currently known and a five-fold improvement in systematics. The resultant velocity field will provide input for constrained local universe simulations: CLUES (www.clues-project.org). The observed and the simulated universe are then comparatively studied. This synergy of observations and theory distinguishes the program, and should lead to fundamental discoveries regarding the sources of deviations from the expansion of the universe. Specifically, the program should give a definitive answer to one of the most outstanding unsolved problem in cosmology: the cause of the motion of 630 km/s of our Galaxy manifested in the microwave background dipole. This paper presents current results with particular emphasis on the "great attractor" reconstruction.
Combining galaxy cluster data from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, cosmic microwave background data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, and galaxy clustering data from the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey, the 6-degree Field Galaxy Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III, we test for consistency the cosmic growth of structure predicted by General Relativity (GR) and the cosmic expansion history predicted by the cosmological constant plus cold dark matter paradigm (LCDM). The combination of these three independent, well studied measurements of the evolution of the mean energy density and its fluctuations is able to break strong degeneracies between model parameters. We model the key properties of cosmic growth with the normalization of the matter power spectrum, sigma_8, and the cosmic growth index, gamma, and those of cosmic expansion with the mean matter density, Omega_m, the Hubble constant, H_0, and a kinematical parameter equivalent to that for the dark energy equation of state, w. To further tighten constraints on the expansion parameters, we also include supernova, baryon acoustic oscillation and Cepheid variable data. For a spatially flat geometry, w=-1, and allowing for systematic uncertainties, we obtain sigma_8=0.787+-0.019 and gamma=0.576+0.058-0.059 (at the 68.3 per cent confidence level). Allowing w to vary, we find Omega_m=0.256+-0.011, H_0=71.5+-1.3 km s^-1 Mpc^-1 and w=-0.968+-0.049 for the expansion parameters, and sigma_8=0.783+0.020-0.019 and gamma=0.546+0.071-0.072 for the growth parameters. These results are in excellent agreement with GR+LCDM (gamma~0.55; w=-1) and represent the tightest and most robust simultaneous constraint on cosmic growth and expansion to date.
Observations from Supernovae Type Ia (SNe Ia) provided strong evidence for an expanding accelerating Universe at intermediate redshifts. This means that the Universe underwent a dynamic phase transition from deceleration to acceleration at a transition redshift $z_t$ of the order unity whose value in principle depends on the cosmology as well as on the assumed gravitational theory. Since cosmological accelerating models endowed with a transition redshift are extremely degenerated, in principle, it is interesting to know whether the value of $z_t$ itself can be observationally used as a new cosmic discriminator. After a brief discussion of the potential dynamic role played by the transition redshift, it is argued that future observations combining SNe Ia, the line-of-sight (or "radial") baryon acoustic oscillations, the differential age of galaxies, as well as the redshift drift of the spectral lines may tightly constrain $z_t$, thereby helping to narrow the parameter space for the most realistic models describing the accelerating Universe.
Using hydrodynamical zoom simulations in the standard LCDM cosmology, we investigate the evolution of the distribution of baryons (gas and stars) in a local group-type universe. First, with standard star formation and supernova feedback prescriptions, we find that the mean baryonic fraction value estimated at the virial radius of the two main central objects (i.e. the Milky Way and Andromeda) is decreasing over time, and is 10-15% lower than the universal value, 0.166, at z=0. This decrease is mainly due to the fact that the amount of accretion of dissipative gas onto the halo, especially at low redshift, is in general much lower than that of the dissipationless dark matter. Indeed, a significant part of the baryons does not collapse onto the haloes and remains in their outskirts, mainly in the form of warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). Moreover, during the formation of each object, some dark matter and baryons are also be expelled through merger events via tidal disruption. In contrast to baryons, expelled dark matter can be more efficiently re-accreted onto the halo, enhancing both the reduction of fb inside Rv, and the increase of the mass of WHIM outside Rv. Varying the efficiency of supernovae feedback at low redshift does not seem to significantly affect these trends. Alternatively, when a significant fraction of the initial gas in the main objects is released at high redshifts by more powerful sources of feedback, such as AGN from intermediate mass black holes in lower mass galaxies, the baryonic fraction at the virial radius can have a lower value (fb~0.12) at low redshift. Hence physical mechanisms able to slow down the accretion of gas at high redshifts will have a stronger impact on the deficit of baryons in the mass budget of Milky Way type-galaxies at present times than those that expel the gas in the longer, late phases of galaxy formation.
We present details of improvements to data processing and analysis which were recently used for a re-reduction of the Very Large Array (VLA) Low-frequency Sky Survey (VLSS) data. Algorithms described are implemented in the data-reduction package Obit, and include smart-windowing to reduce clean bias, improved automatic radio frequency interference removal, improved bright-source peeling, and higher-order Zernike fits to model the ionospheric phase contributions. An additional, but less technical improvement was using the original VLSS catalog as a same-frequency/same-resolution reference for calculating ionospheric corrections, allowing more accuracy and a higher percentage of data for which solutions are found. We also discuss new algorithms for extracting a source catalog and analyzing ionospheric fluctuations present in the data. The improved reduction techniques led to substantial improvements including images of six previously unpublished fields (1% of the survey area) and reducing the clean bias by 50%. The largest angular size imaged has been roughly doubled, and the number of cataloged sources is increased by 35% to 95,000.
We study the properties of the diffuse gamma-ray background around the Galactic plane at energies 60 - 200 GeV. We find that the spectrum of this emission possesses spacial variations having significant features (excesses and dips) as compared to the average smooth (power law) component. The positions and shapes of these spectral features change with direction on the sky. We therefore argue, that the spectral feature around 130 GeV, found in several regions around the Galactic Center and the Galactic plane in [1204.2797,1205.1045], can not be interpreted with confidence as a gamma-ray line, but may be a component of the diffuse background and can be of instrumental or astrophysical origin. Therefore, the dark matter origin of this spectral feature becomes dubious.
The twin peaks high-frequency quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs), which are observed in a number of black hole binaries, can be related to the epicyclic frequencies of the geodesic motion, thereby providing a testing ground for the spacetime geometry near the black holes. In this paper, we explore some observable effects of the geodesic motion in the spacetime of rotating black holes in general relativity and braneworld gravity. We focus on the description of the motion in terms of three fundamental frequencies: the orbital frequency, the radial and vertical epicyclic frequencies. For a Kerr black hole, we perform a detailed numerical analysis of these frequencies at the innermost stable circular orbits and beyond them as well as at the characteristic stable orbits, for which the radial epicyclic frequency attains its highest value. We find that the values of the radial and vertical epicyclic frequencies at particular orbits are in good qualitative agreement with the observed frequencies of the twin peaks QPOs in some black hole binaries. It is interesting that at the characteristic stable circular orbits, where the radial epicyclic frequency has maxima, the vertical and radial epicyclic frequencies exhibit an approximate 2 : 1 ratio even in the case of near-extreme rotation of the black hole. We also perform a similar analysis of the fundamental frequencies for a rotating braneworld black hole and argue that the existence of such a black hole with a negative tidal charge, whose angular momentum exceeds the Kerr bound in general relativity, does not confront with the observations of high frequency QPOs.
We present an exact solution to the equations of massive gravity that display cosmological constant-like behavior for any spherically symmetric distribution of matter, including arbitrary time dependence. On this solution, the new degrees of freedom from the massive graviton generate a cosmological constant-like contribution to stress-energy that does not interact directly with other matter sources. When the effective cosmological constant contribution dominates over other sources of stress energy the cosmological expansion self-accelerates, even when no other dark-energy-like ingredients are present. The new degrees of freedom introduced by giving the graviton the mass do not respond to arbitrarily large radial or homogeneous perturbations from other matter fields on this solution. We comment on possible implications of this result.
A particle-in-cell code is used to examine contributions of the pickup ions (PIs) and the solar wind ions (SWs) to the cross shock electric field at the supercritical, perpendicular shocks. The code treats the pickup ions self-consistently as a third component. Herein, two different runs with relative pickup ion density of 25% and 55% are presented in this paper. Present preliminary results show that: (1) in the low percentage (25%) pickup ion case, the shock front is nonstationary. During the evolution of this perpendicular shock, a nonstationary foot resulting from the reflected solar wind ions is formed in front of the old ramp, and its amplitude becomes larger and larger. At last, the nonstationary foot grows up into a new ramp and exceeds the old one. Such a nonstationary process can be formed periodically. hen the new ramp begins to be formed in front of the old ramp, the Hall term mainly contributed by the solar wind ions becomes more and more important. The electric field Ex is dominated by the Hall term when the new ramp exceeds the old one. Furthermore, an extended and stationary foot in pickup ion gyro-scale is located upstream of the nonstationary/self-reforming region within the shock front, and is always dominated by the Lorentz term contributed by the pickup ions; (2) in the high percentage (55%) pickup ion case, the amplitude of the stationary foot is increased as expected. One striking point is that the nonstationary region of the shock front evidenced by the self-reformation disappears. Instead, a stationary extended foot dominated by Lorentz term contributed by the pickup ions, and a tationary ramp dominated by Hall term contributed by the solar wind ions are clearly evidenced. The significance of the cross electric field on ion dynamics is also discussed.
Starting from p-adic string theory with tachyons, we introduce a new kind of non-tachyonic matter which may play an important role in evolution of the Universe. This matter retains nonlocal and nonlinear p-adic string dynamics, but does not suffer of negative square mass. In space-time dimensions D = 2 + 4k, what includes D = 6, 10, ..., 26, the kinetic energy term also maintains correct sign. In these spaces this p-adic matter provides negative cosmological constant and time-dependent scalar field solution with negative potential. Their possible cosmological role is discussed. We have also connected non-locality with string world-sheet in effective Lagrangian for p-adic string.
If two particles collide near the horizon of a rotating or charged black hole, under certain conditions the energy E_{c.m.} in the centre of mass frame can grow without limit (the so-called BSW effect). Let collision produce two another particles. We show that for an outgoing particle detected by a distant observer, there exist upper bounds on the mass and energy E_{out}. For a static charged black hole, the dependence of E_{out} on the energy E_{in} of an ingoing "critical" particle (responsible for the BSW effect) is decreasing. For neutral rotating black holes it is increasing but for the high-energy particles the ratio E_{out}/E_{in}<1. As a result, the BSW effect is inconsistent with the Penrose process. The obtained results suggest astrophysical limits on possibility of observation of the products of the BSW effect. From the other hand, collisions with finite E_{c.m.} can produce particles with unbound ratio E_{out}/E_{in}.
In this pedagogical text aimed at those wanting to start thinking about or brush up on probabilistic inference, I review the rules by which probability distribution functions can (and cannot) be combined. I connect these rules to the operations performed in probabilistic data analysis. Dimensional analysis is emphasized as a valuable tool for helping to construct non-wrong probabilistic statements. The applications of probability calculus in constructing likelihoods, marginalized likelihoods, posterior probabilities, and posterior predictions are all discussed.
We study the dynamics in the neighborhood of fixed points in a 4D symplectic map by means of the color and rotation method. We compare the results with the corresponding cases encountered in galactic type potentials and we find that they are in good agreement. The fact that the 4D phase space close to fixed points is similar to the 4D representations of the surfaces of section close to periodic orbits, indicates an archetypical 4D pattern for each kind of (in)stability, not only in 3D autonomous Hamiltonian systems with galactic type potentials but for a larger class of dynamical systems. This pattern is successfully visualized with the method we use in the paper.
Black holes have the peculiar and intriguing property of having an event horizon, a one-way membrane causally separating their internal region from the rest of the Universe. Today astrophysical observations provide some evidence for the existence of event horizons in astrophysical black hole candidates. In this short paper, I compare the constraint we can infer from the non-observation of electromagnetic radiation from the putative surface of these objects with the bound coming from the ergoregion instability, pointing out the respective assumptions and limitations.
We consider a singlet fermion dark matter with PQ symmetry. A singlet complex scalar is introduced to mediate between dark matter and the SM through Higgs portal interaction and electroweak PQ anomalies. We show that dark matter annihilation with axion mediation can explain a monochromatic photon line of the Fermi LAT data at 130 GeV by anomaly interactions while the annihilation cross section with Higgs portal interaction is p-wave suppressed. We discuss the interplay between direct detection of the fermion dark matter and the collider search of Higgs-like scalars. We also present a ultra-violet completion of the dark matter model into the NMSSM with PQ symmetry.
We consider f(R; T) theory of gravity, where R is the curvature scalar and T the trace of the energy momentum tensor. Attention is attached to the special case, f(R; T) = R + 2f(T) as a f(T) correction to the Einstein-Hilbert term. Two expressions are assumed for the function f(T), $\frac{a_1T^n+b_1}{a_2T^n+b_2}$ and $a_3ln^q(b_3T^m)$, where $a1$, $a2$, $b1$, $b2$, $n$, $a3$, $b3$, $q$ and $m$ are input parameters. We observe that by adjusting suitably these input parameters, energy conditions are satis?fied and viable f(R; T) models corresponding to the two assumptions of f(T) may be obtained.
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We have developed spherically symmetric dynamical models of dwarf spheroidal galaxies using Schwarzschild's orbit superposition method. This type of modelling yields constraints both on the total mass distribution (e.g. enclosed mass and scale radius) as well as on the orbital structure of the system (e.g. velocity anisotropy). This method is thus less prone to biases introduced by assumptions in comparison to the more commonly used Jeans modelling, and it allows us to derive the dark matter content in a robust way. Here we present our results for the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy, after testing our methods on mock data sets. We fit both the second and fourth velocity moment profile to break the mass-anisotropy degeneracy. We find that the mass of Sculptor within 1 kpc is M_1kpc = (1.03 \pm 0.07) \times 10^8 M\odot, and that its velocity anisotropy profile is tangentially biased and nearly constant with radius. For an NFW dark matter profile, the preferred concentration (c \sim 15) is low for its dark matter mass but consistent within the scatter found in N-body cosmological simulations. Very cuspy density profiles with logarithmic central slopes {\alpha} < -1.5 are strongly disfavoured for Sculptor. However, a firm distinction between a central core ({\alpha} = 0) or a shallower cusp ({\alpha} >=-1) cannot be made.
One of the main channels of interactions in galactic nuclei between stars and the central massive black hole (MBH) is the gradual inspiral of compact remnants into the MBH due to the emission of gravitational radiation. Previous works about the estimation of how many events space observatories such as LISA will be able to observe during its operational time differ in orders of magnitude, due to the complexity of the problem. Nevertheless, a common result to all investigations is that a plunge is much more likely than a slow adiabatic inspiral, an EMRI. The event rates for plunges are orders of magnitude larger than slow inspirals. On the other hand, nature MBH's are most likely Kerr and the magnitude of the spin has been sized up to be high. We calculate the number of periapsis passages that a compact object set on to an extremely radial orbit goes through before being actually swallowed by the Kerr MBH and we then translate it into an event rate for a LISA-like observatory. We prove that a "plunging" compact object is conceptually indistinguishable from an adiabatic, slow inspiral. This has an important impact on the event rate, enhancing in some cases significantly, depending on the spin of the MBH and the inclination: If the orbit of the EMRI is prograde, the effective size of the MBH becomes smaller the larger the spin is, whilst if retrograde, it becomes bigger. However, this situation is not symmetric, resulting in an effective enhancement of the rates. The effect of vectorial resonant relaxation on the sense of the orbit does not affect the enhancement. The strong dependence on the spin magnitude and orbital orientation of the EMRI on the rates will allow us to study stellar dynamics in a regime which is invisible to photon-based astrophysics.
