We propose a new method for black hole spin measurement. In this method, we consider a gas blob or ring falling onto a black hole from the marginally stable orbit, keeping its initial orbital angular momentum. We calculate the gas motion and photon trajectories in the Kerr space-time and, assuming that the gas blob or ring emits monochromatic radiation, carefully examine how it is observed by a distant observer. The light curve of the orbiting gas blob is composed of many peaks because of periodic enhancement of the flux due to the gravitational lensing and beaming effects. Further, the intensity of each peak first gradually increases with time due to the focusing effect around the photon circular orbit and then rapidly decreases due to the gravitational redshift, as the gas blob approaches the event horizon. The light curve of the gas ring is equivalent to a superposition of those of the blobs with various initial orbital phases, and so it is continuous and with no peaks. The flux first gradually increases and then rapidly decays, as in the blob model. The flux variation timescale depends on the black hole spin and is independent from the inclination angle, while time averaged frequency shift have dependences of both effects. We can thus, in principle, determine spin and inclination angle from observations. The observational implications and future issues are briefly discussed.
To move one step forward toward a Galactic distribution of planets, we present the first planet sensitivity analysis for microlensing events with simultaneous observations from space and the ground. We present this analysis for two such events, OGLE-2014-BLG-0939 and OGLE-2014-BLG-0124, which both show substantial planet sensitivity even though neither of them reached high magnification. This suggests that an ensemble of low to moderate magnification events can also yield significant planet sensitivity and therefore probability to detect planets. The implications of our results to the ongoing and future space-based microlensing experiments to measure the Galactic distribution of planets are discussed.
Astrophysical observations spanning dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters indicate that dark matter (DM) halos are less dense in their central regions compared to expectations from collisionless DM N-body simulations. Using detailed fits to DM halos of galaxies and clusters, we show that self-interacting DM (SIDM) may provide a consistent solution to the DM deficit problem across all scales, even though individual systems exhibit a wide diversity in halo properties. Since the characteristic velocity of DM particles varies across these systems, we are able to measure the self-interaction cross section as a function of kinetic energy and thereby deduce the SIDM particle physics model parameters. Our results prefer a mildly velocity-dependent cross section, from $\sigma/m \simeq 2\; {\rm cm^2/g}$ on galaxy scales to $\sigma/m \simeq 0.1\; {\rm cm^2/g}$ on cluster scales, consistent with the upper limits from merging clusters. Our results dramatically improve the constraints on SIDM models and may allow the masses of both DM and dark mediator particles to be measured even if the dark sector is completely hidden from the Standard Model, which we illustrate for the dark photon model.
We report the detection and mapping of atomic hydrogen in HI 21cm emission from ESO 184-G82, the host galaxy of the gamma ray burst 980425. This is the first instance where HI in emission has been detected from a galaxy hosting a gamma ray burst. ESO 184-G82 is an isolated galaxy and contains a Wolf-Rayet region close to the location of the gamma ray burst and the associated supernova, SN 1998bw. This is one of the most luminous HII regions identified in the local Universe, with a very high inferred density of star formation. The HI 21cm observations reveal a high HI mass for the galaxy, twice as large as the stellar mass. The spatial and velocity distribution of the HI 21cm emission reveals a disturbed rotating gas disk, which suggests that the galaxy has undergone a recent minor merger that disrupted its rotation. We find that the Wolf-Rayet region and the gamma ray burst are both located in the highest HI column density region of the galaxy. We speculate that the merger event has resulted in shock compression of the gas, triggering extreme star formation activity, and resulting in the formation of both the Wolf-Rayet region and the gamma ray burst. The high HI column density environment of the GRB is consistent with the high HI column densities seen in absorption in the host galaxies of high redshift gamma ray bursts.
In the 50 years since the advent of X-ray astronomy there have been many scientific advances due to the development of new experimental techniques for detecting and characterising X-rays. Observations of X-ray polarisation have, however, not undergone a similar development. This is a shortcoming since a plethora of open questions related to the nature of X-ray sources could be resolved through measurements of the linear polarisation of emitted X-rays. The PoGOLite Pathfinder is a balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimeter operating in the 25 - 240 keV energy band from a stabilised observation platform. Polarisation is determined using coincident energy deposits in a segmented array of plastic scintillators surrounded by a BGO anticoincidence system and a polyethylene neutron shield. The PoGOLite Pathfinder was launched from the SSC Esrange Space Centre in July 2013. A near-circumpolar flight was achieved with a duration of approximately two weeks. The flight performance of the Pathfinder design is discussed for the three Crab observations conducted. The signal-to-background ratio for the observations is shown to be 0.25$\pm$0.03 and the Minimum Detectable Polarisation (99% C.L.) is (28.4$\pm$2.2)%. A strategy for the continuation of the PoGOLite programme is outlined based on experience gained during the 2013 maiden flight.
We use Hectospec mounted on the 6.5-meter MMT to carry out a redshift survey of red ($r-i>0.2$, $g-r>0.8$, $r<21.3$) galaxies in the COSMOS field to measure the environments of massive compact galaxies at intermediate redshift. The complete magnitude limited survey includes redshifts for 1766 galaxies with $r < 20.8$ covering the central square degree of the field; 65% of the redshifts in this sample are new. We select a complete magnitude limited quiescent sample based on the rest-frame $UVJ$ colors. When the density distribution is sampled on a scale of 2 Mpc massive compact galaxies inhabit systematically denser regions than the parent quiescent galaxy population. Non-compact quiescent galaxies with the same stellar masses as their compact counterparts populate a similar distribution of environments. Thus the massive nature of quiescent compacts accounts for the environment dependence and appears fundamental to their history.
After the death of a runaway massive star, its supernova shock wave interacts with the bow shocks produced by its defunct progenitor, and may lose energy, momentum, and its spherical symmetry before expanding into the local interstellar medium (ISM). We investigate whether the initial mass and space velocity of these progenitors can be associated with asymmetric supernova remnants. We run hydrodynamical models of supernovae exploding in the pre-shaped medium of moving Galactic core-collapse progenitors. We find that bow shocks that accumulate more than about 1.5 Mo generate asymmetric remnants. The shock wave first collides with these bow shocks 160-750 yr after the supernova, and the collision lasts until 830-4900 yr. The shock wave is then located 1.35-5 pc from the center of the explosion, and it expands freely into the ISM, whereas in the opposite direction it is channelled into the region of undisturbed wind material. This applies to an initially 20 Mo progenitor moving with velocity 20 km/s and to our initially 40 Mo progenitor. These remnants generate mixing of ISM gas, stellar wind and supernova ejecta that is particularly important upstream from the center of the explosion. Their lightcurves are dominated by emission from optically-thin cooling and by X-ray emission of the shocked ISM gas. We find that these remnants are likely to be observed in the [OIII] lambda 5007 spectral line emission or in the soft energy-band of X-rays. Finally, we discuss our results in the context of observed Galactic supernova remnants such as 3C391 and the Cygnus Loop.
We describe an extensive suite of numerical calculations for the collisional evolution of irregular satellite swarms around 1--300 M-earth planets orbiting at 120 AU in the Fomalhaut system. For 10--100 M-earth planets, swarms with initial masses of roughly 1% of the planet mass have cross-sectional areas comparable to the observed cross-sectional area of Fomalhaut b. Among 30--300 M-earth planets, our calculations yield optically thick swarms of satellites for ages of 1-10 Myr. Observations with HST and ground-based AO instruments can constrain the frequency of these systems around stars in the beta Pic moving group and possibly other nearby associations of young stars.
We analyse RXTE/PCA X-ray spectra of the binary X-ray pulsar Her X-1/HZ Her during short high state and one binary orbit in the preceding low state, just before short high turn-on. The spectrum is well described by two continuum components (absorbed and unabsorbed). The resulting spectral parameters are modulated with orbital phase. During low state a significant component of the flux, and its spectrum, is consistent with X-ray reflection off the face of the companion star HZ Her. This component has a significantly harder X-ray spectrum than the rest of the flux from the Her X-1 system. A second component in low state is consistent with emission from the accretion disk corona. During short high a third strong component is present with a softer spectrum, which is associated with the neutron star and accretion disk. Due to this direct emission from the neutron star and accretion disk, the reflected emission is less clear, however parameters and fluxes modulations during short high state indicate its presence. In low state, the hard X-ray flux ($h \nu$ $>$ $10 keV$) peaks at orbital phase $\phi_{orb}\simeq$ 0.55, which is expected from a simple model of atmospheric reflection from the companion star. The offset indicates an asymmetry in the X-ray illumination of the companion, which could be due to shadowing of the the inner face of HZ Her by the accretion disk and/or stream.
The Planck design and scanning strategy provide many levels of redundancy that can be exploited to provide tests of internal consistency. One of the most important is the comparison of the 70GHz and 100GHz channels. Based on different instrument technologies, with feeds located differently in the focal plane, analysed independently by different teams using different software, and near the minimum of diffuse foreground emission, these channels are in effect two different experiments. The 143GHz channel has the lowest noise level on Planck, and is near the minimum of unresolved foreground emission. In this paper, we analyse the level of consistency achieved in the 2013 Planck data. We concentrate on comparisons between the 70/100/143GHz channel maps and power spectra, particularly over the angular scales of the first and second acoustic peaks, on maps masked for diffuse Galactic emission and for strong unresolved sources. Difference maps covering angular scales from 8deg-15arcmin are consistent with noise, and show no evidence of cosmic microwave background structure. Including small but important corrections for unresolved-source residuals, we demonstrate agreement between 70 and 100GHz power spectra averaged over 70<l<390 at the 0.8% level, and agreement between 143 and 100GHz power spectra of 0.4% over the same l range. These values are within and consistent with the overall uncertainties in calibration given in the Planck 2013 results. We also present results based on the 2013 likelihood analysis showing consistency at the 0.35% between the 100/143/217GHz power spectra. We analyse calibration procedures and beams to determine what fraction of these differences can be accounted for by known approximations or systematic errors that could be controlled even better in the future, reducing uncertainties still further. Several possible small improvements are described...(abridged)
A new method of investigating ultra-high energy cosmic ray sources is suggested. The method is based on analysis of gamma-ray emission that is generated in extragalactic space when ultra-high energy cosmic particles interact with cosmic background. We have found that intensity of the gamma-ray emission depends on characteristics of cosmic ray sources, specifically on their remoteness and initial particle energy spectra. In the Earth atmosphere cosmic rays initiate air showers, therefore selecting quanta-initiated showers (and excluding those from the galactic plane, gamma-ray sources, etc.) we can obtain above mentioned source characteristics. We derive that the number of quanta-initiated showers is 0 or ~3x1000 depending on source parameters, typical statistics of showers registered at 10^14 eV being of ~10^8. The difference is large enough to use this method for studying ultra-high energy cosmic ray sources.
The sizes of interstellar grains are widely distributed, ranging from a few angstroms to a few micrometers. The ultraviolet (UV) and optical extinction constrains the dust in the size range of a couple hundredth micrometers to several submicrometers. The near and mid infrared (IR) emission constrains the nanometer-sized grains and angstrom-sized very large molecules. However, the quantity and size distribution of micrometer-sized grains remain unknown as they are gray in the UV/optical extinction and they are too cold and emit too little in the IR to be detected by IRAS, Spitzer, or Herschel. In this work, we employ the ~3-8 micron mid-IR extinction which is flat in both diffuse and dense regions to constrain the quantity, size, and composition of the micron-sized grain component. We find that, together with nano- and submicron-sized silicate and graphite (as well as PAHs), micron-sized graphite grains with C/H=137 ppm and a mean size of ~1.2 micron closely fit the observed interstellar extinction of the Galactic diffuse interstellar medium from the far-UV to the mid-IR as well as the near-IR to millimeter thermal emission obtained by COBE/DIRBE, COBE/FIRAS, and Planck up to lambda < 1000 micron. The micron-sized graphite component accounts for ~14.6% of the total dust mass and ~2.5% of the total IR emission.
The interstellar medium (ISM) seems to have a significant surplus of oxygen which was dubbed as the "O crisis": independent of the adopted interstellar reference abundance, the total number of O atoms depleted from the gas phase far exceeds that tied up in solids by as much as ~160ppm of O/H. Recently, it has been hypothesized that the missing O could be hidden in micrometer-sized H2O ice grains. We examine this hypothesis by comparing the infrared (IR) extinction and far-IR emission arising from these grains with that observed in the Galactic diffuse ISM. We find that it is possible for the diffuse ISM to accommodate ~160ppm of O/H in micron-sized H2O ice grains without violating the observational constraints including the absence of the 3.1micron O-H absorption feature. More specifically, H2O ice grains of radii ~4micron and O/H = 160 ppm are capable of accounting for the observed flat extinction at ~ 3-8 micron and produce no excessive emission in the far-IR. These grains could be present in the diffuse ISM through rapid exchange of material between dense molecular clouds where they form and diffuse clouds where they are destroyed by photosputtering.
Recent Hubble Space Telescope images have allowed the determination with
unprecedented accuracy of motions and changes of shocks within the inner Orion
Nebula. These originate from collimated outflows from very young stars, some
within the ionized portion of the nebula and others within the host molecular
cloud. We have doubled the number of Herbig-Haro objects known within the inner
Orion Nebula. We find that the best-known Herbig-Haro shocks originate from a
relatively few stars, with the optically visible X-ray source COUP 666 driving
many of them.
While some isolated shocks are driven by single collimated outflows, many
groups of shocks are the result of a single stellar source having jets oriented
in multiple directions at similar times. This explains the feature that shocks
aligned in opposite directions in the plane of the sky are usually blue shifted
because the redshifted outflows pass into the optically thick Photon Dominated
Region behind the nebula. There are two regions from which optical outflows
originate for which there are no candidate sources in the SIMBAD data base.
Strongly lensed variable quasars can serve as precise cosmological probes, provided that time delays between the image fluxes can be accurately measured. A number of methods have been proposed to address this problem. In this paper, we explore in detail a new approach based on kernel regression estimates, which is able to estimate a single time delay given several datasets for the same quasar. We develop realistic artificial data sets in order to carry out controlled experiments to test of performance of this new approach. We also test our method on real data from strongly lensed quasar Q0957+561 and compare our estimates against existing results.
Following the early paper of Goldreich & Julian (1969), polar-cap models have usually assumed that the closed sector of a pulsar magnetosphere corotates with the neutron star. Recent work by Melrose & Yuen has been a reminder that in an oblique rotator, the induction field arising from the time-varying magnetic flux density cannot be completely screened. The principal consequence is that the plasma does not corotate with the star. Here it is shown that the physics of the polar cap is not changed at the altitudes of the radio emission source. But the presence of a plasma drift velocity in the corotating frame of reference does provide a mechanism whereby the net charge of the star can be maintained within a stable band of values. It also shows directly how electron injection and acceleration occur in the outer gap of the magnetosphere. It is consistent with radio-loud pulsars in the Fermi LAT catalogue of gamma-emitters all having positive polar-cap charge density.
Weakly interacting massive dark matter (DM) particles are expected to self-annihilate or decay, generating high-energy photons in these processes. This establishes the possibility for indirect detection of DM by \gamma-ray telescopes. For probing the secondary products of DM, accurate knowledge about the DM density distribution in potential astrophysical targets is crucial. In this contribution, the prospects for the detection of subhalos in the Galactic DM halo with present and future imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACT) are investigated. The source count distribution and angular power spectra for \gamma-rays originating from annihilating DM in subhalos are calculated from N-body simulation results. To study the systematic uncertainties coming from the modeling of the DM density distribution, parameters describing the \gamma-ray yield from subhalos are varied in 16 benchmark models. We conclude that Galactic subhalos of annihilating DM are probably too faint to be a promising target for IACT observations, even with the prospective Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA).
As of 2023, the Square Kilometre Array will constitute the world's largest radio telescope, offering unprecedented capabilities for a diverse science programme in radio astronomy. At the same time, the SKA will be ideally suited to detect extensive air showers initiated by cosmic rays in the Earth's atmosphere via their radio emission. With its very dense and uniform antenna spacing in a fiducial area of one km$^2$ and its large bandwidth of 50-350 MHz, the low-frequency part of the SKA will provide very precise measurements of individual cosmic ray air showers. These precision measurements will allow detailed studies of the mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy region of transition from a Galactic to an extragalactic origin. Also, the SKA will facilitate three-dimensional "tomography" of the electromagnetic cascades of air showers, allowing the study of particle interactions at energies beyond the reach of the LHC. Finally, studies of possible connections between air showers and lightning initiation can be taken to a new level with the SKA. We discuss the science potential of air shower detection with the SKA and report on the technical requirements and project status.
The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory records the air showers produced by cosmic rays and gamma rays at a rate of about 20 kHz. While the events observed by HAWC are 99.9% hadronic cosmic rays, this background can be strongly suppressed using topological cuts that preferentially select electromagnetic air showers. Using this capability of HAWC, we can create a sample of air showers dominated by gamma rays and cosmic electrons and positrons. HAWC is one of the few operating observatories capable of measuring showers produced by electron and positron primaries above 1 TeV, and can record these showers from two-thirds of the sky each day. We describe the sensitivity of HAWC to leptonic cosmic rays, and discuss prospects for the measurement of the combined $e^+e^-$ flux and possible approaches for positron and electron charge separation with the HAWC detector.
One of the main aims of the LOPES experiment was the evaluation of the absolute amplitude of the radio signal of air showers. This is of special interest since the radio technique offers the possibility for an independent and highly precise determination of the energy scale of cosmic rays on the basis of signal predictions from Monte Carlo simulations. For the calibration of the amplitude measured by LOPES we used an external source. Previous comparisons of LOPES measurements and simulations of the radio signal amplitude predicted by CoREAS revealed a discrepancy of the order of a factor of two. A re-measurement of the reference calibration source, now performed for the free field, was recently performed by the manufacturer. The updated calibration values lead to a lowering of the reconstructed electric field measured by LOPES by a factor of $2.6 \pm 0.2$ and therefore to a significantly better agreement with CoREAS simulations. We discuss the updated calibration and its impact on the LOPES analysis results.
The Kepler survey has provided a wealth of astrophysical knowledge by continuously monitoring over 150,000 stars. The resulting database contains thousands of examples of known variability types and at least as many that cannot be classified yet. In order to reveal the knowledge hidden in the database, we introduce a new visualisation method that allows us to inspect time series exploratively. To that end, we propose dimensionality reduction on the parameters of a model capable of representing time series as fixed-length vector representation. We show that a more refined objective function can be chosen by minimising the prediction error of the data reconstruction instead of the reconstruction of the model parameters. The proposed visualisation exhibits a strong correlation between the variability behaviour of the light curves and their physical properties. As a consequence, temperature and surface gravity can, for some stars, be directly inferred from non- (or quasi-) periodic light curves.
A dozen most luminous galaxies at distances up to 10 Mpc from the Local Group
are moving away from the group forming the local expansion flow of giants. We
use recent Hubble Space Telescope data on the local giants and their numerous
fainter companions to study the dynamical structure and evolutionary trends of
the flow. It is demonstrated that the dynamics of the flow is dominated by
local dark energy.
Keywords: Galaxies, groups and clusters of galaxies; local flows of galaxies;
dark energy.
The solar photospheric oxygen abundance is still widely debated. Adopting the solar chemical composition based on the "low" oxygen abundance, as determined with the use of three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamical model atmospheres, results in a well-known mismatch between theoretical solar models and helioseismic measurements that is so far unresolved. We carry out an independent redetermination of the solar oxygen abundance by investigating the center-to-limb variation of the OI IR triplet lines at 777 nm in different sets of spectra with the help of detailed synthetic line profiles based on 3D hydrodynamical CO5BOLD model atmospheres and 3D non-LTE line formation calculations with NLTETD. The idea is to simultaneously derive the oxygen abundance,A(O), and the scaling factor SH that describes the cross-sections for inelastic collisions with neutral hydrogen relative the classical Drawin formula. The best fit of the center-to-limb variation of the triplet lines achieved with the CO5BOLD 3D solar model is clearly of superior quality compared to the line profile fits obtained with standard 1D model atmospheres. Our best estimate of the 3D non-LTE solar oxygen abundance is A(O) = 8.76 +/- 0.02, with the scaling factor SH in the range between 1.2 and 1.8. All 1D non-LTE models give much lower oxygen abundances, by up to -0.15 dex. This is mainly a consequence of the assumption of a $\mu$-independent microturbulence.
We present spectral classifications from optical spectroscopy of 263 massive stars in the north-eastern region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The observed two-degree field includes the massive 30 Doradus star-forming region, the environs of SN1987A, and a number of star-forming complexes to the south of 30 Dor. These are the first classifications for the majority (203) of the stars and include eleven double-lined spectroscopic binaries. The sample also includes the first examples of early OC-type spectra (AAOmega 30 Dor 248 and 280), distinguished by the weakness of their nitrogen spectra and by C IV 4658 emission. We propose that these stars have relatively unprocessed CNO abundances compared to morphologically normal O-type stars, indicative of an earlier evolutionary phase. From analysis of observations obtained on two consecutive nights, we present radial-velocity estimates for 233 stars, finding one apparent single-lined binary and nine (>3sigma) outliers compared to the systemic velocity; the latter objects could be runaway stars or large-amplitude binary systems and further spectroscopy is required to investigate their nature.
Geminga is a radio-quiet pulsar ~250 parsecs from Earth that was first discovered as a GeV gamma-ray source and then identified as a pulsar. Milagro observed an extended TeV source spatially consistent with Geminga. HAWC observes a similarly extended source. Observations of Geminga's flux and extension will be presented.
I propose a model of dipole modulation in Cosmic Background Microwave Radiation (CMBR) polarization fields Q and U. It is shown that the modulation leads to correlations between l and l multipoles where either l = l or l = l \pm 1, but the contribution for the case l = l cancels out after summing over m. We perform a detailed mathematical analysis of the E and B mode correlations and obtain the final result in a closed form.
Central compact objects are thought to be young thermally emitting isolated neutron stars that were born during the preceding core-collapse supernova explosion. Here we present the first evidence that at least in one case the neutron star must have formed within a binary system. The former stellar companion, surrounded by a dust shell with an estimated mass of $\sim0.4-1.5M_\odot$ , is going through the final stages of its own evolution as a post-asymptotic giant branch star. We argue that accretion of matter supplied by the companion soon after the supernova explosion is likely responsible for dampening of the magnetic field of the central compact object to its presently low value.
Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) are black holes that may have been created in the early Universe and could be as large as supermassive black holes or as small as the Planck scale. It is believed that a black hole has a temperature inversely proportional to its mass and will thermally emit all species of fundamental particles. PBHs with initial masses of 5.0 x 10^14 g should be expiring today with bursts of high-energy gamma radiation in the GeV/TeV energy range. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is sensitive to the high end of the PBH gamma-ray burst spectrum. Due to its large field of view, duty cycle above 90% and sensitivity up to 100 TeV, the HAWC observatory is well suited to perform a search for PBH bursts. We report that if the PBH explodes within 0.25 light years from Earth and within 26 degrees of zenith, HAWC will have a 95% probability of detecting the PBH burst at the 5 sigma level. Conversely, a null detection from a 2 year or longer HAWC search will set PBH upper limits which are significantly better than the upper limits set by any previous PBH search.
We show that recent observations of He I and N II lines of Eta Carinae support an orbital orientation where the secondary star is closest to us at periastron passages. This conclusion is valid both for the commonly assumed masses of the two stars, and for the higher stellar masses model where the very massive evolved primary star mass is $M_1=170 M_\odot$ and its hot secondary star mass is $M_2 = 80 M_\odot$. The later model better explains the change in the orbital period assuming that the ninetieth century Great Eruption was powered by accretion onto the secondary star. Adopting the commonly used high eccentricity $e \simeq 0.9$ and inclination $i=41^\circ$, we obtain a good fit to newly released Doppler shift observations of He I emission and absorption lines assuming they are emitted and absorbed in the acceleration zone of the secondary stellar wind. Our conclusion that the secondary star is in the foreground at periastron reverses an opposite view presented recently in the literature.
The extragalactic background light (EBL) is all the electromagnetic energy released by resolved and unresolved extragalactic sources since the recombination era. Its intensity and spectral shape provide information about the evolution of galaxies throughout cosmic history. Since direct observations of the EBL are very difficult to perform, the study of the interaction between the low energy EBL photons and high energy photons from distant extragalactic sources becomes relevant to constrain the EBL intensity. The main goal of this study is to investigate the opacity of the EBL to gamma rays by observing a sample of active galaxies nuclei (AGN) with the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-Ray Observatory. Current gamma-ray observations up to 20 TeV performed by Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) have constrained the EBL intensity in the 0.1-50 $\mu$m region. HAWC, which monitors the gamma-ray sky in the 100 GeV to 100 TeV energy range, will be able to detect about 10 AGN with the first year of HAWC data based on the extrapolation of steady-state spectra from the GeV band to TeV, and thus constrain the EBL in the poorly-measured 1-100 $\mu$m range.
We present a high resolution study of the impact of realistic satellite galaxies, extracted from cosmological simulations of Milky Way haloes including 6 Aquarius suites and Via Lactea \rom{2}, on the dynamics of the galactic disc. The initial conditions for the multi-component Milky Way galaxy were generated using the GalIC code, to ensure a system in real equilibrium state prior to addition of satellites. The candidate subhaloes that came closer than 25 kpc to the centre of the host DM haloes, with initial mass $M_\textrm{tid}$ $\ge$ 10$^{8}$=0.003 $M_\textrm{tid}$/$M_\textrm{disc}$, were identified, inserted into our high resolution N-body simulations and evolved for 2 Gyrs. We quantified the vertical heating due to such impacts by measuring the disc thickness, root-mean-square of $z$-coordinate, and vertical velocity dispersion $\sigma_{z}^{2}$ across the disc. According to our analysis the strength of the heating is strongly dependent on the high mass end of the subhalo distribution from the cosmological simulations. The mean increase of the vertical dispersion is $\sim$ 25 km$^{2}$s$^{-2}$Gyr$^{-1}$ for R $>$ 4 kpc while, if we exclude Aq-F-2 results, the mean heating is $<$ 12 km$^{2}$s$^{-2}$Gyr$^{-1}$. The observed vertical heating rate in the solar neighbourhood has a value of 67 km$^{2}$s$^{-2}$Gyr$^{-1}$; taking into account the 1$\sigma$ statistical dispersion around the mean we lie just below the observed value of 144 km$^{2}$s$^{-2}$ after 2 Gyrs. We observed a general flaring of the disc height in the case of all 7 simulations in the outer disc where the thickness was increased by $\sim$ 40% at 15 kpc. The 1$\sigma$ cosmic variance corresponds to doubling the disc thickness in the outer region.
The Milky Way contains hundreds of binary systems which are known to emit in radio and X-rays, but only a handful of binaries have been observed to produce very high-energy gamma rays. In addition, the emission mechanisms which produce the gamma rays in the few known sources are not well understood. To improve the statistics of binary sources in the TeV band, the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-ray Observatory, or HAWC, has begun to carry out a simultaneous survey of TeV binary candidates in the Northern Hemisphere between 100 GeV and 100 TeV. HAWC is a surface array that records air showers from cosmic rays and gamma rays with a high uptime and wide field of view, making it well-suited to observe time-dependent emission from objects such as TeV binaries. We describe the sensitivity of HAWC to periodic emission from Galactic sources of gamma rays and present data from the first year of observations with the partially constructed observatory.
In this work we continue a line of inquiry begun in Kanner et al. which detailed a strategy for utilizing telescopes with narrow fields of view, such as the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT), to localize gravity wave (GW) triggers from LIGO/Virgo. If one considers the brightest galaxies that produce ~50% of the light, then the number of galaxies inside typical GW error boxes will be several tens. We have found that this result applies both in the early years of Advanced LIGO when the range is small and the error boxes large, and in the later years when the error boxes will be small and the range large. This strategy has the beneficial property of reducing the number of telescope pointings by a factor 10 to 100 compared with tiling the entire error box. Additional galaxy count reduction will come from a GW rapid distance estimate which will restrict the radial slice in search volume. Combining the bright galaxy strategy with a convolution based on anticipated GW localizations, we find that the searches can be restricted to about 18+/-5 galaxies for 2015, about 23+/-4 for 2017, and about 11+/-2 for 2020. This assumes a distance localization at or near the putative NS-NS merger range for each target year, and these totals are integrated out to the range. Integrating out to the horizon would roughly double the totals. For nearer localizations the totals would decrease. The galaxy strategy we present in this work will enable numerous sensitive optical and X-ray telescopes with small fields of view to participate meaningfully in searches wherein the prospects for rapidly fading afterglow place a premium on a fast response time.