Many astrophysical binaries, from planets to black holes, exert strong torques on their circumbinary accretion disks, and are expected to significantly modify the disk structure. Despite the several decade long history of the subject, the joint evolution of the binary + disk system has not been modeled with self-consistent assumptions for arbitrary mass ratios and accretion rates. Here we solve the coupled binary-disk evolution equations analytically in the strongly perturbed limit, treating the azimuthally-averaged angular momentum exchange between the disk and the binary and the modifications to the density, scale-height, and viscosity self-consistently, including viscous and tidal heating, diffusion limited cooling, radiation pressure, and the orbital decay of the binary. We find a solution with a central gap and a migration rate similar to those previously obtained for Type-II migration, applicable for large masses and binary separations, and near-equal mass ratios. However, we identify a distinct new regime, applicable at smaller separations and masses, and mass ratio in the range 0.001< q < 0.1. For these systems, gas piles up outside the binary's orbit, but rather than creating a cavity, it continuously overflows as in a porous dam. The disk profile is intermediate between a weakly perturbed disk (producing Type-I migration) and a disk with a gap (with Type-II migration). However, the migration rate of the secondary is typically slower than both Type-I and Type-II rates. We term this new regime "Type-I.5" migration.
Elemental abundance patterns can provide vital clues to the formation and enrichment history of a stellar population. Here we present an investigation of the Galactic bulge, where we apply principal component abundance analysis (PCAA)---a principal component decomposition of relative abundances [X/Fe]---to a sample of 35 microlensed bulge dwarf and subgiant stars, characterizing their distribution in the 12-dimensional space defined by their measured elemental abundances. The first principal component PC1, which suffices to describe the abundance patterns of most stars in the sample, shows a strong contribution from alpha-elements, reflecting the relative contributions of Type II and Type Ia supernovae. The second principal component PC2 is characterized by a Na--Ni correlation, the likely product of metallicity-dependent Type II supernova yields. The distribution in PC1 is bimodal, showing that the bimodality previously found in the [Fe/H] values of these stars is robustly and independently recovered by looking at only their relative abundance patterns. The two metal-rich stars that are alpha-enhanced have outlier values of PC2 and PC3, respectively, further evidence that they have distinctive enrichment histories. Applying PCAA to a sample of local thin and thick disk dwarfs yields a nearly identical PC1; in PC1, the metal-rich and metal-poor bulge dwarfs track kinematically selected thin and thick disk dwarfs, respectively, suggesting broadly similar alpha-enrichment histories. However, the disk PC2 is dominated by a Y--Ba correlation, likely indicating a greater contribution of s-process enrichment from asymptotic giant branch stars in the disk, compared to the more rapidly forming bulge.
We present for the first time a detailed study of the properties of molecular gas in metal-rich environments such as early-type galaxies (ETGs). We have explored Photon-Dominated Region (PDR) chemistry for a wide range of physical conditions likely to be appropriate for these sources. We derive fractional abundances of the 20 most chemically reactive species as a function of the metallicity, as a function of the optical depth and for various volume number gas densities, Far-Ultra Violet (FUV) radiation fields and cosmic ray ionisation rates. We also investigate the response of the chemistry to the changes in $\alpha-$element enhancement as seen in ETGs. We find that the fractional abundances of CS, H$_{2}$S, H$_{2}$CS, H$_{2}$O, H$_{3}$O$^{+}$, HCO$^{+}$ and H$_{2}$CN seem invariant to an increase of metallicity whereas C$^{+}$, CO, C$_{2}$H, CN, HCN, HNC and OCS appear to be the species most sensitive to this change. The most sensitive species to the change in the fractional abundance of $\alpha-$elements are C$^{+}$, C, CN, HCN, HNC, SO, SO$_{2}$, H$_{2}$O and CS. Finally, we provide line brightness ratios for the most abundant species, especially in the range observable with ALMA. Discussion of favorable line ratios to use for the estimation of super-solar metallicities and $\alpha$-elements are also provided.
We present VLT-ISAAC NIR spectro-photometric observations of 16 post-starburst (PSB) galaxies aimed at constraining the debated influence of TP-AGB stars on the SED of galaxies with stellar ages between 0.5 and 2 Gyr, hence critical for high-redshift studies. PSB galaxies have negligible current star formation and a SED dominated by the stellar population formed in a recent (<2 Gyr) burst. By spectroscopically selecting PSB galaxies with mean luminosity-weighted ages between 0.5 and 1.5 Gyr and a broad range of metallicities, we explore the parameter space over which the relative energy output of TP-AGB stars peaks. A key feature of the present study is that we target galaxies at z~0.2, so that two main spectral features of TP-AGB stars (C-molecule band-head drops at 1.41 and 1.77mum, blended with strong telluric absorption features, hence hardly observable from the ground at z~0) move inside the H and K atmospheric windows and can be constrained for the first time to high accuracy. Our observations provide key constraints to stellar population synthesis models. Our main results are: i) the NIR regions around 1.41 and 1.77mum (rest-frame) are featureless for all galaxies in our sample at variance with the Maraston (2005) "TP-AGB heavy" models, which exhibit marked drops there; ii) no flux boosting is observed in the NIR: the optical-NIR SEDs of our PSB galaxies are generally consistent with Bruzual & Charlot (2003) simple stellar populations (SSP) of corresponding light-weighted ages and metallicities, but cannot be reproduced using Maraston (2005) SSPs. Possible systematic effects, including biases due to finite and different spectroscopic apertures, dust attenuation and, more importantly, the mixing of the pure post-burst stellar population with an old underlying component, are analysed and shown not to be able to reconcile observations and "TP-AGB heavy" models.
We present the results of an extensive high-resolution imaging survey of M-dwarf multiplicity using the Lucky Imaging technique. The survey made use of the AstraLux Norte camera at the Calar Alto 2.2m telescope and the AstraLux Sur camera at the ESO New Technology Telescope in order to cover nearly the full sky. In total, 761 stars were observed (701 M-type and 60 late K-type), among which 182 new and 37 previously known companions were detected in 205 systems. Most of the targets have been observed during two or more epochs, and could be confirmed as physical companions through common proper motion, often with orbital motion being confirmed in addition. After accounting for various bias effects, we find a total M-dwarf multiplicity fraction of 27+/-3% within the AstraLux detection range of 0.08-6" (semi-major axes of ~3-227 AU at a median distance of 30 pc). We examine various statistical multiplicity properties within the sample, such as the trend of multiplicity fraction with stellar mass and the semi-major axis distribution. The results indicate that M-dwarfs are largely consistent with constituting an intermediate step in a continuous distribution from higher-mass stars down to brown dwarfs. Along with other observational results in the literature, this provides further indications that stars and brown dwarfs may share a common formation mechanism, rather than being distinct populations.
We report on a simulation of turbulent, rotating, stratified, magnetohydrodynamic convection in spherical wedge geometry. An initially small-scale, random, weak amplitude magnetic field is amplified by several orders of magnitude in the course of the simulation to form coherent large-scale fields in the saturated state of the dynamo. The differential rotation is solar-like (fast equator), but neither coherent meridional circulation nor near-surface shear layer develops in this run. Regions of strong magnetic field propagate towards the poles at high latitudes and towards the equator at low latitudes, reminiscent of the solar cycle.
We introduce a novel theory to explain the long-standing puzzle of the nature of the microlensing events reported towards the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) by the MACHO and OGLE collaborations. We propose that a population of tidally stripped stars from the Small Magellanic Clouds (SMC) located ~4-10 kpc behind a lensing population of LMC disk stars can naturally explain the observed event durations, event frequency and spatial distribution of the reported events. These results favor a scenario for the interaction history of the Magellanic Clouds wherein the Clouds are on their first infall towards the Milky Way and the SMC has recently collided with the LMC, leading to a large number of faint sources distributed non-uniformly behind the LMC disk. Owing to the tidal nature of the source population, the sources exhibit a range of distances and velocities with respect to the LMC lenses, naturally explaining the observed range of event durations (30-220 days). Assuming a detection efficiency of 30-50% we find event frequencies of ~1-2 /yr in the central regions of the LMC disk; comparable to the observed rate for the MACHO survey, ~2 /yr. A lower detection efficiency of 10% yields an event frequency of ~0.46 /yr across a larger area of the LMC disk; comparable to that reported by the less sensitive OGLE survey, ~0.33 /yr. In contrast to self-lensing models, microlensing events are also expected to occur in fields off the LMC's stellar bar since the stellar debris is not expected to be concentrated in the bar region. This scenario leads to a number of observational tests: the sources are low-metallicity SMC stars, they exhibit high velocities relative to LMC disk stars that may be detectable via proper motion studies, and, most notably, there should exist a stellar counterpart to the gaseous Magellanic Stream and Magellanic Bridge with a V-band surface brightness > 34 mag/arcsec^2.
Several attempts have been made in the past to assess the expected number of exoplanetary transits that the Gaia space mission will detect. In this Letter we use the updated design of Gaia and its expected performance, and apply recent empirical statistical procedures to provide a new assessment. Depending on the extent of the follow-up effort that will be devoted, we expect Gaia to detect a few hundreds to a few thousands transiting exoplanets.
PKS B2152-699 has radio power characteristic of sources that dominate radio feedback. We present new deep ATCA, Chandra and optical observations, and test the feedback model. We report the first high-resolution observations of the radio jet. The inner jet extends ~8.5 kpc towards an optical emission-line High Ionization Cloud (HIC) before taking a zig-zag path to an offset position. Jet X-ray synchrotron radiation is seen. The HIC is associated with 0.3 keV X-ray gas of anomalously low metallicity. On larger scales the radio galaxy displays all three X-ray features that together confirm supersonic expansion of the lobes into the external medium: gas cavities, inverse-Compton emission showing excess internal lobe pressure, and high-contrast arms of temperature above the ~1 keV ambient medium. The well-formed S lobe on the counterjet side is expanding with a Mach number 2.2-3. We estimate a cavity power ~3x10^43 ergs/s, which falls well below previously reported correlations with radio power. The total inferred time-averaged jet power, ~4x10^44 ergs/s, is dominated by the kinetic and thermal energy of shocked gas, and if used instead would bring the source into better agreement with the correlations. The S hotspot is the more complex, with a spiral polarization structure. Its bright peak emits synchrotron X-rays. The fainter N hotspot is particularly interesting, with X-rays offset in the direction of the incoming jet by ~1 arcsec relative to the radio peak. Here modest (delta ~ 6) relativistic beaming and a steep radio spectrum cause the jet to be X-ray bright through inverse-Compton scattering before it decelerates. With such beaming, a modest proton content or small departure from minimum energy in the jet will align estimates of the instantaneous and time-averaged jet power. The hotspots suggest acceleration of electrons to a maximum energy ~10^13 eV in the jet termination shocks.
We present four new seasons of optical monitoring data and six epochs of X-ray photometry for the doubly-imaged lensed quasar Q J0158-4325. The high-amplitude, short-period microlensing variability for which this system is known has historically precluded a time delay measurement by conventional methods. We attempt to circumvent this limitation by application of a Monte Carlo microlensing analysis technique, but we are only able to prove that the delay must have the expected sign (image A leads image B). Despite our failure to robustly measure the time delay, we successfully model the microlensing at optical and X-ray wavelengths to find a half light radius for soft X-ray emission log(r_{1/2,X,soft}/cm) = 14.3^{+0.4}_{-0.5}, an upper limit on the half-light radius for hard X-ray emission log(r_{1/2,X,hard}/cm) <= 14.6 and a refined estimate of the inclination-corrected scale radius of the optical R-band (rest frame 3100 Angstrom) continuum emission region of log(r_s/cm) = 15.6+-0.3.
Abell 2256 is one of the best known examples of a galaxy cluster hosting large-scale diffuse radio emission that is unrelated to individual galaxies. It contains both a giant radio halo and a relic, as well as a number of head-tail sources and smaller diffuse steep-spectrum radio sources. The origin of radio halos and relics is still being debated, but over the last years it has become clear that the presence of these radio sources is closely related to galaxy cluster merger events. Here we present the results from the first LOFAR Low band antenna (LBA) observations of Abell 2256 between 18 and 67 MHz. To our knowledge, the image presented in this paper at 63 MHz is the deepest ever obtained at frequencies below 100 MHz in general. Both the radio halo and the giant relic are detected in the image at 63 MHz, and the diffuse radio emission remains visible at frequencies as low as 20 MHz. The observations confirm the presence of a previously claimed ultra-steep spectrum source to the west of the cluster center with a spectral index of -2.3 \pm 0.4 between 63 and 153 MHz. The steep spectrum suggests that this source is an old part of a head-tail radio source in the cluster. For the radio relic we find an integrated spectral index of -0.81 \pm 0.03, after removing the flux contribution from the other sources. This is relatively flat which could indicate that the efficiency of particle acceleration at the shock substantially changed in the last \sim 0.1 Gyr due to an increase of the shock Mach number. In an alternative scenario, particles are re-accelerated by some mechanism in the downstream region of the shock, resulting in the relatively flat integrated radio spectrum. In the radio halo region we find indications of low-frequency spectral steepening which may suggest that relativistic particles are accelerated in a rather inhomogeneous turbulent region.
We look for trends relating the mass accretion rate (Macc) and the stellar
ages (t), spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and disk masses (Mdisk) for a
sample of 38 HAeBe stars, comparing them to analogous correlations found for
classical T Tauri stars. Our goal is to shed light on the timescale and
physical processes that drive evolution of intermediate-mass pre-main sequence
objects.
Macc shows a dissipation timescale \tau = 1.3^{+1.0}_{-0.5} Myr from an
exponential law fit, while a power law yields Macc(t) \propto t^{-\eta}, with
\eta = 1.8^{+1.4}_{-0.7}. This result is based on our whole HAeBe sample (1-6
Msun), but the accretion rate decline most probably depends on smaller stellar
mass bins. The near-IR excess is higher and starts at shorter wavelengths (J
and H bands) for the strongest accretors. Active and passive disks are roughly
divided by 2 x 10^{-7} Msun/yr. The mid-IR excess and the SED shape from the
Meeus et al. classification are not correlated with Macc. We find Macc \propto
Mdisk^{1.1 +- 0.3}. Most stars in our sample with signs of inner dust
dissipation typically show accretion rates ten times lower and disk masses
three times smaller than the remaining objects.
The trends relating Macc with the near-IR excess and Mdisk extend those for T
Tauri stars, and are consistent with viscous disk models. The differences in
the inner gas dissipation timescale, and the relative position of the stars
with signs of inner dust clearing in the Macc-Mdisk plane, could be suggesting
a slightly faster evolution, and that a different process - such as
photoevaporation - plays a more relevant role in dissipating disks in the HAeBe
regime compared to T Tauri stars. Our conclusions must consider the mismatch
between the disk mass estimates from mm fluxes and the disk mass estimates from
accretion, which we also find in HAeBe stars.
We report near-infrared measurements of the terminator region transmission spectrum and dayside emission spectrum of the exoplanet WASP-12b obtained using the HST WFC3 instrument. The disk-average dayside brightness temperature averages about 2900 K, peaking to 3200 K around 1.46 {\mu}m. Both the dayside and terminator region spectra can be explained in terms of opacity due to the metal hydrides CrH and TiH together with a dayside temperature inversion with a deep tropopause. Although our measurements do not constrain the C/O ratio, the combination of TiH and high temperatures could imply the atmosphere of WASP-12b may be significantly metal poor. The dayside flux distribution reconstructed from the ingress light-curve shape shows indications of a hotspot. If located along the equatorial plane, the possible hot spot is near the sub-stellar point, indicating the radiative time scale may be shorter than the advection time scale. We also find the near-infrared primary eclipse light curve is consistent with small amounts of prolate distortion. The likely picture of WASP-12b that emerges is that this gas giant is powerfully influenced by the parent star to the extent that the planet's dayside atmosphere is star-like in terms of temperature, opacity, and the relative importance of radiation over advection. As part of the calibration effort for these data, we conducted a detailed study of instrument systematics using 65 orbits of WFC3-IR grims observations. The instrument systematics are dominated by detector-related affects, which vary significantly depending on the detector readout mode. The 256\times256 subarray observations of WASP-12 produced measurements within 15% of the photon-noise limit using a simple calibration approach. Residual systematics are estimated to be \leq70 parts per million.
The rapid neutron-capture process, creating about half of the heaviest elements in the Solar System was believed to be unique. Many recent studies have shown that this does not include the formation of lighter elements (in particular 38 < Z < 48). Among those, palladium (Pd) and especially silver (Ag) are expected to be key indicators of a possible second r-process, but until recently they have been studied only in a few stars. Therefore we target Pd and Ag in a large sample of stars and compare these abundances to those of Sr, Y, Zr, Ba and Eu produced by the slow (s-) and rapid (r-) neutron-capture processes. Hereby we investigate the nature of the formation process of Ag and Pd. Through a homogeneous 1D LTE analysis of 71 stars we derive stellar abundances using the spectrum synthesis code MOOG, and MARCS model atmospheres. We calculate abundance ratio trends and compare the derived abundances to site-dependent yield predictions (low mass O-Ne-Mg cc SN, and parametrised high entropy winds), to extract characteristics of the second r-process. The abundance ratios of the heavy elements yield correlations and anti-correlations. These trends lead to clear indications of the existence of a second/weak r-process, responsible for the formation of Pd and Ag. By comparing to the model predictions, we find that the conditions under which this process takes place differ from the main r-process in needing lower neutron number densities, neutron-to-seed ratios, entropies and/or favour higher electron abundances. Our analysis confirms that Pd and Ag form via a r-process that differs from the main r-process, the main and weak s-processes, and charged particle freeze-outs. This process is efficiently working down to [Fe/H] = -3.3 (where our sample ends). Our results may indicate that a combination of these explosive sites is needed to explain the observationally-derived abundance patterns.
Astronomical researchers often think of analysis and visualization as separate tasks. In the case of high-dimensional data sets, though, interactive exploratory data visualization can give far more insight than an approach where data processing and statistical analysis are followed, rather than accompanied, by visualization. This paper attempts to charts a course toward "linked view" systems, where multiple views of high-dimensional data sets update live as a researcher selects, highlights, or otherwise manipulates, one of several open views. For example, imagine a researcher looking at a 3D volume visualization of simulated or observed data, and simultaneously viewing statistical displays of the data set's properties (such as an x-y plot of temperature vs. velocity, or a histogram of vorticities). Then, imagine that when the researcher selects an interesting group of points in any one of these displays, that the same points become a highlighted subset in all other open displays. Selections can be graphical or algorithmic, and they can be combined, and saved. For tabular (ASCII) data, this kind of analysis has long been possible, even though it has been under-used in Astronomy. The bigger issue for Astronomy and several other "high-dimensional" fields is the need systems that allow full integration of images and data cubes within a linked-view environment. The paper concludes its history and analysis of the present situation with suggestions that look toward cooperatively-developed open-source modular software as a way to create an evolving, flexible, high-dimensional, linked-view visualization environment useful in astrophysical research.
Water vapor megamasers from the center of active galaxies provide a powerful tool to trace accretion disks at sub-parsec resolution and, through an entirely geometrical method, measure direct distances to galaxies up to 200 Mpc. The Megamaser Cosmology Project (MCP) is formed by a team of astronomers with the aim of identifying new maser systems, and mapping their emission at high angular resolution to determine their distance. Two types of observations are necessary to measure a distance: single-dish monitoring to measure the acceleration of gas in the disk, and sensitive VLBI imaging to measure the angular size of the disk, measure the rotation curve, and model radial displacement of the maser feature. The ultimate goal of the MCP is to make a precise measurement of H0 by measuring such distances to at least 10 maser galaxies in the Hubble flow. We present here the preliminary results from a new maser system, Mrk 1419. Through a model of the rotation from the systemic masers assuming a narrow ring, and combining these results with the acceleration measurement from the Green Bank Telescope, we determine a distance to Mrk 1419 of 81\pm10 Mpc. Given that the disk shows a significant warp that may not be entirely traced by our current observations, more sensitive observations and more sophisticated disk modeling will be essential to improve our distance estimation to this galaxy.
This paper describes the development of X-ray diffractive optics for imaging solar flares with better than 0.1 arcsec angular resolution. X-ray images with this resolution of the \geq10 MK plasma in solar active regions and solar flares would allow the cross-sectional area of magnetic loops to be resolved and the coronal flare energy release region itself to be probed. The objective of this work is to obtain X-ray images in the iron-line complex at 6.7 keV observed during solar flares with an angular resolution as fine as 0.1 arcsec - over an order of magnitude finer than is now possible. This line emission is from highly ionized iron atoms, primarily Fe xxv, in the hottest flare plasma at temperatures in excess of \approx10 MK. It provides information on the flare morphology, the iron abundance, and the distribution of the hot plasma. Studying how this plasma is heated to such high temperatures in such short times during solar flares is of critical importance in understanding these powerful transient events, one of the major objectives of solar physics. We describe the design, fabrication, and testing of phase zone plate X-ray lenses with focal lengths of \approx100 m at these energies that would be capable of achieving these objectives. We show how such lenses could be included on a two-spacecraft formation-flying mission with the lenses on the spacecraft closest to the Sun and an X-ray imaging array on the second spacecraft in the focal plane \approx100 m away. High resolution X-ray images could be obtained when the two spacecraft are aligned with the region of interest on the Sun. Requirements and constraints for the control of the two spacecraft are discussed together with the overall feasibility of such a formation-flying mission.
[Abridged] It is widely accepted that observations at mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths enable the selection of galaxies with nuclear activity, which may not be revealed even in the deepest X-ray surveys. In this work new near- and mid-IR color diagnostics are explored, aiming for improved efficiency - better completeness and less contamination - in selecting AGN out to very high redshifts. We restrict our study to the James Webb Space Telescope wavelength range (0.6-27um). The criteria are created based on the predictions by state-of-the-art galaxy and AGN templates covering a wide variety of galaxy properties, and tested against control samples with deep multi-wavelength coverage (ranging from the X-rays to radio frequencies). We show that the colors Ks-[4.5], [4.5]-[8.0], and [8.0]-[24] are ideal as AGN/non-AGN diagnostics at, respectively, z<~1, 1<~z<~2.5, and z>~2.5-3. However, when the source redshift is unknown, these colors should be combined. We thus develop an improved IR criterion (using Ks and IRAC bands, KI) as a new alternative at z<~2.5. KI does not show improved completeness (50-60% overall) in comparison to commonly used IRAC-based AGN criteria, but is less affected by non-AGN contamination (revealing a >50-90% level of successful AGN selection). We also propose KIM (using Ks, IRAC, and MIPS-24um bands, KIM), which aims to select AGN hosts from local distances to as far back as the end of reionization (0<z<~7) with reduced non-AGN contamination. However, the necessary testing-constraints and the small control-sample sizes prevent the confirmation of its improved efficiency at z<~2.5. Overall, KIM shows a ~30-40% completeness and a >70-90% level of successful AGN selection. KI and KIM are built to be reliable against a ~10-20% error in flux, are based on existing filters, and are suitable for immediate use.
We report the properties of the interacting S0 galaxy NGC 5195 (M51B), revealed in a pixel analysis using the HST/ACS images in the F435W, F555W and F814W (BVI) bands. We analyze the pixel color-magnitude diagram (pCMD) of NGC 5195, focusing on the properties of its red and blue pixel sequences and the difference from the pCMD of NGC 5194 (M51A; the spiral galaxy interacting with NGC 5195). The red pixel sequence of NGC 5195 is redder than that of NGC 5194, which corresponds to the difference in the dust optical depth of 2<\Delta\tau_V<4 at fixed age and metallicity. The blue pixel sequence of NGC 5195 is very weak and spatially corresponds to the tidal bridge between the two interacting galaxies. This implies that the blue pixel sequence is not an ordinary feature in the pCMD of an early-type galaxy, but that it is a transient feature of star formation caused by the galaxy-galaxy interaction. We also find a difference in the shapes of the red pixel sequences on the pixel color-color diagrams (pCCDs) of NGC 5194 and NGC 5195. We investigate the spatial distributions of the pCCD-based pixel stellar populations. The young population fraction in the tidal bridge area is larger than that in other areas by a factor > 15. Along the tidal bridge, young populations seem to be clumped particularly at the middle point of the bridge. On the other hand, the dusty population shows a relatively wide distribution between the tidal bridge and the NGC 5195 center.
We present a far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectral atlas consisting of spectra of 91 pre-main sequence stars. Most stars in this sample were observed with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the \emph{Hubble Space Telescope} (\emph{HST}). We find strong correlations among the \ion{O}{1} $\lambda$1304 triplet, %\ion{C}{2} $\lambda$1335, the \ion{Si}{4} $\lambda\lambda$1394/1403 doublet, the \ion{C}{4} $\lambda$1549 doublet, and the \ion{He}{2} $\lambda$1640 line luminosities. For classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs), we also find strong correlations between these lines and the accretion luminosity, suggesting that these lines form in processes related to accretion. These FUV line fluxes and X-ray luminosity correlate loosely with large scatters. The FUV emission also correlates well with H$\alpha$, H$\beta$, and \ion{Ca}{2} K line luminosities. These correlations between FUV and optical diagostics can be used to obtain rough estimates of FUV line fluxes from optical observations. Molecular hydrogen (H$_{2}$) emission is generally present in the spectra of actively accreting CTTSs but not the weak-lined T Tauri stars (WTTSs) that are not accreting. The presence of H$_2$ emission in the spectrum of HD 98800 N suggests that the disk should be classified as actively accreting rather than a debris disk. The spectra in the atlas are available at this http URL
We introduced least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso) in obtaining periodic signals in unevenly spaced time-series data. A very simple formulation with a combination of a large set of sine and cosine functions has been shown to yield a very robust estimate, and the peaks in the resultant power spectra were very sharp. We studied the response of lasso to low signal-to-noise data, asymmetric signals and very closely separated multiple signals. When the length of the observation is sufficiently long, all of them were not serious obstacles to lasso. We analyzed the 100-year visual observations of delta Cep, and obtained a very accurate period of 5.366326(16) d. The error in period estimation was several times smaller than in Phase Dispersion Minimization. We also modeled the historical data of R Sct, and obtained a reasonable fit to the data. The model, however, lost its predictive ability after the end of the interval used for modeling, which is probably a result of chaotic nature of the pulsations of this star. We also provide a sample R code for making this analysis.
The 10-antenna prototype of the multifrequency Siberian radioheliograph is
described. The prototype consists of four parts: antennas with broadband
front-ends, analog back-ends, digital receivers and a correlator. The prototype
antennas are mounted on the outermost stations of the Siberian Solar Radio
Telescope (SSRT) array. A signal from each antenna is transmitted to a workroom
by an analog fiber optical link, laid in an underground tunnel. After mixing,
all signals are digitized and processed by digital receivers before the data
are transmitted to the correlator. The digital receivers and the correlator are
accessible by the LAN. The frequency range of the prototype is from 4 to 8 GHz.
Currently the frequency switching observing mode is used. The prototype data
include both circular polarizations at a number of frequencies given by a list.
This prototype is the first stage of the multifrequency Siberian
radioheliograph development. It is assumed that the radioheliograph will
consist of 96 antennas and will occupy stations of the West-East-South subarray
of the SSRT. The radioheliograph will be fully constructed in autumn of 2012.
We plan to reach the brightness temperature sensitivity about 100 K for the
snapshot image, a spatial resolution up to 13 arcseconds at 8 GHz and
polarization measurement accuracy about a few percent.
First results with the 10-antenna prototype are presented of observations of
solar microwave bursts. The prototype abilities to estimate source size and
locations at different frequencies are discussed.
We examine the chemical properties of 5 cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of an M33-like disc galaxy which have been shown to be consistent with the morphological characteristics and bulk scaling relations expected of late-type spirals. These simulations are part of the Making Galaxies In a Cosmological Context (MaGICC) Project, in which stellar feedback is tuned to match the stellar mass -- halo mass relationship. Each realisation employed identical initial conditions and assembly histories, but differed from one another in their underlying baryonic physics prescriptions, including (a) the efficiency with which each supernova energy couples to the ISM, (b) the impact of feedback associated with massive star radiation pressure, (c) the role of the minimum shut-off time for radiative cooling of Type II SNe remnants, (d) the treatment of metal diffusion, and (e) varying the IMF. Our analysis focusses on the resulting stellar metallicity distribution functions (MDFs) in each simulated (analogous) `solar neighbourhood' and central `bulge' region. We compare the simulated MDFs' skewness, kurtosis, and dispersion (inter-quartile, inter-decile, inter-centile, and inter-tenth-percentile regions) with that of the empirical solar neighbourhood MDF and Local Group dwarfs. We find that the MDFs of the simulated discs are more negatively skewed, with higher kurtosis, than those observed locally. We can trace this difference to the simulations' tight and correlated age-metallicity relations (compared with that of the Milky Way), suggesting that these relations within `dwarf' discs might be steeper than in L* discs and/or the degree of stellar orbital re-distribution and migration inferred locally has not been captured in their entirety, at the resolution of our simulations. The important role of metal diffusion in ameliorating the over-production of extremely metal-poor stars is highlighted.
In this paper we present a high-resolution spectroscopic analysis of the chemically peculiar star HD207561. During a survey programme to search for new roAp stars in the Northern hemisphere, Joshi et al. (2006) observed significant photometric variability on two consecutive nights in the year 2000. The amplitude spectra of the light curves obtained on these two nights showed oscillations with a frequency of 2.79 mHz [P~6-min]. However, subsequent follow-up observations could not confirm any rapid variability. In order to determine the spectroscopic nature of HD207561, high-resolution spectroscopic and spectro-polarimetric observations were carried out. A reasonable fit of the calculated Hbeta line profile to the observed one yields the effective temperature (Teff) and surface gravity (log g) as 7300 K and 3.7 dex, respectively. The derived projected rotational velocity (vsin i) for HD207561 is 74 km/sec indicative of a relatively fast rotator. The position of HD207561 in the H-R diagram implies that this is slightly evolved from the main-sequence and located well within the delta-Scuti instability strip. The abundance analysis indicates the star has slight under-abundances of Ca and Sc and mild over-abundances of iron-peak elements. The spectro-polarimetric study of HD207561 shows that the effective magnetic field is within the observational error of 100 gauss (G). The spectroscopic analysis revealed that the star has most of the characteristics similar to an Am star, rather than an Ap star, and that it lies in the delta-Scuti instability strip; hence roAp pulsations are not expected in HD207561, but low-overtone modes might be excited.
We present $UBVRI$ photometry for 392 star clusters and candidates in the field of M33, which are selected from the most recent star cluster catalog. In this catalog, the authors listed star clusters' parameters such as cluster positions, magnitudes and colors in the $UBVRIJHK_s$ filters, and so on. However, a large fraction of objects in this catalog do not have previously published photometry. Photometry is performed using archival images from the Local Group Galaxies Survey, which covers 0.8 deg$^2$ along the major axis of M33. Detailed comparisons show that, in general, our photometry is consistent with previous measurements. Positions (right ascension and declination) for some clusters are corrected here. Combined with previous literature, we constitute a large sample of M33 star clusters. Based on this cluster sample, we present some statistical results: none of the M33 youngest clusters ($\sim 10^7$ yr) have masses approaching $10^5$ $M_{\odot}$; roughly half the star clusters are consistent with the $10^4$ to $10^5$ $M_{\odot}$ mass models; the continuous distribution of star clusters along the model line indicates that M33 star clusters have been formed continuously from the epoch of the first star cluster formation until recent times; there are $\sim 50$ star clusters which being overlapped with the Galactic globular clusters on the color-color diagram, and these clusters are old globular clusters candidates in M33.
Dark matter annihilation signals coming from Galactic subhaloes may account for a small fraction of unassociated point sources detected in the Second Fermi-LAT catalogue (2FGL). To investigate this possibility, we present Sibyl, a Random Forest classifier that offers predictions on class memberships for unassociated Fermi-LAT sources at high Galactic latitudes using gamma-ray features extracted from the 2FGL. Sibyl generates a large ensemble of classification trees that are trained to vote on whether a particular object is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) or a pulsar. After training on a list of 908 identified/associated 2FGL sources, Sibyl reaches individual accuracy rates of up to 97.7% for AGNs and 96.5% for pulsars. Predictions for the 269 unassociated 2FGL sources at |b| > 10 degrees suggest that 216 are potential AGNs and 16 are potential pulsars (with majority votes greater than 70%). The remaining 37 objects are inconclusive, but none is an extreme outlier. These results could guide future quests for dark matter Galactic subhaloes.