We report the discovery of the closest collisional ring galaxy to the Milky
Way. Such rare systems occur due to "bulls-eye" encounters between two
reasonably matched galaxies. The recessional velocity of about 840 km/s is low
enough that it was detected in the AAO/UKST Survey for Galactic H$\alpha$
emission. The distance is only 10.0 Mpc and the main galaxy shows a full ring
of star forming knots, 6.1 kpc in diameter surrounding a quiescent disk. The
smaller assumed "bullet" galaxy also shows vigorous star formation. The
spectacular nature of the object had been overlooked because of its location in
the Galactic plane and proximity to a bright star and even though it is the
60$^{\rm th}$ brightest galaxy in the HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) HI
survey.
The overall system has a physical size of $\sim$15 kpc, a total mass of
$M_\ast = 6.6\times 10^9$ M$_\odot$ (stars + HI), a metallicity of
[O/H]$\sim-0.4$, and a star formation rate of 0.2-0.5 M$_\odot$\,yr$^{-1}$,
making it a Magellanic-type system. Collisional ring galaxies therefore extend
to much lower galaxy masses than commonly assumed. We derive a space density
for such systems of $7 \times 10^{-5}\,\rm Mpc^{-3}$, an order of magnitude
higher than previously estimated. This suggests Kathryn's Wheel is the nearest
such system. We present discovery images, CTIO 4-m telescope narrow-band
follow-up images and spectroscopy for selected emission components. Given its
proximity and modest extinction along the line of sight, this spectacular
system provides an ideal target for future high spatial resolution studies of
such systems and for direct detection of its stellar populations.
We report the discovery of eight new ultra-faint dwarf galaxy candidates in the second year of optical imaging data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Six of these candidates are detected at high confidence, while two additional lower-confidence candidates are identified in regions of incomplete or non-uniform survey coverage. The new stellar systems are found using three independent automated search techniques, and are identified as statistically significant overdensities of individually resolved stars consistent with the isochrone and luminosity function of an old and metal-poor simple stellar population. The new systems are faint (Mv > -4.7 mag) and span a broad range of physical sizes (17 pc < $r_{1/2}$ < 181 pc) and heliocentric distances (25 kpc < D < 214 kpc). All of the new systems have central surface brightnesses (\mu > 27.5 mag arcsec$^2$) consistent with known ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. Roughly half of the DES candidates are more distant, less luminous, and/or have lower surface brightnesses than previously known Milky Way satellite galaxies, and would have had a low probability of detection if observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. A large fraction of satellite candidates are found in the southern half of the DES footprint in proximity to the Magellanic Clouds. We find that the DES data alone exclude (p < 0.001) a spatially isotropic distribution of Milky Way satellites, and that this distribution can be well, although not uniquely, explained by a model in which several of the observed DES satellites are associated with the Magellanic system. Including the current sample, our model predicts that ~100 ultra-faint galaxies with physical properties comparable to the DES satellites might exist over the full sky and that 20-30% of these would be spatially associated with the Magellanic Clouds.
The dynamical coupling between the solar chromospheric plasma and magnetic field is investigated by numerically solving a fully self-consistent, two-dimensional initial-value problem for the nonlinear collisional MHD equations including electric resistivity, thermal conduction, and, in some cases, gas-dynamic viscosity. The processes in the contact zone between two horizontal magnetic fields of opposite polarities are considered. The plasma is assumed to be initially motionless and having a temperature of 50,000 K uniform throughout the plasma volume; the characteristic magnetic field corresponds to a plasma $\beta\gtrsim 1$. In a physical-time interval of 17~seconds typically covered by a computational run, the plasma temperature gradually increases by a factor of two to three. Against this background, an impulsive (in 0.1 seconds or less) increase in the current-aligned plasma velocity occurs at the site of the current-layer thinning (sausage-type deformation, or $m=0$ pinch instability). Such a "velocity burst" can be interpreted physically as an event of suprathemal-proton generation. Further development of the sausage instability results in an increase in the kinetic temperature of the protons to high values, even to those observed in flares. The form of our system of MHD equations indicates that such increases are a property of the exact solution of the system at an appropriate choice of the parameters. Magnetic reconnection does not manifest itself in this solution: it would generate flows forbidden by the chosen geometry. Therefore, the pinch-sausage effect can act as an energiser of the upper chromosphere and be an alternative to the magnetic-reconnection process as the producer of flares.
The relationship between a decaying strong turbulence and kinetic instabilities in a slowly expanding plasma is investigated using two-dimensional (2-D) hybrid expanding box simulations. We impose an initial ambient magnetic field perpendicular to the simulation box, and we start with a spectrum of large-scale, linearly-polarized, random-phase Alfv\'enic fluctuations which have energy equipartition between kinetic and magnetic fluctuations and vanishing correlation between the two fields. A turbulent cascade rapidly develops, magnetic field fluctuations exhibit a Kolmogorov-like power-law spectrum at large scales and a steeper spectrum at ion scales. The turbulent cascade leads to an overall anisotropic proton heating, protons are heated in the perpendicular direction, and, initially, also in the parallel direction. The imposed expansion leads to generation of a large parallel proton temperature anisotropy which is at later stages partly reduced by turbulence. The turbulent heating is not sufficient to overcome the expansion-driven perpendicular cooling and the system eventually drives the oblique firehose instability in a form of localized nonlinear wave packets which efficiently reduce the parallel temperature anisotropy. This work demonstrates that kinetic instabilities may coexist with strong plasma turbulence even in a constrained 2-D regime.
It has been recently pointed out by Mithani-Vilenkin that certain emergent universe scenarios which are classically stable are nevertheless unstable semiclassically to collapse. Here, we show that there is a class of emergent universes derived from scale invariant two measures theories with spontaneous symmetry breaking (s.s.b) of the scale invariance, which can have both classical stability and do not suffer the instability pointed out by Mithani-Vilenkin towards collapse. We find that this stability is due to the presence of a symmetry in the "emergent phase", which together with the non linearities of the theory, does not allow that the FLRW scale factor to be smaller that a certain minimum value $a_0$ in a certain protected region.
Thermal inflation is an attractive idea to dilute cosmic density of unwanted particles such as moduli fields which cause cosmological difficulties. However, it also dilutes preexisting baryon asymmetry and some viable baryogenesis is necessary for a cosmologically consistent scenario. We investigate whether the Affleck-Dine mechanism can produce baryon asymmetry enough to survive after the dilution in gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models. Flat directions except for $LH_u$ flat direction cannot provide such huge baryon number because of Q-ball formation. We show that although the $LH_u$ flat direction is special in terms of having $\mu$-term which prevents Q-ball formation, it cannot explain the observed baryon asymmetry either.
In this paper, we develop a lattice Boltzmann model for relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Even though the model is derived for resistive MHD, it is shown that it is numerically robust even in the high conductivity (ideal MHD) limit. In order to validate the numerical method, test simulations are carried out for both ideal and resistive limits, namely the propagation of Alfv\'en waves in the ideal MHD and the evolution of current sheets in the resistive regime, where very good agreement is observed comparing to the analytical results. Additionally, two-dimensional magnetic reconnection driven by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is studied and the effects of different parameters on the reconnection rate are investigated. It is shown that the density ratio has negligible effect on the magnetic reconnection rate, while an increase in shear velocity decreases the reconnection rate. Additionally, it is found that the reconnection rate is proportional to $\sigma^{-\frac{1}{2}}$, $\sigma$ being the conductivity, which is in agreement with the scaling law of the Sweet-Parker model. Finally, the numerical model is used to study the magnetic reconnection in a stellar flare. Three-dimensional simulation suggests that the reconnection between the background and flux rope magnetic lines in a stellar flare can take place as a result of a shear velocity in the photosphere.
Planetary ephemerides are a very powerful tool to constrain deviations from the theory of General Relativity using orbital dynamics. The effective field theory framework called the Standard-Model Extension (SME) has been developed in order to systematically parametrize hypothetical violations of Lorentz symmetry (in the Standard Model and in the gravitational sector). In this communication, we use the latest determinations of the supplementary advances of the perihelia and of the nodes obtained by planetary ephemerides analysis to constrain SME coefficients from the pure gravity sector and also from gravity-matter couplings. Our results do not show any deviation from GR and they improve current constraints. Moreover, combinations with existing constraints from Lunar Laser Ranging and from atom interferometry gravimetry allow us to disentangle contributions from the pure gravity sector from the gravity-matter couplings.
In this work, we show that regular black holes in a Randall-Sundrum-type brane world model are generated by the non-local bulk influence, expressed by a constant parameter in the brane metric, only in the spherical case. In the axial case (black holes with rotation), this influence forbids them.
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The literature on the $\lambda$ Boo stars has grown to become somewhat heterogenous, as different authors have applied different criteria across the UV, optical and infrared regions to determine the membership status of $\lambda$ Boo candidates. We aim to clear up the confusion by consulting the literature on 212 objects that have been considered as $\lambda$ Boo candidates, and subsequently evaluating the evidence in favour of their admission to the $\lambda$ Boo class. We obtained new spectra of $\sim$90 of these candidates and classified them on the MK system to aid in the membership evaluations. The re-evaluation of the 212 objects resulted in 64 members and 103 non-members of the $\lambda$ Boo class, with a further 45 stars for which membership status is unclear. We suggest observations for each of the stars in the latter category that will allow them to be confidently included or rejected from the class. Our reclassification facilitates homogenous analysis on group members, and represents the largest collection of confirmed $\lambda$ Boo stars known.
Observations of deuterium fractionation in the solar system, and in interstellar and circumstellar material, are commonly used to constrain the formation environment of volatiles. Toward protoplanetary disks, this approach has been limited by the small number of detected deuterated molecules, i.e. DCO$^+$ and DCN. Based on ALMA Cycle 2 observations toward the disk around the T Tauri star AS 209, we report the first detection of N$_2$D$^+$ (J=3-2) in a protoplanetary disk. These data are used together with previous Submillimeter Array observations of N$_2$H$^+$ (J=3-2) to estimate a disk-averaged D/H ratio of 0.3--0.5, an order of magnitude higher than disk-averaged ratios previously derived for DCN/HCN and DCO$^+$/HCO$^+$ around other young stars. The high fractionation in N$_2$H$^+$ is consistent with model predictions. The presence of abundant N$_2$D$^+$ toward AS 209 also suggests that N$_2$D$^+$ and the N$_2$D$^+$/N$_2$H$^+$ ratio can be developed into effective probes of deuterium chemistry, kinematics, and ionization processes outside the CO snowline of disks.
We examine the conditions for the revival of the stalled accretion shock in core-collapse supernovae, in the context of the neutrino heating mechanism. We combine one dimensional simulations of the shock revival process with a derivation of a quasi-stationary approximation, which is both accurate and efficient in predicting the flow. In particular, this approach is used to explore how the evolution of the system depends on the shock radius, $R_S$, and velocity, $V_S$ (in addition to other global properties of the system). We do so through a phase space analysis of the shock acceleration, $a_S$, in the $R_S-V_S$ plane, shown to provide quantitative insights into the initiation of runaway expansion and its nature. In the particular case of an initially stationary ($V_S=0,\;a_S=0$) profile, the prospects for an explosion can be reasonably assessed by the initial signs of the partial derivatives of the shock acceleration, in analogy to a linear damped/anti-damped oscillator. If $\partial a_S/\partial R_S<0$ and $\partial a_S/\partial V_S>0$, runaway expansion will likely occur after several oscillations, while if $\partial a_S/\partial R_S>0$, runaway expansion will commence in a non-oscillatory fashion. These two modes of runaway correspond to low and high mass accretion rates, respectively. We also use the quasi-stationary approximation to assess the advection-to-heating timescale ratio in the gain region, often used as an explosion proxy. Indeed, this ratio does tend to $\sim1$ in conjunction with runaway conditions, but neither this unit value nor the specific choice of the gain region as a point of reference appear to be distinct conditions in this regard.
Radiative pressure exerted by line interactions is a prominent driver of outflows in astrophysical systems, being at work in the outflows emerging from hot stars or from the accretion discs of cataclysmic variables, massive young stars and active galactic nuclei. In this work, a new radiation hydrodynamical approach to model line-driven hot-star winds is presented. By coupling a Monte Carlo radiative transfer scheme with a finite-volume fluid dynamical method, line-driven mass outflows may be modelled self-consistently, benefiting from the advantages of Monte Carlo techniques in treating multi-line effects, such as multiple scatterings, and in dealing with arbitrary multidimensional configurations. In this work, we introduce our approach in detail by highlighting the key numerical techniques and verifying their operation in a number of simplified applications, specifically in a series of self-consistent, one-dimensional, Sobolev-type, hot-star wind calculations. The utility and accuracy of our approach is demonstrated by comparing the obtained results with the predictions of various formulations of the so-called CAK theory and by confronting the calculations with modern sophisticated techniques of predicting the wind structure. Using these calculations, we also point out some useful diagnostic capabilities our approach provides. Finally we discuss some of the current limitations of our method, some possible extensions and potential future applications.
We initially consider two simple situations where inflationary slow roll parameters are large and modes no longer freeze out shortly after exiting the horizon, treating both cases analytically. We then consider applications to transient phases where the slow roll parameters can become large, especially in the context of the common `fast-roll' inflation frequently used as a mechanism to explain the anomalously low scalar power at low $l$ in the CMB. These transient cases we treat numerically. We find when $\epsilon$ and only $\epsilon$ is large, modes decay outside the horizon, and when $\delta$ is large, modes grow outside the horizon. When multiple slow roll parameters are large the behavior in general is more complicated, but we nevertheless show in the 'fast-roll' inflation case, modes grow outside the horizon.
The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory in central Mexico is currently the world's only synoptic survey instrument for gamma rays above 1 TeV. Because there is significant interest in covering the full TeV sky with a survey instrument, we have examined options for a Southern Hemisphere extension to HAWC. In addition to providing all-sky coverage of TeV sources, a southern site could complement existing surveys of the densest part of the Galactic Plane, provide continuous monitoring of Galactic and extragalactic transient sources in both Hemispheres, and simplify the analysis of spatially extended signals such as diffuse gamma rays and the TeV cosmic-ray anisotropy. To take advantage of the air-shower physics and lower the energy threshold of the experiment as much as possible, a high altitude site above 5000 m a.s.l (vs. 4100 m a.s.l. at the current site in Mexico) has been specified. To facilitate efficient detector construction at such altitudes, the detector tanks would be assembled at lower altitude and delivered to the site. An all-digital communications and data acquisition scheme is proposed. Possible designs include taking advantage of digital optical module technology from the IceCube experiment as well as new custom electronics. We discuss the physics potential of such an experiment, focusing on the energy threshold, angular resolution, and background suppression capability of the experiment, as well as the advantages of full-sky coverage above 1 TeV.
Several observations from Fermi-LAT, up to few hundred GeV, and from H.E.S.S., up to $\sim$ 10 TeV, reported an intense $\gamma$-ray emission from the inner part of the Galactic plane. After the subtraction of point-like contributions, the remaining $\gamma$-ray spectrum can provide important hints about the cosmic-ray (CR) population in that region. In particular, the diffuse spectrum measured by both Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. in the Galactic Ridge is significantly harder with respect to the rest of the Galaxy. These results were recently interpreted in terms of a comprehensive CR transport model which, adopting a spatial dependent diffusion coefficient and convective velocity, reproduces Fermi-LAT results on the whole sky as well as local CR spectra. We showed as that model predicts a significantly harder neutrino diffuse emission compared to conventional scenarios: The predicted signal is able to account for a significant fraction of the astrophysical flux measured by IceCube. In this contribution, we use the same setup to calculate the expected neutrino flux from several windows in the inner Galactic plane and compare the results with IceCube observations and the sensitivities of Mediterranean neutrino telescopes. In particular, for the ANTARES experiment, we compare the model expectations with the upper limits obtained from a recent unblinded data-analysis focused on the galactic ridge region. Moreover, we also show the expectations from the galactic ridge for the future KM3NeT observatory, whose position is optimal to observe this portion of the sky.
We propose a new performance indicator to evaluate the productivity of research institutions by their disseminated scientific papers. The new quality measure includes two principle components: the normalized impact factor of the journal in which paper was published, and the number of citations received per year since it was published. In both components, the scientific impacts are weighted by the contribution of authors from the evaluated institution. As a whole, our new metric, namely, the institutional performance score takes into account both journal based impact and articles specific impacts. We apply this new scheme to evaluate research output performance of Turkish institutions specialized in astronomy and astrophysics in the period of 1998-2012. We discuss the implications of the new metric, and emphasize the benefits of it along with comparison to other proposed institutional performance indicators.
We explore the vicinity of the Milky Way through the use of spectro-photometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and high-quality proper motions derived from multi-epoch positions extracted from the Guide Star Catalogue II database. In order to identify and characterise streams as relics of the Milky Way formation, we start with classifying, select, and study $2417$ subdwarfs with $\rm{[Fe/H] < -1.5}$ up to $3$ kpc away from the Sun as tracers of the local halo system. Then, through phase-space analysis, we find statistical evidence of five discrete kinematic overdensities among $67$ of the fastest-moving stars, and compare them to high-resolution N-body simulations of the interaction between a Milky-Way like galaxy and orbiting dwarf galaxies with four representative cases of merging histories. The observed overdensities can be interpreted as fossil substructures consisting of streamers torn from their progenitors, such progenitors appear to be satellites on prograde and retrograde orbits on different inclinations. In particular, of the five detected overdensities, two appear to be associated, yelding twenty-one additional main-sequence members, with the stream of Helmi et al. (1999) that our analysis confirms on a high inclination prograde orbit. The three newly identified kinematic groups could be associated with the retrograde streams detected by Dinescu (2002) and Kepley et al. (2007), whatever their origin, the progenitor(s) would be on retrograde orbit(s) and inclination(s) within the range $10^{\circ} \div 60^{\circ}$. Finally, we use our simulations to investigate the impact of observational errors and compare the current picture to the promising prospect of highly improved data expected from the Gaia mission.
We present a method to correct for deflections of ultra-high energy cosmic rays in the galactic magnetic field. We perform these corrections by simulating the expected arrival directions of protons using a parameterization of the field derived from Faraday rotation and synchrotron emission measurements. To evaluate the method we introduce a simulated astrophysical scenario and two observables designed for testing cosmic ray deflections. We show that protons can be identified by taking advantage of the galactic magnetic field pattern. Consequently, cosmic ray deflection in the galactic field can be verified experimentally. The method also enables searches for directional correlations of cosmic rays with source candidates.
We study relativistic mean-field (RMF) models including nucleons interacting with scalar, vector and iso-vector mean fields and self- and cross- mean-field interaction terms. Usually, in such a models the magnitude of the scalar field increases monotonically with the nucleon density, and the nucleon effective mass decreases. We demonstrate that the latter quantity stops to decrease and the equation of state stiffens, provided the mean-field self-interaction potential rises sharply in a narrow vicinity of the values of mean fields corresponding to nucleon densities $n> n_{*}>n_0$, where $n_0$ is the nuclear saturation density. As the result the limiting neutron star mass increases. This procedure offers a simple way to stiffen the equation of state at densities above $n_{*}$ without altering it at densities $n\le n_{0}$. The developed scheme allows an application to neutron stars of the RMF models, which are well fitted to finite nuclei but do not fulfill the experimental constraint on the limiting neutron star mass. The exemplary application of the method to the well-known FSUGold model allows us to increase the limiting neutron star mass from $1.72~M_\odot$ to $M \geq 2.01~M_\odot$.
Eternal inflation arising from a potential landscape predicts that our universe is one realization of many possible cosmological histories. One way to access different cosmological histories is via the nucleation of bubble universes from a metastable false vacuum. Another way to sample different cosmological histories is via classical transitions, the creation of pocket universes through the collision between bubbles. Using relativistic numerical simulations, we examine the possibility of observationally determining if our observable universe resulted from a classical transition. We find that classical transitions produce spatially infinite, approximately open Friedman-Robertson-Walker universes. The leading set of observables in the aftermath of a classical transition are negative spatial curvature and a contribution to the Cosmic Microwave Background temperature quadrupole. The level of curvature and magnitude of the quadrupole are dependent on the position of the observer, and we determine the possible range of observables for two classes of single-scalar field models. For the first class, where the inflationary phase has a lower energy than the vacuum preceding the classical transition, the magnitude of the observed quadrupole generally falls to zero with distance from the collision while the spatial curvature grows to a constant. For the second class, where the inflationary phase has a higher energy than the vacuum preceding the classical transition, the magnitude of the observed quadrupole generically falls to zero with distance from the collision while the spatial curvature grows without bound. We find that the magnitude of the quadrupole and curvature grow with increasing centre of mass energy of the collision, and explore variations of the parameters in the scalar field lagrangian.
We present the first 7.5'x11.5' velocity-resolved map of the [CII]158um line toward the Orion molecular cloud-1 (OMC-1) taken with the Herschel/HIFI instrument. In combination with far-infrared (FIR) photometric images and velocity-resolved maps of the H41alpha hydrogen recombination and CO J=2-1 lines, this data set provides an unprecedented view of the intricate small-scale kinematics of the ionized/PDR/molecular gas interfaces and of the radiative feedback from massive stars. The main contribution to the [CII] luminosity (~85%) is from the extended, FUV-illuminated face of the cloud G_0>500, n_H>5x10^3 cm^-3) and from dense PDRs (G_0~10^4, n_H~10^5 cm^-3) at the interface between OMC-1 and the HII region surrounding the Trapezium cluster. Around 15% of the [CII] emission arises from a different gas component without CO counterpart. The [CII] excitation, PDR gas turbulence, line opacity (from [13CII]) and role of the geometry of the illuminating stars with respect to the cloud are investigated. We construct maps of the [CII]/FIR and FIR/M_Gas ratios and show that [CII]/FIR decreases from the extended cloud component (10^-2-10^-3) to the more opaque star-forming cores (10^-3-10^-4). The lowest values are reminiscent of the "[CII] deficit" seen in ultra-luminous IR galaxies hosting vigorous star formation. Spatial correlation analysis shows that the decreasing [CII]/FIR ratio correlates better with the column density of dust through the molecular cloud than with FIR/M_Gas. We conclude that the [CII] emitting column relative to the total dust column along each line of sight is responsible for the observed [CII]/FIR variations through the cloud.
Landau damping of Langmuir waves is shown to have hydrodynamic roots, and, in principle, might have been predicted (along with Langmuir waves) several decades earlier, soon after Jeans (1902) paper appeared.
The bulk of the radiative output of a solar flare is emitted from the chromosphere, which produces enhancements in the optical and UV continuum, and in many lines, both optically thick and thin. We have, until very recently, lacked observations of two of the strongest of these lines: the Mg II h & k resonance lines. We present a detailed study of the response of these lines to a solar flare. The spatial and temporal behaviour of the integrated intensities, k/h line ratios, line of sight velocities, line widths and line asymmetries were investigated during an M class flare (SOL2014-02-13T01:40). Very intense, spatially localised energy input at the outer edge of the ribbon is observed, resulting in redshifts equivalent to velocities of ~15-26km/s, line broadenings, and a blue asymmetry in the most intense sources. The characteristic central reversal feature that is ubiquitous in quiet Sun observations is absent in flaring profiles, indicating that the source function increases with height during the flare. Despite the absence of the central reversal feature, the k/h line ratio indicates that the lines remain optically thick during the flare. Subordinate lines in the Mg II passband are observed to be in emission in flaring sources, brightening and cooling with similar timescales to the resonance lines. This work represents a first analysis of potential diagnostic information of the flaring atmosphere using these lines, and provides observations to which synthetic spectra from advanced radiative transfer codes can be compared.
It is shown that the hypothesis of the axion mechanism of Sun luminosity
suggesting that the solar axion particles are born in the core of the Sun and
may be efficiently converted back into $\gamma$-quanta in the magnetic field of
the solar overshoot tachocline is physically relevant. As a result, it is also
shown that the intensity variations of the $\gamma$-quanta of axion origin,
induced by the magnetic field variations in the tachocline via the
thermomagnetic Ettingshausen-Nernst effect, directly cause the Sun luminosity
variations and eventually characterize the active and quiet states of the Sun.
Within the framework of this mechanism estimations of the strength of the
axion coupling to a photon ($g_{a \gamma} = 3.6 \cdot 10^{-11} GeV^{-1}$) and
the hadronic axion particle mass ($m_a \sim 2.3 \cdot 10^{-2} eV$) have been
obtained. It is also shown that the claimed axion parameters do not contradict
any known experimental and theoretical model-independent limitations.
The FORS1 instrument on the ESO Very Large Telescope was used to obtain low-resolution circular polarised spectra of nearly a thousand different stars, with the aim of measuring their mean longitudinal magnetic fields. A catalogue of FORS1 magnetic measurements would provide a valuable resource with which to better understand the strengths and limitations of this instrument and of similar low-dispersion, Cassegrain spectropolarimeters. However, FORS1 data reduction has been carried out by a number of different groups using a variety of reduction and analysis techniques. Our understanding of the instrument and our data reduction techniques have both improved over time. A full re-analysis of FORS1 archive data using a consistent and fully documented algorithm would optimise the accuracy and usefulness of a catalogue of field measurements. Based on the ESO FORS pipeline, we have developed a semi-automatic procedure for magnetic field determinations, which includes self-consistent checks for field detection reliability. We have applied our procedure to the full content of circular spectropolarimetric measurements of the FORS1 archive. We have produced a catalogue of spectro-polarimetric observations and magnetic field measurements for about 1400 observations of about 850 different objects. The spectral type of each object has been accurately classified. We have also been able to test different methods for data reduction is a systematic way. The resulting catalogue has been used to produce an estimator for an upper limit to the uncertainty in a field strength measurement of an early type star as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio of the observation. While FORS1 is not necessarily an optimal instrument for the discovery of weak magnetic fields, it is very useful for the systematic study of larger fields, such as those found in Ap/Bp stars and in white dwarfs.
We explore similarities and differences between several estimators of the cosmological bulk flow, $\bf B$, from the observed radial peculiar velocities of galaxies. A distinction is made between two theoretical definitions of $\bf B$ as a dipole moment of the velocity field weighted by a radial window function. One definition involves the three dimensional (3D) peculiar velocity, while the other is based on its radial component alone. Different methods attempt at inferring $\bf B$ for either of these definitions which coincide only for a constant velocity field. We focus on the Wiener Filtering (WF, Hoffman et al. 2015) and the Constrained Minimum Variance (CMV,Feldman et al. 2010) methodologies. Both methodologies require a prior expressed in terms of the radial velocity correlation function. Hoffman et al. compute $\bf B$ in Top-Hat windows from a WF realization of the 3D peculiar velocity field. Feldman et al. infer $\bf B$ directly from the observed velocities for the second definition of $\bf B$. The WF methodology could easily be adapted to the second definition, in which case it will be equivalent to the CMV with the exception of the imposed constraint. For a prior with vanishing correlations or very noisy data, CMV reproduces the standard Maximum Likelihood (ML, Kaiser 1988) estimation for $\bf B$ of the entire sample independent of the radial weighting function. Therefore, this estimator is likely more susceptible to observational biases that could be present in measurements of distant galaxies. Finally, two additional estimators are proposed.
We present results of full 3D hydrodynamical and radiative transfer simulations of the colliding stellar winds in the massive binary system Eta Carinae. We accomplish this by applying the SimpleX algorithm for 3D radiative transfer on an unstructured Voronoi-Delaunay grid to recent 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of the binary colliding winds. We use SimpleX to obtain detailed ionization fractions of hydrogen and helium, in 3D, at the resolution of the original SPH simulations. We investigate several computational domain sizes and Luminous Blue Variable primary star mass-loss rates. We furthermore present new methods of visualizing and interacting with output from complex 3D numerical simulations, including 3D interactive graphics and 3D printing. While we initially focus on Eta Car, the methods employed can be applied to numerous other colliding wind (WR 140, WR 137, WR 19) and dusty 'pinwheel' (WR 104, WR 98a) binary systems. Coupled with 3D hydrodynamical simulations, SimpleX simulations have the potential to help determine the regions where various observed time-variable emission and absorption lines form in these unique objects.