In this paper we report the discovery of the chromospherically active (RS CVn type) binary TYC 8380-1953-1 through the XMM-Newton slew survey and present results of our optical and X-ray follow-up. With a flux limit of $6 \times 10^{-13}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ in the soft band ($0.2 - 2$ keV), the XMM-Newton slew has a similar sensitivity to the ROSAT All Sky Survey allowing interesting sources to be identified by their long-term variability. Two different types of stellar sources are detected in shallow X-ray surveys: young stars (both pre-main and main sequence stars) and chromospherically active binaries (BY Dra and RS CVn type systems). The discovery of stars in such surveys and the study of their nature through optical follow-ups is valuable to determine their spatial distribution and scale height in the Galaxy. Our analysis shows that TYC 8380-1953-1 is a double-lined spectroscopic binary with both components having similar spectral type (likely K0/2+K3/5) and luminosity. With a typical coronal temperature for an RS CVn system ($kT \sim 1.15$ keV) and an X-ray luminosity in the $0.3-10$ keV energy band higher than $4 \times 10^{31}$ erg\,s$^{-1}$, TYC 8380-1953-1 lies among the most X-ray luminous RS CVn binaries.
The chemical properties of high-z galaxies provide important information to constrain galaxy evolutionary scenarios. However, widely-used metallicity diagnostics based on rest-frame optical emission lines are not usable for heavily dust-enshrouded galaxies (such as Sub-Millimeter Galaxies; SMGs), especially at z>3. Here we focus on the flux ratio of the far-infrared fine-structure emission lines [NII]205um and [CII]158um to assess the metallicity of high-z SMGs. Through ALMA cycle 0 observations, we have detected the [NII]205um emission in a strongly [CII]-emitting SMG, LESS J033229.4-275619 at z=4.76. The velocity-integrated [NII]/[CII] flux ratio is 0.043 +/- 0.008. This is the first measurement of the [NII]/[CII] flux ratio in high-z galaxies, and the inferred flux ratio is similar to the ratio observed in the nearby universe (~0.02-0.07). The velocity-integrated flux ratio and photoionization models suggest that the metallicity in this SMG is consistent with solar, implying the chemical evolution has progressed very rapidly in this system at z=4.76. We also obtain a tight upper limit on the CO(12-11) transition, which translates into CO(12-11)/CO(2-1) <3.8 (3 sigma). This suggests that the molecular gas clouds in LESS J033229.4-275619 are not affected significantly by the radiation field emitted by the AGN in this system.
We study the effect of the turbulent drift of the large-scale magnetic field that is resulted from interaction of the helical convective motions and the differential rotation in the solar convection zone. The principal direction of the drift corresponds to direction of the large-scale vorticity vector. Thus, the effect produce the latitudinal transport of the large-scale magnetic field in the convective zone regions wherever the angular velocity has the strong radial gradient. The direction of the drift depends on the sign of helicity. Thus, the given pumping effect works in the same direction as the propagation of the dynamo wave that is govern by the Parker-Yoshimura rule. The analytic calculations are done within the mean-field magnetohydrodynamic framework using the minimal $\tau$-approximation. We estimate the magnitude of the drift velocity and found that it can be several m/s near the base of the solar convection zone. The implications of the given effect to the solar dynamo are illustrated on the base of the mean-field axisymmetric dynamo model with subsurface shear layer. We found that the helicity-vorticity pumping effect can influence on the features of the sunspot time-latitude diagram, producing the fast drift of the sunspot activity maximum at the rise phase of the cycle and the slow drift at the decay phase of the cycle.
The design and later use of modern spectropolarimeters and magnetographs require a number of tolerance specifications that allow the developers to build the instrument and then the scientists to interpret the data accuracy. Such specifications depend both on device-specific features and on the physical assumptions underlying the particular measurement technique. Here we discuss general properties of every magnetograph, as the detectability thresholds for the vector magnetic field and the line-of-sight velocity, as well as specific properties of a given type of instrument, namely that based on a pair of nematic liquid crystal variable retarders and a Fabry-P\'erot etalon (or several) for carrying out the light polarization modulation and spectral analysis, respectively. We derive formulae that give the detection thresholds in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio of the observations and the polarimetric efficiencies of the instrument. Relationships are also established between inaccuracies in the solar physical quantities and instabilities in the instrument parameters. Such relationships allow, for example, to translate scientific requirements for the velocity or the magnetic field into requirements for temperature or voltage stability. We also demonstrate that this type of magnetograph can theoretically reach the optimum polarimetric efficiencies of an ideal polarimeter, regardless of the optics in between the modulator and the analyzer. Such optics induces changes in the instrument parameters that are calculated too.
A growing number of solar-like oscillations has been detected in red-giant stars thanks to CoRoT and Kepler space-crafts. The seismic data gathered by CoRoT on red-giant stars allow us to test mode driving theory in different physical conditions than main-sequence stars. Using a set of 3D hydrodynamical models representative of the upper layers of sub- and red-giant stars, we compute the acoustic modes energy supply rate (Pmax). Assuming adiabatic pulsations and using global stellar models where the surface stratification comes from the 3D hydrodynamical models, mode amplitude is computed in terms of surface velocity. The latter is then converted into intensity fluctuations using either a simplified adiabatic scaling relation or a non-adiabatic one. Given L and M (the luminosity and mass respectively), the energy supply rate Pmax is found to scale as (L/M)^(2.6) for both main-sequence and red-giant stars, extending previous results by Samadi et al. (2007). The theoretical amplitudes in velocity under-estimate the Doppler velocity measurements obtained so far from the ground for red-giant stars by about 30%. In terms of intensity, the theoretical scaling law based on the adiabatic intensity-velocity scaling relation results in an under-estimation by a factor of about 2.5 with respect to the CoRoT seismic measurements. On the other hand, using the non-adiabatic intensity-velocity relation significantly reduces the discrepancy with the CoRoT data. The theoretical amplitudes remain however 40% below the CoRoT measurements. Our results show that scaling relations of mode amplitude cannot be simply extended from main-sequence to red-giant stars in terms of intensity on the basis of adiabatic relations since non-adiabatic effects for red-giant stars are important and cannot be neglected. Possible reasons explaining these remaining differences are discussed.
Large ongoing and upcoming galaxy cluster surveys in the optical, X-ray and millimetric wavelengths will provide rich samples of galaxy clusters at unprecedented depths. One key observable for constraining cosmological models is the correlation function of these objects, measured through their spectroscopic redshift. We study the redshift-space correlation functions of clusters of galaxies, averaged over finite redshift intervals, and their covariance matrices. Expanding as usual the angular anisotropy of the redshift-space correlation on Legendre polynomials, we consider the redshift-space distortions of the monopole as well as the next two multipoles, $2\ell=2$ and 4. Taking into account the Kaiser effect, we develop an analytical formalism to obtain explicit expressions of all contributions to these mean correlations and covariance matrices. We include both shot-noise and sample-variance effects, as well as Gaussian and non-Gaussian contributions. We obtain a reasonable agreement with numerical simulations for the mean correlations and covariance matrices on large scales ($r> 10 h^{-1}$Mpc). Redshift-space distortions amplify the monopole correlation by about 10-20%, depending on the halo mass, but the signal-to-noise ratio remains of the same order as for the real-space correlation. This distortion will be significant for surveys such as DES, Erosita and Euclid, which should also measure the quadrupole $2\ell=2$. The third multipole, $2\ell=4$, may only be marginally detected by Euclid.
Intriguing sub-TeV tails in the pulsed $\gamma$-ray emission from the Crab pulsar have been recently discovered by the MAGIC and VERITAS Collaborations. They were not clearly predicted by any pulsar model. It is at present argued that this emission is produced by electrons in the Inverse Compton process occurring either in the outer gap of the pulsar magnetosphere or in the pulsar wind region at some distance from the light cylinder. We analyse another scenario which is consistent with the basic features of this enigmatic emission. It is proposed that this emission is caused by electrons accelerated very close to the light cylinder where the $e^\pm$ plasma can not saturate induced huge electric fields. Electrons reach energies sufficient for production of hard $\gamma$-ray spectra in the curvature radiation process. Due to different curvature radii of the leading and trailing magnetic field lines, the $\gamma$-ray spectra from separate pulses should extend to different maximum energies. The scenario can also explain the lower level $\gamma$-ray emission from the interpulse region (between P1 and P2) observed in the Crab pulsar light curve. Moreover, we argue that pulsars with parameters close to the Vela pulsar should also show pulsed emission with the cut-off at clearly lower energies ($\sim$50 GeV) than that observed in the case of the Crab pulsar. On the other hand, such tail emission is not expected in pulsars with parameters close to the Geminga pulsar. The model also predicts the tail $\gamma$-ray emission extending up to $\sim$50 GeV from some millisecond pulsars with extreme parameters such as PSR J0218+4243 and PSR J1823-3021A.
A report on the spectroscopic and multi-color photometric observations of high galactic latitude classical nova KT Eridani (Nova Eridani 2009) is presented. After 12.2 days from maximum light, broad and prominent emission lines of Balmer series, He I, He II, N II, N III and O I can be seen on the spectra. The FWHM of H${\alpha}$ line yields an expansion velocity of approximately 3400 km s$^{-1}$. After 279.4 days from maximum light, we can see prominent emission lines of He II and [O III] on the spectrum. Among them, [O III] (4959, 5007) lines show multiple peaks. From the obtained light curve, KT Eri is classified to be a very fast nova, with a decline rate by two magnitude of $6.2 \pm 0.3$ days and three of $14.3 \pm 0.7$ days. We tried to estimate the absolute magnitude ($M_V$) using the Maximum Magnitude versus Rate of Decline relationship and distance of KT Eri. The calculated $M_V$ is approximately -9. Accordingly, the distance and galactic height are approximately 7 kpc and 4 kpc, respectively. Hence, KT Eri is concluded to be located outside of the galactic disk.
Stellar kinematic groups are kinematical coherent groups of stars that might have a common origin. These groups are dispersed throughout the Galaxy over time by the tidal effects of both Galactic rotation and disc heating, although their chemical content remains unchanged. The aim of chemical tagging is to establish that the abundances of every element in the analysis are homogeneus among the members. We study the case of the Hyades Supercluster to compile a reliable list of members (FGK stars) based on our chemical tagging analysis. For a total of 61 stars from the Hyades Supercluster, stellar atmospheric parameters (Teff, logg, xi, and [Fe/H]) are determined using our code called StePar, which is based on the sensitivity to the stellar atmospheric parameters of the iron EWs measured in the spectra. We derive the chemical abundances of 20 elements and find that their [X/Fe] ratios are consistent with Galactic abundance trends reported in previous studies. The chemical tagging method is applied with a carefully developed differential abundance analysis of each candidate member of the Hyades Supercluster, using a well-known member of the Hyades cluster as a reference (vB 153). We find that only 28 stars (26 dwarfs and 2 giants) are members, i.e. that 46% of our candidates are members based on the differential abundance analysis. This result confirms that the Hyades Supercluster cannot originate solely from the Hyades cluster.
The validity of MOND and TeVeS models of modified gravity has been recently tested by using lensing techniques, with the conclusion that a non-trivial component in the form of dark matter is needed in order to match the observations. In this work those analyses are extended by comparing lensing to stellar masses for a sample of nine strong gravitational lenses that probe galactic scales. The sample is extracted from a recent work that presents the mass profile out to a few effective radii, therefore reaching into regions that are dominated by dark matter in the standard (general relativity) scenario. A range of interpolating functions are explored to test the validity of MOND/TeVeS in these systems. Out of the nine systems, there are five robust candidates with a significant excess (higher that 50%) of lensing mass with respect to stellar mass, irrespective of the stellar initial mass function. One of these lenses (Q0957) is located at the centre of a galactic cluster. This system might be accommodated in MOND/TeVeS via the addition of a hot component, like a 2 eV neutrino, that contribute over cluster scales. However, the other four robust candidates (LBQS1009, HE1104, B1600, HE2149) are located in field/group regions, so that a cold component (CDM) would be required even within the MOND/TeVeS framework. Our results therefore do not support recent claims that these alternative scenarios to CDM can survive astrophysical data.
The problem of the dark matter in the universe is reviewed. A short history of the subject is given, and several of the most obvious particle candidates for dark matter are identified. Particular focus is given to weakly interacting, massive particles (WIMPs) of which the lightest supersymmetric particle is an interesting special case and a usful template. The three detection methods: in particle accelerators, by direct detection of scattering in terrestrial detectors, and indirect detection of products from dark matter particle annihilation in the galactic halo, are discussed and their complementarity is explained. Direct detection experiments have revealed some possible indications of a dark matter signal, but the situation is quite confusing at the moment. Very recently, also indirect detection has entered a sensitivity region where some particle candidates could be detectable. Indeed, also here there are some (presently non-conclusive) indications of possible dark matter signals, like an interesting structure at 130 GeV gamma-ray energy found in publicly available data from the Fermi-LAT space detector. The future of the field will depend on whether WIMPs are indeed the dark matter, something that may realistically be probed in the next few years. If this exciting scenario turns out to be true, we can expect a host of other, complementary experiments in the coming decade. If it is not true, the time scale and methods for detection will be much more uncertain.
Circumstellar disks are characteristic for star formation and vanish during
the first few Myr of stellar evolution. During this time planets are believed
to form in the dense midplane by growth, sedimentation and aggregation of dust.
Indicators of disk evolution, such as holes and gaps, can be traced in the
spectral energy distribution (SED) and spatially resolved images.
We aim to construct a self-consistent model of HH 30 by fitting all available
continuum observations simultaneously. New data sets not available in previous
studies, such as high-resolution interferometric imaging with the Plateau de
Bure Interferometer (PdBI) at lambda = 1.3 mm and SED measured with IRS on the
Spitzer Space Telescope in the mid-infrared, put strong constraints on
predictions and are likely to provide new insights into the evolutionary state
of this object.
A parameter study based on simulated annealing was performed to find unbiased
best-fit models for independent observations made in the wavelength domain
lambda ~ 1 micron ... 4 mm. The method essentially creates a Markov chain
through parameter space by comparing predictions generated by our
self-consistent continuum radiation transfer code MC3D with observations.
We present models of the edge-on circumstellar disk of HH 30 based on
observations from the near-infrared to mm-wavelengths that suggest the presence
of an inner depletion zone with about 45 AU radius and a steep decline of mm
opacity beyond 140 AU. Our modeling indicates that several modes of dust
evolution such as growth, settling, and radial migration are taking place in
this object.
High-resolution observations of HH 30 at different wavelengths with
next-generation observatories such as ALMA and JWST will enable the modeling of
inhomogeneous dust properties and significantly expand our understanding of
circumstellar disk evolution.
We study the Kozai dynamics affecting the orbital evolution of transneptunian objects being captured or not in MMR with Neptune. We provide energy level maps of the type ({\omega},q) describing the possible orbital paths from Neptune up to semimajor axis of hundreds of AU. The dynamics for non resonant TNOs with perihelion distances, q, outside Neptune's orbit, a_N, is quite different from the dynamics of TNOs with q < a_N, already studied in previous works. While for the last case there are stable equilibrium points at {\omega} = 0\circ, 90\circ, 180\circ and 270\circ in a wide range of orbital inclinations, for the former case it appears a family of stable equilibrium points only at a specific value of the orbital inclination, i \sim 62\circ, that we call critical inclination. We show this family of equilibrium points is generated by a mechanism analogue to which drives the dynamics of an artificial satellite perturbed by an oblate planet. The planetary system also generates an oscillation in the longitude of the perihelion of the TNOs with i \sim 46\circ, being Eris a paradigmatic case. We discuss how the resonant condition with Neptune modify the energy level curves and the location of equilibrium points. The asymmetric librations of resonances of the type 1:N generate a distortion in the energy level curves and in the resulting location of the equilibrium points in the phase space ({\omega},q). We study the effect on the Kozai dynamics due to the diffusion process in "a" that occurs in the Scattered Disk. We show that a minimum orbital inclination is required to allow substantial variations in perihelion distances once the object is captured in MMR and that minimum inclination is greater for greater semimajor axis.
We present the results of EVN and MERLIN 5 GHz observations of nine ultra-high-energy synchrotron peak BL Lacs (UHBLs) selected as all BL Lacs with \textbf{log ($\nu_{\rm peak}/ \rm Hz)>20$} from Nieppola et al.. The radio structure was investigated for these sources, in combination with the available VLBA archive data. We found that the core-jet structure is detected in five sources, while four sources only have a compact core on pc scale. The core of all sources shows high brightness temperature (with mean and median values \textbf{log ($T_{\rm b} / {\rm K}) \sim11$}, which implies that the beaming effect likely present in all sources. When the multi-epoch VLBI data are available, we found no significant variations either for core or total flux density in two sources (2E 0414+0057 and EXO 0706.1+5913), and no evident proper motion in 2E 0414+0057, while the superluminal motion is likely detected in EXO 0706.1+5913. Our sources are found to be less compact than the typical HBLs in Giroletti et al, by comparing the ratio of the VLBI total flux to the core flux at arcsec scale. Combining all our results, we propose that the beaming effect might be present in the jets of UHBLs, however, it is likely weaker than that of typical HBLs. Moreover, we found that UHBLs could be less Doppler beamed versions of HBLs with similar jet power, by comparing the distribution of redshift, and radio luminosities. The results are in good consistence with the expectations from our previous work.
In order to investigate the origin of the interstellar turbulence, detailed observations in the CO J=1--0 and 3--2 lines have been carried out in an interacting region of a molecular cloud with an HII region. As a result, several 1,000 to 10,000 AU scale cloudlets with small velocity dispersion are detected, whose systemic velocities have a relatively large scatter of a few km/s. It is suggested that the cloud is composed of small-scale dense and cold structures and their overlapping effect makes it appear to be a turbulent entity as a whole. This picture strongly supports the two-phase model of turbulent medium driven by thermal instability proposed previously. On the surface of the present cloud, the turbulence is likely to be driven by thermal instability following ionization shock compression and UV irradiation. Those small scale structures with line width of ~ 0.6 km/s have a relatively high CO line ratio of J=3--2 to 1--0, 1 < R(3-2/1-0) < 2. The large velocity gradient analysis implies that the 0.6 km/s width component cloudlets have an average density of 10^{3-4} cm^{-3}, which is relatively high at cloud edges, but their masses are only < 0.05 M_{sun}.
In this paper we apply different methods to examine the possibility that a small group of 24 asteroids dynamically linked to main-belt comet P/2006 VW139, recently discovered by the Pan-STARRS1 survey telescope, shares a common physical origin. By applying the Hierarchical Clustering and Backward Integration methods, we find strong evidence that 11 of these asteroids form a sub-group which likely originated in a recent collision event, and that this group includes P/2006 VW139. The objects not found to be part of the 11-member sub-group, which we designate as the P/2006 VW139 family, were either found to be dynamically unstable, or these are likely interlopers which should be expected due to the close proximity of the Themis family. As we demonstrated, statistical significance of P/2006 VW139 family is >99 per cent. We determine the age of the family to be 7.5 +/- 0.3 Myr, and estimate the diameter of the parent body to be about 11 km. Results show that the family is produced by an impact which can be best characterized as a transition from catastrophic to cratering regime. The dynamical environment of this family is studied as well, including the identification of the most influential mean motion and secular resonances in the region. Our findings make P/2006 VW139 now the second main-belt comet to be dynamically associated with a young asteroid family, a fact with important implications for the origin and activation mechanism of such objects.
We report on our analysis of the VISTA Orion ZYJHKs photometric data (completeness magnitudes Z=22.6 and J=21.0mag) focusing on a circular area of 2798.4 arcmin^2 around the young sigma Orionis star cluster (~3Myr, ~352pc, solar metallicity). The combination of the VISTA photometry with optical, WISE and Spitzer data allows us to identify a total of 210 cluster member candidates with masses in the interval 0.25-0.004Msun, 23 of which are new planetary-mass object findings. These discoveries double the number of cluster planetary-mass candidates known so far. One object has colors compatible with a T spectral type. The cluster harbors about as many brown dwarfs (69, 0.072-0.012Msun) and planetary-mass objects (37, 0.012-0.004Msun) as very low-mass stars (104, 0.25-0.072Msun). Based on Spitzer data, we derive a disk frequency of ~40% for very low-mass stars, brown dwarfs, and planetary mass objects in sigma Orionis. The radial density distributions of these three mass intervals are alike: all are spatially concentrated within an effective radius of 12arcmin (1.2pc) around the multiple star sigma Ori, and no obvious segregation between disk-bearing and diskless objects is observed. Using the VISTA data and the Mayrit catalog, we derive the cluster mass spectrum (DeltaN/DeltaM ~ M^{-alpha}) from ~19 to 0.006Msun (VISTA ZJ completeness), which is reasonably described by two power-law expressions with indices of alpha=1.7+/-0.2 for M>0.35Msun, and alpha=0.6+/-0.2 for M<0.35Msun. The sigma Orionis mass spectrum smoothly extends into the planetary-mass regime down to 0.004Msun. Our findings of T-type sources (<0.004Msun) in the VISTA sigma Orionis exploration appear to be smaller than what is predicted by the extrapolation of the cluster mass spectrum down to the survey J-band completeness.
An ultrarelativistic relativistic study of axisymmetric Bondi--Hoyle accretion onto a moving Kerr black hole is presented. The equations of general relativistic hydrodynamics are solved using high resolution shock capturing methods. In this treatment we consider the ultrarelativistic limit wherein one may neglect the baryon rest mass density. This approximation is valid in the regime where the internal energy of the system dominates over the rest mass energy contribution from the baryons. The parameters of interest in this study are the adiabatic constant $\Gamma$, and the asymptotic speed of the fluid, $v_\infty$. We perform our simulations in three different regimes, subsonic, marginally supersonic, and supersonic, but the primary focus of this study is the parameter regime in which the flow is supersonic, that is when $v_\infty \ge c_{s}^{\infty}$. As expected from previous studies the supersonic regimes reveal interesting dynamics, but even more interesting is the presence of a bow shock in marginally supersonic systems. A range of parameter values were investigated to attempt to capture possible deviations from steady state solutions, none were found. To show the steady state behaviour of each of the flows studied we calculate the energy accretion rates on the Schwarzschild radius. Additionally, we also find that the accretion flows are dependent on the location of the computational boundary, that if the computational boundary is located too close to the black hole the calculated flow profiles are marred with numerical artifacts. This is a problem not found in previous relativistic models for ultrarelativistic hydrodynamic systems.
Gigantic neutrino telescopes are primarily designed to search for very high
energy neutrino radiation from the cosmos. Neutrinos travel unhindered over
cosmological distances and therefore carry unique undistorted information about
its production sites: the most powerful accelerators of hadrons in nature.
In these lectures, we present the relevant physics motivations and their
specifics. We review methodological aspects of neutrino telescopes: the
experimental technique, some of the faced problems and the capabilities in
terms of discovery potential, effective area, isolation of a signal from
atmospheric backgrounds, etc. Instruments and their operation in various media
are described.
We also mention the instrumental birth and provide an outlook of the
detection technique toward very low and ultra-high energies.
Total solar irradiance variations, about 0.1% between solar activity maximum and minimum, are available from accurate satellite measurements since 1978 and thus do not provide useful information on longer-term secular trends. Recently, Krivova et al., 2007 reconstructed, using suitable models, the total solar irradiance from the end of the Maunder minimum to the present, based on variations of the surface distribution of the solar magnetic field. The latter is calculated from the long historical record of the sunspot numbers using a simple but consistent physical model. There are many classes of proposed prediction methods for solar cycles behavior, based on different direct solar activity indices or on various valuable proxies. In particular, the precursor based methods, utilize a given proxy index to predict the future evolution of solar activity. Long-term time series of sunspot numbers, allow us to reliably predict the behavior of the next solar cycle, few years in advance. In previous papers we predicted the full-shape curve of future solar cycles, using a proper non-linear dynamics method applied to monthly smoothed sunspot numbers. In particular, we proved that a sufficiently reliable phase-amplitude prediction of the current solar cycle 24, requires the knowledge of the initial increasing phase of the cycle spanning at least two years. The aim of the present paper is to give a robust long-term prediction of solar cycle activity, many years in advance and for at least three successive solar cycles using the same nonlinear method and, as solar activity proxy index, the reconstructed total solar irrandiance.
Photon-photon interactions mediated by the neutral hydrogen background can transform plane polarization into circular polarization, through completely forward processes, [photon+photon+ atom -> photon+photon+atom], in which only the photon polarizations are changed. Our estimate for the maximum amount of circular polarization that could be present in radiation from a particular hot or cold spot in the sky, and in a limited spectral region that comprises the lowest 1 % of the black-body energy spectrum, is in the region 10^{-10} degrees K, in the conventional measure.
We combine two Gaussianization techniques - Wavelet Non-Linear Wiener Filter (WNLWF) and density reconstruction - to quantify the recovery of Fisher information that is lost in the gravitational collapse. We compute a displacement fields, in analogy with the Zel'dovich approximation, and apply a Wavelet Non-Linear Wiener Filter that decomposes the reconstructed density fields into a Gaussian and a non-Gaussian component. From a series of 200 realizations of N-body simulations, we compute the recovery performance for density fields obtained with both dark matter particles and haloes. We find that the height of the Fisher information trans-linear plateau is increased by more than an order of magnitude at k > 1.0h/Mpc for particles, whereas either technique alone offers an individual recovery boost of only a factor of three to five. We conclude that these two techniques work in a symbiosis, as their combined performance is stronger than the sum of their individual contribution. When applied to the halo catalogues, we find that the reconstruction has only a weak effect on the recovery of Fisher Information, while the non-linear wavelet filter boosts the information by about a factor offive. We also observe that non-Gaussian Poisson noise saturates the Fisher information, and that shot noise subtracted measurements exhibit a milder information recovery.
Spicules are long, thin, highly dynamic features that jut out ubiquitously from the solar limb. They dominate the interface between the chromosphere and corona and may provide significant mass and energy to the corona. We use high-quality observations with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope to establish that so-called type II spicules are characterized by the simultaneous action of three different types of motion: 1. field-aligned flows of order 50-100 km/s, 2. swaying motions of order 15-20 km/s, and 3. torsional motions of order 25-30 km/s. The first two modes have been studied in detail before, but not the torsional motions. Our analysis of many near-limb and off-limb spectra and narrow-band images yields strong evidence that most, if not all, type-II spicules undergo large torsional modulation and that these motions, like spicule swaying, represent Alfvenic waves propagating outward at several hundred km/s. The combined action of the different motions explains the similar morphology of spicule bushes in the outer red and blue wings of chromospheric lines, and needs to be taken into account when interpreting Doppler motions to derive estimates for field-aligned flows in spicules and determining the Alfvenic wave energy in the solar atmosphere. Our results also suggest that large torsional motion is an ingredient in the production of type-II spicules and that spicules play an important role in the transport of helicity through the solar atmosphere.
Studying the acceleration and propagation mechanisms of Galactic cosmic rays
can provide information regarding astrophysical sources, the properties of our
Galaxy, and possible exotic sources such as dark matter. To understand cosmic
ray acceleration and propagation mechanisms, accurate measurements of different
cosmic ray elements over a wide energy range are needed. The PAMELA experiment
is a satellite-borne apparatus which allows different cosmic ray species to be
identified over background. Measurements of the cosmic ray antiproton flux and
the antiproton-to-proton flux ratio from 1.5 GeV to 180 GeV are presented in
this thesis. Compared to previous experiments, PAMELA extends the energy range
of antiproton measurements and provides significantly higher statistics. The
derived antiproton flux and antiproton-to-proton flux ratio are consistent with
previous measurements and generally considered to be produced as secondary
products when cosmic ray protons and helium nuclei interact with the
interstellar medium.
To constrain cosmic ray acceleration and propagation models, the antiproton
data measured by PAMELA were further used together with the proton spectrum
reported by PAMELA, as well as the B/C data provided by other experiments.
Statistical tools were interfaced with the cosmic ray propagation package
GALPROP to perform the constraining analyses. Diffusion models with a linear
diffusion coefficient and modified diffusion models with a low energy
dependence of the diffusion coefficient were studied in the $\chi^{2}$ study.
Uncertainties on the parameters and the goodness of fit of each model were
given. Some models are further studied using the Bayesian inference. Posterior
means and errors of the parameters base on our prior knowledge on them were
obtained in the Bayesian framework. This method also allowed us to understand
the correlation between parameters and compare models.
We present an analysis of the global-integrated mid-infrared emission flux of the Earth based on data derived from satellite measurements. We have studied the photometric annual, seasonal, and rotational variability of the thermal emission of the Earth to determine which properties can be inferred from the point-like signal. We find that the analysis of the time series allows us to determine the 24 hr rotational period of the planet for most observing geometries, due to large warm and cold areas, identified with geographic features, which appear consecutively in the observer's planetary view. However, the effects of global-scale meteorology can effectively mask the rotation for several days at a time. We also find that orbital time series exhibit a seasonal modulation, whose amplitude depends strongly on the latitude of the observer but weakly on its ecliptic longitude. As no systematic difference of brightness temperature is found between the dayside and nightside, the phase variations of the Earth in the infrared range are negligible. Finally, we also conclude that the phase variation of a spatially unresolved Earth-Moon system is dominated by the lunar signal.
It is generally believed that gaseous disks around supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries in centers of galaxies can facilitate binary merger and give rise to observational signatures both in electromagnetic and gravitational wave domains. We explore general properties of circumbinary disks by reformulating standard equations for the viscous disk evolution in terms of the viscous angular momentum flux F_J. In steady state F_J is a linear function of the specific angular momentum, which is a generalization of (but is not equivalent to) the standard constant \dot M disk solution. If the torque produced by the central binary is effective at stopping gas inflow and opening a gap (or cavity) in the disk, then the inner part of the circumbinary disk can be approximated as a constant F_J disk. We compute properties of such disks in different physical regimes relevant for SMBH binaries and use these results to understand the gas-assisted evolution of SMBH pairs starting at separations 10^{-4}-10^{-2} pc. We find the following. (1) Pile-up of matter at the inner edge of the disk leads to continuous growth of the torque acting on the binary and can considerably accelerate its orbital evolution compared to the gravitational wave-driven decay. (2) Torque on the binary is determined non-locally and does not in general reflect the disk properties in the vicinity of the binary. (3) Binary evolution depends on the past history of the disk evolution. (4) Eddington limit can be important in circumbinary disks even if they accrete at sub-Eddington rates at late stages of binary evolution. (5) Circumbinary disk self-consistently evolved under the action of the binary torque emits more power and has spectrum different from the spectrum of constant \dot M disk - it is steeper (\nu F_\nu\propto \nu^{12/7}) and extends to shorter wavelength, facilitating its detection.
Lines in the spectrum of cosmic gamma rays are considered one of the more robust signatures of dark matter annihilation. We consider such processes from an effective field theory vantage, and find that generically, two or more lines are expected, providing an interesting feature that can be exploited for searches and reveal details about the underlying theory of dark matter. Using the 130 GeV feature recently reported in the Fermi-LAT data as an example, we analyze the energy spectrum in the multi-line context and find the data to be consistent with a single $\gamma\gamma$ line, a single $\gamma Z$ line or both a $\gamma \gamma$ and a $\gamma Z$ line.