We present radio continuum and polarization images of the North Polar Spur (NPS) from the Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS) conducted with the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory 26-m Telescope. We fit polarization angle versus wavelength squared over 2048 frequency channels from 1280 to 1750 MHz to obtain a Faraday Rotation Measure (RM) map of the NPS. Combining this RM map with a published Faraday depth map of the entire Galaxy in this direction, we derive the Faraday depth introduced by the NPS and the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM) in front of and behind the NPS. The Faraday depth contributed by the NPS is close to zero, indicating that the NPS is an emitting only feature. The Faraday depth caused by the ISM in front of the NPS is consistent with zero at b>50 degree, implying that this part of the NPS is local at a distance of approximately several hundred parsecs. The Faraday depth contributed by the ISM behind the NPS gradually increases with Galactic latitude up to b=44 degree, and decreases at higher Galactic latitudes. This implies that either the part of the NPS at b<44 degree is distant or the NPS is local but there is a sign change of the large-scale magnetic field. If the NPS is local, there is then no evidence for a large-scale anti-symmetry pattern in the Faraday depth of the Milky Way. The Faraday depth introduced by the ISM behind the NPS at latitudes b>50 degree can be explained by including a coherent vertical magnetic field.
For $\delta$ Scuti star CoRoT 102749568, 52 independent frequencies were obtained by Papar$\acute{o}$ et al. 2013. We find that there are 4 multiplets and 8 doublets with nearly equal split caused by rotation. Differential rotation is suggested instead of rigid body rotation to explain the equal split phenomenon. Grids of models are computed with MESA to fit observational frequencies of CoRoT 102749568. After rejecting modes of $m\neq0$ in multiplets and doublets, we identify 31 modes of $m = 0$ and 3 modes of $m\neq0$, including 4 modes of $l = 0$, 9 modes of $l=1$, 11 modes of $l=2$, and 10 modes of $l=3$. The mean error is 0.447$\mu$Hz for the best-fitting model, and the physical parameters of the corresponding model are as followings: $M=1.95$ $\rm M_{\odot}$, $Z=0.025$, $T_{\rm eff}=7096$ K, log$g=3.727$, $L=22.77$ $\rm L_{\odot}$, $Age=1.113$ Gyr.
Chromospheric evaporation refers to dynamic mass motions in flare loops as a result of rapid energy deposition in the chromosphere. These have been observed as blueshifts in X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) spectral lines corresponding to upward motions at a few tens to a few hundreds of km/s. Past spectroscopic observations have also revealed a dominant stationary component, in addition to the blueshifted component, in emission lines formed at high temperatures (~10 MK). This is contradictory to evaporation models predicting predominant blueshifts in hot lines. The recently launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) provides high resolution imaging and spectroscopic observations that focus on the chromosphere and transition region in the UV passband. Using the new IRIS observations, combined with coordinated observations from the EUV Imaging Spectrometer, we study the chromospheric evaporation process from the upper chromosphere to corona during an X1.0 flare on 2014 March 29. We find evident evaporation signatures, characterized by Doppler shifts and line broadening, at two flare ribbons separating from each other, suggesting that chromospheric evaporation takes place in successively formed flaring loops throughout the flare. More importantly, we detect dominant blueshifts in the high temperature Fe XXI line (~10 MK), in agreement with theoretical predictions. We also find that, in this flare, gentle evaporation occurs at some locations in the rise phase of the flare, while explosive evaporation is detected at some other locations near the peak of the flare. There is a conversion from gentle to explosive evaporation as the flare evolves.
The framework of relativistic quantum-field theories requires Lorentz Invariance. Many theories of quantum gravity, on the other hand, include violations of Lorentz Invariance at small scales and high energies. This generates a lot of interest in establishing limits on such effects, and, if possible, observing them directly. Gamma-ray observatories provide a tool to probe parts of the parameter space of models of Lorentz Invariance Violation that is not accessible in terrestrial laboratories and man-made accelerators. Transients, especially gamma-ray bursts, are a particularly promising class of events to search for such phenomena. By combining cosmological distances with high energy emission and short duration, emitting photons up to 30 GeV in less than a second, one can measure the energy dependence of the speed of photons to one part in $10^{16}$. We will discuss the potential of HAWC to detect effects of the violation of Lorentz Invariance and place its sensitivity in the context of existing limits.
The questions about the origin and type of cosmic particles are not only fascinating for scientists in astrophysics, but also for young enthusiastic high school students. To familiarize them with research in astroparticle physics, the Pierre Auger Collaboration agreed to make 1% of its data publicly available. The Pierre Auger Observatory investigates cosmic rays at the highest energies and consists of more than 1600 water Cherenkov detectors, located near Malarg\"{u}e, Argentina. With publicly available data from the experiment, students can perform their own hands-on analysis. In the framework of a so-called Astroparticle Masterclass organized alongside the context of the German outreach network Netzwerk Teilchenwelt, students get a valuable insight into cosmic ray physics and scientific research concepts. We present the project and experiences with students.
This work addresses a procedure to estimate fundamental stellar parameters such as T eff , logg, [Fe/H], and v sin i using a dimensionality reduction technique called Principal Component Analysis (PCA), applied to a large database of synthetic spectra. This technique shows promising results for inverting stellar parameters of observed targets from Gaia ESO Survey.
Spectroscopic observations of the hybrid V458 Vul obtained between days 9 and 778 after the brightness maximum are analyzed. Short-period, daily profile variations of forbidden [FeVII] iron lines were detected in the nebular phase, as well as a long-period (about 60-day) cyclic variation that was correlated with the photometric and X-ray cycles. The abundances of helium, neon, and iron in the nova's envelope have been estimated. The helium, neon, and iron abundances exceed the solar values by factors of 4.4, 4.8, and 3.7. The envelope mass is 1.4$\times$ 10$^{-5}$M$_{\odot}$. The electron temperatures and number densities have been calculated for the Northwestern and Southeastern knots of the planetary nebula. The temperature derived for the Northwestern knot is Te = 10 000 K and the electron number density, n$_{e}$ = 600 cm $^{-3}$ for the Southeastern knot, Te = 13 000 K and n$_{e}$ = 750 cm$^{-3}$.
MOND reduces greatly the mass discrepancy in clusters of galaxies, but does leave a consistent global discrepancy of about a factor of two. It has been proposed, within the minimalist and purist MOND, that clusters harbor some indigenous, yet-undetected, cluster baryonic (dark) matter (CBDM). Its total amount has to be comparable with that of the observed hot gas. Following an initial discovery by van Dokkum & al. (2015a), Koda & al. (2015) have recently identified more than a thousand ultra-diffuse galaxy-like objects (UDGs) in the Coma cluster. Robustness of the UDGs to tidal disruption seems to require, within Newtonian dynamics, that they are much more massive than their observed stellar component. Here, I propound that a considerable fraction of the CBDM is internal to UDGs, which endows them with robustness. The rest of the CBDM objects formed in now-disrupted kin of the UDGs, and is dispersed in the intracluster medium. While the discovery of cluster UDGs is not in itself a resolution of the MOND cluster conundrum, it lends greater qualitative plausibility to CBDM as its resolution, for reasons I discuss. Alternatively, if the UDGs are only now falling into Coma, their large size and very low surface brightness could result from the adiabatic inflation due to the MOND external-field effect, as described in Brada & Milgrom (2000). I also consider briefly solutions to the conundrum that invoke more elaborate extensions of purist MOND, e.g., that in clusters, the MOND constant takes up larger-than-canonical values of the MOND constant.
A number of alternatives to general relativity exhibit gravitational screening in the non-linear regime of structure formation. We describe a set of algorithms that can produce weak lensing maps of large scale structure in such theories and can be used to generate mock surveys for cosmological analysis. By analysing a few basic statistics we indicate how these alternatives can be distinguished from general relativity with future weak lensing surveys.
The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is a ground based air-shower array deployed on the slopes of Volcan Sierra Negra in the state of Puebla, Mexico. While HAWC is optimized for the detection of gamma-ray induced air-showers, the background flux of hadronic cosmic-rays is four orders of magnitude greater, making background rejection paramount for gamma-ray observations. On average, gamma-ray and cosmic-ray showers are characterized by different topologies at ground level. We will present a method to identify the primary particle type in an air-shower that uses the spatial relationship of triggered PMTs (or "hits") in the detector. For a given event hit-pattern on the HAWC array, we calculate the mean separation distance of the hits for a subset of hit pairs weighted by their charges. By comparing the mean charge and mean separating distance for the selected hits, we infer the identity of the event's primary. We will report on the efficiency for identifying gamma-rays and the performance of the technique with simulation.
Sterile neutrinos are $SU(2)$ singlets that mix with active neutrinos via a mass matrix, its diagonalization leads to mass eigenstates that couple via standard model vertices. We study the cosmological production of heavy neutrinos via \emph{standard model charged and neutral current vertices} under a minimal set of assumptions: i) the mass basis contains a hierarchy of heavy neutrinos, ii) these have very small mixing angles with the active (flavor) neutrinos, iii) standard model particles, including light (active-like) neutrinos are in thermal equilibrium. If kinematically allowed, the same weak interaction processes that produce active-like neutrinos also produce the heavier species. We introduce the quantum kinetic equations that describe their production, freeze out and decay and discuss the various processes that lead to their production in a wide range of temperatures assessing their feasibility as dark matter candidates. We identify processes in which finite temperature collective excitations may lead to the production of the heavy species. As a specific example, we consider the production of heavy neutrinos in the mass range $M_h \lesssim 140 \,\mathrm{MeV}$ from pion decay shortly after the QCD crossover including finite temperature corrections to the pion form factors and mass. We consider the different decay channels that allow for the production of heavy neutrinos showing that their frozen distribution functions exhibit effects from "kinematic entanglement" and argue for their viability as mixed dark matter candidates. We discuss abundance, phase space density and stability constraints and argue that heavy neutrinos with lifetime $\tau> 1/H_0$ freeze out of local thermal equilibrium, and \emph{conjecture} that those with lifetimes $\tau \ll 1/H_0$ may undergo cascade decay into lighter DM candidates and/or inject non-LTE neutrinos into the cosmic neutrino background.
Data from 105 days from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC) have been used to place a new limit on an isotropic diffuse gamma-ray population above 10 TeV. High- energy isotropic diffuse gamma-ray emission is produced by unresolved extragalactic objects such as active galactic nuclei, with potential contributions from interactions of high-energy cosmic rays with the inter-Galactic medium, or dark matter annihilation. Isotropic diffuse gamma-ray emission has been observed up to nearly 1 TeV. Above this energy, only upper limits have been reported. Observations or limits of the isotropic photon population above these energies are very sensitive to local astrophysical particle production. Of particular note, we expect a photon population to accompany the TeV-PeV astrophysical neutrino detection seen in the IceCube instrument. Observations or limits of a photon population above this energy can point to the origin of these neutrinos, indicating whether they are within the gamma-ray horizon or not. HAWC, with superior sensitivity to gamma rays between 100 GeV and 100 TeV, continuously observes the overhead sky and will measure or constrain isotropic emission above 1 TeV. We present a limit above 10 TeV based on the background rejection achieved in a 105-day observation of the Crab Nebula with HAWC. The limit will improve substantially with additional data and study.
We give a set of exact nonlinear closed--form solutions for the non-spherical
collapse of pressure-less matter in Newtonian gravity, and indicate their
possible cosmological applications.
Keywords: Newtonian gravitation: free collapse, large-scale cosmic structures
The eXtended CASA Line Analysis Software Suite (XCLASS) is a toolbox for the Common Astronomy Software Applications package (CASA) containing new functions for modeling interferometric and single dish data. Among the tools is the myXCLASS program which calculates synthetic spectra by solving the radiative transfer equation for an isothermal object in one dimension, whereas the finite source size and dust attenuation are considered as well. Molecular data required by the myXCLASS program are taken from an embedded SQLite3 database containing entries from the Cologne Database for Molecular Spectroscopy CDMS) and JPL using the Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Center (VAMDC) portal. Additionally, the toolbox provides an interface for the model optimizer package Modeling and Analysis Generic Interface for eXternal numerical codes (MAGIX), which helps to find the best description of observational data using myXCLASS (or another external model program), i.e., finding the parameter set that most closely reproduces the data.
We perform a search for dormant comets, asteroidal objects of cometary origin, in the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) population based on dynamical and physical considerations. Our study is based on albedos derived within the ExploreNEOs program and is extended by adding data from NEOWISE and the Akari asteroid catalog. We use a statistical approach to identify asteroids on orbits that resemble those of short-period near-Earth comets using the Tisserand parameter with respect to Jupiter, the aphelion distance, and the minimum orbital intersection distance with respect to Jupiter. From the sample of NEAs on comet-like orbits, we select those with a geometric albedo $p_V \leq 0.064$ as dormant comet candidates, and find that only $\sim$50% of NEAs on comet-like orbits also have comet-like albedos. We identify a total of 23 NEAs from our sample that are likely to be dormant short-period near-Earth comets and, based on a de-biasing procedure applied to the cryogenic NEOWISE survey, estimate both magnitude-limited and size-limited fractions of the NEA population that are dormant short-period comets. We find that 0.3-3.3% of the NEA population with $H \leq 21$, and $9^{+2}_{-5}$% of the population with diameters $d \geq 1$ km, are dormant short-period near-Earth comets.
The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is a ground-based TeV gamma-ray observatory in the state of Puebla, Mexico at an altitude of 4100 m. Its 22,000 m$^2$ instrumented area, wide field of view ($\sim$2 sr), and >95% uptime make it an ideal instrument for discovering gamma-ray burst (GRB) emission at $\sim$100 GeV. Such a discovery would provide key information about the origins of prompt GRB emission as well as constraints on extra-galactic background light (EBL) models and the violation of Lorentz invariance. We will present prospects for discovering GRB emission at $\sim$100 GeV with a simple, all-sky search algorithm using HAWC data that is most sensitive to short GRBs. The search algorithm presented here can also be used to detect other short transients with timescales and fluxes similar to short GRBs.
We conduct a pilot investigation to determine the optimal combination of color and variability information to identify quasars in current and future multi-epoch optical surveys. We use a Bayesian quasar selection algorithm (Richards et al. 2004) to identify 35,820 type 1 quasar candidates in a 239 square degree field of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Stripe 82, using a combination of optical photometry and variability. Color analysis is performed on 5-band single- and multi-epoch SDSS optical photometry to a depth of r ~22.4. From these data, variability parameters are calculated by fitting the structure function of each object in each band with a power law model using 10 to >100 observations over timescales from ~1 day to ~8 years. Selection was based on a training sample of 13,221 spectroscopically-confirmed type-1 quasars, largely from the SDSS. Using variability alone, colors alone, and combining variability and colors we achieve 91%, 93%, and 97% quasar completeness and 98%, 98%, and 97% efficiency respectively, with particular improvement in the selection of quasars at 2.7<z<3.5 where quasars and stars have similar optical colors. The 22,867 quasar candidates that are not spectroscopically confirmed reach a depth of i ~22.0; 21,876 (95.7%) are dimmer than coadded i-band magnitude of 19.9, the cut off for spectroscopic follow-up for SDSS on Stripe 82. Brighter than 19.9, we find 5.7% more quasar candidates without confirming spectra in sky regions otherwise considered complete. The resulting quasar sample has sufficient purity (and statistically correctable incompleteness) to produce a luminosity function comparable to those determined by spectroscopic investigations. We discuss improvements that can be made to the process in preparation for performing similar photometric selection and science on data from post-SDSS sky surveys.
Within the next few years, Advanced LIGO and Virgo should detect gravitational waves (GWs) from binary neutron star and neutron star-black hole mergers. These sources are also predicted to power a broad array of electromagnetic transients. Because the X-ray and optical signatures can be faint and fade rapidly, observing them hinges on rapidly inferring the sky location from the gravitational wave observations. Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods for gravitational-wave parameter estimation can take hours or more. We introduce BAYESTAR, a rapid, Bayesian, non-MCMC sky localization algorithm that takes just seconds to produce probability sky maps that are comparable in accuracy to the full analysis. Prompt localizations from BAYESTAR will make it possible to search electromagnetic counterparts of compact binary mergers.
This is the third paper in a series establishing a quantitative relation between inflationary scalar field potential landscapes and the relic perturbations left by the collision between bubbles produced during eternal inflation. We introduce a new method for computing cosmological observables from numerical relativity simulations of bubble collisions. This method tiles comoving hypersurfaces with locally-perturbed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker coordinate patches. The method extends previous work, which was limited to the spacetime region just inside the future light cone of the collision, and allows us to explore the full bubble-collision spacetime. We validate our new methods against previous work, and present a full set of predictions for the comoving curvature perturbation and local negative spatial curvature produced by identical and non-identical bubble collisions, in single scalar field models of eternal inflation. In both collision types, there is a non-zero contribution to the spatial curvature and cosmic microwave background quadrupole. Some collisions between non-identical bubbles excite wall modes, giving extra structure to the predicted temperature anisotropies. We comment on the implications of our results for future observational searches. For non-identical bubble collisions, we also find that the surfaces of constant field can readjust in the presence of a collision to produce spatially infinite sections that become nearly homogeneous deep into the region affected by the collision. Contrary to previous assumptions, this is true even in the bubble into which the domain wall is accelerating.
The existence of both a minimum mass and a minimum density in nature, in the presence of a positive cosmological constant, is one of the most intriguing results in classical general relativity. These results follow rigorously from the Buchdahl inequalities in four dimensional de Sitter space. In this work, we obtain the generalized Buchdahl inequalities in arbitrary space-time dimensions with $\Lambda \neq 0$ and consider both the de Sitter and anti-de Sitter cases. The dependence on $D$, the number of space-time dimensions, of the minimum and maximum masses for stable spherical objects is explicitly obtained. The analysis is then extended to the case of dark energy satisfying an arbitrary linear barotropic equation of state. The Jeans instability of barotropic dark energy is also investigated, for arbitrary $D$, in the framework of a simple Newtonian model, and we determine the dispersion relation describing the dark energy$-$matter condensation process, along with estimates of the corresponding Jeans mass (and radius). Finally, the quantum mechanical implications of mass limits are investigated, and we show that the existence of a minimum mass scale naturally leads to a model in which dark energy is composed of a `sea' of quantum particles, each with an effective mass proportional to $\Lambda^{1/4}$.
The boundary conditions for the ideal MHD equations on a plane dis- continuity surface are investigated. It is shown that, for a given mass flux through a discontinuity, its type depends only on the relation between inclina- tion angles of a magnetic field. Moreover, the conservation laws on a surface of discontinuity allow changing a discontinuity type with gradual (continu- ous) changes in the conditions of plasma flow. Then there are the so-called transition solutions that satisfy simultaneously two types of discontinuities. We obtain all transition solutions on the basis of the complete system of boundary conditions for the MHD equations. We also found the expression describing a jump of internal energy of the plasma flowing through the dis- continuity. Firstly, this allows constructing a generalized scheme of possible continuous transitions between MHD discontinuities. Secondly, it enables the examination of the dependence of plasma heating by plasma density and configuration of the magnetic field near the discontinuity surface, i.e., by the type of the MHD discontinuity. It is shown that the best conditions for heating are carried out in the vicinity of a reconnecting current layer near the areas of reverse currents. The result can be helpful in explaining the temperature distributions inside the active regions in the solar corona during flares observed by modern space observatories in soft and hard X-rays.
The universe is viewed as a dust gas filling a sphere and floating in
infinite empty space. Einstein's gravitational equations are applied to this
case together with appropriate boundary values. The equations are solved for
initial conditions chosen so as to describe the observed Hubble diagram. We
find that the solution is not unique so that more astronomical observations are
needed. However, those solutions which were found do not exhibit an accelerated
expansion of the universe, nor -- obviously then -- do they need the notion of
a dark energy driving such an expansion.
We present this study as an alternative to the prevailing Robertson-Walker
cosmology.
The axion electromagnetic anomaly induces an oscillating electric dipole for the electron of frequency $m_a$ and strength $\sim 10^{-32}$ e-cm, two orders of magnitude above the nucleon, and within four orders of magnitude of the present standard model constant limit. We give a detailed study of this phenomenon via the interaction of the cosmic axion, through the electromagnetic anomaly, with particular emphasis on the decoupling limit of the axion, $\partial_t a(t)\propto m_a \rightarrow 0$. The general form of the action involves a local contact interaction and a nonlocal contribution that enforces the decoupling limit. We derive the effective action in the Pauli-Schroedinger non-relativistic formalism, and in Georgi's heavy quark formalism adapted to the "heavy electron" (heavy compared to $m_a$). We compute the electric dipole radiation emitted by stationary electrons, and we discuss a number of experimental configurations that may yield detectable signals. Phased array radiators with $N^2$ unit cell magnetic elements may have advantages over resonant cavities that exploit large $Q$, since we can design toward $N^2 >> Q$.
We derive equations for the mean entropy and the mean internal energy in the low-Mach-number temperature stratified turbulence (i.e., for turbulent convection or stably stratified turbulence), and show that turbulent flux of entropy is given by ${\bf F}_s=\overline{\rho} \, \overline{{\bf u} s}$, where $\overline{\rho}$ is the mean fluid density, $s$ are fluctuations of entropy and overbars denote averaging over an ensemble of turbulent velocity field, ${\bf u}$. We demonstrate that the turbulent flux of entropy is different from the turbulent convective flux, ${\bf F}_c=\overline{T} \, \overline{\rho} \, \overline{{\bf u} s}$, of the fluid internal energy, where $\overline{T}$ is the mean fluid temperature. This turbulent convective flux is well-known in the astrophysical and geophysical literature, and it cannot be used as a turbulent flux in the equation for the mean entropy. This result is exact for low-Mach-number temperature stratified turbulence and is independent of the model used. We also derive equations for the velocity-entropy correlation, $\overline{{\bf u} s}$, in the limits of small and large Peclet numbers, using the quasi-linear approach and the spectral tau approximation, respectively. This study is important in view of different applications to the astrophysical and geophysical temperature stratified turbulence.
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Studies of the formation of the first stars have established that they formed in small halos of $\sim 10^5 - 10^6 M_{\odot}$ via molecular hydrogen cooling. Since a low level of ultraviolet radiation from stars suffices to dissociate molecular hydrogen, under the usually-assumed scenario this primordial mode of star formation ended by redshift $z \sim 15$ and much more massive halos came to dominate star formation. However, metal enrichment from the first stars may have allowed the smaller halos to continue to form stars efficiently, a possibility that has been boosted by recent numerical simulations. In this Letter we explore the possible effect of star formation in metal-rich low-mass halos on the redshifted 21-cm signal of neutral hydrogen from $z = 6-40$. These halos are significantly affected by the supersonic streaming velocity, with its characteristic baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) signature. We show that enrichment of low-mass galaxies can produce a strong signature in the 21-cm power spectrum over a wide range of redshifts, and can allow the effect of the streaming velocity to survive until the midpoint of reionization. Our predictions, therefore, are relevant for current and upcoming radio telescopes.
We use high resolution simulations of isolated dwarf galaxies to study the
physics of dark matter cusp-core transformation at the edge of galaxy formation
(Mvir = 10^7 - 10^9 Msun). We work at a resolution (4 pc) at which the impact
from individual supernovae explosions can be resolved, becoming insensitive to
even large changes in our numerical 'sub-grid' parameters. We find that our
dwarf galaxies give a remarkable match to the stellar light profile; star
formation history; metallicity distribution function; and star/gas kinematics
of isolated dwarf irregular galaxies. Our key result is that dark matter cores
of size comparable to the half light radius r_1/2 always form if star formation
proceeds for long enough. Cores fully form in less than 4 Gyrs for the Mvir
=10^8 Msun and 14 Gyrs for the 10^9 Msun dwarf. We provide a convenient two
parameter 'coreNFW' fitting function that captures this dark matter core growth
as a function of star formation time and the projected half light radius.
Our results have several important implications: (i) we make a strong
prediction that if LambdaCDM is correct, then 'pristine' dark matter cusps will
be found either in systems that have truncated star formation and/or at radii r
> r_1/2; (ii) complete core formation lowers the projected velocity dispersion
at r_1/2 by a factor ~2, which is sufficient to fully explain the 'too big to
fail problem' (though we stress that a full solution likely also involves
unmodelled environmental effects); and (iii) cored dwarfs will be much more
susceptible to tides, leading to a dramatic scouring of the subhalo mass
function inside galaxies and groups. We will explore such environmental effects
in a forthcoming paper.
In this paper, we study the filamentary structures and the galaxy alignment along filaments at redshift $z=0.06$ in the MassiveBlack-II simulation, a state-of-the-art, high-resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulation which includes stellar and AGN feedback in a volume of (100 Mpc$/h$)$^3$. The filaments are constructed using the subspace constrained mean shift (SCMS; Ozertem & Erdogmus (2011) and Chen et al. (2015a)). First, we show that reconstructed filaments using galaxies and reconstructed filaments using dark matter particles are similar to each other; over $50\%$ of the points on the galaxy filaments have a corresponding point on the dark matter filaments within distance $0.13$ Mpc$/h$ (and vice versa) and this distance is even smaller at high-density regions. Second, we observe the alignment of the major principal axis of a galaxy with respect to the orientation of its nearest filament and detect a $2.5$ Mpc$/h$ critical radius for filament's influence on the alignment when the subhalo mass of this galaxy is between $10^9M_\odot/h$ and $10^{12}M_\odot/h$. Moreover, we find the alignment signal to increase significantly with the subhalo mass. Third, when a galaxy is close to filaments (less than $0.25$ Mpc$/h$), the galaxy alignment toward the nearest galaxy group depends on the galaxy subhalo mass. Finally, we find that galaxies close to filaments or groups tend to be rounder than those away from filaments or groups.
The Planck mission, thanks to its large frequency range and all-sky coverage, has a unique potential for systematically detecting the brightest, and rarest, submillimetre sources on the sky, including distant objects in the high-redshift Universe traced by their dust emission. A novel method, based on a component-separation procedure using a combination of Planck and IRAS data, has been applied to select the most luminous cold submm sources with spectral energy distributions peaking between 353 and 857GHz at 5' resolution. A total of 2151 Planck high-z source candidates (the PHZ) have been detected in the cleanest 26% of the sky, with flux density at 545GHz above 500mJy. Embedded in the cosmic infrared background close to the confusion limit, these high-z candidates exhibit colder colours than their surroundings, consistent with redshifts z>2, assuming a dust temperature of 35K and a spectral index of 1.5. First follow-up observations obtained from optical to submm have confirmed that this list consists of two distinct populations. A small fraction (around 3%) of the sources have been identified as strongly gravitationally lensed star-forming galaxies, which are amongst the brightest submm lensed objects (with flux density at 545GHz ranging from 350mJy up to 1Jy) at redshift 2 to 4. However, the vast majority of the PHZ sources appear as overdensities of dusty star-forming galaxies, having colours consistent with z>2, and may be considered as proto-cluster candidates. The PHZ provides an original sample, complementary to the Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich Catalogue; by extending the population of the virialized massive galaxy clusters to a population of sources at z>1.5, the PHZ may contain the progenitors of today's clusters. Hence the PHZ opens a new window on the study of the early ages of structure formation, and the understanding of the intensively star-forming phase at high-z.
We measure the r-band galaxy luminosity function (LF) across environments over the redshift range 0<$z$<0.107 using the SDSS. We divide our sample into galaxies residing in large scale voids (void galaxies) and those residing in denser regions (wall galaxies). The best fitting Schechter parameters for void galaxies are: log$\Phi^*$= -3.40$\pm$0.03 log(Mpc$^{-3}$), $M^*$= -19.88$\pm$0.05, and $\alpha$=-1.20$\pm$0.02. For wall galaxies, the best fitting parameters are: log$\Phi^*$=-2.86$\pm$0.02 log(Mpc$^{-3}$), $M^*$=-20.80$\pm$0.03, and $\alpha$=-1.16$\pm$0.01. We find a shift in the characteristic magnitude, $M^*$, towards fainter magnitudes for void galaxies and find no significant difference between the faint-end slopes of the void and wall galaxy LFs. We investigate how low surface brightness selections effects can affect the galaxy LF. To attempt to examine a sample of galaxies that is relatively free of surface brightness selection effects, we compute the optical galaxy LF of galaxies detected by the blind HI survey, ALFALFA. We find that the global LF of the ALFALFA sample is not well fit by a Schechter function, because of the presence of a wide dip in the LF around $M_r$=-18 and an upturn at fainter magnitudes ($\alpha$~-1.47). We compare the HI selected r-band LF to various LFs of optically selected populations to determine where the HI selected optical LF obtains its shape. We find that sample selection plays a large role in determining the shape of the LF.