It is shown that, in supergravity models of inflation where the gauge kinetic function of a gauge field is modulated by the inflaton, we can obtain a new inflationary attractor solution, in which the roll-over of the inflaton suffers additional impedance due to the vector field backreaction. As a result, directions of the scalar potential which, due to strong Kaehler corrections, become too steep and curved to normally support slow-roll inflation can now naturally do so. This solves the infamous eta-problem of inflation in supergravity and also keeps the spectral index of the curvature perturbation mildly red despite eta of order unity. This mechanism is applied to a model of hybrid inflation in supergravity with a generic Kaehler potential. The spectral index of the curvature perturbation is found to be 0.97 - 0.98, in excellent agreement with data. The gauge field can act as vector curvaton generating statistical anisotropy in the curvature perturbation. However, this anisotropy could be possibly observable only if the gauge coupling constant is unnaturally small.
We investigate the gravitational lensing in strong field limit of a Schwarzchild black hole with a solid deficit angle owing to global monopole within the context of the $f(R)$ gravity theory. We show that the deflection angle and the strong field coefficients such as the minimum impact parameter, angular separation and the relative magnification are related not only to the monopole parameter but also to the $f(R)$ correction $\psi_{0}$. It is interesting that the tiny $f(R)$ parameter $\psi_{0}$ will make greater deviation on the angle and coefficients, offering a significant way to explore some possible distinct signatures of the Schwarzschild black hole with an $f(R)$ global monopole.
The Visual Physics Analysis (VISPA) project integrates different aspects of physics analyses into a graphical development environment. It addresses the typical development cycle of (re-)designing, executing and verifying an analysis. The project provides an extendable plug-in mechanism and includes plug-ins for designing the analysis flow, for running the analysis on batch systems, and for browsing the data content. The corresponding plug-ins are based on an object-oriented toolkit for modular data analysis. We introduce the main concepts of the project, describe the technical realization and demonstrate the functionality in example applications.
We find new, simple cosmological solutions with flat, open, and closed spatial geometries, contrary to the previous wisdom that only the open model is allowed. The metric and the St\"{u}ckelberg fields are given explicitly, showing nontrivial configurations of the St\"{u}ckelberg in the usual Friedmann-Lema\^{i}tre-Robertson-Walker coordinates. The solutions exhibit self-acceleration, while being free from ghost instabilities. Our solutions can accommodate inhomogeneous dust collapse represented by the Lema\^{i}tre-Tolman-Bondi metric as well. Thus, our results can be used not only to describe homogeneous and isotropic cosmology but also to study gravitational collapse in massive gravity.
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In the single-degenerate (SD) channel of a Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) explosion, a main-sequence (MS) donor star survives the explosion but it is stripped of mass and shock heated. An essentially unavoidable consequence of mass loss during the explosion is that the companion must have an overextended envelope after the explosion. While this has been noted previously, it has not been strongly emphasized as an inevitable consequence. We calculate the future evolution of the companion by injecting 2-6\times10^47 ergs into the stellar evolution model of a 1M\odot donor star based on the postexplosion progenitors seen in simulations. We find that, due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz collapse of the envelope, the companion must become significantly more luminous (10 - 10^3 L\odot) for a long period of time (10^3 - 10^4 years). The lack of such a luminous "leftover" star in the LMC supernova remnant SNR 0609-67.5 provides another piece of evidence against the SD scenario. We also show that none of the stars proposed as the survivors of the Tycho supernova, including Tycho G, could plausibly be the donor star. Additionally, luminous donors closer than \sim 10 Mpc should be observable with the Hubble Space Telescope starting \sim 2 years post-peak. Such systems include SN 1937C, SN 1972E, SN 1986G, and SN 2011fe. Thus, the SD channel is already ruled out for at least two nearby SNe Ia and can be easily tested for a number of additional ones. We also discuss similar implications for the companions of core-collapse SNe.
The long term time evolution of tidal dwarf satellite galaxies with two different initial densities orbiting a host galaxy that resembles the Milky Way has been studied using a large set of Newtonian N-Body simulations. From the simulations two maps of the orbital conditions that lead to quasi-equilibrium objects were constructed. It has been found that several orbits of the satellites allow for the existence, for about 1 Gyr or more, of out-of-equilibrium bodies with high apparent mass-to-light ratios. Within this framework the satellites in the quasi-stable phase reproduce the observed satellite properties for about 16% of the orbit for high density progenitors, and for about 66% for progenitors with lower densities An additional simulation for a single satellite with initial mass of 10^7 Msun and Plummer radius of 0.15 kpc leads to remnants in the quasi- equilibrium phase that simultaneously reproduce remarkably well the observational quantities of the UFDGs of the Milky Way. This satellite in the quasi-stable phase reproduces the observed satellite properties for about 42% of the orbit. The results suggest that a fraction of the observed satellites could plausibly be galaxies without dark matter that have true M/L ratios much lower than those measured. The inflated M/L ratios arise because they are observed at the right time, along the right orbit and during the quasi-equilibrium phase of their evolution. This is a viable explanation for the high M/L ratios observed in all satellites as long as the satellites are preferentially on certain orbits and are observed at certain times. This could arise within the TDG scenario if all satellites are created at the same time along a few specific orbits that are particularly susceptible to the quasi-equilibrium phase.
The Chandra COSMOS Survey (C-COSMOS) is a large, 1.8 Ms, Chandra program that has imaged the central 0.9 deg^2 of the COSMOS field down to limiting depths of 1.9 10^-16 erg cm^-2 s-1 in the 0.5-2 keV band, 7.3 10^-16 erg cm^-2 s^-1 in the 2-10 keV band, and 5.7 10^-16 erg cm^-2 s-1 in the 0.5-10 keV band. In this paper we report the i, K and 3.6micron identifications of the 1761 X-ray point sources. We use the likelihood ratio technique to derive the association of optical/infrared counterparts for 97% of the X-ray sources. For most of the remaining 3%, the presence of multiple counterparts or the faintness of the possible counterpart prevented a unique association. For only 10 X-ray sources we were not able to associate a counterpart, mostly due to the presence of a very bright field source close by. Only 2 sources are truly empty fields. Making use of the large number of X-ray sources, we update the "classic locus" of AGN and define a new locus containing 90% of the AGN in the survey with full band luminosity >10^42 erg/s. We present the linear fit between the total i band magnitude and the X-ray flux in the soft and hard band, drawn over 2 orders of magnitude in X-ray flux, obtained using the combined C-COSMOS and XMM-COSMOS samples. We focus on the X-ray to optical flux ratio (X/O) and we test its known correlation with redshift and luminosity, and a recently introduced anti-correlation with the concentration index (C). We find a strong anti-correlation (though the dispersion is of the order of 0.5 dex) between C and X/O, computed in the hard band, and that 90% of the obscured AGN in the sample with morphological information live in galaxies with regular morphology (bulgy and disky/spiral), suggesting that secular processes govern a significant fraction of the BH growth at X-ray luminosities of 10^43- 10^44.5 erg/s.
Recently observational lower bounds on the strength of cosmic magnetic fields were reported, based on gamma-ray flux from distant blazars. If inflation is responsible for the generation of such magnetic fields then the inflation energy scale is bounded from above as rho_{inf}^{1/4} < 2.5 times 10^{-7}M_{Pl} times (B_{obs}/10^{-15}G)^{-2} in a wide class of inflationary magnetogenesis models, where B_{obs} is the observed strength of cosmic magnetic fields. The tensor-to-scalar ratio is correspondingly constrained as r< 10^{-19} times (B_{obs}/10^{-15}G)^{-8}. Therefore, if the reported strength B_{obs} \geq 10^{-15}G is confirmed and if any signatures of gravitational waves from inflation are detected in the near future, then our result indicates some tensions between inflationary magnetogenesis and observations.
We investigate the mid- (MIR) to far-infrared (FIR) properties of a nearly complete sample of local Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) detected in the Swift/BAT all sky hard X-ray (14-195 keV) survey, based on the cross correlation with the AKARI infrared survey catalogs complemented by those with IRAS and WISE. Out of 135 non-blazer AGNs in the Swift/BAT 9 month catalog, we obtain the MIR photometric data for 128 sources either in the 9, 12, 18, 22, and/or 25 um band. We find good correlation between their hard X-ray and MIR luminosities over 3 orders of magnitude (42< log lambda L_{lambda}(9, 18 um)< 45), which is tighter than that with the FIR luminosities at 90 um. This suggests that thermal emission from hot dusts irradiated by the AGN emission dominate the MIR fluxes. Both X-ray unabsorbed and absorbed AGNs follow the same correlation, implying isotropic infrared emission, as expected in clumpy dust tori rather than homogeneous ones. We find excess signals around 9 um in the averaged infrared spectral energy distribution from heavy obscured "new type" AGNs with small scattering fractions in the X-ray spectra. This could be attributed to the PAH emission feature, suggesting that their host galaxies have strong starburst activities.
(Abridged) We combine published photometry for the nuclear star clusters
(NSCs) and stellar spheroids of 51 low-mass, early-type galaxies in the Virgo
cluster with empirical mass-to-light ratios, in order to complement previous
studies that explore the dependence of NSC masses (M_{NSC}) on various
properties of their host galaxies. We confirm a roughly linear relationship
between M_{NSC} and luminous host spheroid mass (M_{Sph}), albeit with
considerable scatter (0.57 dex). We estimate velocity dispersions from the
virial theorem, assuming all galaxies in our sample share a common DM fraction
and are dynamically relaxed. We then find that M_{NSC} \sim \sigma^{2.73\pm
0.29}, with a slightly reduced scatter of 0.54 dex.
This confirms recent results that the shape of the M_{CMO} - \sigma relation
is different for NSCs and super-massive black holes (SMBHs). We discuss this
result in the context of the generalized idea of "central massive objects"
(CMOs).
In order to assess which physical parameters drive the observed NSC masses,
we also carry out a joint multi-variate power-law fit to the data. In this, we
allow M_{NSC} to depend on M_{Sph} and R_{Sph} (and hence implicitly on
\sigma), as well as on the size of the globular cluster reservoir. When
considered together, the dependences on M_{Sph} and R_{Sph} are roughly
consistent with the virial theorem, and hence M_{NSC} \propto \sigma^2.
However, the only statistically significant correlation is a linear scaling
between M_{NSC} and M_{Sph}.
We compare M_{NSC} with predictions for two popular models for NSC formation,
namely i) globular cluster infall due to dynamical friction, and ii) in-situ
formation during the early phases of galaxy formation that is regulated via
momentum feedback from stellar winds and/or supernovae. Neither model can
directly predict the observations, and we discuss possible interpretations of
our findings.
[Abridged] In order to understand the climate on terrestrial planets orbiting nearby Sun-like stars, one would like to know their thermal inertia. We use a global climate model to simulate the thermal phase variations of Earth-analogs and test whether these data could distinguish between planets with different heat storage and heat transport characteristics. In particular, we consider a temperate climate with polar ice caps (like modern Earth), and a snowball state where the oceans are globally covered in ice. We first quantitatively study the periodic radiative forcing from, and climatic response to, rotation, obliquity, and eccentricity. The eccentricity responses of the two climates indicate that the temperate planet has 3x the bulk heat capacity of the snowball planet due to the presence of liquid water oceans. The temperate obliquity seasons are weaker than one would expect based on thermal inertia alone; this is due to cross-equatorial oceanic and atmospheric energy transport. Thermal inertia and cross-equatorial heat transport have qualitatively different effects on obliquity seasons, insofar as heat transport tends to reduce seasonal amplitude without inducing a phase lag. For an Earth-like planet, however, this effect is masked by the mixing of signals from low thermal inertia regions (sea ice and bare land) with that from high thermal inertia regions (oceans), which also produces a damped response with small phase lag. We then simulate thermal lightcurves as they would appear to a high-contrast imaging mission (TPF-I/Darwin).
Most of the baryons from galaxies have been "missing" and several studies have attempted to map the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of galaxies in their quest. Recent studies with the Hubble Space Telescope have shown that many galaxies contain a large reservoir of ionized gas with temperatures of about 10^5 K. Here we report on X-ray observations made with the Chandra X-ray Observatory probing an even hotter phase of the CGM of our Milky Way at about 10^6 K. We show that this phase of the CGM is massive, extending over a large region around the Milky Way, with a radius of over 100 kpc. The mass content of this phase is over ten billion solar masses, many times more than that in cooler gas phases and comparable to the total baryonic mass in the disk of the Galaxy. The missing mass of the Galaxy appears to be in this warm-hot gas phase.
We revisit a core prediction of the disc instability model (DIM) applied to X-ray binaries. The model predicts the existence of a critical mass transfer rate, which depends on disc size, separating transient and persistent systems. We therefore selected a sample of 52 persistent and transient neutron star and black hole X-ray binaries and verified if observed persistent (transient) systems do lie in the appropriate stable (unstable) region of parameter space predicted by the model. We find that, despite the significant uncertainties inherent to this kind of studies, the data are in very good agreement with the theoretical expectations. We then discuss some individual cases that do not clearly fit into this main conclusion. Finally, we introduce the transientness parameter as a measure of the activity of a source and showed a clear trend of the average outburst recurrence time to decrease with transientness in agreement with the DIM predictions. We therefore conclude that, despite difficulties in reproducing the complex details of the lightcurves, the DIM succeeds to explain the global behaviour of X-ray binaries averaged over a long enough period of time.
By carrying out two-dimensional two-fluid global simulations, we have studied the response of dust to gap formation by a single planet in the gaseous component of a protoplanetary disk - the so-called "dust filtration" mechanism. We have found that a gap opened by a giant planet at 20 AU in a \alpha=0.01, \dot{M}=10^{-8} Msun/yr disk can effectively stop dust particles larger than 0.1 mm drifting inwards, leaving a sub-millimeter dust cavity/hole. However, smaller particles are difficult to filter by a planet-induced gap due to 1) dust diffusion, and 2) a high gas accretion velocity at the gap edge. An analytic model is also derived to understand what size particles can be filtered by the gap edge. Finally, with our updated understanding of dust filtration, we have computed Monte-Carlo radiative transfer models with variable dust size distributions to generate the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of disks with gaps. By comparing with transitional disk observations (e.g. GM Aur), we have found that dust filtration alone has difficulties to deplete small particles sufficiently to explain the near-IR deficit of transitional disks, except under some extreme circumstances. The scenario of gap opening by multiple planets studied previously suffers the same difficulty. One possible solution is by invoking both dust filtration and dust growth in the inner disk. In this scenario, a planet induced gap filters large dust particles in the disk, and the remaining small dust particles passing to the inner disk can grow efficiently without replenishment from fragmentation of large grains. Predictions for ALMA have also been made based on all these scenarios. We conclude that dust filtration with planet(s) in the disk is a promising mechanism to explain submm observations of transitional disks but it may need to be combined with other processes (e.g. dust growth) to explain the near-IR deficit.
We present chemical abundance measurements for 47 damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs), 30 at z>4, observed with the Echellette Spectrograph and Imager and the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer on the Keck telescopes. HI column densities of the DLAs are measured with Voigt profile fits to the Lyman-alpha profiles, and we find an increased number of false DLA identifications with SDSS at z>4 due to the increased density of the Lyman-alpha forest. Ionic column densities are determined using the apparent optical depth method, and we combine our new metallicity measurements with 195 from previous surveys to determine the evolution of the cosmic metallicity of neutral gas. We find the metallicity of DLAs decreases with increasing redshift, improving the significance of the trend and extending it to higher redshifts, with a linear fit of -0.22+-0.03 dex per unit redshift from z=0.09-5.06. The metallicity 'floor' of ~1/600 solar continues out to z~5, despite our sensitivity for finding DLAs with much lower metallicities. However, this floor is not statistically different from a steep tail to the distribution. We also find that the intrinsic scatter of metallicity among DLAs of ~0.5 dex continues out to z~5. In addition, the metallicity distribution and the alpha/Fe ratios of z>2 DLAs are consistent with being drawn from the same parent population with those of halo stars. It is therefore possible that the halo stars in the Milky Way formed out of gas that commonly exhibits DLA absorption at z>2.
We present the analysis of the full bi-dimensional optical spectral cube of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 5668, observed with the PPAK IFU at the Calar Alto observatory 3.5m telescope. We make use of broad-band imaging to provide further constraints on the evolutionary history of the galaxy. This dataset will allow us to improve our understanding of the mechanisms that drive the evolution of disks. We investigated the properties of 62 H II regions and concentric rings in NGC 5668 and derived maps in ionized-gas attenuation and chemical (oxygen) abundances. We find that, while inwards of r\,$\sim\,36",\sim$\,4.4kpc\,$\sim$\,0.36\,$(\frac {D_{25}}{2})$ the derived O/H ratio follows the radial gradient typical of spiral galaxies, the abundance gradient beyond r$\sim36"$ flattens out. The analysis of the multi-wavelength surface brightness profiles of NGC 5668 is performed by fitting these profiles with those predicted by chemo-spectrophotometric evolutionary models of galaxy disks. From this, we infer a spin and circular velocity of $\lambda$=0.053 and v$_{c}$=167\,km\,s$^{-1}$, respectively. The metallicity gradient and rotation curve predicted by this best-fitting galaxy model nicely match the values derived from the IFU observations, especially within r\,$\sim36\arcsec$. The same is true for the colors despite of some small offsets and a reddening in the bluest colors beyond that radius. On the other hand, deviations of some of these properties in the outer disk indicate that a secondary mechanism, possibly gas transfer induced by the presence of a young bar, must have played a role in shaping the recent chemical and star formation histories of NGC 5668.
HD 15082 (WASP-33) is the hottest and fastest rotating star known to harbor a transiting extrasolar planet (WASP-33b). The lack of high precision radial velocity (RV) data tresses the need for precise light curve analysis and gathering further RV data. By using available photometric and RV data, we perform a blend analysis, compute more accurate system parameters, confine the planetary mass and attempt to cast light on the observed transit anomalies. We combine the original HATNet observations and various followup data to jointly analyze the signal content and extract the transit component and use our RV data to aid the global parameter determination. The blend analysis of the combination of multicolor light curves yields the first independent confirmation of the planetary nature of WASP-33b. We clearly identify three frequency components in the 15-21 $d^{-1}$ regime with amplitudes 7-5 mmag. These frequencies correspond to the $\delta$ Scuti-type pulsation of the host star. None of these pulsation frequencies or their low-order linear combinations are in close resonance with the orbital frequency. We show that these pulsation components explain some but not all of the observed transit anomalies. The grand-averaged transit light curve shows that there is a $\sim 2$ mmag brightening shortly after the planet passes the mid-transit phase. We suggest that the most likely explanation of this feature is the presence of a well-populated spot belt which is highly inclined to the orbital plane. This geometry is consistent with the inference from the spectroscopic anomalies. Finally, we constrain the planetary mass to $M_{\rm p}=3.18\pm0.82$ $M_{\rm J}$ by using our RV data collected by the TRES spectrograph.
The Telescope Array (TA) collaboration has measured the energy spectrum of ultra-high energy cosmic rays for energies above 1.6x10^(18) eV in its first three years of operation. The spectrum shows a dip at an energy of 5x10^(18) eV and a steepening at 5x10^(19) eV which is consistent with the expectation from the GZK cutoff. Here we use a new technique that involves generating a complete simulation of the TA surface detector. The procedure starts with shower simulations using the CORSIKA Monte Carlo program where we have solved the problems caused by use of the "thinning" approximation. This simulation method allows us to make an accurate calculation of the acceptance of the detector for the energies concerned.
We present a Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) imaging study that characterizes the star cluster component of nearby galaxy outer disks (beyond the optical radius R_25). Expanding on the pilot project of Herbert-Fort et al. (2009), we present deep (~ 27.5 mag V-band point-source limiting magnitude) U- and V-band imaging of six galaxies: IC 4182, NGC 3351, NGC 4736, NGC 4826, NGC 5474, and NGC 6503. We find that the outer disk of each galaxy is populated with marginally-resolved star clusters with masses ~10^3 M_sun and ages up to ~ 1 Gyr (masses and ages are limited by the depth of our imaging and uncertainties are large given how photometry can be strongly affected by the presence or absence of a few stars in such low mass systems), and that they are typically found out to at least 2 R_25 but sometimes as far as 3 to 4 R_25- even beyond the apparent HI disk. The mean rate of cluster formation for 1 R_25<= R <= 1.5R_25 is at least one every ~2.5 Myr and the clusters are spatially correlated with the HI, most strongly with higher density gas near the periphery of the optical disk and with lower density neutral gas at the HI disk periphery. We hypothesize that the clusters near the edge of the optical disk are formed in the extension of spiral structure from the inner disk and are a fairly consistent phenomenon and that the clusters formed at the periphery of the HI disk are the result of accretion episodes.
We present near-infrared spectroscopy of the z=3.2 quasar SDSS J1707+6443, obtained with MOIRCS on the Subaru Telescope. This quasar is classified as a "nitrogen-loud" quasar because of the fairly strong NIII] and NIV] semi-forbidden emission lines from the broad-line region (BLR) observed in its rest-frame UV spectrum. However, our rest-frame optical spectrum from MOIRCS shows strong [OIII] emission from the narrow-line region (NLR) suggesting that, at variance with the BLR, NLR gas is not metal-rich. In order to reconcile these contradictory results, there may be two alternative possibilities; (1) the strong nitrogen lines from the BLR are simply due to a very high relative abundance of nitrogen rather than to a very high BLR metallicity, or (2) the BLR metallicity is not representative of the metallicity of the host galaxy, better traced by the NLR. In either case, the strong broad nitrogen lines in the UV spectrum are not indication of a chemically enriched host galaxy. We estimated the black hole mass and Eddington ratio of this quasar from the velocity width of both CIV and H_beta, that results in log(M_BH/M_sun) = 9.50 and log(L_bol/L_Edd) = -0.34. The relatively high Eddington ratio is consistent with our earlier result that strong nitrogen emission from BLRs is associated with high Eddington ratios. Finally, we detected significant [NeIII] emission from the NLR, implying a quite high gas density of n~10^6 cm^-3 and suggesting a strong coupling between quasar activity and dense interstellar clouds in the host galaxy.
The unusually short durations, high luminosities, and high photon energies of the Crab Nebula gamma-ray flares require relativistic bulk motion of the emitting plasma. We explain the Crab flares as the result of randomly oriented relativistic "minijets" originating from reconnection events in a magnetically dominated plasma. We develop a statistical model of the emission from Doppler boosted reconnection minijets and find analytical expressions for the moments of the resulting nebula light curve (e.g. time average, variance, skewness). The light curve has a flat power spectrum that transitions at short timescales to a decreasing power-law of index 2. The flux distribution from minijets follows a decreasing power-law of index ~ 1, implying the average flux from flares is dominated by bright rare events. The predictions for the flares' statistics can be tested against forthcoming observations. We find the observed flare spectral energy distributions (SEDs) have several notable features: A hard power-law index of p ~< 1 for accelerated particles that is expected in various reconnection models, including some evidence of a pile-up near the radiation reaction limit. Also, the photon energy at which the SED peaks is higher than that implied by the synchrotron radiation reaction limit, indicating the flare emission regions' Doppler factors are ~> few. We conclude that magnetic reconnection can be an important, if not dominant, mechanism of particle acceleration within the nebula.
(abridged) Gamma-ray pulsars constitute a class of high and very high-energy emitters for which the known population is steadily increasing thanks to the Fermi/Large Area Telescope. In this paper, their gamma-ray luminosity and spectral features are explained in the framework of synchrotron radiation from particles located in the stripe of the pulsar wind. Apart from radiative losses, particles are also subject to a constant re-acceleration and reheating for instance by a magnetic reconnection induced electric field. The high-energy luminosity scales as $L_\gamma \approx 2\times10^{26} \textrm{W} \, (L_{\rm sd}/10^{28} \textrm{W})^{1/2} \, (P/1 \textrm{s})^{-1/2}$ where $L_{\rm sd}$ is the pulsar spindown luminosity and $P$ its period. From this relation, we derive important parameters of pulsar magnetosphere and wind theories. Indeed, we find bulk Lorentz factor of the wind scaling as $\Gamma_{\rm v} \approx 10 \, \tau_{\rm rec}^{1/5} \, (L_{\rm sd}/10^{28} \textrm{W})^{1/2}$, pair multiplicity $\kappa$ related to the magnetization parameter $\sigma$ by $\kappa\,\sigma \, \tau_{\rm rec}^{1/5} \approx 10^8$, and efficiency $\eta$ of spin-down luminosity conversion into particle kinetic energy according to the relation $\eta\,\sigma\approx1$. A good guess for the associated reconnection rate is then $\tau_{\rm rec} \approx 0.5 \, (L_{\rm sd}/10^{28} \textrm{W})^{-5/12}$. Finally, pulses in gamma-rays are visible only if $L_{\rm sd}/P\gtrsim 10^{27} \textrm{W/s}$. This model differs from other high-energy emission mechanisms because it makes allowance not only for rotational kinetic energy release but also for an additional reservoir of energy anchored to the magnetic field of the stripe and released for instance by some magnetic reconnection processes.
We investigated the distribution of resolved asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars over a much larger area than covered by previous near-infrared studies in the nearby dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 205. Using data obtained with the WIRCam near-infrared imager of the CFHT, we selected the AGB stars in the JHKs color-magnitude diagrams, and separated the C stars from M-giant stars in the JHKs color-color diagram. We identified 1,550 C stars in NGC 205 with a mean absolute magnitude of M_Ks = -7.49 \pm 0.54, and colors of (J - Ks) = 1.81 \pm 0.41 and (H - Ks) = 0.76 \pm 0.24. The ratio of C stars to M-giant stars was estimated to be 0.15 \pm 0.01 in NGC 205, and the local C/M ratios for the southern region are somewhat lower than those for the northern region. The (J - Ks) color distributions of AGB stars contain the main peak of the M-giant stars and the red tail of the C stars. A comparison of the theoretical isochrone models with the observed color distribution indicates that most of the bright M-giant stars in NGC 205 were formed at log(t_yr) \sim 9.0-9.7. The logarithmic slope of the M_Ks luminosity function for M-giant stars was estimated to be 0.84 \pm 0.01, which is comparable with dwarf elliptical galaxies NGC 147 and NGC 185. Furthermore, we found that the logarithmic slopes of the M_Ks luminosity function for C and M-giant stars are different to places, implying a different star formation history within NGC 205. The bolometric luminosity function for M-giant stars extends to M_bol = -6.0 mag, and that for C stars spans -5.6 < M_bol < -3.0. The bolometric luminosity function of C stars is unlikely to be a Gaussian distribution and the mean bolometric magnitude of C stars is estimated to be M_bol = -4.24 \pm 0.55, which is consistent with our results for dwarf elliptical galaxies NGC 147 and NGC 185.
The bipolarity of Supernova 1987A can be understood through its very early light curve observed from the CTIO 0.4-m telescope and IUE FES, and following speckle observations of the `Mystery Spot' by two groups. These indicate a highly directional beam/jet of light/particles, with initial collimation factors in excess of 10,000 and velocities in excess of 0.95 c, as an impulsive event of up to 1e-5 solar masses interacting with circumstellar material, and can be understood through pulsar emission from polarization currents induced/(modulated faster than c) beyond the pulsar light cylinder by the periodic electromagnetic field, (supraluminally induced polarization currents -- SLIP). SLIP accounts for the disruption of progenitors in supernova explosions and their anomalous dimming at cosmological distances, jets from Sco X-1 and SS 433, the lack/presence of intermittent pulsations from the high/low luminosity low mass X-ray binaries, long/short gamma-ray bursts and predicts that their afterglows are the pulsed optical/near infrared emission associated with these pulsars. SLIP may account for the TeV e+/e- results from PAMELA and ATIC, the WMAP `Haze'/Fermi `Bubbles', and the r-process. SLIP jets from SNe of the first stars may allow galaxies to form without dark matter, and explain the peculiar, non-gravitational motions observed from pairs of distant galaxies by GALEX.
Radiative transfer modeling of spectral lines including partial
redistribution (PRD) effects requires the evaluation of the ratio of the
emission to the absorption profile. This quantity requires a large amount of
computational work if one employs the angle-dependent redistribution function,
which prohibits its use in 3D radiative transfer computations with model
atmospheres containing velocity fields. We aim to provide a method to compute
the emission to absorption profile ratio that requires less computational work
but retains the effect of angle-dependent scattering in the resulting line
profiles.
We present a method to compute the profile ratio that employs the
angle-averaged redistribution function and wavelength transforms to and from
the rest frame of the scattering particles. We compare the emergent line
profiles of the \MgII\,k and \Lyalpha\ lines computed with angle-dependent PRD,
angle-averaged PRD and our new method in two representative test atmospheres.
The new method yields a good approximation of true angle-dependent profile
ratio and the resulting emergent line profiles while keeping the computational
speed and simplicity of angle-averaged PRD theory.
We have performed a careful investigation of the 74 candidate variable stars presented by Safanova & Stalin (2011). For this purpose we used our data base of imaging and light curves from Arellano Ferro et al. (2011) and Arellano Ferro et al. (2012). We find that two candidates are known variable stars, eight candidates were discovered first by Arellano Ferro et al. (2011) but would not have been known to Safanova & Stalin (2011) at the time of their paper submission, while four candidates are new variables. Three of the new variables are SX Phe type and one is a semi-regular red giant variable (SR type). We also tentatively confirm the presence of true variability in two other candidates and we are unable to investigate another four candidates because they are not in our data base. However, we find that the remaining 54 candidate variable stars are spurious detections where systematic trends in the light curves have been mistaken for true variability. We believe that the erroneous detections are caused by the adoption of a very low detection threshold used to identify these candidates.
Type-II solar spicules appear as long, thin, highly dynamic strands of field-tied matter that feed significant mass and energy to the corona and solar wind. A recent result is that they exhibit torsional Alfv\'en waves in addition to accelerating outflows and swaying motions due to transverse Alfv\'enic waves. I summarize this finding and then re-interpret older observations in its light: the striking similarity of near-limb scenes in the outer blue and red wings of H\alpha, and the tilts of absorption lines with respect to emission lines in eclipse spectra taken in 1973.
Baryonic physical processes could leave non-negligible imprint on cosmic matter distribution pattern. Series of high precision simulation data sets with identical initial condition are employed for count-in-cell (CIC) analysis, including one N-body dark matter run, one with adiabatic gas only and one with dissipative processes. Variances and higher order correlation functions of dark matter and gas are estimated. It is found that baryon physical processes mainly affected dark matter distribution at scales less than $1h^{-1}$Mpc. In comparison with the pure dark matter run, adiabatic process alone strengthens variance of dark matter by \sim 10% at scale $0.1h^{-1}$Mpc, while $S_n$s of dark matter deviate from pure dark matter case only mildly at a few percentages. Dissipative gas run does not differ much to the adiabatic run in dark matter variance, but renders significantly different $S_n$ parameters of dark matter, bringing about more than 10% enhancement to $S_3$ at $0.1h^{-1}$Mpc and $z=0$. Distribution patterns of gas in two hydrodynamical simulations are prominently different. Variance of gas at $z=0$ decreases by $\sim 30%$ in adiabatic simulation while by $\sim 60%$ in non-adiabatic simulation at $0.1h^{-1}$Mpc, the attenuation is weaker at larger scales but still obvious at $\sim 10h^{-1}$Mpc. $S_n$ parameters of gas are biased upward at scales $< \sim 4h^{-1}$Mpc, dissipative processes give $\sim 84%$ promotion at $z=0$ to $S_3$ at $0.1h^{-1}$Mpc against the moderate $\sim 7%$ in adiabatic simulation. The clustering segregation we observed between gas and dark matter could have intricate implication on modeling galaxy distribution and relevant cosmological application demanding fine details of matter distribution in strongly nonlinear regime.