The core velocity dispersion (CVD) is a potentially useful tool for studying the turbulent velocity field of molecular clouds. CVD is based on centroid velocities of dense gas clumps, thus is less prone to density fluctuation and reflects more directly the cloud velocity field. Prior work demonstrated that the Taurus molecular cloud CVD resembles the well-known Larson's linewidth-size relation of molecular clouds. In this work, we studied the dependence of the CVD on the line-of-sight thickness of molecular clouds, a quantity which cannot be measured by direct means. We produced a simple statistical model of cores within clouds and analyzed the CVD of a variety of hydrodynamical simulations. We show that the relation between the CVD and the 2D projected separation of cores ($L_{2D}$) is sensitive to the cloud thickness. When the cloud is thin, the index of CVD-$L_{2D}$ relation ($\gamma$ in the relation CVD$\sim L_{2D}^{\gamma}$) reflects the underlying energy spectrum ($E(k)\sim k^{-\beta}$) in that $\gamma\sim(\beta-1)/2$. The CVD-$L_{2D}$ relation becomes flatter ($\gamma\to 0$) for thicker clouds. We used this result to constrain the thicknesses of Taurus, Perseus, and Ophiuchus. We conclude that Taurus has a ratio of cloud depth to cloud length smaller than about 1/10-1/8, i.e. it is a sheet. A simple geometric model fit to the linewidth-size relation indicates that the Taurus cloud has a $\sim 0.7$ pc line-of-sight dimension. In contrast, Perseus and Ophiuchus are thicker and have ratios of cloud depth to cloud length larger than about 1/10-1/8.
Spiral arms shown by different components may not be spatially coincident, which can constrain formation mechanisms of spiral structure in a galaxy. We reassess the spiral arm tangency directions in the Milky Way through identifying the bump features in the longitude plots of survey data for infrared stars, radio recombination lines (RRLs), star formation sites, CO, high density regions in clouds, and HI. The bump peaks are taken as indications for arm tangencies, which are close to the real density peaks near the spiral arm tangency point but often have $\sim$ 1$^\circ$ offset to the interior of spiral arms. The arm tangencies identified from the longitudes plots for RRLs, HII regions, methanol masers, CO, high density gas regions, and HI gas appear nearly the same Galactic longitude, and therefore there is no obvious offset for spiral arms traced by different gas components. However, we find obvious displacements of 1.3$^\circ-$ 5.8$^\circ$ between gaseous bump peaks from the directions of the maximum density of old stars near the tangencies of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm, the northern part of the Near 3 kpc Arm, and maybe also the Sagittarius Arm. The offsets between the density peaks of gas and old stars for spiral arms are comparable with the arm widths, which is consistent with expectations for quasi-stationary density wave in our Galaxy.
The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy density is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.
The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is a TeV gamma-ray detector, completed in early 2015. HAWC started science operations in August 2013 with a third of the detector taking data. Several known gamma-ray sources have already been detected with the first HAWC data. Among these sources, the Crab Nebula, the brightest steady gamma-ray source at very high energies in our Galaxy, has been detected with high significance. In this contribution I will present the results of the observations of the Crab Nebula with HAWC, including time variability, and the detector performance based on early data.
Quantum Telescope is a recent idea aimed at beating the diffraction limit of
spaceborne telescopes and possibly also other distant target imaging systems.
There is no agreement yet on the best setup of these devices, but some
configurations were already proposed.
In this Letter we characterize the predicted performance of Quantum
Telescopes and their possible limitations. Our rigorous simulations confirm
that the general idea of such instruments is feasible and the device can
provide considerable gains in the angular resolution of imaging in the UV,
optical and infrared bands. We argue that it is generally possible to construct
and manufacture such instruments using the latest or soon to be available
technology. We refer to the latest literature to discuss the feasibility of the
proposed QT system design.
We first give a short historical overview with some key facts of massive star population synthesis with binaries. We then discuss binary population codes and focus on two ingredients which are important for massive star population synthesis and which may be different in different codes. Population simulations with binaries is the third part where we consider the initial massive binary frequency, the RSG/WR and WC/WN and SNII/SNIbc number ratio's, the probable initial rotational velocity distribution of massive stars.
We compare two different methods of constraining the characteristic velocity and spatial scales of gas motions in the X-ray bright, nearby Centaurus cluster, using new deep (760ks) Chandra observations. The power spectrum of excess surface brightness fluctuations in the 0.5-6.0 keV band in a sector to the west is measured and compared to theoretical expectations for Kolmogorov index fluctuations. The observed power spectrum is flatter than these expectations, and the surface brightness fluctuations are around the 8 percent level on length scales of 2 kpc. We convert the 2D power spectrum of fluctuations into a 3D power spectrum using the method of Churazov et al., and then convert this into constraints on the one-component velocity of the gas motions as a function of their length scale. We find one-component velocities in the range 100-150 km/s on spatial scales of 4-10 kpc. An independent constraint on the characteristic velocity and length scales of the gas motions is then found by considering the diffusion coefficient needed to explain the distribution of metals in the Centaurus cluster, combined with the need to balance the rate of gas cooling with the rate of heat dissipated by the gas motions. We find that these two methods of constraining the velocity and length scales of the gas motions are in good agreement.
The purpose of the present study is to compare the predictions of different models of star formation rate (SFR) history in the universe with the upper limit of Super Kamiokande for the neutrino background. To this aim we have calculated the expected neutrino density for the most popular models of SFR history, Hogg et al. ,Glazebrook et al., Cole et al., Yuksel et al., Hernquist et al. and Kaplinghat et al. Differerent from previous studies we have used the $\Lambda$CDM model with $\Omega_{\Lambda} = 0.7$. We have assumed that the detector used for the detection the neutrino flux is SuperK and also we have assumed that the electron neutrinos produced in the Supernovae oscillate equally to the three standard model flavors. By these assumptions all models stay below the upper limit of SuperK on the event rate and the detection of the supernova relic neutrino background (SRNB) remains undetected. Future neutrino detectors such as KM3Net will be able to detect the SRNB and distinguish between the models of the SFR history.
It is now well established that FGK post-AGB stars that are surrounded by both hot and cold dust (as derived from the spectral energy distribution), are almost always part of a binary system with $100 < P_{orb} < 5000$~days. The properties and long-term stability of the dust emission requires it to arise from a gas- and dust-rich, puffed-up and (semi-)stable circumbinary disk. This interpretation has been confirmed with spatially resolved observations at a range of wavelengths for various individual objects. Here I present the first results of the first mid-IR interferometric survey of this class of objects. Our sample comprises 18 sources, most of which are confirmed binaries and which cover a range in IR excess. Our analysis clearly shows the compactness of the dust structures in these systems. We perform a statistical comparison with radiative transfer disk models, showing that most objects are indeed continuous disks from the sublimation radius outwards.
The HAWC collaboration has recently completed the construction of a gamma-ray observatory at an altitude of 4100 meters on the slope of the Sierra Negra volcano in the state of Puebla, Mexico. In order to achieve an optimal angular resolution, energy reconstruction, and cosmic-ray background suppression for the air showers observed by HAWC, it is crucial to obtain good timing and charge calibrations of the photosensors in the detector. The HAWC calibration is based on a laser system which is able to deliver short light pulses to all the tanks in the array. The light intensity can range over 7 orders of magnitude, broad enough to cover all the dynamic range of the PMT readout electronics. In this contribution we will present the HAWC calibration system, together with the methods used to calibrate the detector.
MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO) is a galaxy integral-field spectroscopic survey within the fourth generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV). It will be mapping the composition and kinematics of gas and stars in 10,000 nearby galaxies, using 17 differently sized fiber bundles. MaNGA's goal is to provide new insights in galaxy formation and evolution, and to deliver a local benchmark for current and future high-redshift studies.
We consider the effects induced by the presence of hot and cold spots on the source star in the light curves of simulated microlensing events due to either single or binary lenses taking into account the rotation of the source star and the orbital motion of the lens system. Our goal is to study the anomalies induced by these effects on simulated microlensing light curves.
We assume that dust near active galactic nuclei (AGN) is distributed in a torus-like geometry, which may be described by a clumpy medium or a homogeneous disk or as a combination of the two (i.e. a 2-phase medium). The dust particles considered are fluffy and have higher submillimeter emissivities than grains in the diffuse ISM. The dust-photon interaction is treated in a fully self-consistent three dimensional radiative transfer code. We provide an AGN library of spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Its purpose is to quickly obtain estimates of the basic parameters of the AGN, such as the intrinsic luminosity of the central source, the viewing angle, the inner radius, the volume filling factor and optical depth of the clouds, and the optical depth of the disk midplane, and to predict the flux at yet unobserved wavelengths. The procedure is simple and consists of finding an element in the library that matches the observations. We discuss the general properties of the models and in particular the 10mic. silicate band. The AGN library accounts well for the observed scatter of the feature strengths and wavelengths of the peak emission. AGN extinction curves are discussed and we find that there is no direct one-to-one link between the observed extinction and the wavelength dependence of the dust cross sections. We show that objects of the library cover the observed range of mid IR colors of known AGN. The validity of the approach is demonstrated by matching the SEDs of a number of representative objects: Four Seyferts and two quasars for which we present new Herschel photometry, two radio galaxies, and one hyperluminous infrared galaxy. Strikingly, for the five luminous objects we find pure AGN models fit the SED without a need to postulate starburst activity.
High angular resolution spectroscopy obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has revealed a remarkable population of galaxies hosting dwarf Seyfert nuclei with an unusually large broad-line region (BLR). These objects are remarkable for two reasons. Firstly, the size of the BLR can, in some cases, rival those seen in the most luminous quasars. Secondly, the size of the BLR is not correlated with the central continuum luminosity, an observation that distinguishes them from their reverberating counterparts. Collectively, these early results suggest that non-reverberating dwarf Seyferts are a heterogeneous group and not simply scaled versions of each other. Careful inspection reveals broad H Balmer emission lines with single peaks, double peaks, and a combination of the two, suggesting that the broad emission lines are produced in kinematically distinct regions centered on the black hole (BH). Because the gravitational field strength is already known for these objects, by virtue of knowing their BH mass, the relationship between velocity and radius may be established, given a kinematic model for the BLR gas. In this way, one can determine the inner and outer radii of the BLRs by modeling the shape of their broad emission line profiles. In the present contribution, high quality spectra obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) are used to constrain the size of the BLR in the dwarf Seyfert nuclei of M81, NGC 3998, NGC 4203, NGC 3227, NGC 4051, and NGC 3516.
In order to observe annihilation and decay of dark matter, several types of potential sources should be considered. Some sources, such as dwarf galaxies, are expected to have very low astrophysical backgrounds but fairly small dark matter densities. Other sources, like the Galactic center, are expected to have larger densities of dark matter but also have more complicated backgrounds from other astrophysical sources. To search for signatures of dark matter, the large field-of-view of the HAWC detector, covering 2 sr at a time, especially enables searches from sources of dark matter annihilation and decay, which are extended over several degrees on the sky. With a sensitivity over 2/3 of the sky, HAWC has the ability to probe a large fraction of the sky for the signals of TeV-mass dark matter. In particular, HAWC should be the most sensitive experiment to signals coming from dark matter with masses greater than 10-100 TeV. We present the HAWC sensitivity to annihilating and decaying dark matter signals for several likely sources of these signals.
We propose a novel approach for the determination of the nature of ultra-high energy cosmic rays by exploiting the geomagnetic deviation of muons in nearly horizontal showers. The distribution of the muons at ground level is well described by a simple parametrization providing a few shape parameters tightly correlated to $X^\mu_\mathrm{max}$, the depth of maximal muon production, which is a mass indicator tightly correlated to the usual parameter $X_\mathrm{max}$, the depth of maximal development of the shower. We show that some constraints can be set on the predictions of hadronic models, especially by combining the geomagnetic distortion with standard measurement of the longitudinal profile. We discuss the precision needed to obtain significant results and we propose a schematic layout of a detector.
The 133.5 nm lines are important observables for the NASA/SMEX mission Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). To make 3D non-LTE radiative transfer computationally feasible it is crucial to have a model atom with as few levels as possible while retaining the main physical processes. We here develop such a model atom and we study the general formation properties of the C II lines. We find that a nine-level model atom of C I-C III with the transitions treated assuming complete frequency redistribution (CRD) suffices to describe the 133.5 nm lines. 3D scattering effects are important for the intensity in the core of the line. The lines are formed in the optically thick regime. The core intensity is formed in layers where the temperature is about 10kK at the base of the transition region. The lines are 1.2-4 times wider than the atomic absorption profile due to the formation in the optically thick regime. The smaller opacity broadening happens for single peak intensity profiles where the chromospheric temperature is low with a steep source function increase into the transition region, the larger broadening happens when there is a temperature increase from the photosphere to the low chromosphere leading to a local source function maximum and a double peak intensity profile with a central reversal. Assuming optically thin formation with the standard coronal approximation leads to several errors: Neglecting photoionization severly underestimates the amount of C II at temperatures below 16kK, erroneously shifts the formation from 10kK to 25kK and leads to too low intensities.
The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory is located at an altitude of 4100 meters in Sierra Negra, Puebla, Mexico. HAWC is an air shower array of 300 water Cherenkov detectors (WCD's), each with 4 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). Because the observatory is sensitive to air showers produced by cosmic rays and gamma rays, one of the main tasks in the analysis of gamma-ray sources is gamma/hadron separation for the suppression of the cosmic-ray background. Currently, HAWC uses a method called compactness for the separation. This method divides the data into 10 bins that depend on the number of PMTs in each event, and each bin has its own value cut. In this work we present a new method which depends continuously on the number of PMTs in the event instead of binning, and therefore uses a single cut for gamma/hadron separation. The method uses a Feedforward Multilayer Perceptron net (MLP) fed with five characteristics of the air shower to create a single output value. We used simulated cosmic-ray and gamma-ray events to find the optimal cut and then applied the technique to data from the Crab Nebula. This new method is tuned on MC and predicts better gamma/hadron separation than the existing one. Preliminary tests on the Crab data are consistent with such an improvement, but in future work it needs to be compared with the full implementation of compactness with selection criteria tuned for each of the data bins.
We present the results of a Keck-ESI study of dwarf galaxies across a range of environment: the Perseus Cluster, the Virgo Cluster, the NGC 1407 group, and the NGC 1023 group. Eighteen dEs are targeted for spectroscopy, three for the first time. We confirm cluster membership for one Virgo dE, and group membership for one dE in the NGC 1023 group, and one dE in the NGC 1407 group for the first time. Regardless of environment, the dEs follow the same size-magnitude and $\sigma$-luminosity relation. Two of the Virgo dwarfs, VCC 1199 and VCC 1627, have among the highest central velocity dispersions ($\sigma_{0}$ = 58.4 km s$^{-1}$ and 49.2 km s$^{-1}$) measured for dwarfs of their luminosity ($M_{R}\approx -17$). Given their small sizes ($R_{e} < 300$ pc) and large central velocity dispersions, we classify these two dwarfs as compact ellipticals rather than dEs. Group dEs typically have higher mean dynamical-to-stellar mass ratios than the cluster dEs, with $M_{dyn}/M_{\star} = 5.1\pm0.6$ for the group dwarfs, vs. $M_{dyn}/M_{\star} = 2.2\pm0.5$ for the cluster sample, which includes two cEs. We also search for trends in $M_{dyn}/M_{\star}$ vs. distance from M87 for the Virgo Cluster population, and find no preference for dwarfs with high values of $M_{dyn}/M_{\star}$ to reside in the cluster outskirts vs. centre.
Fast-spinning strongly-magnetized newborn neutron stars, including nascent magnetars, are popularly implemented as the engine of luminous stellar explosions. Here, we consider the scenario that they power various stripped-envelope supernovae, not only super-luminous supernovae Ic but also broad-line supernova Ibc and possibly some ordinary supernovae Ibc. This scenario is also motivated by the hypothesis that Galactic magnetars largely originate from fast-spinning neutron stars as remnants of stripped-envelope supernovae. By consistently modeling the energy injection from magnetized wind and Ni decay, we show that proto-neutron stars with >~ 10 ms rotation and B_dip >~ 5 x 10^14 G can be harbored in ordinary supernovae Ibc. On the other hand, millisecond proto-neuton stars can solely power broad-line supernovae Ibc if they are born with poloidal magnetic field of B_dip >~ 5 x 10^14 G, and superluminous supernovae Ic with B_dip >~ 10^13 G. Then, we study how multi-messenger emission can be used to discriminate such pulsar-driven supernova models from other competitive scenarios. First, high-energy x-ray and gamma-ray emission from embryonic pulsar wind nebulae is a promising smoking gun of the underlying newborn pulsar wind. Follow-up observation of stripped-envelope supernovae using NuSTAR ~ 50-100 days after the explosion is strongly encouraged for nearby objects. We also discuss possible effects of gravitational-waves on the spin down of proto-neutron stars. If millisecond proto-neutron stars with B_dip <~ a few x 10^13 G emit gravitational waves through e.g., non-axisymmetric rotation deformed by the inner toroidal fields of B_t >~ 10^16 G, the gravitational wave signal can be detectable from ordinary supernova Ibc in the Virgo cluster by Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo, and KAGRA.
iPTF13ehe is a hydrogen-poor superluminous supernova (SLSN) at z=0.3434, with properties similar to SN2007bi. It rises within (83-148)days (rest-frame) to reach a peak bolometric luminosity of 1.3x$10^{44}$erg/s, then decays very slowly at 0.015mag. per day. The measured ejecta velocity is 13000km/s. The inferred explosion characteristics, such as the ejecta mass (67-220$M_\odot$), the total radiative and kinetic energy ($10^{51}$ & 2x$10^{53}$erg respectively), is typical of SLSN-R events. However, the late-time spectrum taken at +251days reveals a Balmer Halpha emission feature with broad and narrow components, which has never been detected before among other H-poor SLSNe. The broad component has a velocity width of ~4500km/s and has a ~300km/s blue-ward shift relative to the narrow component. We interpret this broad Halpha emission line as the interaction between the supernova ejecta and a H-rich circumstellar medium (CSM) shell, located at a distance of ~4x$10^{16}$cm from the explosion site. This ejecta-CSM interaction can produce the observed Halpha luminosity of 2x$10^{41}$erg/s and causes the rest-frame r-band LC to brighten at late times. The fact that the late-time spectra are not completely absorbed by the shock ionized CSM shell implies that its Thomson scattering optical depth is likely <1, thus setting upper limits on the CSM mass <30$M_\odot$ and the volume number density <4x$10^8cm^{-3}$. The early-time spectra do not show any H emission lines from this CSM shell, indicating that most of the H-atoms are already neutral and the shell is optically thin to the visible light. We predict that this shell should produce Lyalpha absorption in the UV spectra. Of the existing models, a Pulsational Pair Instability Supernova model can naturally explain the observed 30$M_\odot$ H-shell, ejected from a progenitor star with an initial mass of (95-150)$M_\odot$ about 40 years ago.
We use 3D radiation magnetohydrodynamic models to investigate how the thermodynamic quantities in the simulation are encoded in observable quantities, thus exploring the diagnostic potential of the 133.5 nm lines. We find that the line core intensity is correlated with the temperature at the formation height but the correlation is rather weak, especially when the lines are strong. The line core Doppler shift is a good measure of the line-of-sight velocity at the formation height. The line width is both dependent on the width of the absorption profile (thermal and non-thermal width) and an opacity broadening factor of 1.2-4 due to the optically thick line formation with a larger broadening for double peak profiles. The 133.5 nm lines can be formed both higher and lower than the core of the Mg II k line depending on the amount of plasma in the 14-50 kK temperature range. More plasma in this temperature range gives a higher 133.5 nm formation height relative to the Mg II k line core. The synthetic line profiles have been compared with IRIS observations. The derived parameters from the simulated line profiles cover the parameter range seen in observations but on average the synthetic profiles are too narrow. We interpret this discrepancy as a combination of a lack of plasma at chromospheric temperatures in the simulation box and too small non-thermal velocities. The large differences in the distribution of properties between the synthetic profiles and the observed ones show that the 133.5 nm lines are powerful diagnostics of the upper chromosphere and lower transition region.
Mach's principle is surely one of those tantalizingly beautiful concepts in
physics which remain elusive. Though General Relativity (GR) was conceived in
the spirit of realizing it, the theory failed to fulfill this expectation.
Here a study on the implications of imposing Mach's principle on GR with an
insight that spacetime has no independent existence without a material
background, is presented. This inclusion of the principle in GR turns out to be
unexpectedly rewarding. The resulting theory solves many mysteries and averts
lingering problems of the conventional forms of GR and cosmology.
Axion like particles (ALPs) are quite generic in many scenarios for physics beyond the Standard Model, they are pseudoscalar Nambu-Goldstone bosons, and appear once any global $U(1)$ symmetry is broken spontaneously. The ALPs can gain mass from various non-perturbative quantum effects, such as anomalies or instantons. ALPs can couple to the matter sector incluidng a scalar condensate such as inflaton or moduli field via derivative interactions, which are suppressed by the axion {\it decay constant}, $f_\chi$ . Although weakly interacting, the ALPs can be produced abundantly from the coherent oscillations of a homogeneous condensate. In this paper we will study such a scenario where the ALPs can be produced abundantly, and in some cases can even overclose the Universe via odd and even dimensional operators, as long as $f_\chi/\Phi_{\rm I} \ll 1$, where $\Phi_{\rm I}$ denotes the initial amplitude of the coherent oscillations of the scalar condensate, $\phi$. We will briefly mention how such dangerous overproduction would affect dark matter and dark radiation abundances in the Universe.
Assuming that curvature perturbations and gravitational waves originally arise from vacuum fluctuations in a matter-dominated phase of contraction, we study the dynamics of the cosmological perturbations evolving through a nonsingular bouncing phase described by a generic single scalar field Lagrangian minimally coupled to Einstein gravity. In order for such a model to be consistent with the current upper limits on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, there must be an enhancement of the curvature fluctuations during the bounce phase. We show that, while it remains possible to enlarge the amplitude of curvature perturbations due to the non-trivial background evolution, this growth is very limited because of the conservation of curvature perturbations on super-Hubble scales. We further perform a general analysis of the evolution of primordial non-Gaussianities through the bounce phase. By studying the general form of the bispectrum we show that the non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ (which is of order unity before the bounce phase) is enhanced during the bounce phase if the curvature fluctuations grow. Hence, in such nonsingular bounce models with matter given by a single scalar field, there appears to be a tension between obtaining a small enough tensor-to-scalar ratio and not obtaining a value of $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ in excess of the current upper bounds. This conclusion may be considered as a "no-go" theorem for single field matter bounce cosmologies starting with vacuum initial conditions for the fluctuations.
We find some new exact cosmological solutions for the covariant scalar-tensor-vector gravity theory, the so-called MOdified Gravity (MOG). The exact solution of the vacuum field equations has been derived. Also, for non vacuum cases we have found some exact solutions with the aid of the Noether symmetry approach. More specifically, the symmetry vector and also the Noether conserved quantity associated to the point-like Lagrangian of the theory have been found. Also we find the exact form of the generic vector field potential of this theory by considering the behavior of the relevant point-like Lagrangian under the infinitesimal generator of the Noether symmetry. Finally, we discuss the cosmological implications of the solutions.
We discuss the 3-window modeling of cold, dense QCD matter equations of state at density relevant to neutron star properties. At low baryon density, n_B < ~ 2n_s (n_s: nuclear saturation density), we utilize purely hadronic equations of state that are constrained by empirical observations at density n_B ~ n_s and neutron star radii. At high density, n_B > ~ 5n_s, we use the percolated quark matter equations of state which must be very stiff to pass the two-solar mass constraints. The intermediate domain at 2 < n_B/n_s < 5 is described as neither purely hadronic nor percolated quark matter, and the equations of state are inferred by interpolating hadronic and percolated quark matter equations of state. Possible forms of the interpolation are severely restricted by the condition on the (square of) speed of sound, 0 < c_s^2 < 1. The characteristics of the 3-window equation of state are compared with those of conventional hybrid and self-bound quark matters. Using a schematic quark model for the percolated domain, it is argued that the two-solar mass constraint requires the model parameters to be as large as their vacuum values, indicating that the gluon dynamics remains strongly non-perturbative to n_B ~ 10n_s. The hyperon puzzle is also briefly discussed in light of quark descriptions.
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We present an analysis of multi-wavelength observations from various datasets and Galactic plane surveys to study the star formation process in the W42 complex. A bipolar appearance of W42 complex is evident due to the ionizing feedback from the O5-O6 type star in a medium that is highly inhomogeneous. The VLT/NACO adaptive-optics K and L' images (resolutions ~0".2-0".1) resolved this ionizing source into multiple point-like sources below ~5000 AU scale. The position angle ~15 deg of W42 molecular cloud is consistent with the H-band starlight mean polarization angle which in turn is close to the Galactic magnetic field, suggesting the influence of Galactic field on the evolution of the W42 molecular cloud. Herschel sub-millimeter data analysis reveals three clumps located along the waist axis of the bipolar nebula, with the peak column densities of ~3-5 x10^{22} cm^{-2} corresponding to visual extinctions of AV ~32-53.5 mag. The Herschel temperature map traces a temperature gradient in W42, revealing regions of 20 K, 25 K, and 30-36 K. Herschel maps reveal embedded filaments (length ~1-3 pc) which appear to be radially pointed to the denser clump associated with the O5-O6 star, forming a hub-filament system. 512 candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) are identified in the complex, ~40% of which are present in clusters distributed mainly within the molecular cloud including the Herschel filaments. Our datasets suggest that the YSO clusters including the massive stars are located at the junction of the filaments, similar to those seen in Rosette Molecular Cloud.
Astro-H will be the first X-ray observatory to employ a high-resolution microcalorimeter, capable of measuring the shift and width of individual spectral lines to the precision necessary for estimating the velocity of the diffuse plasma in galaxy clusters. This new capability is expected to bring significant progress in understanding the dynamics, and therefore the physics, of the intracluster medium. However, because this plasma is optically thin, projection effects will be an important complicating factor in interpreting future Astro-H measurements. To study these effects in detail, we performed an analysis of the velocity field from simulations of a galaxy cluster experiencing gas sloshing, and generated synthetic X-ray spectra, convolved with model Astro-H Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) responses. We find that the sloshing motions produce velocity signatures that will be observable by Astro-H in nearby clusters: the shifting of the line centroid produced by the fast-moving cold gas underneath the front surface, and line broadening produced by the smooth variation of this motion along the line of sight. The line shapes arising from inviscid or strongly viscous simulations are very similar, indicating that placing constraints on the gas viscosity from these measurements will be difficult. Our spectroscopic analysis demonstrates that, for adequate exposures, Astro-H will be able to recover the first two moments of the velocity distribution of these motions accurately, and in some cases multiple velocity components may be discerned. The simulations also confirm the importance of accurate treatment of PSF scattering in the interpretation of Astro-H/SXS spectra of cluster plasmas.
We explored a method to reconstruct the distribution function of the Galactic thick disc within the action space where nearby thick-disc stars are distributed. By applying this method to 127 chemically-selected thick-disc stars in the Solar neighbourhood, we found that the vertical velocity dispersion that corresponds to the reconstructed distribution function declines approximately as $\exp (-R/R_s)$ at 4.5 kpc < R < 9.5 kpc, with $R_s$ = 8.3 $\pm$ 1.1 (rand.) $\pm$ 1.6 (sys.) kpc. Also, we found that the vertical velocity dispersion $\sigma_z$ of our local thick-disc stars shows only weak dependency on radial and azimuthal velocities $(v_R, v_\phi)$. We discuss possible implications of these results on the global structure of the Milky Way thick disc.
In this work we study the effects of strong magnetic fields on hybrid stars by using a full general-relativity approach, solving the coupled Maxwell-Einstein equation in a self-consistent way. The magnetic field is assumed to be axi-symmetric and poloidal. We take into consideration the anisotropy of the energy-momentum tensor due to the magnetic field, magnetic field effects on equation of state, the interaction between matter and the magnetic field (magnetization), and the anomalous magnetic moment of the hadrons. The equation of state used is an extended hadronic and quark SU(3) non-linear realization of the sigma model that describes magnetized hybrid stars containing nucleons, hyperons and quarks. According to our results, the effects of the magnetization and the magnetic field on the EoS do not play an important role on global properties of these stars. On the other hand, the magnetic field causes the central density in these objects to be reduced, inducing major changes in the populated degrees of freedom and, potentially, converting a hybrid star into a hadronic star.