Redshifts of a supernova (SN) and gamma-ray burst (GRB) samples are compared with the pixel temperatures of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) seven-years data near the pixels locations corresponding to the SN and GRB sky coordinates. We have found a statistically significant correlation of the SNe redshifts with the WMAP data, the average temperature deviation being +29.9 +-4.4 microK for the redshifts z ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 and +8.6 +-1.3 microK for z within the range (0.0,0.4). The latter value accords with the theoretical estimates for the distortion of the cosmic microwave background due to the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, whereas the larger anomaly for higher redshifts should be studied in more detail in the future.
Radiative transfer plays a major role in the process of star formation. Many simulations of gravitational collapse of a cold gas cloud followed by the formation of a protostellar core use a grey treatment of radiative transfer coupled to the hydrodynamics. However, dust opacities which dominate extinction show large variations as a function of frequency. In this paper, we used frequency-dependent radiative transfer to investigate the influence of the opacity variations on the properties of Larson's first core. We used a multigroup M1 moment model in a 1D radiation hydrodynamics code to simulate the spherically symmetric collapse of a 1 solar mass cloud core. Monochromatic dust opacities for five different temperature ranges were used to compute Planck and Rosseland means inside each frequency group. The results are very consistent with previous studies and only small differences were observed between the grey and multigroup simulations. For a same central density, the multigroup simulations tend to produce first cores with a slightly higher radius and central temperature. We also performed simulations of the collapse of a 10 and 0.1 solar mass cloud, which showed the properties of the first core to be independent of the initial cloud mass, with again no major differences between grey and multigroup models. For Larson's first collapse, where temperatures remain below 2000 K, the vast majority of the radiation energy lies in the IR regime and the system is optically thick. In this regime, the grey approximation does a good job reproducing the correct opacities, as long as there are no large opacity variations on scales much smaller than the width of the Planck function. The multigroup method is however expected to yield more important differences in the later stages of the collapse when high energy (UV and X-ray) radiation is present and matter and radiation are strongly decoupled.
The global scale invariance along with the unimodular gravity in the vacuum is studied in this paper. The global scale invariant gravitational action which follows the unimodular general coordinate transformations is considered without invoking any scalar field. The possible solutions for the gravitational potential under linear field approximation for the allowed values of the introduced parameters of the theory are discussed. The modified solution has additional corrections along with the Schwarzschild solution. A comparative study of unimodular theory with conformal theory is also presented. Furthermore, the cosmological solution is studied and it is shown that the unimodular constraint preserve the de Sitter solution.
The paper contains the review of the first high resolution spectral observations of Moon surface fragment during the total lunar eclipse of December, 10, 2011, conducted with the fiber-fed echelle spectrograph at 1.2-m telescope at Kourovka Astronomical observatory (Ural mountains, central Russia). The observed radiation is transferred by tangent trajectory through the southern polar stratosphere before the reflection from the Moon, and spectra contain a number of atmospheric gases absorption bands (O2, O3, O4, NO2, H2O). High resolution analysis of three O2 bands and O4 absorption effects are used to retrieve the effective trajectory of solar emission through the stratosphere and to detect the contribution of scattered light. Other gases bands allow to measure their abundances along this trajectory.
We calculate the intensity and photon spectrum of the intergalactic background light (IBL) as a function of redshift using an approach based on observational data obtained at in different wavelength bands from local to deep galaxy surveys. Our empirically based approach allows us, for the first time, to obtain a completely model independent determination of the IBL and to quantify its uncertainties. Using our results on the IBL, we then place 68% confidence upper and lower limits on the opacity of the universe to gamma-rays, independent of previous constraints that were obtained by making theoretical assumptions. We then compare our results with measurements of the extragalactic background light and upper limits obtained from observations made by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
Published data from long-term observations of a strip of sky at declination +5 degrees carried out at 7.6 cm on the RATAN-600 radio telescope are used to estimate some statistical properties of radio sources. Limits on the sensitivity of the survey due to noise imposed by background sources, which dominates the radiometer sensitivity, are refined. The vast majority of noise due to background sources is associated with known radio sources (for example, from the NVSS with a detection threshold of 2.3 mJy) with normal steep spectra ({\alpha} = 0.7-0.8, S \propto {\nu}^{- \alpha}), which have also been detected in new deep surveys at decimeter wavelengths. When all such objects are removed from the observational data, this leaves another noise component that is observed to be roughly identical in independent groups of observations. We suggest this represents a new population of radio sources that are not present in known catalogs at the 0.6 mJy level at 7.6 cm. The studied redshift dependence of the number of steep-spectrum objects shows that the sensitivity of our survey is sufficient to detect powerful FRII radio sources at any redshift, right to the epoch of formation of the first galaxies. The inferred new population is most likely associated with low-luminosity objects at redshifts z < 1. In spite of the appearance of new means of carrying out direct studies of distant galaxies, searches for objects with very high redshifts among steep and ultra-steep spectrum radio sources remains an effective method for studying the early Universe.
We used the wide-field IFU spectrograph PMAS/PPAK at the 3.5m telescope of Calar Alto Observatory to observe six nearby spiral galaxies that hosted SNe Ia. Spatially resolved 2-dimensional maps of the properties of the ionized gas and the stellar populations were derived. Five of the observed galaxies have ongoing star formation rate of 1-5 M_sun/yr and mean stellar population ages ~5 Gyr. The sixth galaxy shows no star formation and has only ~12 Gyr old stellar population. All galaxies have stellar masses larger than 2E+10 M_sun and metallicities above solar. Four galaxies show negative radial metallicity gradients of the ionized gas up to -0.058 dex/kpc and one has nearly uniform metallicity with a possible small positive slope. The stellar components show shallower negative metallicity gradients up to -0.03 dex/kpc. We find no clear correlation between the properties of the galaxy and those of the supernovae, a fact that can be due to the small ranges spanned by the galaxy parameters. However we note that the Hubble residuals are on average positive while negative Hubble residuals are expected for SNe Ia in massive hosts such as the galaxies in our sample. In conclusion, IFU spectroscopy on 4-m telescopes is a viable technique to study host galaxies of nearby SNe Ia. It allows to correlate the supernova properties with the properties of their host galaxies at the projected positions of the supernovae. Our current sample of six galaxies is too small to draw conclusions about the SN Ia progenitors or correlations with the galaxy properties, but the ongoing CALIFA IFU survey will provide a solid basis to further exploit this technique and improve our understanding of SNe Ia as cosmological standard candles.
We describe the instrumentation and detection software and characterize the detection efficiency of a fully automated, all-sky, southern-hemisphere search for Kuiper Belt objects brighter than R mag 21.4. The search relies on Yale University's 160-Megapixel QUEST camera, previously used for successful surveys at Palomar that detected the distant dwarf planets, and now installed on the ESO 1.0-m Schmidt telescope at La Silla, Chile. Extensive upgrades were made to the telescope control system to support automation, and significant improvements were made to the camera. To date, 63 new KBOs have been discovered, including a new member of the Haumea collision family (2009 YE7) and a new distant object with inclination exceeding 70 deg (2010 WG9). In a survey covering ~7500 deg2, we have thus far detected 77 KBOs and Centaurs, more than any other full-hemisphere search to date. Using a pattern of dithered pointings, we demonstrate a search efficiency exceeding 80%. We are currently on track to complete the southern-sky survey and detect any bright KBOs that have eluded detection from the north.
We extend previous analyses of wide-angle correlations in the galaxy power spectrum in redshift space to include the general relativistic effects. These general relativistic corrections to the standard approach become important on large scales and at high redshifts - and they lead to new terms in the wide-angle correlations. We show these can lead to corrections of nearly 10% over the usual Newtonian approximation.
We focus on the ongoing and future observations for both the 21 cm line and the CMB B-mode polarization produced by a CMB lensing, and study their sensitivities to the effective number of neutrino species, the total neutrino mass, and the neutrino mass hierarchy. We find that combining the CMB observations with future square kilometer arrays optimized for 21 cm line such as Omniscope can determine the neutrino mass hierarchy at a 95% C.L. We also show that the combination of Planck+ \textsc{Polarbear} and SKA can strongly improves the bounds of the total neutrino mass and the effective number of neutrino species to be $\Delta\Sigma m_{\nu} \sim 0.15$ eV and $\Delta N_{\nu}\sim 0.35$ at 95% C.L, respectively.
The Green Bank Telescope has been used to search for 21cm HI emission over a large area between the galaxies M31 and M33 in an attempt to confirm at 9.1 arcmin angular resolution the detection by Braun and Thilker (2004) of a very extensive neutral gas "bridge" between the two systems at the level NHI approximately 10^{17} cm^{-2}. We detect HI emission at several locations up to 120 kpc in projected distance from M31, at least half the distance to M33, with velocities similar to that of the galaxies, confirming the essence of the Braun and Thilker discovery. The HI does not appear to be associated with the extraplanar high-velocity clouds of either galaxy. In two places we measure NHI > 3 x 10^{18} cm^{-2}, indicative of concentrations of HI with ~10^5 solar masses on scales <2 kpc, but over most of the field we have only 5sigma upper limits of NHI <= 1.4 x 10^{18} cm^{-2}. In very deep measurements in two directions HI lines were detected at a few 10^{17} cm^{-2}. The absence of emission at another location to a 5sigma limit NHI <= 1.5 x 10^{17} cm^{-2} suggests that the HI bridge is either patchy or confined to within ~125 kpc of M31. The measurements also cover two of M31's dwarf galaxies, And II and And XV, but in neither case is there evidence for associated HI at the 5sigma level of 1.4 x 10^4 solar masses of HI for And II, and 9.3 x 10^3 solar masses for And XV.
We study the variation of the broad-band spectral energy distribution (SED) of the BL Lac object Mrk 501 as a function of source activity, from quiescent to flaring. Through chi-square-minimization we model eight simultaneous SED datasets with a one-zone Synchrotron-Self-Compton (SSC) model, and examine how model parameters vary with source activity. The emerging variability pattern of Mrk 501 is complex, with the Compton component arising from gamma-electron scatterings that sometimes are (mostly) Thomson and sometimes (mostly) extreme Klein-Nishina. This can be seen from the variation of the Compton to synchrotron peak distance according to source state. The underlying electron spectra are faint/soft in quiescent states and bright/hard in flaring states. A comparison with Mrk 421 suggests that the typical values of the SSC parameters are different in the two sources: however, in both jets the energy density is particle dominated in all states.
The formation of stars above about twenty solar masses and their apparently high multiplicity remain heavily debated subjects in astrophysics. We have performed a vast high-resolution radial velocity spectroscopic survey of about 250 O- and 540 B-type stars in the southern Milky Way which indicates that the majority of stars (> 82%) with masses above 16 solar masses form close binary systems while this fraction rapidly drops to 20% for stars of 3 solar masses. The binary fractions of O- type stars among different environment classes are: clusters (72 \pm 13%), associations (73 \pm 8%), field (43 \pm 13%), and runaways (69 \pm 11%). The high frequency of close pairs with components of similar mass argues in favour of a multiplicity originating from the formation process rather than from a tidal capture in a dense cluster. The high binary frequency of runaway O stars that we found in our survey (69% compared to 19-26% in previous surveys) points to the importance of ejection from young star clusters and thus supports the competitive accretion scenario.
Nowadays it is well-established that in the centre of the Milky Way a massive black hole (MBH) with a mass of about four million solar masses is lurking. While there is an emerging consensus about the origin and growth of supermassive black holes (with masses larger than a billion solar masses), MBHs with smaller masses such as the one in our galactic centre remain an understudied enigma. The key to understanding these holes, how some of them grow by orders of magnitude in mass is to understand the dynamics of the stars in the galactic neighborhood. Stars and the central MBH chiefly interact through the gradual inspiral of the stars into the MBH due to the emission of gravitational radiation. Also stars produce gases which will be subsequently accreted by the MBH by collisions and disruptions brought about by the strong central tidal field. Such processes can contribute significantly to the mass of the MBH and progress in understanding them requires theoretical work in preparation for future gravitational radiation millihertz missions and X-ray observatories. In particular, a unique probe of these regions is the gravitational radiation that is emitted by some compact stars very close to the black holes and which will could be surveyed by a millihertz gravitational wave interferometer scrutinizing the range of masses fundamental to the understanding of the origin and growth of supermassive black holes. By extracting the information carried by the gravitational radiation, we can determine the mass and spin of the central MBH with unprecedented precision and we can determine how the holes "eat" stars that happen to be near them.
We present a measurement of the spectral index of density fluctuations between ion and electron scales in solar wind turbulence using the EFI instrument on the ARTEMIS spacecraft. The mean spectral index at 1 AU was found to be -2.75 +/- 0.06, steeper than predictions for pure whistler or kinetic Alfven wave turbulence, but consistent with previous magnetic field measurements. The steep spectra are also consistent with expectations of increased intermittency or damping of some of the turbulent energy over this range of scales. Neither the spectral index nor the flattening of the density spectra before ion scales were found to depend on the proximity to the pressure anisotropy instability thresholds, suggesting that they are features inherent to the turbulent cascade.
The fundamental quasinormal resonances of charged Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes due to charged scalar perturbations are derived {\it analytically}. In the WKB regime, $qQ\gg\hbar$, we obtain a simple expression for the fundamental quasinormal resonances: $\omega=qQ/r_+-i2\pi T_{\text{BH}}(n+{1 \over 2})$, where $T_{\text{BH}}$ and $Q$ are the temperature and electric charge of the black hole and $q$ is the electric charge of the field. Remarkably, our results show that the relaxation dynamics of a perturbed Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole may saturate the recently proposed universal relaxation bound.
ASTROD-GW (ASTROD [Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity using Optical Devices] optimized for Gravitation Wave detection) is an optimization of ASTROD to focus on the goal of detection of gravitation waves. The detection sensitivity is shifted 52 times toward larger wavelength compared to that of LISA. The mission orbits of the 3 spacecraft forming a nearly equilateral triangular array are chosen to be near the Sun-Earth Lagrange points L3, L4 and L5. The 3 spacecraft range interferometrically with one another with arm length about 260 million kilometers. In order to attain the requisite sensitivity for ASTROD-GW, laser frequency noise must be suppressed below the secondary noises such as the optical path noise, acceleration noise etc. For suppressing laser frequency noise, we need to use time delay interferometry (TDI) to match the two different optical paths (times of travel). Since planets and other solar-system bodies perturb the orbits of ASTROD-GW spacecraft and affect the (TDI), we simulate the time delay numerically using CGC 2.7 ephemeris framework. To conform to the ASTROD-GW planning, we work out a set of 20-year optimized mission orbits of ASTROD-GW spacecraft starting at June 21, 2028, and calculate the residual optical path differences in the first and second generation TDI for one-detector case. In our optimized mission orbits for 20 years, changes of arm length are less than 0.0003 AU; the relative Doppler velocities are less than 3m/s. All the second generation TDI for one-detector case satisfies the ASTROD-GW requirement.
We perform a global analysis of neutrino oscillation data, including high-precision measurements of the neutrino mixing angle theta_13 at reactor experiments, which have confirmed previous indications in favor of theta_13>0. We focus on the correlations between theta_13 and the mixing angle theta_23, as well as between theta_13 and the neutrino CP-violation phase delta. We find interesting indications for theta_23< pi/4 and possible hints for delta ~ pi, with no significant difference between normal and inverted mass hierarchy.
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We study the interaction of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) binary and a standard radiatively efficient thin accretion disk. We examine steady-state configurations of the disk and migrating SMBH system, self-consistently accounting for tidal and viscous torques and heating, radiative diffusion limited cooling, gas and radiation pressure, and the decay of the binary's orbit. We obtain a "phase diagram" of the system as a function of binary parameters, showing regimes in which both the disk structure and migration have a different character. Although massive binaries can create a central gap in the disk at large radii, the tidal barrier of the secondary causes a significant pile-up of gas outside of its orbit, which can lead to the closing of the gap. We find that this spillover occurs at an orbital separation as large as ~200 M_7^{-1/2} gravitational radii, where M = 10^7 M_7 Msun is the total binary mass. If the secondary is less massive th