We present the first study to synthesize results from five different exoplanet surveys using three independent detection methods: microlensing, radial velocity, and direct imaging. The constraints derived herein represent the most comprehensive picture of the demographics of large-separation (>~ 2 AU) planets orbiting the most common stars in our Galaxy that has been constructed to date. We assume a simple, joint power-law planet distribution function of the form d^2N_{pl}/[dlog(m_p)dlog(a)] = A(m_p/M_{Sat})^{alpha}(a/2.5 AU)^{beta} with an outer cutoff radius of the separation distribution function of a_{out}. Generating populations of planets from these models and mapping them into the relevant observables for each survey, we use actual or estimated detection sensitivities to determine the expected observations for each survey. Comparing with the reported results, we derive constraints on the parameters {alpha, beta, A, a_{out}} that describe a single population of planets that is simultaneously consistent with the results of microlensing, RV, and direct imaging surveys. We find median and 68% confindence intervals of alpha = -0.86^{+0.21}_{-0.19} (-0.85^{+0.21}_{-0.19}), beta = 1.1^{+1.9}_{-1.4} (1.1^{+1.9}_{-1.3}), A = 0.21^{+0.20}_{-0.15} dex^{-2} (0.21^{+0.20}_{-0.15} dex^{-2}), and a_{out} = 10^{+26}_{-4.7} AU (12^{+50}_{-6.2} AU) assuming "hot-start" ("cold-start") planet evolutionary models. These values are consistent with all current knowledge of planets on orbits beyond ~2 AU around M dwarfs.
We present HSIM: a dedicated pipeline for simulating observations with the HARMONI integral field spectrograph on the European Extremely Large Telescope. HSIM takes high spectral and spatial resolution input data-cubes, encoding physical descriptions of astrophysical sources, and generates mock observed data-cubes. The simulations incorporate detailed models of the sky, telescope and instrument to produce realistic mock data. Further, we employ a new method of incorporating the strongly wavelength dependent adaptive optics point spread functions. HSIM provides a step beyond traditional exposure time calculators and allows us to both predict the feasibility of a given observing programme with HARMONI, as well as perform instrument design trade-offs. In this paper we concentrate on quantitative measures of the feasibility of planned observations. We give a detailed description of HSIM and present two studies: estimates of point source sensitivities along with simulations of star-forming emission-line galaxies at $z\sim 2-3$. We show that HARMONI will provide exquisite resolved spectroscopy of these objects on sub-kpc scales, probing and deriving properties of individual star-forming regions.
We present the Kepler photometric light-variation analysis of the late-type double-lined binary system V568 Lyr that is in the field of the high metallicity old open cluster NGC 6791. The radial velocity and the high-quality short-cadence light curve of the system are analysed simultaneously. The masses, radii and luminosities of the component stars are $M_1 = 1.0886\pm0.0031\, M{\odot}$, $M_2 = 0.8292 \pm 0.0026\, M{\odot}$, $R_1 = 1.4203\pm 0.0058\, R{\odot}$, $R_2 = 0.7997 \pm 0.0015\, R{\odot}$, $L_1 = 1.85\pm 0.15\, L{\odot}$, $L_2 = 0.292 \pm 0.018\, L{\odot}$ and their separation is $a = 31.060 \pm 0.002\, R{\odot}$. The distance to NGC 6791 is determined to be $4.260\pm 0.290\,$kpc by analysis of this binary system. We fit the components of this well-detached binary system with evolution models made with the Cambridge STARS and TWIN codes to test low-mass binary star evolution. We find a good fit with a metallicity of $Z = 0.04$ and an age of $7.704\,$Gyr. The standard tidal dissipation, included in TWIN is insufficient to arrive at the observed circular orbit unless it formed rather circular to begin with.
Scattered light images of transition discs in the near-infrared often show non-axisymmetric structures in the form of wide-open spiral arms in addition to their characteristic low-opacity inner gap region. We study self-gravitating discs and investigate the influence of gravitational instability on the shape and contrast of spiral arms induced by planet-disc interactions. Two-dimensional non-isothermal hydrodynamical simulations including viscous heating and a cooling prescription are combined with three-dimensional dust continuum radiative transfer models for direct comparison to observations. We find that the resulting contrast between the spirals and the surrounding disc in scattered light is by far higher for pressure scale height variations, i.e. thermal perturbations, than for pure surface density variations. Self-gravity effects suppress any vortex modes and tend to reduce the opening angle of planet-induced spirals, making them more tightly wound. If the disc is only marginally gravitationally stable with a Toomre parameter around unity, an embedded massive planet (planet-to-star mass ratio of $10^{-2}$) can trigger gravitational instability in the outer disc. The spirals created by this instability and the density waves launched by the planet can overlap resulting in large-scale, more open spiral arms in the outer disc. The contrast of these spirals is well above the detection limit of current telescopes.
The deepest XMM-Newton mosaic map of the central 1.5 deg of the Galaxy is presented, including a total of about 1.5 Ms of EPIC-pn cleaned exposures in the central 15" and about 200 ks outside. This compendium presents broad-band X-ray continuum maps, soft X-ray intensity maps, a decomposition into spectral components and a comparison of the X-ray maps with emission at other wavelengths. Newly-discovered extended features, such as supernova remnants (SNRs), superbubbles and X-ray filaments are reported. We provide an atlas of extended features within +-1 degree of Sgr A*. We discover the presence of a coherent X-ray emitting region peaking around G0.1-0.1 and surrounded by the ring of cold, mid-IR-emitting material known from previous work as the "Radio Arc Bubble" and with the addition of the X-ray data now appears to be a candidate superbubble. Sgr A's bipolar lobes show sharp edges, suggesting that they could be the remnant, collimated by the circumnuclear disc, of a SN explosion that created the recently discovered magnetar, SGR J1745-2900. Soft X-ray features, most probably from SNRs, are observed to fill holes in the dust distribution, and to indicate a direct interaction between SN explosions and Galactic center (GC) molecular clouds. We also discover warm plasma at high Galactic latitude, showing a sharp edge to its distribution that correlates with the location of known radio/mid-IR features such as the "GC Lobe". These features might be associated with an inhomogeneous hot "atmosphere" over the GC, perhaps fed by continuous or episodic outflows of mass and energy from the GC region.
We demonstrate a new statistical method of determining the global photometric properties of the Milky Way (MW) to an unprecedented degree of accuracy, allowing our Galaxy to be compared directly to objects measured in extragalactic surveys. Capitalizing on the high-quality imaging and spectroscopy dataset from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we exploit the inherent dependence of galaxies' luminosities and colors on their total stellar mass, $\mathrm{M}_\star$, and star formation rate (SFR), $\mathrm{\dot{M}}_\star$, by selecting a sample of $Milky$ $Way$ $analog$ $galaxies$ designed to reproduce the best Galactic $\mathrm{M}_\star$ and $\mathrm{\dot{M}}_\star$ measurements, including all measurement uncertainties. Making the Copernican assumption that the MW is not extraordinary amongst galaxies of similar stellar mass and SFR, we then analyze the photometric properties of this matched sample, constraining the characteristics of our Galaxy without suffering interference from interstellar dust. We explore a variety of potential systematic errors that could affect this method, and find that they are subdominant to random uncertainties. We present both SDSS $ugriz$ absolute magnitudes and colors in both rest-frame $z$=0 and $z$=0.1 passbands for the MW, which are in agreement with previous estimates but can have up to $\sim$3$\times$ lower errors. We find the MW to have absolute magnitude $^0\!M_r-5\log h=-21.00_{-0.37}^{+0.38}$ and integrated color $^0(g-r)=0.682_{-0.056}^{+0.066}$, indicating that it may belong to the green-valley region in color-magnitude space and ranking it amongst the brightest and reddest of spiral galaxies. We also present new estimates of global stellar mass-to-light ratios for our Galaxy. This work will help relate our in-depth understanding of the Galaxy to studies of more distant objects.
We present a catalog of sources detected above 50 GeV by the {\it Fermi}-Large Area Telescope (LAT) in 80 months of data. The newly delivered Pass 8 event-level analysis allows the detection and characterization of sources in the 50 GeV--2 TeV energy range. In this energy band, {\it Fermi}-LAT has detected 360 sources, which constitute the second catalog of hard {\it Fermi}-LAT sources (2FHL). The improved angular resolution enables the precise localization of point sources ($\sim$1.7$'$ radius at 68 % C.~L.) and the detection and characterization of spatially extended sources. We find that 86 % of the sources can be associated with counterparts at other wavelengths, of which the majority (75 %) are active galactic nuclei and the rest (11 %) are Galactic sources. Only 25 % of the 2FHL sources have been previously detected by Cherenkov telescopes, implying that the 2FHL provides a reservoir of candidates to be followed up at very high energies. This work closes the energy gap between the observations performed at GeV energies by {\it Fermi}-LAT on orbit and the observations performed at higher energies by Cherenkov telescopes from the ground.
We have developed a self-consistent description of the radiation heat transfer and dynamics of large perfectly black spherical bodies with sizes much greater than the characteristic wavelength of radiation moving in a photon gas with relativistic velocity. The results can be important in astrophysics.
We study the ionization and kinematics of the ionized gas in the nuclear region of the barred Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC~5643 using MUSE integral field observations in the framework of the MAGNUM (Measuring Active Galactic Nuclei Under MUSE Microscope) survey. The data were used to identify regions with different ionization conditions and to map the gas density and the dust extinction. We find evidence for a double sided ionization cone, possibly collimated by a dusty structure surrounding the nucleus. At the center of the ionization cone, outflowing ionized gas is revealed as a blueshifted, asymmetric wing of the [OIII] emission line, up to projected velocity v(10)~-450 km/s. The outflow is also seen as a diffuse, low luminosity radio and X-ray jet, with similar extension. The outflowing material points in the direction of two clumps characterized by prominent line emission with spectra typical of HII regions, located at the edge of the dust lane of the bar. We propose that the star formation in the clumps is due to `positive feedback' induced by gas compression by the nuclear outflow, providing the first candidate for outflow induced star formation in a Seyfert-like radio quiet AGN. This suggests that positive feedback may be a relevant mechanism in shaping the black hole-host galaxy coevolution.
The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory is a wide field-of-view observatory sensitive to 100 GeV - 100 TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays. The HAWC observatory is also sensitive to diverse indirect searches for dark matter annihilation, including annihilation from extended dark matter sources, the diffuse gamma-ray emission from dark matter annihilation, and gamma-ray emission from non-luminous dark matter subhalos. Among the most promising classes of objects for the indirect detection of dark matter are dwarf spheroidal galaxies. These objects are expected to have few astrophysical sources of gamma rays but high dark matter content, making them ideal candidates for an indirect dark matter detection with gamma rays. Here we present independent limits on the annihilation cross section for 14 dwarf spheroidal galaxies within the HAWC field-of-view, as well as their combined limit. These are the first limits on the annihilation cross section using data collected with HAWC.
As part of the SDSS-IV the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) will perform measurements of the cosmological distance scale via application of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) method to samples of quasars and galaxies. Quasar surveys are particularly useful in the BAO context as they can trace extremely large volumes back to moderately high redshift. eBOSS will adopt two approaches to target quasars over a 7500 sq. deg. area. First, z > 2.1 quasars will be targeted to improve BAO measurements in the Lyman-Alpha Forest. Second, a homogeneously selected "CORE" sample of quasars at 0.9 < z < 2.2 will be targeted to yield the first few-%-level BAO constraint near z~1.5. eBOSS CORE quasar targeting will combine optical selection in ugriz using a likelihood-based routine called XDQSOz, with a mid-IR-optical color-cut. A spectroscopic survey of ~300 sq. deg. of eBOSS targets shows that eBOSS CORE selection (to g < 22 OR r < 22) should return ~70 per sq. deg. 0.9 < z < 2.2 quasars and ~7 per sq. deg. z > 2.1 quasars. A supplemental selection based on variability of quasars in multi-epoch imaging from the Palomar Transient Factory should recover an additional ~3-4 per sq. deg. z > 2.1 quasars to g < 22.5. Regression tests demonstrate that a linear model of the effects of imaging systematics on target density can recover the angular distribution of CORE quasars over 96.7% (76.7%) of the SDSS North (South) Galactic Cap area. eBOSS is completely robust to changes in quasar target density due to imprecision in imaging zero points. Beyond its key cosmological goals, eBOSS should be the next-generation quasar survey, ultimately comprising > 500,000 new spectroscopically confirmed quasars and > 500,000 uniformly selected spectroscopically confirmed 0.9 < z < 2.2 quasars. At the conclusion of SDSS-IV, the SDSS will have provided unique spectra of over 800,000 quasars.
The Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) will conduct novel cosmological observations using the BOSS spectrograph at Apache Point Observatory. Observations will be simultaneous with the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS) designed for variability studies and the Spectroscopic Identification of eROSITA Sources (SPIDERS) program designed for studies of X-ray sources. eBOSS will use four different tracers to measure the distance-redshift relation with baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter. Using more than 250,000 new, spectroscopically confirmed luminous red galaxies at a median redshift z=0.72, we project that eBOSS will yield measurements of $d_A(z)$ to an accuracy of 1.2% and measurements of H(z) to 2.1% when combined with the z>0.6 sample of BOSS galaxies. With ~195,000 new emission line galaxy redshifts, we expect BAO measurements of $d_A(z)$ to an accuracy of 3.1% and H(z) to 4.7% at an effective redshift of z= 0.87. A sample of more than 500,000 spectroscopically-confirmed quasars will provide the first BAO distance measurements over the redshift range 0.9<z<2.2, with expected precision of 2.8% and 4.2% on $d_A(z)$ and H(z), respectively. Finally, with 60,000 new quasars and re-observation of 60,000 quasars known from BOSS, we will obtain new Lyman-alpha forest measurements at redshifts z>2.1; these new data will enhance the precision of $d_A(z)$ and H(z) by a factor of 1.44 relative to BOSS. Furthermore, eBOSS will provide new tests of General Relativity on cosmological scales through redshift-space distortion measurements, new tests for non-Gaussianity in the primordial density field, and new constraints on the summed mass of all neutrino species. Here, we provide an overview of the cosmological goals, spectroscopic target sample, demonstration of spectral quality from early data, and projected cosmological constraints from eBOSS.
The nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC5253 hosts a number of young, massive star clusters, the two youngest of which are centrally concentrated and surrounded by thermal radio emission (the `radio nebula'). To investigate the role of these clusters in the starburst energetics, we combine new and archival Hubble Space Telescope images of NGC5253 with wavelength coverage from 1500 Ang to 1.9 micron in 13 filters. These include H-alpha, P-beta, and P-alpha, and the imaging from the Hubble Treasury Program LEGUS (Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey). The extraordinarily well-sampled spectral energy distributions enable modeling with unprecedented accuracy the ages, masses, and extinctions of the 9 optically brightest clusters (M_V < -8.8) and the two young radio nebula clusters. The clusters have ages ~1-15 Myr and masses ~1x10^4 - 2.5x10^5 M_sun. The clusters' spatial location and ages indicate that star formation has become more concentrated towards the radio nebula over the last ~15 Myr. The most massive cluster is in the radio nebula; with a mass 2.5x10^5 M_sun and an age ~1 Myr, it is 2-4 times less massive and younger than previously estimated. It is within a dust cloud with A_V~50 mag, and shows a clear nearIR excess, likely from hot dust. The second radio nebula cluster is also ~1 Myr old, confirming the extreme youth of the starburst region. These two clusters account for about half of the ionizing photon rate in the radio nebula, and will eventually supply about 2/3 of the mechanical energy in present-day shocks. Additional sources are required to supply the remaining ionizing radiation, and may include very massive stars.
We describe the algorithm used to select the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample for the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV) using photometric data from both the SDSS and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). LRG targets are required to meet a set of color selection criteria and have z-band and i-band MODEL magnitudes z < 19.95 and 19.9 < i < 21.8, respectively. Our algorithm selects roughly 50 LRG targets per square degree, the great majority of which lie in the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1.0 (median redshift 0.71). We demonstrate that our methods are highly effective at eliminating stellar contamination and lower-redshift galaxies. We perform a number of tests using spectroscopic data from SDSS-III/BOSS to determine the redshift reliability of our target selection and its ability to meet the science requirements of eBOSS. The SDSS spectra are of high enough signal-to-noise ratio that at least 89% of the target sample yields secure redshift measurements. We also present tests of the uniformity and homogeneity of the sample, demonstrating that it should be clean enough for studies of the large-scale structure of the universe at higher redshifts than SDSS-III/BOSS LRGs reached.
The recently completed High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory has been taking data with a partial array for more than one year and is now operating with >95% duty cycle in its full configuration. With an instantaneous field of view of 2 sr, two-thirds of the sky is surveyed every day at gamma-ray energies between approximately 100 GeV and 100 TeV. Any source location in the field of view can be monitored each day, with an exposure of up to $\sim$ 6 hours. These unprecedented observational capabilities allow us to continuously scan the highly variable extra-galactic gamma-ray sky. By monitoring the flaring behavior of Active Galactic Nuclei we aim to significantly increase the observational data base for characterizing particle acceleration mechanisms in these sources and for studying cosmological properties like the extra-galactic background light. In this work we present first studies of data taken between June 2013 and July 2014 with a partial array configuration. Flux light curves, binned in week-long intervals, for the TeV-emitting blazars Markarian 421 and 501 are discussed with respect to indications of flaring states and we highlight coincident multi-wavelength observations. Results for both sources show indications of gamma-ray flare observations and demonstrate that a water Cherenkov detector can monitor TeV-scale variability of extra-galactic sources on weekly time scales. The analysis methods presented here can provide daily flux measurements with a minimum time interval of one transit and will be applied to new data from the completed HAWC array for monitoring of blazars and other transients.
We test a particular theory of dark matter in which dark matter axions form ring "caustics" in the plane of the Milky Way against actual observations of Milky Way stars. According to this theory, cold, collisionless dark matter particles with angular momentum flow in and out of the Milky Way on sheets. These flows form caustic rings (at the positions of the rings, the density of the flow is formally infinite) at the locations of closest approach to the Galactic center. We show that the caustic ring dark matter theory reproduces a roughly logarithmic halo, with large perturbations near the rings. We show that the theory can reasonably match the observed rotation curve of the Milky Way. We explore the effects of the caustic rings on dwarf galaxy tidal disruption using N-body simulations. In particular, simulations of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy tidal disruption in a caustic ring halo potential match observations of the trailing tidal tail as far as 90 kpc from the Galactic center; they do not, however, match the leading tidal tail. None of the caustic ring, NFW, or triaxial logarithmic halos fit all of the data. The source code for calculating the acceleration due to a caustic ring halo has been made publicly available in the NEMO Stellar Dynamics Toolbox and the Milkyway@home client repository.
It is crucial to determine masses and radii of extrasolar planets with high precision to have constraints on their chemical composition, internal structure and thereby their formation and evolution. In order to achieve this goal, we apply the defocus technique in the observations of selected planetary systems with the 1 m Turkish telescope T100 in TUBITAK National Observatory (TUG). With this contribution, we aim to present preliminary analyses of transit light curves of the selected exoplanets KELT-3b, HAT-P-10b/WASP-11b, HAT-P-20b, and HAT-P-22b, observed with this technique using T100.
Due to the chaotic nature of the Solar System, the question of its dynamic long-term stability can only be answered in a statistical sense, e.g. based on numerical ensemble integrations of nearby orbits. Destabilization, including catastrophic encounters and/or collisions involving the Earth, has been suggested to be initiated through a large increase in Mercury's eccentricity (eM), with an estimated probability of ~1%. However, it has recently been shown that the statistics of numerical Solar System integrations are sensitive to the accuracy and type of numerical algorithm. Here I report results from computationally demanding ensemble integrations (N=1,600 with slightly different initial conditions) at unprecedented accuracy based on the full equations of motion of the eight planets and Pluto over 5Gyr, including contributions from general relativity. The standard symplectic algorithm produced spurious results for highly eccentric orbits and during close encounters, which were hence integrated with a suitable Bulirsch-Stoer algorithm, specifically designed for these situations. The present study yields odds for a large increase in Mercury's eccentricity that are less than previous estimates. Strikingly, in two solutions Mercury continued on highly eccentric orbits (after reaching eM values >0.93) for 80-100Myr before colliding with Venus or the Sun. Most importantly, none of the 1,600 solutions led to a close encounter involving the Earth or a destabilization of Earth's orbit in the future. I conclude that Earth's orbit is dynamically highly stable for billions of years, despite the chaotic behavior of the Solar System.
We present the results from the analysis of the broad-band X-ray spectra of 5 Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) and Soft $\gamma$-ray Repeaters (SGRs). We fit their Suzaku and INTEGRAL spectra with models appropriate for the X-ray emission from the accretion flow onto a pulsar. We find that their X-ray spectra can be well described with this model. In particular we find that: (a) the radius of the accretion column is $\sim150-350$ m resulting in a transverse optical depth of $\sim 1$; (b) the vertical Thompson optical depth is $\approx 50-400$, and (c) their luminosity translates in accretion rates $\approx10^{15}\rm{g\, s^{-1}}$. These results are in good agreement with the predictions from the fall-back disk model, providing further support in the interpretation of AXPs and SGRs as accreting pulsars.
A good model of the Galactic magnetic field is crucial for estimating the Galactic contribution in dark matter and CMB-cosmology studies, determining the sources of UHECRs, and also modeling the transport of Galactic CRs since the halo field provides an important escape route for by diffusion along its field lines. We briefly review the observational foundations of the Jansson-Farrar 2012 model for the large scale structure of the GMF, underscoring the robust evidence for a N-to-S directed, spiraling halo field. New results on the lensing effect of the GMF on UHECRs are presented, displaying multiple images and dramatic magnification and demagnification that varies with source direction and CR rigidity.
We study conditions for formation of recollimation shocks in jets interacting with stellar winds in high-mass X-ray binaries. We show the existence of a critical jet power, dependent on the wind rate and velocity and the jet velocity, above which a recollimation shock is not formed. For the jet power below critical, we derive the location of the shock. We test these prediction by 3-D numerical simulations, which confirm the existence and the value of the critical power. We apply our results to Cyg X-1 and Cyg X-3.
In this study, an interplanetary space flight mission design is established to obtain the minimum \(\Delta V\) required for a rendezvous and sample return mission from an asteroid. Given the initial (observed) conditions of an asteroid, a (robust) genetic algorithm is implemented to determine the optimal choice of \(\Delta V\) required for the rendezvous. Robustness of the optimum solution is demonstrated through incorporated bounded-uncertainties in the outbound \(\Delta V\) maneuver via genetic fitness function. The improved algorithm results in a solution with improved robustness and reduced sensitivity to propulsive errors in the outbound maneuver. This is achieved over a solution optimized solely on \(\Delta V\), while keeping the increase in \(\Delta V\) to a minimum, as desired. Outcomes of the analysis provide significant results in terms of improved robustness in asteroid rendezvous missions.
We present a weak-lensing analysis for the merging galaxy cluster, CIZA J2242.8+5301, hosting double radio relics, using three-band Subaru/Suprime-Cam imaging ($Br'z'$). Since the lifetime of dark matter halos colliding into clusters is longer than that of X-ray emitting gas halos, weak-lensing analysis is a powerful method to constrain a merger dynamics. Two-dimensional shear fitting using a clean background catalog suggests that the cluster undergoes a merger with a mass ratio of about 2:1. The main halo is located around the gas core in the southern region, while no concentrated gas core is associated with the northern sub halo. We find that the projected cluster mass distribution resulting from an unequal-mass merger is in excellent agreement with the curved shapes of the two radio relics and the overall X-ray morphology except for the lack of the northern gas core. The lack of a prominent radio halo enables us to constrain an upper limit of the fractional energy of magneto-hydrodynamics turbulence of $(\delta B/B)^2<\mathcal{O}(10^{-6})$ at a resonant wavenumber, by a balance between the acceleration time and the time after the core passage or the cooling time, with an assumption of resonant acceleration by second-order Fermi process.
The morphology of the circumnuclear gas accreting onto supermassive black holes in Seyfert galaxies remains a topic of much debate. As the innermost regions of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are spatially unresolved, X-ray spectroscopy, and in particular line-of-sight absorption variability, is a key diagnostic to map out the distribution of gas. Observations of variable X-ray absorption in multiple Seyferts and over a wide range of timescales indicate the presence of clumps/clouds of gas within the circumnuclear material. Eclipse events by clumps transiting the line of sight allow us to explore the properties of the clumps over a wide range of radial distances from the optical/UV Broad Line Region (BLR) to beyond the dust sublimation radius. Time-resolved absorption events have been extremely rare so far, but suggest a range of density profiles across Seyferts. We resolve a weeks-long absorption event in the Seyfert NGC 3227. We examine six Suzaku and twelve Swift observations from a 2008 campaign spanning 5 weeks. We use a model accounting for the complex spectral interplay of three differently-ionized absorbers. We perform time-resolved spectroscopy to discern the absorption variability behavior. We also examine the IR-to-X-ray spectral energy distribution (SED) to test for reddening by dust. The 2008 absorption event is due to moderately-ionized ($\log \xi\sim 1.2-1.4$) gas covering 90% of the line of sight. We resolve the density profile to be highly irregular, in contrast to a previous symmetric and centrally-peaked event mapped with RXTE in the same object. The UV data do not show significant reddening, suggesting that the cloud is dust-free. The 2008 campaign has revealed a transit by a filamentary, moderately-ionized cloud of variable density that is likely located in the BLR, and possibly part of a disk wind.
We use ACE/SWICS elemental composition data to compare the variations in solar wind fractionation as measured by SWICS during the last solar maximum (1999-2001), the solar minimum (2006-2009) and the period in which the Genesis spacecraft was collecting solar wind (late 2001 - early 2004). We differentiate our analysis in terms of solar wind regimes (i.e. originating from interstream or coronal hole flows, or coronal mass ejecta). Abundances are normalized to the low-FIP ion magnesium to uncover correlations that are not apparent when normalizing to high-FIP ions. We find that relative to magnesium, the other low-FIP elements are measurably fractionated, but the degree of fractionation does not vary significantly over the solar cycle. For the high-FIP ions, variation in fractionation over the solar cycle is significant: greatest for Ne/Mg and C/Mg, less so for O/Mg, and the least for He/Mg. When abundance ratios are examined as a function of solar wind speed, we find a strong correlation, with the remarkable observation that the degree of fractionation follows a mass-dependent trend. We discuss the implications for correcting the Genesis sample return results to photospheric abundances.
We study the equations for the evolution of cosmological perturbations in $f\left(\mathcal{R}\right)$ and conclude that this modified gravity model can be expressed as a dark energy fluid at background and linearised perturbation order. By eliminating the extra scalar degree of freedom known to be present in such theories, we are able to characterise the evolution of the perturbations in the scalar sector in terms of equations of state for the entropy perturbation and anisotropic stress which are written in terms of the density and velocity perturbations of the dark energy fluid and those in the matter, or the metric perturbations. We also do the same in the much simpler vector and tensor sectors. In order to illustrate the simplicity of this formulation, we numerically evolve perturbations in a small number of cases.
We discuss the observational evidences of the morphological transformation of Spirals into S0 galaxies in the cluster environment exploiting two big databases of galaxy clusters: WINGS (0.04 < z < 0.07) and EDisCS (0.4 < z < 0.8). The most important results are: 1) the average number of S0 galaxies in clusters is almost a factor of $\sim 3 - 4$ larger today than at redshift $z \sim 1$; 2) the fraction of S0's to Spirals increases on average by a factor $\sim$ 2 every Gyr; 3) the average rate of transformation for Spirals (not considering the infall of new galaxies from the cosmic web) is: $\sim$ 5 Sp into S0's per Gyr and $\sim$ 2 Sp into E's per Gyr; 4) there are evidences that the interstellar gas of Spirals is stripped by an hot intergalactic medium; 5) there are also indirect hints that major/minor merging events have played a role in the transformation of Spiral galaxies. In particular, we show that: 1) the ratio between the number of S0's and Spirals (NS0/NSp) in the WINGS clusters is correlated with their X-ray luminosity $L_X$ ; 2) that the brightest and massive S0's are always close to the cluster center; 3) that the mean Sersic index of S0's is always larger than that of Spirals (and lower than E's) for galaxy stellar masses above $10^9.5$ Msun; 4) that the number of E's in clusters cannot be constant; 5) that the largest difference between the mean mass of S0's and E's with respect to Spirals is observed in clusters with low velocity dispersion. Finally, by comparing the properties of the various morphological types for galaxies in clusters and in the field, we find that the most significant effect of the environment is the stripping of the outer galaxy regions, resulting in a systematic difference in effective radius and Sersic index.
MAGIC is a system of two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes located on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain. During summer 2011 and 2012 it underwent a major upgrade. The main subsystems upgraded were the MAGIC-I camera and its trigger system and the readout system of both telescopes. We use observations of the Crab Nebula taken at low and medium zenith angles to assess the key performance parameters of the MAGIC stereo system. For low zenith angle observations, the standard trigger threshold of the MAGIC telescopes is about 50 GeV. The integral sensitivity for point-like sources with Crab Nebula-like spectra above 220 GeV is (0.66 +/- 0.03)% of Crab Nebula flux in 50 h of observations. The angular resolution, defined as the sigma of a 2-dimensional Gaussian distribution, at energies of a few hundred GeV is below 0.07degree, while the energy resolution is around 16%. We investigate the effect of the systematic uncertainty on the data taken with the MAGIC telescopes after the upgrade. We estimate that the systematic uncertainties can be divided in the following components: < 15% in energy scale, 11 - 18% in flux normalization and +/-0.15 for the slope of the energy spectrum.
QSO B0218+357 is a blazar located at a cosmological redshift of z=0.944. It is gravitationally lensed by a spiral galaxy at a redshift of z=0.68. The blazar and its lens are well studied in the radio through X-ray bands, and several blazar outbursts were detected by Fermi-LAT at energies above 100 MeV. Strong gravitational lensing was invoked to explain the two components appar- ent in the radio and GeV light curves, separated by 10-12 days. In July 2014 another outburst was observed by Fermi-LAT, triggering follow-up observations with the MAGIC telescopes at energies above 100 GeV. The observations were scheduled at the expected time of arrival of the component delayed by the strong gravitational field of the lens, resulting in a firm detection of QSO B0218+357. Using the combined Fermi-LAT and MAGIC data sets, we report on variability of this unique blazar, the most distant among all currently known very high energy sources.
The newly established luminosity functions of high-z galaxies at $4 \lesssim z \lesssim 10$ can provide a stringent check on dark matter models that aim to explain the core properties of dwarf galaxies. The cores of dwarf spheroidal galaxies are understood to be too large to be accounted for by free streaming of warm dark matter without overly suppressing the formation of such galaxies. Here we demonstrate with cosmological simulations that wave dark matter, $\psi$DM, appropriate for light bosons such as axions, does not suffer this problem, given a boson mass of $m_{\psi} \ge 1.2 \times 10^{-22}{\,\rm eV}$ ($2\sigma$). In this case, the halo mass function is suppressed below $\sim 10^{10}{\,M_\odot}$ at a level that is consistent with the high-z luminosity functions, while simultaneously generating the kpc-scale cores in dwarf galaxies arising from the solitonic ground state in $\psi$DM. We demonstrate that the reionization history in this scenario is consistent with the Thomson optical depth recently reported by Planck, assuming a reasonable ionizing photon production rate. We show that for galaxies magnified $\mathord{>}10\times$ in the Hubble Frontier Fields, $\psi$DM predicts an order of magnitude fewer detections than cold dark matter at $z \gtrsim 10$ down to an intrinsic UV luminosity of $M_{\rm UV} \sim -15$, allowing us to distinguish between these very different interpretations for the observed coldness of dark matter.
URAT1 is an observational, astrometric catalog covering most of the Dec >= -15 deg area and a magnitude range of about R = 3 to 18.5. Accurate positions (typically 10 to 30 mas standard error) are given for over 228 million objects at a mean epoch around 2013.5. For the over 188 million objects matched with the 2MASS point source catalog proper motions (typically 5 to 7 mas/yr std. errors) are provided. These data are supplemented by 2MASS and APASS photometry. Observations, reductions and catalog construction are described together with results from external data verifications. The catalog data are served by CDS, Starsbourg (I/329). There is no DVD release.
A number of Kepler planet pairs lie just wide of first-order mean motion resonances (MMRs). Tides have been frequently proposed to explain these pileups, but it is still an ongoing discussion. We contribute to this discussion by calculating an optimistic theoretical estimate on the minimum initial eccentricity required by Kepler planets to explain the current observed spacing, and compliment these calculations with N-body simulations. In particular, we investigate 27 Kepler systems having planets within 6% of the 2:1 MMR, and find that the initial eccentricities required to explain the observed spacings are unreasonable from simple dynamical arguments. Furthermore, our numerical simulations reveal resonant tugging, an effect which conspires against the migration of resonant planets away from the 2:1 MMR, requiring even higher initial eccentricities in order to explain the current Kepler distribution. Overall, we find that tides alone cannot explain planets close to 2:1 MMR, and additional mechanisms are required to explain these systems.
Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, as they are advanced stages of the life of massive stars, provide a good test for various physical processes involved in the modelling of massive stars, such as rotation and mass loss. In this paper, we show the outputs of the latest grids of single massive stars computed with the Geneva stellar evolution code, and compare them with some observations. We present a short discussion on the shortcomings of single stars models and we also briefly discuss the impact of binarity on the WR populations.
Mass-loss rates during the red supergiant phase are very poorly constrained from an observational or theoretical point of view. However, they can be very high, and make a massive star lose a lot of mass during this phase, influencing considerably the final evolution of the star: will it end as a red supergiant? Will it evolve bluewards by removing its hydrogen-rich envelope? In this paper, we briefly summarise the effects of this mass loss and of the related uncertainties, particularly on the population of blue supergiant stars.
Understanding the sources, acceleration mechanisms, and propagation of cosmic rays is an active area of research in astro-particle physics. Measuring the spectrum and elemental composition of cosmic rays on earth can help solve this question. IACTs, while mainly used for $\gamma$-ray astronomy and indirect searches for dark matter, can make an important contribution here. In particular, they are able to distinguish heavy nuclei in cosmic rays from protons and lighter nuclei by exploiting the direct Cherenkov light emitted by charged particles high in the atmosphere. In this paper, a method to reconstruct relevant properties of primary cosmic ray particles from the Cherenkov light emitted by the primary particles and the air showers induced by them will be presented.
Pair cascades from millisecond pulsars (MSPs) may be a primary source of Galactic electrons and positrons that contribute to the increase in positron flux above 10 GeV as observed by PAMELA and AMS-02. The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has increased the number of detected gamma-ray MSPs tremendously. Light curve modelling furthermore favours abundant pair production in MSP magnetospheres, so that models of primary cosmic-ray positrons from pulsars should include the contribution from the larger numbers of MSPs and their potentially higher positron output per source. We model the contribution of Galactic MSPs to the terrestrial cosmic-ray electron / positron flux by using a population synthesis code to predict the source properties of present-day MSPs. We simulate pair spectra assuming an offset-dipole magnetic field which boosts pair creation rates. We also consider positrons and electrons that have additionally been accelerated to very high energies in the strong intrabinary shocks in black widow (BW) and redback (RB) binary systems. We transport these particles to Earth by calculating their diffusion and the radiative energy losses they suffer in the Galaxy using a model. Our model particle flux increases for non-zero offsets of the magnetic polar caps. We find that pair cascades from MSP magnetospheres contribute only modestly around a few tens of GeV to the measured fluxes. BW and RB fluxes may reach a few tens of percent of the observed flux up to a few TeV. Future observations should constrain the source properties in this case.
We investigate the dependence of the complete system of 22 Lick indices on overall metallicity scaled from solar abundances, [M/H], from the solar value, 0.0, down to the extremely-metal-poor (XMP) value of -6.0, for late-type giant stars (MK luminosity class III, log(g)=2.0) of MK spectral class late-K to late-F (3750 < Teff < 6500 K) of the type that are detected as "fossils" of early galaxy formation in the Galactic halo and in extra-galactic structures. Our investigation is based on synthetic index values, I, derived from atmospheric models and synthetic spectra computed with PHOENIX in LTE and Non-LTE (NLTE), where the synthetic spectra have been convolved to the spectral resolution, R, of both IDS and SDSS (and LAMOST) spectroscopy. We identify nine indices, that we designate "Lick-XMP", that remain both detectable and significantly [M/H]-dependent down to [M/H] values of at least ~-5.0, and down to [M/H] ~ -6.0 in five cases, while also remaining well-behaved . For these nine, we study the dependence of I on NLTE effects, and on spectral resolution. For our LTE I values for spectra of SDSS resolution, we present the fitted polynomial coefficients, C_n, from multi-variate linear regression for I with terms up to third order in the independent variable pairs (Teff, [M/H]), and (V-K, [M/H]), and compare them to the fitted C_n values of Worthey et al. (1994) at IDS spectral resolution.
Recently discovered scattered light from molecular cloud cores in the wavelength range 3-5 {\mu}m (called "coreshine") seems to indicate the presence of grains with sizes above 0.5 {\mu}m. We aim to analyze 3.6 and 4.5 {\mu}m coreshine from molecular cloud cores to probe the largest grains in the size distribution. We analyzed dedicated deep Cycle 9 Spitzer IRAC observations in the 3.6 and 4.5 {\mu}m bands for a sample of 10 low-mass cores. We used a new modeling approach based on a combination of ratios of the two background- and foreground-subtracted surface brightnesses and observed limits of the optical depth. The dust grains were modeled as ice-coated silicate and carbonaceous spheres. We discuss the impact of local radiation fields with a spectral slope differing from what is seen in the DIRBE allsky maps. For the cores L260, ecc806, L1262, L1517A, L1512, and L1544, the model reproduces the data with maximum grain sizes around 0.9, 0.5, 0.65, 1.5, 0.6, and > 1.5 {\mu}m, respectively. The maximum coreshine intensities of L1506C, L1439, and L1498 in the individual bands require smaller maximum grain sizes than derived from the observed distribution of band ratios. Additional isotropic local radiation fields with a spectral shape differing from the DIRBE map shape do not remove this discrepancy. In the case of Rho Oph 9, we were unable to reliably disentangle the coreshine emission from background variations and the strong local PAH emission. Considering surface brightness ratios in the 3.6 and 4.5 {\mu}m bands across a molecular cloud core is an effective method of disentangling the complex interplay of structure and opacities when used in combination with observed limits of the optical depth.
Most models of the origin of ultra high energy cosmic rays rely on the existence of luminous extragalactic sources. Cosmic rays escaping the galaxy where the source is located produce a sufficiently large electric current to justify the investigation of plasma instabilities induced by such current. Most interesting is the excitation of modes that lead to production of magnetic perturbations that may scatter particles thereby hindering their escape, or at least changing the propagation mode of escaping cosmic rays. We argue that self-generation of waves may force cosmic rays to be confined in the source proximity for energies $E\lesssim 10^{7} L_{44}^{2/3}$ GeV for low background magnetic fields ($B_{0}\ll nG$). For larger values of $B_{0}$, cosmic rays are confined close to their sources for energies $E\lesssim 2\times 10^{8} \lambda_{10} L_{44}^{1/4} B_{-10}^{1/2}$ GeV, where $B_{-10}$ is the field in units of $0.1$ nG, $\lambda_{10}$ is its coherence length in units of 10 Mpc and $L_{44}$ is the source luminosity in units of $10^{44}$ erg/s.
As part of the Young Stellar Object VARiability (YSOVAR) program, we monitored NGC 1333 for ~35 days at 3.6 and 4.5 um using the Spitzer Space Telescope. We report here on the mid-infrared variability of the point sources in the ~10x~20arcmin area centered on 03:29:06, +31:19:30 (J2000). Out of 701 light curves in either channel, we find 78 variables over the YSOVAR campaign. About half of the members are variable. The variable fraction for the most embedded SEDs (Class I, flat) is higher than that for less embedded SEDs (Class II), which is in turn higher than the star-like SEDs (Class III). A few objects have amplitudes (10-90th percentile brightness) in [3.6] or [4.5]>0.2 mag; a more typical amplitude is 0.1-0.15 mag. The largest color change is >0.2 mag. There are 24 periodic objects, with 40% of them being flat SED class. This may mean that the periodic signal is primarily from the disk, not the photosphere, in those cases. We find 9 variables likely to be 'dippers', where texture in the disk occults the central star, and 11 likely to be 'bursters', where accretion instabilities create brightness bursts. There are 39 objects that have significant trends in [3.6]-[4.5] color over the campaign, about evenly divided between redder-when-fainter (consistent with extinction variations) and bluer-when-fainter. About a third of the 17 Class 0 and/or jet-driving sources from the literature are variable over the YSOVAR campaign, and a larger fraction (~half) are variable between the YSOVAR campaign and the cryogenic-era Spitzer observations (6-7 years), perhaps because it takes time for the envelope to respond to changes in the central source. The NGC 1333 brown dwarfs do not stand out from the stellar light curves in any way except there is a much larger fraction of periodic objects (~60% of variable brown dwarfs are periodic, compared to ~30% of the variables overall).
The Mg II h&k doublet are two of the primary spectral lines observed by the
Sun-pointing Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). These lines are
tracers of the magnetic and thermal environment that spans from the photosphere
to the upper chromosphere. We use a double gaussian model to fit the Mg II h
profile for a full-Sun mosaic dataset taken 24-Aug-2014. We use the ensemble of
high-quality profile fits to conduct a statistical study on the variability of
the line profile as it relates the magnetic structure, dynamics, and
center-to-limb viewing angle.
The average internetwork profile contains a deeply reversed core and is
weakly asymmetric at h2. In the internetwork, we find a strong correlation
between h3 wavelength and profile asymmetry as well h1 width and h2 width. The
average reversal depth of the h3 core is inversely related to the magnetic
field. Plage and sunspots exhibit many profiles which do not contain a
reversal. These profiles also occur infrequently in the internetwork. We see
indications of magnetically aligned structures in plage and network in
statistics associated with the line core, but these structures are not clear or
extended in the internetwork. The center-to-limb variations are compared with
predictions of semi-empirical model atmospheres. We measure a pronounced limb
darkening in the line core which is not predicted by the model. The aim of this
work is to provide a comprehensive measurement baseline and preliminary
analysis on the observed structure and formation of the Mg II profiles observed
by IRIS.
We present our findings on a supernova (SN) impostor, SNHunt248, based on optical and near-IR data spanning $\sim$15 yrs before discovery, to $\sim$1 yr post-discovery. The light curve displays three distinct peaks, the brightest of which is at $M_{R} \sim -15.0$ mag. The post-discovery evolution is consistent with the ejecta from the outburst interacting with two distinct regions of circumstellar material. The 0.5 - 2.2 $\mu$m spectral energy distribution at -740 d is well-matched by a single 6700 K blackbody with $\log(L/L_\odot) \sim 6.1$. This temperature and luminosity support previous suggestions of a yellow hypergiant progenitor; however, we find it to be brighter than the brightest and most massive Galactic late-F to early-G spectral type hypergiants. Overall the historical light curve displays variability of up to $\sim \pm1$ mag. At current epochs ($\sim$1 yr post-outburst), the absolute magnitude ($M_{R} \sim -9$ mag) is just below the faintest observed historical absolute magnitude $\sim$10 yrs before discovery.
We consider the effect of a partial coverage of quasar broad-line regions (QSO BLRs) by intervening H$_2$-bearing clouds when a part of quasar (QSO) radiation passes by a cloud not taking part in formation of an absorption-line system in the QSO spectrum. That leads to modification of observable absorption line profiles and consequently to a bias in physical parameters derived from standard absorption line analysis. In application to the H$_2$ {absorption} systems the effect has been revealed in the analysis of H$_2$ absorption system in the spectrum of Q~1232+082 (Ivanchik et al. 2010, Balashev et al. 2011). We estimate a probability of the effect to be detected in QSO spectra. To do this we derive distribution of BLR sizes of high-z QSOs from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 9 (DR9) catalogue and assume different distributions of cloud sizes. We conclude that the low limit of the probability is about $11\%$. The latest researches shows that about a fifth of observed H$_2$ absorption systems can be partially covered. Accounting of the effect may allow to revise significantly physical parameters of interstellar clouds obtained by the spectral analysis.
Presented are the first interferometric images of cool starspots on the chromospherically active giant $\lambda$ Andromedae. These images represent the first model-independent images of cool starspots on a star other than the Sun to date. The interferometric observations, taken with the Michigan Infra-Red Combiner coupled to the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy Array, span 26 days from Aug 17$^{th}$, 2008 to Sep 24$^{th}$, 2011. The photometric time series acquired at Fairborn Observatory spanning Sep 20$^{th}$, 2008 to Jan 20$^{th}$, 2011 is also presented. The angular diameter and power law limb-darkening coefficient of this star are 2.759 $\pm$ 0.050 mas and 0.229 $\pm$ 0.111, respectively. Starspot properties are obtained from both modeled and SQUEEZE reconstructed images. The images from 2010 through 2011 show anywhere from one to four starspots. The measured properties of identical starspots identified in both the model and reconstructed images are within two $\sigma$ error bars in 51$\%$ of cases. The cadence in the data for the 2010 and 2011 data sets are sufficient to measure a stellar rotation period based on apparent starspot motion. This leads to estimates of the rotation period (P$_{2010}$ = 60 $\pm$ 13 days, P$_{2011}$ = 54.0 $\pm$ 7.6 days) that are consistent with the photometrically determined period of 54.8 days. In addition, the inclination and position angle of the rotation axis is computed for both the 2010 and 2011 data sets; values ($\bar{\Psi}$ = 21.5$\degree$, $\bar{\emph{i}}$ = 78.0$\degree$) for each are nearly identical between the two years. \end{abstract}
An increasing number of model results suggests that chiral symmetry is broken inhomogeneously in a certain window at intermediate densities in the QCD phase diagram. This could have significant effects on the properties of compact stars, possibly leading to new astrophysical signatures. In this contribution we discuss this idea by reviewing recent results on inhomogeneous chiral symmetry breaking under an astrophysics-oriented perspective. After introducing two commonly studied spatial modulations of the chiral condensate, the chiral density wave and the real kink crystal, we focus on their properties and their effect on the equation of state of quark matter. We also describe how these crystalline phases are affected by different elements which are required for a realistic description of a compact star, such as charge neutrality, the presence of magnetic fields, vector interactions and the interplay with color-superconductivity. Finally, we discuss possible signatures of inhomogeneous chiral symmetry breaking in the core of compact stars, considering the cases of mass-radius relations and neutrino emissivity explicitly.
We point out the possibility to test the simplest scalar dark matter model at gamma-ray telescopes. We discuss the relevant constraints and show the predictions for direct detection, gamma line searches and LHC searches. Since the final state radiation processes are suppressed by small Yukawa couplings one could observe the gamma lines from dark matter annihilation.
We consider monojet searches at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for spin-1 dark matter that interacts with quarks through a contact operator. If the dark matter particles are produced with longitudinal polarizations, then the production matrix element is enhanced by factors of the energy. We show that this particularly effective search strategy can test models for which the energy suppression scale of the operator is as large as $10^5$ TeV. As such, these searches can probe a large class of models for which the contact operator approximation is valid. We find that for contact operators that permit velocity-independent dark matter-nucleon scattering, LHC monojet searches for spin-1 dark matter are competitive with or far surpass direct detection searches depending on whether the scattering is spin-independent or spin-dependent, respectively.
We study the Einstein Yang-Mills Higgs equations in the $SO(3)$ representation on a isotropic and homogeneous flat Universe, in the presence of radiation and matter fluids. We map the equations of motion into a closed dynamical system of first-order differential equations and we find the equilibrium points. We show that there is only one stable fixed point that corresponds to an accelerated expanding Universe in the future. In the past, instead, there is an unstable fixed point that implies a stiff-matter domination. In between, we find three other unstable fixed points, corresponding, in chronological order, to radiation domination, to matter domination, and, finally, to a transition from decelerated expansion to accelerated expansion. We solve the system numerically and we confirm that there are smooth trajectories that correctly describe the evolution of the Universe, from a remote past dominated by radiation to a remote future dominated by dark energy, passing through a matter-dominated phase.
Recently, the phenomenology of f(R) gravity has been scrutinized motivated by the possibility to account for the self-accelerated cosmic expansion without invoking dark energy sources. Besides, this kind of modified gravity is capable of addressing the dynamics of several self-gravitating systems alternatively to the presence of dark matter. It has been established that both metric and Palatini versions of these theories have interesting features but also manifest severe and different downsides. A hybrid combination of theories, containing elements from both these two formalisms, turns out to be also very successful accounting for the observed phenomenology and is able to avoid some drawbacks of the original approaches. This article reviews the formulation of this hybrid metric-Palatini approach and its main achievements in passing the local tests and in applications to astrophysical and cosmological scenarios, where it provides a unified approach to the problems of dark energy and dark matter.
We compute the one-loop renormalization group equations for Standard Model Higgs inflation. The calculation is done in the Einstein frame, using a covariant formalism for the multi-field system. All counterterms, and thus the betafunctions, can be extracted from the radiative corrections to the two-point functions; the calculation of higher n-point functions then serves as a consistency check of the approach. We find that the theory is renormalizable in the effective field theory sense in the small, mid and large field regime. In the large field regime our results differ slightly from those found in the literature, due to a different treatment of the Goldstone bosons.
While in the standard cosmological model the accelerated expansion of the Universe is explained by invoking the presence of the cosmological constant term, it is still unclear the true origin of this stunning observational fact. It is therefore interesting to explore alternatives to the simplest scenario, in particular by assuming a more general framework where the fluid responsible of the accelerated expansion is characterised by a time-dependant equation of state. Usually these models, dubbed dark energy models, are purely phenomenological, but in this work we concentrate on a theoretically justified model, the ghost dark energy model. Within the framework of the spherical collapse model, we evaluate effects of dark energy perturbations both at the linear and non-linear level and transfer these results into an observable quantity, the mass function, by speculatively taking into account contributions of dark energy to the mass of the halos. We showed that the growth rate is higher in ghost models and that perturbations enhance the number of structures with respect to the $\Lambda$CDM model, with stronger effects when the total mass takes into account dark energy clumps.
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We investigate the effect of the cosmological expansion on the bending of light due to an isolated point-like mass. We adopt McVittie solution as the description of the geometry of the lens. Assuming a constant Hubble factor we find an analytic expression involving the bending angle, which turns out to be increased by a factor $1 + z_L$, where $z_L$ is the redshift of the lens. Consequently, exploiting the lens equation, we find that for Einstein ring systems the lens mass gains a correction $(1 + z_L)^{-1}$.
We present Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) observations of AU Microscopii, a young M dwarf with an edge-on, dusty debris disk. Integral field spectroscopy and broadband imaging polarimetry were obtained during the commissioning of GPI. In our broadband imaging polarimetry observations, we detect the disk only in total intensity and find asymmetries in the morphology of the disk between the southeast and northwest sides. The southeast side of the disk exhibits a bump at 1$''$ (10 AU projected separation) that is three times more vertically extended and three times fainter in peak surface brightness than the northwest side at similar separations. This part of the disk is also vertically offset by 69$\pm$30 mas to the northeast at 1$''$ when compared to the established disk mid-plane and consistent with prior ALMA and Hubble Space Telescope/STIS observations. We see hints that the southeast bump might be a result of detecting a horizontal sliver feature above the main disk that could be the disk backside. Alternatively when including the morphology of the northwest side, where the disk mid-plane is offset in the opposite direction $\sim$50 mas between 0$.''$4 and 1$.''$2, the asymmetries suggest a warp-like feature. Using our integral field spectroscopy data to search for planets, we are 50% complete for $\sim$4 $M_\mathrm{Jup}$ planets at 4 AU. We detect a source, resolved only along the disk plane, that could either be a candidate planetary mass companion or a compact clump in the disk.
We report new correlations between ratios of band intensities of the 15-20 {\mu}m emission bands of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a sample of fifty-seven sources observed with Spitzer/IRS. This sample includes Large Magellanic Cloud point sources from the SAGE-Spec survey, nearby galaxies from the SINGS survey, two Galactic ISM cirrus sources and the spectral maps of the Galactic reflection nebulae NGC 2023 and NGC 7023. We find that the 16.4, 17.4 and 17.8 {\mu}m band intensities are inter-correlated in all environments. In NGC 2023 and NGC 7023 these bands also correlate with the 11.0 and 12.7 {\mu}m band intensities. The 15.8 {\mu}m band correlates only with the 15-20 {\mu}m plateau and the 11.2 {\mu}m emission. We examine the spatial morphology of these bands and introduce radial cuts. We find that these bands can be spatially organized into three sets: the 12.7, 16.4 and 17.8 {\mu}m bands; the 11.2, 15.8 {\mu}m bands and the 15-18 {\mu}m plateau; and the 11.0 and 17.4 {\mu}m bands. We also find that the spatial distribution of the 12.7, 16.4 and 17.8 {\mu}m bands can be reconstructed by averaging the spatial distributions of the cationic 11.0 {\mu}m and neutral 11.2 {\mu}m bands. We conclude that the 17.4 {\mu}m band is dominated by cations, the 15.8 {\mu}m band by neutral species, and the 12.7, 16.4 and 17.8 {\mu}m bands by a combination of the two. These results highlight the importance of PAH ionization for spatially differentiating sub-populations by their 15-20 {\mu}m emission variability.
We measure the stellar specific angular momentum jstar=Jstar/Mstar in four nearby (redshift z~0.1) disk galaxies that have stellar masses Mstar near the break M* of the galaxy mass function, but look like typical star-forming disks at z~2 in terms of their low stability (Q~1), clumpiness, high ionized gas dispersion (40-50 km/s), high molecular gas fraction (20-30%) and rapid star formation (~20 Msun/yr). Combining high-resolution (Keck-OSIRIS) and large-radius (Gemini-GMOS) spectroscopic maps, only available at low z, we discover that these targets have ~3 times less stellar angular momentum than typical local spiral galaxies of equal stellar mass and bulge fraction. Theoretical considerations show that this deficiency in angular momentum is the main cause of their low stability, while the high gas fraction plays a complementary role. Interestingly, the low jstar values of our targets are similar to those expected in the M*-population at higher z from the approximate theoretical scaling jstar~(1+z)^(-1/2) at fixed Mstar. This suggests that a change in angular momentum, driven by cosmic expansion, is the main cause for the remarkable difference between clumpy M*-disks at high z (which likely evolve into early-type galaxies) and mass-matched local spirals.
We have been monitoring 373 very bright (V < 6 mag) G and K giants with high precision optical Doppler spectroscopy for more than a decade at Lick Observatory. Our goal was to discover planetary companions around those stars and to better understand planet formation and evolution around intermediate-mass stars. However, in principle, long-term, g-mode nonradial stellar pulsations or rotating stellar features, such as spots, could effectively mimic a planetary signal in the radial velocity data. Our goal is to compare optical and infrared radial velocities for those stars with periodic radial velocity patterns and to test for consistency of their fitted radial velocity semiamplitudes. Thereby, we distinguish processes intrinsic to the star from orbiting companions as reason for the radial velocity periodicity observed in the optical. Stellar spectra with high spectral resolution have been taken in the H-band with the CRIRES near-infrared spectrograph at ESO's VLT for 20 stars of our Lick survey. Radial velocities are derived using many deep and stable telluric CO2 lines for precise wavelength calibration. We find that the optical and near-infrared radial velocities of the giant stars in our sample are consistent. We present detailed results for eight stars in our sample previously reported to have planets or brown dwarf companions. All eight stars passed the infrared test. We conclude that the planet hypothesis provides the best explanation for the periodic radial velocity patterns observed for these giant stars.
It is well established that (1) star-forming galaxies follow a relation between their star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass (M$_{\star}$), the "star-formation sequence", and (2) the SFRs of galaxies correlate with their structure, where star-forming galaxies are less concentrated than quiescent galaxies at fixed mass. Here, we consider whether the scatter and slope of the star-formation sequence is correlated with systematic variations in the Sersic indices, $n$, of galaxies across the SFR-M$_{\star}$ plane. We use a mass-complete sample of 23,848 galaxies at $0.5<z<2.5$ selected from the 3D-HST photometric catalogs. Galaxy light profiles parameterized by $n$ are based on Hubble Space Telescope CANDELS near-infrared imaging. We use a single SFR indicator empirically-calibrated from stacks of Spitzer/MIPS 24$\mu$m imaging, adding the unobscured and obscured star formation. We find that the scatter of the star-formation sequence is related in part to galaxy structure; the scatter due to variations in $n$ at fixed mass for star-forming galaxies ranges from 0.14$\pm$0.02 dex at $z\sim2$ to 0.30$\pm$0.04 dex at $z<1$. While the slope of the log(SFR)-log(M$_{\star}$) relation is of order unity for disk-like galaxies, galaxies with $n>2$ (implying more dominant bulges) have significantly lower SFR/M$_{\star}$ than the main ridgeline of the star-formation sequence. These results suggest that bulges in massive $z\sim2$ galaxies are actively building up, where the stars in the central concentration are relatively young. At $z<1$, the presence of older bulges within star-forming galaxies lowers global SFR/M$_{\star}$, decreasing the slope and contributing significantly to the scatter of the star-formation sequence.
We present a new method of extending the single band Analysis of Variance period estimation algorithm to multiple bands. We use SDSS Stripe 82 RR Lyrae to show that in the case of low number of observations per band and non-simultaneous observations, improvements in period recovery rates of up to $\approx$60\% are observed. We also investigate the effect of inter-band observing cadence on period recovery rates. We find that using non-simultaneous observation times between bands is ideal for the multiband method, and using simultaneous multiband data is only marginally better than using single band data. These results will be particularly useful in planning observing cadences for wide-field astronomical imaging surveys such as LSST. They also have the potential to improve the extraction of transient data from surveys with few ($\lesssim 30$) observations per band across several bands, such as the Dark Energy Survey.
We use observed UV through near IR spectra to examine whether SN 2011fe can be understood in the framework of Branch-normal SNe Ia and to examine its individual peculiarities. As a benchmark, we use a delayed-detonation model with a progenitor metallicity of Z_solar/20. We study the sensitivity of features to variations in progenitor metallicity, the outer density profile, and the distribution of radioactive nickel. The effect of metallicity variations in the progenitor have a relatively small effect on the synthetic spectra. We also find that the abundance stratification of SN 2011fe resembles closely that of a delayed detonation model with a transition density that has been fit to other Branch-normal Type Ia supernovae. At early times, the model photosphere is formed in material with velocities that are too high, indicating that the photosphere recedes too slowly or that SN 2011fe has a lower specific energy in the outer ~0.1 M_sun than does the model. We discuss several explanations for the discrepancies. Finally, we examine variations in both the spectral energy distribution and in the colors due to variations in the progenitor metallicity, which suggests that colors are only weak indicators for the progenitor metallicity, in the particular explosion model that we have studied. We do find that the flux in the U band is significantly higher at maximum light in the solar metallicity model than in the lower metallicity model and the lower metallicity model much better matches the observed spectrum.
The progenitor stars of several Type IIb supernovae (SNe) show indications for extended hydrogen envelopes. These envelopes might be the outcome of luminous energetic pre-explosion events, so-called precursor eruptions. We use the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) pre-explosion observations of a sample of 27 nearby Type IIb SNe to look for such precursors during the final years prior to the SN explosion. No precursors are found when combining the observations in 15-day bins, and we calculate the absolute-magnitude-dependent upper limit on the precursor rate. At the 90% confidence level, Type IIb SNe have on average $<0.86$ precursors as bright as absolute $R$-band magnitude $-14$ in the final 3.5 years before the explosion and $<0.56$ events over the final year. In contrast, precursors among SNe IIn have a $\gtrsim 5$ times higher rate. The kinetic energy required to unbind a low-mass stellar envelope is comparable to the radiated energy of a few-weeks-long precursor which would be detectable for the closest SNe in our sample. Therefore, mass ejections, if they are common in such SNe, are radiatively inefficient or have durations longer than months. Indeed, when using 60-day bins a faint precursor candidate is detected prior to SN 2012cs ($\sim2$% false-alarm probability). We also report the detection of the progenitor of SN 2011dh which does not show detectable variability over the final two years before the explosion. The suggested progenitor of SN 2012P is still present, and hence is likely a compact star cluster, or an unrelated object.
Milli-second pulsars (MSPs) are rapidly spinning neutron stars, with spin periods P_s <= 10 ms, which have been most likely spun up after a phase of matter accretion from a companion star. In this work we present the results of the search for the companion stars of four binary milli-second pulsars, carried out with archival data from the Gemini South telescope. Based upon a very good positional coincidence with the pulsar radio coordinates, we likely identified the companion stars to three MSPs, namely PSRJ0614-3329 (g=21.95 +- 0.05), J1231-1411 (g=25.40 +-0.23), and J2017+0603 (g=24.72 +- 0.28). For the last pulsar (PSRJ0613-0200) the identification was hampered by the presence of a bright star (g=16 +- 0.03) at \sim 2" from the pulsar radio coordinates and we could only set 3-sigma upper limits of g=25.0, r= 24.3, and i= 24.2 on the magnitudes of its companion star. The candidate companion stars to PSRJ0614-3329, J1231-1411, and J2017+0603 can be tentatively identified as He white dwarfs (WDs) on the basis of their optical colours and brightness and the comparison with stellar model tracks. From the comparison of our multi-band photometry with stellar model tracks we also obtained possible ranges on the mass, temperature, and gravity of the candidate WD companions to these three MSPs. Optical spectroscopy observations are needed to confirm their possible classification as He WDs and accurately measure their stellar parameters.
The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory, located 4100 m above sea level near Sierra Negra (19$^\circ$ N) in Mexico, is sensitive to gamma rays and cosmic rays at TeV energies. The arrival direction distribution of cosmic rays at these energies shows significant anisotropy on several angular scales, with a relative intensity ranging between 10$^{-3}$ and 10$^{-4}$. We present the results of a study of cosmic-ray anisotropy based on more than 86 billion cosmic-ray air showers recorded with HAWC since June 2013. The HAWC cosmic-ray sky map, which has a median energy of 2 TeV, exhibits several regions of significantly enhanced cosmic-ray flux. We present the energy dependence of the anisotropy and the cosmic-ray spectrum in the regions of significant excess.
We present $H$-band observations of $\beta$ Pic with the Gemini Planet Imager's (GPI's) polarimetry mode that reveal the debris disk between ~0.3" (~6 AU) and ~1.7" (~33 AU), while simultaneously detecting $\beta$ Pic $b$. The polarized disk image was fit with a dust density model combined with a Henyey-Greenstein scattering phase function. The best fit model indicates a disk inclined to the line of sight ($\phi=85.27{\deg}^{+0.26}_{-0.19}$) with a position angle $\theta_{PA}=30.35{\deg}^{+0.29}_{-0.28}$ (slightly offset from the main outer disk, $\theta_{PA}\approx29{\deg}$), that extends from an inner disk radius of $23.6^{+0.9}_{-0.6}$ AU to well outside GPI's field of view. In addition, we present an updated orbit for $\beta$ Pic $b$ based on new astrometric measurements taken in GPI's spectroscopic mode spanning 14 months. The planet has a semi-major axis of $a=9.2^{+1.5}_{-0.4}$AU, with an eccentricity $e\leq 0.26$. The position angle of the ascending node is $\Omega=31.75{\deg}\pm0.15$, offset from both the outer main disk and the inner disk seen in the GPI image. The orbital fit constrains the stellar mass of $\beta$ Pic to $1.60\pm0.05 M_{\odot}$. Dynamical sculpting by $\beta$ Pic $b$ cannot easily account for the following three aspects of the inferred disk properties: 1) the modeled inner radius of the disk is farther out than expected if caused by $\beta$ Pic b; 2) the mutual inclination of the inner disk and $\beta$ Pic $b$ is $4{\deg}$, when it is expected to be closer to zero; and 3) the aspect ratio of the disk ($h_0 = 0.137^{+0.005}_{-0.006}$) is larger than expected from interactions with $\beta$ Pic $b$ or self-stirring by the disk's parent bodies.
Using a code that employs a self-consistent method for computing the effects of photoionization on circumstellar gas dynamics, we model the formation of wind-driven nebulae around massive Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars. Our algorithm incorporates a simplified model of the photo-ionization source, computes the fractional ionization of hydrogen due to the photoionizing flux and recombination, and determines self-consistently the energy balance due to ionization, photo-heating and radiative cooling. We take into account changes in stellar properties and mass-loss over the star's evolution. Our multi-dimensional simulations clearly reveal the presence of strong ionization front instabilities. Using various X-ray emission models, and abundances consistent with those derived for W-R nebulae, we compute the X-ray flux and spectra from our wind bubble models. We show the evolution of the X-ray spectral features with time over the evolution of the star, taking the absorption of the X-rays by the ionized bubble into account. Our simulated X-ray spectra compare reasonably well with observed spectra of Wolf-Rayet bubbles. They suggest that X-ray nebulae around massive stars may not be easily detectable, consistent with observations.
Technique: We present a method to determine the pressure at which significant cloud opacity is present between 2 and 6 bars on Jupiter. We use: a) the strength of a Fraunhofer absorption line in a zone to determine the ratio of reflected sunlight to thermal emission, and b) pressure-broadened line profiles of deuterated methane (CH3D) at 4.66 microns to determine the location of clouds. We use radiative transfer models to constrain the altitude region of both the solar and thermal components of Jupiter's 5-micron spectrum. Results: For nearly all latitudes on Jupiter the thermal component is large enough to constrain the deep cloud structure even when upper clouds are present. We find that Hot Spots, belts, and high latitudes have broader line profiles than do zones. Radiative transfer models show that Hot Spots in the North and South Equatorial Belts (NEB, SEB) typically do not have opaque clouds at pressures greater than 2 bars. The South Tropical Zone (STZ) at 32 degrees S has an opaque cloud top between 4 and 5 bars. From thermochemical models this must be a water cloud. We measured the variation of the equivalent width of CH3D with latitude for comparison with Jupiter's belt-zone structure. We also constrained the vertical profile of water in an SEB Hot Spot and in the STZ. The Hot Spot is very dry for P<4.5 bars and then follows the water profile observed by the Galileo Probe. The STZ has a saturated water profile above its cloud top between 4 and 5 bars.
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) can be a powerful mechanism amplifying the magnetic field in core collapse supernovae. However, whether initially weak magnetic fields can be amplified by this instability to dynamically relevant strengths is still a matter of active scientific debate. One of the main uncertainties concerns the process that terminates the growth of the instability. Parasitic instabilities of both Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) and tearing-mode type have been suggested to play a crucial role in this process, disrupting MRI channel flows and quenching magnetic field amplification. We performed two-dimensional and three-dimensional sheering-disc simulations of a differentially rotating proto-neutron star layer in non-ideal MHD with unprecedented high numerical resolution. Our simulations show that KH parasitic modes dominate tearing modes in the regime of large hydrodynamic and magnetic Reynolds numbers, as encountered in proto-neutron stars. They also determine the maximum magnetic field stress achievable during the exponential growth of the MRI. Our results are consistent with the theory of parasitic instabilities based on a local stability analysis. To simulate the KH instabilities properly a very high numerical resolution is necessary. Using 9th order spatial reconstruction schemes, we find that at least $8$ grid zones per MRI channel are necessary to simulate the growth phase of the MRI and reach an accuracy of $\sim 10\%$ in the growth rate, while more than $\sim 60$ zones per channel are required to achieve convergent results (errors $\lesssim 10\%$) for the value of the magnetic stress at MRI termination. The assumption of axisymmetry hinders the development of the KH instability and results in artificially large magnetic stresses at MRI termination. These numerical requirements impose strong restrictions on future global simulations of the scenario.
This paper aims to introduce a new parameterisation for the coupling Q in interacting dark matter and dark energy models by connecting said models with the Continuous Tower of Scalar Fields model. Based upon the existence of a dark matter and a dark energy sectors in the Continuous Tower of Scalar Fields, a simplification is considered for the evolution of a single scalar field from the tower, validated in this paper. This allows for the results obtained with the Continuous Tower of Scalar Fields model to match those of an interacting dark matter - dark energy system, considering that the energy transferred from one fluid to the other is given by the energy of the scalar fields that start oscillating at a given time, rather than considering that the energy transference depends on properties of the whole fluids that are interacting.
The observed light curves of most eclipsing binaries and stars with transiting planets can be well described and interpreted by current advanced physical models which also allow for the determination of many physical parameters of eclipsing systems. However, for several common practical tasks there is no need to know the detailed physics of a variable star, but only the shapes of their light curves or other phase curves. We present a set of phenomenological models for the light curves of eclipsing systems. We express the observed light curves of eclipsing binaries and stars, transited by their exoplanets orbiting in circular trajectories, by a sum of special, analytical, few-parameter functions that enable fitting their light curves with an accuracy of better than 1%. The proposed set of phenomenological models of eclipsing variable light curves were then tested on several real systems. For XY Bootis, we also compare in details the results obtained using our phenomenological modelling with those found using available physical models. We demonstrate that the proposed phenomenological models of transiting exoplanet and eclipsing binary light curves applied to ground-based photometric observations yields results compatible with those obtained by the application of more complex physical models. The suggested phenomenological modelling appears useful to solve a number of common tasks in the field of eclipsing variable research.
We present spectral data cubes of the [CI] 809GHz, 12CO 115GHz, 13CO 110GHz and HI 1.4GHz line emission from an 1 square degree region along the l = 328{\deg} (G328) sightline in the Galactic Plane. Emission arises principally from gas in three spiral arm crossings along the sight line. The distribution of the emission in the CO and [CI] lines is found to be similar, with the [CI] slightly more extended, and both are enveloped in extensive HI. Spectral line ratios per voxel in the data cubes are found to be similar across the entire extent of the Galaxy. However, towards the edges of the molecular clouds the [CI]/13CO and 12CO/13CO line ratios rise by ~50%, and the [CI]/HI ratio falls by ~10$%. We attribute this to these sightlines passing predominantly through the surfaces of photodissociation regions (PDRs), where the carbon is found mainly as C or C+, while the H2 is mostly molecular, and the proportion of atomic gas also increases. We undertake modelling of the PDR emission from low density molecular clouds excited by average interstellar radiation fields and cosmic-ray ionization to quantify this comparison, finding that depletion of sulfur and reduced PAH abundance is needed to match line fluxes and ratios. Roughly one-third of the molecular gas along the sightline is found to be associated with this surface region, where the carbon is largely not to be found in CO. ~10% of the atomic hydrogen along the sightline is cold gas within PDRs.
The 3D structure of sunspots has been extensively studied for the last two decades. A recent advancement of the Stokes inversion technique prompts us to revisit the problem. We investigate the global depth-dependent thermal, velocity and magnetic properties of a sunspot, as well as the interconnection between various local properties. High quality Stokes profiles of a disk centered, regular sunspot acquired by the SOT/SP (Hinode) are analyzed. To obtain the depth-dependent stratification of the physical parameters, we use the spatially coupled version of the SPINOR code. The vertical temperature gradient in the lower to mid-photosphere is smallest in the umbra, it is considerably larger in the penumbra and still somewhat larger in the spot's surroundings. The azimuthally averaged field becomes more horizontal with radial distance from the center of the spot, but more vertical with height. At tau=1, the LOS velocity shows an average upflow of 300 ms-1 in the inner penumbra and an average downflow of 1300 ms-1 in the outer penumbra. The downflow continues outside the visible penumbral boundary. The sunspot shows a moderate negative twist of < 5^0 at tau=1, which increases with height. The sunspot umbra and the spines of the penumbra show considerable similarity in their physical properties albeit with some quantitative differences. The temperature shows a general anticorrelation with the field strength, with the exception of the heads of penumbral filaments, where a weak positive correlation is found. The dependence of the physical parameters on each other over the full sunspot shows a qualitative similarity to that of a standard penumbral filament and its surrounding spines. Our results suggest that the spines in the penumbra are basically the outward extension of the umbra. The spines and the penumbral filaments are together the basic elements forming a sunspot penumbra.
The cosmological dark matter field is not completely described by its hierarchy of $N$-point functions, a non-perturbative effect with the consequence that only part of the theory can be probed with the hierarchy. We give here an exact characterization of the joint information of the full set of $N$-point correlators of the lognormal field. The lognormal field is the archetypal example of a field where this effect occurs, and, at the same time, one of the few tractable and insightful available models to specify fully the statistical properties of the evolved matter density field beyond the perturbative regime. Nonlinear growth in the Universe in that model is set letting the log-density field probability density functional evolve keeping its Gaussian shape, according to the diffusion equation in Euclidean space. We show that the hierarchy probes a different evolution equation, the diffusion equation defined not in Euclidean space but on the compact torus, with uniformity as the long-term solution. The extraction of the hierarchy of correlators can be recast in the form of a nonlinear transformation applied to the field, 'wrapping', undergoing a sharp transition towards complete disorder in the deeply nonlinear regime, where all memory of the initial conditions is lost.
It is known that the galaxy stellar-to-halo mass ratio (SHMR) is nearly independent of redshift from z=0-4. This motivates us to construct a toy model in which we assume that the SMHR for central galaxies measured at redshift z~0 is independent of redshift, which implies that the star formation rate (SFR) is determined by the halo mass accretion rate, a phenomenon we call Stellar-Halo Accretion Rate Coevolution (SHARC). Moreover, we show here that the ~0.3 dex dispersion of the halo mass accretion rate (MAR) is similar to the observed dispersion of the SFR on the main sequence. In the context of bathtub-type models of galaxy formation, SHARC leads to mass-dependent constraints on the relation between SFR and MAR. The SHARC assumption is no doubt over-simplified, but we expect it to be possibly valid for central galaxies with stellar masses of 10^9 - 10^10.5 M_sol that are on the star formation main sequence. Such galaxies represent most of the life history of M_* galaxies, and therefore most of the star formation in the Universe. The predictions from SHARC agree remarkably well with the observed SFR of galaxies on the main sequence at low redshifts and fairly well out to higher redshifts, although the predicted SFR exceeds observations at z<4. If we also assume that the interstellar gas mass is constant for each galaxy, equilibrium condition, the SHARC model allows calculation of mass loading factors for inflowing and outflowing gas. With assumptions about preventive feedback based on simulations, the model allows calculation of galaxy metallicity evolution. If the SFR in star-forming galaxies is indeed largely regulated by halo mass accretion, especially at low redshifts, that may help to explain the success of models that tie galaxy properties to those of their host halos, such as age matching and the relation between two-halo galaxy conformity and halo mass accretion conformity.
Using a sample of 425 nearby Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) from von der Linden et al. (2007), we study the relationship between their internal properties (stellar masses, structural parameters and morphologies) and their environment. More massive BCGs tend to inhabit denser regions and more massive clusters than lower mass BCGs. Furthermore, cDs, which are BCGs with particularly extended envelopes, seem to prefer marginally denser regions and tend to be hosted by more massive halos than elliptical BCGs. cD and elliptical BCGs show parallel positive correlations between their stellar masses and environmental densities. However, at a fixed environmental density, cDs are, on average, ~40% more massive. Our results, together with the findings of previous studies, suggest an evolutionary link between elliptical and cD BCGs. We suggest that most present-day cDs started their life as ellipticals, which subsequently grew in stellar mass and size due to mergers. In this process, the cD envelope developed. The large scatter in the stellar masses and sizes of the cDs reflects their different merger histories. The growth of the BCGs in mass and size seems to be linked to the hierarchical growth of the structures they inhabit: as the groups and clusters became denser and more massive, the BCGs at their centres also grew. This process is nearing completion since the majority (~60%) of the BCGs in the local Universe have cD morphology. However, the presence of galaxies with intermediate morphological classes (between ellipticals and cDs) suggests that the growth and morphological transformation of some BCGs is still ongoing.
We revisit the Galactic chemical evolution of oxygen, addressing the systematic errors inherent in classical determinations of the oxygen abundance that arise from the use of one dimensional hydrostatic (1D) model atmospheres and from the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). We perform detailed 3D non-LTE radiative transfer calculations for atomic oxygen lines across a grid of 3D hydrodynamic stag- ger model atmospheres for dwarfs and subgiants. We apply our grid of predicted line strengths of the [OI] 630 nm and OI 777 nm lines using accurate stellar parameters from the literature. We infer a steep decay in [O/Fe] for [Fe/H] $\gtrsim$ -1.0, a plateau [O/Fe] $\approx$ 0.5 down to [Fe/H] $\approx$ -2.5 and an increasing trend for [Fe/H] $\lesssim$ -2.5. Our 3D non-LTE calculations yield overall concordant results from the two oxygen abundance diagnostics.
We propose a strategy to search for bulk motions in the intracluster medium (ICM) of merging clusters based on {\sl Chandra} CCD data. Our goal is to derive robust measurements of the average redshift of projected ICM regions obtained from the centroid of the $K_\alpha$ line emission. We thoroughly explore the effect of the unknown temperature structure along the line of sight to accurately evaluate the systematic uncertainties on the ICM redshift. We apply our method to the "Bullet cluster" (1E~0657-56). We directly identify 23 independent regions on the basis of the surface brightness contours, and measure the redshift of the ICM averaged along the line of sight in each. We find that the redshift distribution across these regions is marginally inconsistent with the null hypothesis of a constant redshift or no bulk motion in the ICM, at a confidence level of about $2\, \sigma$. We tentatively identify the regions most likely affected by bulk motions and find a maximum velocity gradient of about $(46\pm 13)$ $\rm km~s^{-1}~kpc^{-1}$ along the line of sight on a scale of $\sim 260 $ kpc along the path of the "bullet." We interpret this as the possible signature of a significant mass of ICM pushed away along a direction perpendicular to the merging. This preliminary result is promising for a systematic search for bulk motions in bright, moderate-redshift clusters based on spatially resolved spectral analysis of {\sl Chandra} CCD data. This preliminary result is promising for a systematic search for bulk motions in bright, moderate-redshift clusters based on spatially resolved spectral analysis of {\sl Chandra} CCD data.
Several theories exist to explain the source of the bright, millisecond duration pulses known as fast radio bursts (FRBs). If the progenitors of FRBs are non-cataclysmic, such as giant pulses from pulsars, pulsar-planet binaries, or magnetar flares, FRB emission may be seen to repeat. We have undertaken a survey of the fields of eight known FRBs from the High Time Resolution Universe survey to search for repeating pulses. Although no repeat pulses were detected the survey yielded the detection of a new FRB, described in Petroff et al. (2015a). From our observations we rule out periodic repeating sources with periods P $\leq$ 8.6 hours and rule out sources with periods 8.6 < P < 21 hours at the 90% confidence level. At P $\geq$ 21 hours our limits fall off as ~1/P. Dedicated and persistent observations of FRB source fields are needed to rule out repetition on longer timescales, a task well-suited to next generation wide-field transient detectors.
We analyze observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph of the Mg II k line, the Mg II UV subordinate lines, and the O I 135.6 nm line to better understand the solar plage chromosphere. We also make comparisons with observations from the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope of the H{\alpha} line, the Ca II 8542 line, and Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly observations of the coronal 19.3 nm line. To understand the observed Mg II profiles, we compare these observations to the results of numerical experiments. The single-peaked or flat-topped Mg II k profiles found in plage imply a transition region at a high column mass and a hot and dense chromosphere of about 6500 K. This scenario is supported by the observed large-scale correlation between moss brightness and filled-in profiles with very little or absent self-reversal. The large wing width found in plage also implies a hot and dense chromosphere with a steep chromospheric temperature rise. The absence of emission in the Mg II subordinate lines constrain the chromospheric temperature and the height of the temperature rise while the width of the O I 135.6 nm line sets a limit to the non-thermal velocities to around 7 km/s.
We use photometric and spectroscopic observations of the detached eclipsing binaries V40 and V41 in the globular cluster NGC 6362 to derive masses, radii, and luminosities of the component stars. The orbital periods of these systems are 5.30 and 17.89 d, respectively. The measured masses of the primary and secondary components ($M_p$, $M_s$) are (0.8337$\pm$0.0063, 0.7947$\pm$0.0048) M$_\odot$ for V40 and (0.8215$\pm$0.0058, 0.7280$\pm$0.0047) M$_\odot$ for V41. The measured radii ($R_p$, $R_s$) are (1.3253$\pm$0.0075, 0.997$\pm$0.013) R$_\odot$ for V40 and (1.0739$\pm$0.0048, 0.7307$\pm$0.0046) R$_\odot$ for V41. Based on the derived luminosities, we find that the distance modulus of the cluster is 14.74$\pm$0.04 mag -- in good agreement with 14.72 mag obtained from CMD fitting. We compare the absolute parameters of component stars with theoretical isochrones in mass-radius and mass-luminosity diagrams. For assumed abundances [Fe/H] = -1.07, [$\alpha$/Fe] = 0.4, and Y = 0.25 we find the most probable age of V40 to be 11.7$\pm$0.2 Gyr, compatible with the age of the cluster derived from CMD fitting (12.5$\pm$0.5 Gyr). V41 seems to be markedly younger than V40. If independently confirmed, this result will suggest that V41 belongs to the younger of the two stellar populations recently discovered in NGC 6362. The orbits of both systems are eccentric. Given the orbital period and age of V40, its orbit should have been tidally circularized some $\sim$7 Gyr ago. The observed eccentricity is most likely the result of a relatively recent close stellar encounter.
A significant fraction of cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are characterised by a fast rise and exponential decay (FRED) temporal structure. This is not a distinctive feature of this class, since it is observed in many Galactic transients and is likely descriptive of a sudden release of energy followed by a diffusion process. Possible evidence has recently been reported by Tello et al. (2012) for a Galactic contamination in the sample of FRED GRBs discovered with Swift. We searched for possible Galactic intruders disguised as FRED GRBs in the Swift catalogue up to September 2014. We selected 181 FRED GRBs (2/3 with unknown redshift) and considered different subsamples. We tested the degree of isotropy through the dipole and the quadrupole moment distributions, both with reference to the Galaxy and in a coordinate-system-independent way, as well as with the two-point angular autocovariance function. In addition, we searched for possible indicators of a Galactic origin among the spectral and temporal properties of individual GRBs. We found marginal (~3 sigma) evidence for an excess of FREDs with unknown redshift towards the Galactic plane compared with what is expected for an isotropic distribution corrected for the non-uniform sky exposure. However, when we account for the observational bias against optical follow-up observations of low-Galactic latitude GRBs, the evidence for anisotropy decreases to ~2 sigma. In addition, we found no statistical evidence for different spectral or temporal properties from the bulk of cosmological GRBs. We found marginal evidence for the presence of a disguised Galactic population among Swift GRBs with unknown redshift. The estimated fraction is f=(19 +- 11)%, with an upper limit of 34% (90% confidence).
We investigate the evolution of the galaxy two point correlation function (CF) over a wide redshift range, 0.2 < z < 3. For the first time the systematic analysis covers the redshifts above 1 - 1.5. The catalogue of ~250000 galaxies with i+ < 25 and known photometric redshifts in the Subaru Deep field is used. The galaxies are divided into three luminosity classes and several distance/redshift bins. First, the 2D CF is determined for each luminosity class and distance bin. Calculations are based on the quantitative differences between the surface distributions of galaxy pairs with comparable and distinctly different photometric redshifts. The power law approximation for the CF is used. A limited accuracy of photometric redshifts as compared to the spectroscopic ones has been examined and taken into account. Then, the 3D functions for all the selected luminosities and distances are calculated. The power-law parameters of the CF, the slope and the correlation length, are determined. Both parameters do not show strong variations over the whole investigated redshift range. The slope of the luminous galaxies appears to be consistently steeper than that for the fainter ones. The linear bias factor, b(z), grows systematically with redshift; assuming the local normalization b(0) = 1.1-1.2, the bias reaches 3 - 3.5 at the high redshift limit.
Context. In the last five years the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) instrument detected GeV {\gamma}-ray emission from five novae. The GeV emission can be interpreted in terms of an inverse Compton process of electrons accelerated in a shock. In this case it is expected that protons in the same conditions can be accelerated to much higher energies. Consequently they may produce a second component in the {\gamma}-ray spectrum at TeV energies. Aims. We aim to explore the very-high-energy domain to search for {\gamma}-ray emission above 50 GeV and to shed light on the acceleration process of leptons and hadrons in nova explosions. Methods. We have performed observations with the MAGIC telescopes of the classical nova V339 Del shortly after the 2013 outburst, triggered by optical and subsequent GeV {\gamma}-ray detec- tions. We also briefly report on VHE observations of the symbiotic nova YY Her and the dwarf nova ASASSN-13ax. We complement the TeV MAGIC observations with the analysis of con- temporaneous Fermi-LAT data of the sources. The TeV and GeV observations are compared in order to evaluate the acceleration parameters for leptons and hadrons. Results. No significant TeV emission was found from the studied sources. We computed upper limits on the spectrum and night-by-night flux. The combined GeV and TeV observations of V339 Del limit the ratio of proton to electron luminosities to Lp<~0.15 Le.
Gravito-acoustic modes in the Sun and other stars propagate in resonant cavities with a frequency below a given limit known as the cut-off frequency. At higher frequencies, waves are no longer trapped in the stellar interior and become traveller waves. In this article we study six pulsating solar-like stars at different evolutionary stages observed by the NASA Kepler mission. These high signal-to-noise targets show a peak structure that extends at very high frequencies and are good candidates for studying the transition region between the modes and the interference peaks or pseudo-modes. Following the same methodology successfully applied on Sun-as-a-star measurements, we uncover the existence of pseudo-modes in these stars with one or two dominant interference patterns depending on the evolutionary stage of the star. We also infer their cut-off frequency as the midpoint between the last eigenmode and the first peak of the interference patterns. By using ray theory we show that, while the period of one of the interference pattern is very close to half the large separation the other, one depends on the time phase of mixed waves, thus carrying additional information on the stellar structure and evolution.
An M6.5-class flare was observed at N12E56 of the solar surface at 16:06 UT on July 8, 2014. In association with this flare, solar neutron detectors located on two high mountains, Mt. Sierra Negra and Chacaltaya and at the space station observed enhancements in the neutral channel. The authors analysed these data and a possible scenario of enhancements produced by high-energy protons and neutrons is proposed, using the data from continuous observation of a solar surface by the ultraviolet telescope onboard the Solar Dynamical Observatory (SDO).
We present the analysis of the polarimetric and spectral data obtained for the dynamically new comet C/2012\,J1 (Catalina) when it was at a distance of 3.17~AU from the Sun. The observations were made at the prime focus of the 6-m BTA telescope using the SCORPIO-2 focal reducer. The map of the distribution of linear polarization in the cometary coma was constructed. The calculated value of linear polarization was on average about $-2\%$. Spectral analysis of the cometary coma allowed us to detect the emission of the CN molecule in the (0--0) band. The gas production rate was derived using the Haser model and amounted to $3.7\times10^{23}$~molecules per second.
The solar neutron detector SEDA-FIB onboard the International Space Station (ISS) has detected several events from the solar direction associated with three large solar flares observed on March 5th (X1.1), 7th (X5.4), and 9th (M6.3) of 2012. In this study, we present the time profiles of those neutrons and discuss the physics that may be related to a possible acceleration scenario for ions over the solar surface. We compare our data with the dynamical pictures of the flares obtained by the ultra-violet telescope of the space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory.
We analyzed a highly impulsive solar flare observed on June 3, 2012. In association with this flare, emissions of hard X-rays, high-energy gamma rays, and neutrons were detected by the detectors onboard the FERMI, RHESSI satellites and the International Space Station. We compared those results with the pictures taken by the UV telescope onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite and found the crossing structure of two magnetic ropes at two positions on the solar surface almost at the same time. High-energy gamma rays were detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope satellite, implying that the impulsive flare was one of a major source of proton acceleration processes on the solar surface. At the beginning of research, impulsive solar flares were considered to be the main source of particle acceleration processes; our current observations have confirmed this hypothesis.
Short and long bursts were identified by the BATSE team in the early 90s. A decade ago there were some suggestions about the intermediate duration type of bursts. We are going to summarize recent analyses of the duration distributions of the Beppo-Sax and Swift data. Our conclusion is all the three satellites (CGRO, Swift, Beppo-Sax) can see the third type of the GRBs. The properties of the group members are very similar in the different data sets.
Strong wind-wind collisions in massive binaries generate a very hot plasma that frequently produces a moderately strong iron line. The morphology of this line depends upon the properties of the wind interaction zone and its orientation with respect to the line of sight. As the binary components revolve around their common centre of mass, the line profiles are thus expected to vary. With the advent of the next generation of X-ray observatories (Astro-H, Athena) that will offer high-resolution spectroscopy above 6 keV, it will become possible to exploit these changes as the most sensitive probe of the inner parts of the colliding wind interaction. Using a simple prescription of the wind-wind interaction in an early-type binary, we have generated synthetic line profiles for a number of configurations and orbital phases. These profiles can help constrain the properties of the stellar winds in such binary systems.
We investigate physical properties of molecular clouds in the disc galaxies with different morphologies: a galaxy without prominent structure, a spiral barred galaxy and a galaxy with flocculent structure. Our $N$-body/hydrodynamical simulations take into account non-equilibrium H$_2$ and CO chemical kinetics, self-gravity, star formation and feedback processes. For simulated galaxies the scaling relations of giant molecular clouds or so called Larson's relations are studied for two types of a cloud definition: the first is based on the total column density position-position (PP) datasets and the second is indicated by the CO~(1-0) line emission used position-position-velocity (PPV) data. We find that the cloud populations obtained by using both cloud extraction methods generally have similar physical parameters. Note that for the CO line data analysis the mass spectrum of clouds has a tail with low-massive objects $M\sim 10^3-10^4$~\Msun. In the case of variation of the column density threshold the significant changes of the power-law indices in the Larson's relations for the simulated galaxies are found. In contrast, the scaling relations are invariant to CO brightness temperature threshold. The mass spectra of clouds for the PPV data are slightly sensitive to the galactic morphology, whereas the spectra for the PP data demonstrate significant variations.
The main goal of this work is to study element ratios that are important for the formation of planets of different masses. We study potential correlations between the existence of planetary companions and the relative elemental abundances of their host stars. We use a large sample of FGK-type dwarf stars for which precise Mg, Si, and Fe abundances have been derived using HARPS high-resolution and high-quality data. A first analysis of the data suggests that low-mass planet host stars show higher [Mg/Si] ratios, while giant planet hosts present [Mg/Si] that is lower than field stars. However, we found that the [Mg/Si] ratio significantly depends on metallicity through Galactic chemical evolution. After removing the Galactic evolution trend only the difference in the [Mg/Si] elemental ratio between low-mass planet hosts and non-hosts was present in a significant way. These results suggests that low-mass planets are more prevalent around stars with high [Mg/Si]. Our results demonstrate the importance of Galactic chemical evolution and indicate that it may play an important role in the planetary internal structure and composition.
We introduce a new method for treating Comptonization in computational fluid dynamics. By construction, this method conserves the number of photons. Whereas the traditional "blackbody Comptonization" approach assumes that the radiation is locally a perfect blackbody and therefore uses a single parameter, the radiation temperature, to describe the radiation, the new "photon-conserving Comptonization" approach treats the photon gas as a Bose-Einstein fluid and keeps track of both the radiation temperature and the photon number density. We have implemented photon-conserving Comptonization in the general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamical code KORAL and we describe its impact on simulations of mildly super-critical black hole accretion disks. We find that blackbody Comptonization underestimates the gas and radiation temperature by up to a factor of two compared to photon-conserving Comptonization. This discrepancy could be serious when computing spectra. The photon-conserving simulation indicates that the spectral color correction factor of the escaping radiation in the funnel region of the disk could be as large as 5.
We have discovered an optically rich galaxy cluster at z=1.7089 with star formation occurring in close proximity to the central galaxy. The system, SpARCS104922.6+564032.5, was detected within the Spitzer Adaptation of the red-sequence Cluster Survey, (SpARCS), and confirmed through Keck-MOSFIRE spectroscopy. The rest-frame optical richness of Ngal(500kpc) = 30+/-8 implies a total halo mass, within 500kpc, of ~3.8+/-1.2 x 10^14 Msun, comparable to other clusters at or above this redshift. There is a wealth of ancillary data available, including Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope optical, UKIRT-K, Spitzer-IRAC/MIPS, and Herschel-SPIRE. This work adds submillimeter imaging with the SCUBA2 camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and near-infrared imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The mid/far-infrared (M/FIR) data detect an Ultra-luminous Infrared Galaxy spatially coincident with the central galaxy, with LIR = 6.2+/-0.9 x 10^12 Lsun. The detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at z=1.7 in a Spitzer-IRS spectrum of the source implies the FIR luminosity is dominated by star formation (an Active Galactic Nucleus contribution of 20%) with a rate of ~860+/-30 Msun/yr. The optical source corresponding to the IR emission is likely a chain of of > 10 individual clumps arranged as "beads on a string" over a linear scale of 66 kpc. Its morphology and proximity to the Brightest Cluster Galaxy imply a gas-rich interaction at the center of the cluster triggered the star formation. This system indicates that wet mergers may be an important process in forming the stellar mass of BCGs at early times.
With a fantastic sensitivity improving significantly over the advanced GW detectors, Einstein Telescope (ET) will be able to observe hundreds of thousand inspiralling double compact objects per year. By virtue of gravitational lensing effect, intrinsically unobservable faint sources can be observed by ET due to the magnification by intervening galaxies. We explore the possibility of observing such faint sources amplified by strong gravitational lensing. Following our previous work, we use the merger rates of DCO (NS-NS,BH-NS,BH-BH systems) as calculated by Dominik et al.(2013). It turns out that tens to hundreds of such (lensed) extra events will be registered by ET. This will strongly broaden the ET's distance reach for signals from such coalescences to the redshift range z=2 - 8. However, with respect to the full inspiral event catalog this magnification bias is at the level of 0.001 and should not affect much cosmological inferences.
The Parker hypothesis (Parker (1972)) assumes that heating of coronal loops occurs due to reconnection, induced when photospheric motions braid field lines to the point of current sheet formation. In this contribution we address the question of how the nature of photospheric motions affects heating of braided coronal loops. We design a series of boundary drivers and quantify their properties in terms of complexity and helicity injection. We examine a series of long-duration full resistive MHD simulations in which a simulated coronal loop, consisting of initially uniform field lines, is subject to these photospheric flows. Braiding of the loop is continually driven until differences in behaviour induced by the drivers can be characterised. It is shown that heating is crucially dependent on the nature of the photospheric driver - coherent motions typically lead to fewer large energy release events, while more complex motions result in more frequent but less energetic heating events.
There are currently over 160 known gamma-ray pulsars. While most of them are detected only from space, at least two are now seen also from the ground. MAGIC and VERITAS have measured the gamma ray pulsed emission of the Crab pulsar up to hundreds of GeV and more recently MAGIC has reported emission at $\sim2$ TeV. Furthermore, in the Southern Hemisphere, H.E.S.S. has detected the Vela pulsar above 30 GeV. In addition, non-pulsed TeV emission coincident with pulsars has been detected by many groups, including the Milagro Collaboration. These GeV-TeV observations open the possibility of searching for very-high-energy (VHE, > 100GeV) pulsations from gamma-rays pulsars in the HAWC field of view.
We study the star formation history for a sample of 154 galaxies with stellar
mass $10^{10}\lesssim M_{\ast}\lesssim 10^{12} M_{\odot}$ in the redshift range
$0.7 < z < 0.9$. We do this using stellar population models combined with
full-spectrum fitting of good quality spectra and high resolution photometry.
For a subset of 68 galaxies ($M_{\ast}\gtrsim 10^{11} M_{\odot}$) we
additionally construct dynamical models. These use an axisymmetric solution to
the Jeans equations, which allows for velocity anisotropy, and adopts results
from abundance matching techniques to account for the dark matter content.
We find that: (i) The trends in star formation history observed in the local
universe are already in place by $z\sim1$: the most massive galaxies are
already passive, while lower mass ones have a more extended star formation
histories, and the lowest mass galaxies are actively forming stars; (ii) we
place an upper limit of a factor 1.5 to the size growth of the massive galaxy
population; (iii) we present strong evidence for low dark matter fractions
within $1R_{\rm e}$ (median of 9 per cent and 90th percentile of 21 per cent)
for galaxies with $M_{\ast} \gtrsim 10^{11} M_{\odot}$ at these redshifts; and
(iv) we confirm that these galaxies have, on average, a Salpeter normalisation
of the stellar initial mass function.
An important factor which affects performance of solar adaptive optics (AO) systems is the accuracy of tracking an extended object in the wavefront sensor. The accuracy of a centre-ofmass approach to image shift measurement depends on the parameters applied in thresholding the recorded image; however, there exists no analytical prediction for these parameters for extended objects. Motivated by this we present a new method for exploring the parameter space of image shift measurement algorithms, and apply this to optimize the parameters of the algorithm. Using a thresholded, windowed centre of mass, we are able to improve centroid accuracy compared to the typical parabolic fitting approach by a factor of 3 in a signal-to-noise regime typical for solar AO. Exploration of the parameters occurs after initial image crosscorrelation with a reference image, so does not require regeneration of correlation images. The results presented employ methods which can be used in real-time to estimate the error on centroids, allowing the system to use real data to optimize parameters, without needing to enter a separate calibration mode. This method can also be applied outside of solar AO to any field which requires the tracking of an extended object.
A millimeter molecular line survey of three carbon-rich AGB stars and two oxygen-rich planetary nebulae has been carried out over the frequency range 80.5-115.5 GHz. Sixty eight different transitions were detected in the data from 27 different molecular species. The hyperfine structure of C2H and C13CH has been fitted to constrain the optical depth of their transitions. All other transitions have been constrained on the basis of their line profile shapes. Rotation temperatures and column densities have been calculated for all possible species, with adaptations to the methods applied in order to account for the hyperfine structure of various transitions. From the column densities, carbon, silicon and sulphur isotopic ratios have been determined. The results corroborate IRAS 15194-5115 as a J-type star, whilst excluding IRAS 15082-4808 and IRAS 07454-7112 as such.
Context: High-resolution studies of class 0 protostars represent the key to constraining protostar formation models. VLA16234-2417 represents the prototype of class 0 protostars, and it has been recently identified as a triple non-coeval system. Aim: We aim at deriving the physical properties of the jets in VLA16234-2417 using tracers of shocked gas. Methods: ALMA Cycle 0 Early Science observations of CO(2-1) in the extended configuration are presented in comparison with previous SMA CO(3-2) and Herschel-PACS [OI}] 63 micron observations. Gas morphology and kinematics were analysed to constrain the physical structure and origin of the protostellar outflows. Results: We reveal a collimated jet component associated with the [OI] 63 micron emission at about 8'' (about 960 AU) from source B. This newly detected jet component is inversely oriented with respect to the large-scale outflow driven by source A, and it is aligned with compact and fast jet emission very close to source B (about 0.3'') rather than with the direction perpendicular to the A disk. We also detect a cavity-like structure at low projected velocities, which surrounds the [OI] 63 micron emission and is possibly associated with the outflow driven by source A. Finally, no compact outflow emission is associated with source W. Conclusions: Our high-resolution ALMA observations seem to suggest there is a fast and collimated jet component associated with source B. This scenario would confirm that source B is younger than A, that it is in a very early stage of evolution, and that it drives a faster, more collimated, and more compact jet with respect to the large-scale slower outflow driven by A. However, a different scenario of a precessing jet driven by A cannot be firmly excluded from the present observations.
The blazar Mrk 501 is among the brightest X-ray and TeV sources in the sky, and among the few sources whose spectral energy distributions can be characterized by current instruments with relatively short observations (minutes to hours). In 2013, we organized an extensive multi-instrument campaign including Fermi-LAT, MAGIC, VERITAS, F-GAMMA, Swift, GASP-WEBT, and other groups and instruments which provided the most detailed temporal and energy coverage on Mrk 501 to date. This campaign included, for the first time, observations with the Nuclear Stereoscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), a satellite mission launched in 2012. NuSTAR provides unprecedented sensitivity in the hard X-ray range 3-79 keV, which, together with very high energy (VHE; >100 GeV) observations, is crucial to probe the highest energy electrons in Mrk 501. The campaign covered a few day long flaring activity in July 2013 which could be studied with strictly simultaneous NuSTAR and MAGIC observations. A large fraction of the MAGIC data during this activity was affected by hazy atmospheric conditions, due to a sand layer from the Saharan desert. These data would have been removed in any standard Cherenkov Telescope data analysis. MAGIC has developed a technique to correct for adverse atmospheric conditions, making use of information from the LIDAR facility at the MAGIC site, and applies an event-by-event correction to recover data affected by adverse weather conditions. This is the first time that LIDAR information has been used to produce a physics result with Cherenkov Telescope data taken during adverse atmospheric conditions, and hence sets a precedent for current and future ground-based gamma-ray instruments. In this contribution we report the observational results, focusing on the LIDAR-corrected MAGIC data and the strictly simultaneous NuSTAR and MAGIC/VERITAS data, and discuss the scientific implications.
The nearby active galaxy IC 310, located in the outskirts of the Perseus cluster of galaxies is a bright and variable multi-wavelength emitter from the radio regime up to very high gamma-ray energies above 100 GeV. Originally, the nucleus of IC 310 has been classified as a radio galaxy. However, studies of the multi-wavelength emission showed several properties similarly to those found from blazars as well as radio galaxies. In late 2012, we have organized the first contemporaneous multi-wavelength campaign including radio, optical, X-ray and gamma-ray instruments. During this campaign an exceptionally bright flare of IC 310 was detected with the MAGIC telescopes in November 2012 reaching an averaged flux level in the night of up to one Crab above 1 TeV with a hard spectrum over two decades in energy. The intra-night light curve showed a series of strong outbursts with flux-doubling time scales as fast as a few minutes. The fast variability constrains the size of the gamma-ray emission regime to be smaller than 20% of the gravitational radius of its central black hole. This challenges the shock acceleration models, commonly used to explain gamma-ray radiation from active galaxies. Here, we will present more details on the MAGIC data and discuss several possible alternative emission models.
Galaxy clusters are the largest and most massive gravitationally bound structures known in the Universe. Cosmic-Ray (CR) hadrons accelerated at structure formation shocks and injected by galaxies, are confined in galaxy clusters where they accumulate for cosmological times. The presence of diffuse synchrotron radio emission in several clusters proves the existence of high-energy electrons, and magnetic fields. However, a direct proof of CR proton acceleration is missing. The presence of CR protons can be probe through the diffuse gamma-ray emission induced by their hadronic interaction with the Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM). The Perseus cluster, a nearby cool-core cluster, has been identified to be among the best candidates to detect such emission. We present here the results of a very deep observation of the Perseus cluster with the MAGIC telescopes, accumulating about 250 hours of data from 2009 to 2014. No evidence of large-scale very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from CR-ICM interactions has been detected. The derived flux upper limits in the TeV regime allow us to put stringent constraints on the physics of cluster CRs, in particular on the CR-to-thermal pressure, the CR acceleration efficiency at formation shocks and the magnetic field of the central cluster region.
An earlier study of the Kepler Mission noise properties on time scales of primary relevance to detection of exoplanet transits found that higher than expected noise followed to a large extent from the stars, rather than instrument or data analysis performance. The earlier study over the first six quarters of Kepler data is extended to the full four years ultimately comprising the mission. Efforts to improve the pipeline data analysis have been successful in reducing noise levels modestly as evidenced by smaller values derived from the current data products. The new analyses of noise properties on transit time scales show significant changes in the component attributed to instrument and data analysis, with essentially no change in the inferred stellar noise. We also extend the analyses to time scales of several days, instead of several hours to better sample stellar noise that follows from magnetic activity. On the longer time scale there is a shift in stellar noise for solar-type stars to smaller values in comparison to solar values.
We present an updated mid-infrared (MIR) versus X-ray correlation for the local active galactic nuclei (AGN) population based on the high angular resolution 12 and 18um continuum fluxes from the AGN subarcsecond MIR atlas and 2-10 keV and 14-195 keV data collected from the literature. We isolate a sample of 152 objects with reliable AGN nature and multi-epoch X-ray data and minimal MIR contribution from star formation. Although the sample is not homogeneous or complete, we show that our results are unlikely to be affected by biases. The MIR--X-ray correlation is nearly linear and within a factor of two independent of the AGN type and the wavebands used. The observed scatter is <0.4 dex. A possible flattening of the correlation slope at the highest luminosities probed (~ 10^45 erg/s) is indicated but not significant. Unobscured objects have, on average, an MIR--X-ray ratio that is only <= 0.15 dex higher than that of obscured objects. Objects with intermediate X-ray column densities (22 < log N_H < 23) actually show the highest MIR--X-ray ratio on average. Radio-loud objects show a higher mean MIR--X-ray ratio at low luminosities, while the ratio is lower than average at high luminosities. This may be explained by synchrotron emission from the jet contributing to the MIR at low-luminosities and additional X-ray emission at high luminosities. True Seyfert 2 candidates and double AGN do not show any deviation from the general behaviour. Finally, we show that the MIR--X-ray correlation can be used to verify the AGN nature of uncertain objects. Specifically, we give equations that allow to determine the intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosities and column densities for objects with complex X-ray properties to within 0.34 dex. These techniques are applied to the uncertain objects of the remaining AGN MIR atlas, demonstrating the usefulness of the MIR--X-ray correlation as an empirical tool.
The unprecedentedly bright afterglow of GRB 130606A at z = 5.91 gave us a unique opportunity to probe the reionization era by high precision analyses of the redward damping wing of Lyman alpha absorption, but the reported constraints on the neutral hydrogen fraction (f_{HI}) in intergalactic medium (IGM) derived from spectra taken by different telescopes are in contradiction. Here we examine the origin of this discrepancy by analyzing the spectrum taken by VLT with our own analysis code previously used to fit the Subaru spectrum. Though the VLT team reported no evidence for IGM HI using the VLT spectrum, we confirmed our previous result of 3-4 sigma preference for non-zero IGM HI (f_{HI} ~ 0.06, when IGM HI extends to the GRB redshift). The fit residuals of the VLT spectrum by the model without IGM HI show the same systematic trend as the Subaru spectrum. We consider that the likely origin of the discrepancy between the two teams is the difference of the wavelength ranges adopted in the fittings; our wavelength range is wider than that of the VLT team, and also we avoided the shortest wavelength range of deep Lyman alpha absorption (lambda_{obs} < 8426 A), because this region is dominated by HI in the host galaxy and the systematic uncertainty about host HI velocity distribution is large. We also study the sensitivity of these results to the adopted Lyman alpha cross section formulae, ranging from the classical Lorentzian function to the most recent one taking into account fully quantum mechanical scattering. It is found that the preference for non-zero IGM HI is robust against the choice of the cross section formulae, but it is quantitatively not negligible and hence one should be careful in future analyses.
We have obtained Gemini/GMOS spectra of 28 regions located across the interacting group NGC 6845, spanning from the inner regions of the four major galaxies (NGC 6845A, B, C, D) to the tidal tails of NGC 6845A. All regions in the tails are star-forming objects with ages younger than 10 Myr. We derived the gas-phase metallicity gradients across NGC 6845A and its two tails and we find that these are shallower than those for isolated galaxies. NGC 6845A has a gas-phase oxygen central metallicity of \mbox{12+log(O/H)$\sim$8.5} and a flat gas-phase metallicity gradient ($\beta$=0.002$\pm$0.004 dex kpc$^{-1}$) out to $\sim$4 $\times$ R$_{25}$ (to the end of the longest tidal tail). Considering the mass-metallicity relation, the central region of NGC 6845A displays a lower oxygen abundance than the expected for its mass. Taking into account this fact and considering the flat oxygen distribution measured along the eastern tidal tail, we suggest that an interaction event has produced a dilution in the central metallicity of this galaxy and the observed flattening in its metal distribution. We found that the star formation process along the eastern tidal structure has not been efficient enough to increase the oxygen abundances in this place, suggesting that this structure was formed from enriched material.
Searches for dark matter imprints are one of the most active areas of current research. We focus here on light fields with mass $m_B$, such as axions and axion-like candidates. Using perturbative techniques and full-blown nonlinear Numerical Relativity methods, we show that (i) dark matter can pile up in the center of stars, leading to configurations and geometries oscillating with frequency which is a multiple of f=$2.5 10^{14}$ $m_B c^2$/eV Hz. These configurations are stable throughout most of the parameter space, and arise out of credible mechanisms for dark-matter capture. Stars with bosonic cores may also develop in other theories with effective mass couplings, such as (massless) scalar-tensor theories. We also show that (ii) collapse of the host star to a black hole is avoided by efficient gravitational cooling mechanisms.
We show that the Standard Model vacuum can be stabilized if all particle propagators are non-minimally coupled to gravity. This is due to a Higgs-background dependent redefinition of the Standard Model fields: in terms of canonical variables and in the large Higgs field limit, the quantum fluctuations of the redefined fields are suppressed by the Higgs background. Thus, in this regime, quantum corrections to the tree-level electroweak potential are negligible. Finally, we show that in this framework the Higgs boson can be responsible for inflation. Due to a numerical coincidence that originates from the CMB data, inflation can happen if the Higgs boson mass, the top mass, and the QCD coupling lie in a region of the parameter space approximately equivalent than the one allowing for electroweak vacuum stability in the Standard Model. We find some (small) regions in the Standard Model parameter space in which the new interaction "rescues" the electroweak vacuum, which would not be stable in the Standard Model.
By introducing Dirac $\delta$-function in superhigh magnetic field, we deduce a general formula for pressure of degenerate and relativistic electrons, $P_{e}$, which is suitable for superhigh magnetic fields, discuss the quantization of Landau levels of electrons, and consider the quantum electrodynamic(QED) effects on the equations of states (EOSs) for different matter systems. The main conclusions are as follows: the stronger the magnetic field strength, the higher the electron pressure becomes; compared with a common radio pulsar, a magnetar could be a more compact oblate spheroid-like deformed neutron star due to the anisotropic total pressure; and an increase in the maximum mass of a magnetar is expected because of the positive contribution of the magnetic field energy to the EOS of the star. Since this is an original work in which some uncertainties could exist, to further modify and perfect our theory model should be considered in our future studies.
Bulk properties of cold and hot neutron stars (NSs) are studied on the basis
of the hadron-quark crossover picture where a smooth transition from the
hadronic phase to the quark phase takes place at finite baryon density. By
using a phenomenological equation of state (EOS) "CRover" which interpolates
the two phases at around 3 times the nuclear matter density, it is found that
the cold NSs with the gravitational mass larger than 2-solarmass can be
sustained. This is in sharp contrast to the case of the first-order
hadron-quark transition. The radii of the cold NSs with the CRover EOS are in
the narrow range which is insensitive to the NS masses. Due to the stiffening
of the EOS induced by the hadron-quark crossover, the central density of the
NSs is at most 4 times the nuclear matter density and the hyperon-mixing barely
occurs inside the NS core. This constitutes a solution of the long-standing
hyperon puzzle. The effect of color superconductivity (CSC) on the NS
structures is also examined with the hadron-quark crossover. For the typical
strength of the diquark attraction, a slight softening of the EOS due to
two-flavor CSC (2SC) takes place and the maximum mass is reduced by about
0.2-solarmass.
The CRover EOS is generalized to the supernova matter at finite temperature
to describe the hot NSs at birth. The hadron-quark crossover is found to
decrease the central temperature of the hot NSs under isentropic condition. The
gravitational energy release and the spin-up rate during the contraction from
the hot NS to the cold NS are also estimated.
We investigate a class of models of topological inflation in which a super-Hubble-sized global monopole seeds inflation. These models are attractive since inflation starts from rather generic initial conditions, but their not so attractive feature is that, unless symmetry is again restored, inflation never ends. In this work we show that, in presence of another nonminimally coupled scalar field, that is both quadratically and quartically coupled to the Ricci scalar, inflation naturally ends, representing an elegant solution to the graceful exit problem of topological inflation. While the monopole core grows during inflation, the growth stops after inflation, such that the monopole eventually enters the Hubble radius, and shrinks to its Minkowski space size, rendering it immaterial for the subsequent Universe's dynamics. Furthermore, we find that our model can produce cosmological perturbations that source CMB temperature fluctuations and seed large scale structure statistically consistent (within one standard deviation) with all available data. In particular, for small and (in our convention) negative nonminimal couplings, the scalar spectral index can be as large as $n_s\simeq 0.955$, which is about one standard deviation lower than the central value quoted by the most recent Planck Collaboration.
In this review article, we argue that our current understanding of the thermodynamic properties of cold QCD matter, originating from first principles calculations at high and low densities, can be used to efficiently constrain the macroscopic properties of neutron stars. In particular, we demonstrate that combining state-of-the-art results from Chiral Effective Theory and perturbative QCD with the current bounds on neutron star masses, the Equation of State of neutron star matter can be obtained to an accuracy better than 30% at all densities.
In this work a cosmological scenario where dark matter interacts with a variable vacuum energy for a spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-time is analysed. One of the aims is to show how a particular interaction in the dark sector can be used to get a model of an Emergent Universe. After that we analyse the viability of two particular models by taking into account recent observations. The updated observational Hubble data is used in order to constrain the cosmological parameters of the models and the amount of dark energy in the radiation era is estimated. It is shown that the two models fulfill the severe bounds of $\Omega_{x}(z\simeq 1100)<0.009$ at the $2\sigma$ level of Planck.
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