The chromosphere is a thin layer of the solar atmosphere that bridges the relatively cool photosphere and the intensely heated transition region and corona. Compressible and incompressible waves propagating through the chromosphere can supply significant amounts of energy to the interface region and corona. In recent years an abundance of high-resolution observations from state-of-the-art facilities have provided new and exciting ways of disentangling the characteristics of oscillatory phenomena propagating through the dynamic chromosphere. Coupled with rapid advancements in magnetohydrodynamic wave theory, we are now in an ideal position to thoroughly investigate the role waves play in supplying energy to sustain chromospheric and coronal heating. Here, we review the recent progress made in characterising, categorising and interpreting oscillations manifesting in the solar chromosphere, with an impetus placed on their intrinsic energetics.
[Abridged] The Study Analysis Group 8 of the NASA Exoplanet Analysis Group was convened to assess the current capabilities and the future potential of the precise radial velocity (PRV) method to advance the NASA goal to "search for planetary bodies and Earth-like planets in orbit around other stars.: (U.S. National Space Policy, June 28, 2010). PRVs complement other exoplanet detection methods, for example offering a direct path to obtaining the bulk density and thus the structure and composition of transiting exoplanets. Our analysis builds upon previous community input, including the ExoPlanet Community Report chapter on radial velocities in 2008, the 2010 Decadal Survey of Astronomy, the Penn State Precise Radial Velocities Workshop response to the Decadal Survey in 2010, and the NSF Portfolio Review in 2012. The radial-velocity detection of exoplanets is strongly endorsed by both the Astro 2010 Decadal Survey "New Worlds, New Horizons" and the NSF Portfolio Review, and the community has recommended robust investment in PRVs. The demands on telescope time for the above mission support, especially for systems of small planets, will exceed the number of nights available using instruments now in operation by a factor of at least several for TESS alone. Pushing down towards true Earth twins will require more photons (i.e. larger telescopes), more stable spectrographs than are currently available, better calibration, and better correction for stellar jitter. We outline four hypothetical situations for PRV work necessary to meet NASA mission exoplanet science objectives.
Using the Kepler planet sample from Buchhave et al. and the statistical method clarified by Schlaufman, I show that the shorter-period super-Earths have a different dependence on the host star metallicity from the longer-period super-Earths, with the transition period being in the period range from 70 to 100 days. The hosts of shorter-period super-Earths are on average more metal-rich than those of longer-period super-Earths. The existence of such a transition period cannot be explained by any single theory of super-Earth formation, suggesting that super-Earths have formed via at least two mechanisms.
We investigate the possibility of constraining the sin i degeneracy of alpha Cen B b -- with orbital period P=3.24 d; a = 0.042 AU; msini = 1.1 M_earth -- to estimate the true mass of the newly reported terrestrial exoplanet in the nearest stellar system to our Sun. We present detailed numerical simulations of the dynamical stability of the exoplanet in the alpha Cen AB binary system for a range of initial inclinations, eccentricities, and semi-major axes. The system represents a benchmark case for the interplay of the Kozai mechanism, general relativistic and tidal forces. From our simulations, there is only a small boundary in initial inclinations and initial semi-major axes that result in the migration via the Kozai mechanism of alpha Cen B b to its present location. Inside this boundary, the planet orbit is stable for up to 1 Gyr against the Kozai mechanism, and outside this boundary the planet collides with alpha Cen B or is ejected. In our three simulations where the planet migrates in towards the star via the Kozai mechanism, the final inclination is 46-53 degrees relative to the AB orbital plane, lower than the initial inclination of 75 degrees in each case. We discuss inclination constraints from the formation of alpha Cen B b in situ at its present location, migration in a proto-planetary disk, or migration in resonance with additional planets. We conclude that alpha Cen B b probably has a mass of less than 2.7 M_earth, implying a likely terrestrial composition warranting future confirmation.
We study the prediction of the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structures (EFTofLSS) for the matter power spectrum at different redshifts. In previous work, we found that the two-loop prediction can match the nonlinear power spectrum measured from $N$-body simulations at redshift zero at percent level up to $k\sim 0.6\,h\, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ after fixing a single free parameter, the so-called "speed of sound". We determine the time evolution of this parameter by matching the EFTofLSS prediction to simulation output at different redshifts, and find that it is well-described by a fitting function that only includes one additional parameter. After the two free parameters are fixed, the prediction agrees to percent level with nonlinear data up to $k\sim 1.2\,h\, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ at $z=1$ and $k\sim 2.3\,h\, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ at $z=3$, a major improvement with respect to other perturbative techniques. We also develop an accurate way to estimate where the EFTofLSS predictions at different loop orders should fail, based on the sizes of the next-order terms that are neglected, and find agreement with the actual comparisons to data. Finally, we use our matter power spectrum results to perform analytical calculations of lensing potential power spectra corresponding to both CMB and galaxy lensing. This opens the door to future direct applications of the EFTofLSS to observations of gravitational clustering on cosmic scales.
Despite the ubiquity of M dwarfs and their growing importance to studies of exoplanets, Galactic evolution, and stellar structure, methods for precisely measuring their fundamental stellar properties remain elusive. Existing techniques for measuring M dwarf luminosity, mass, radius, or composition are calibrated over a limited range of stellar parameters or require expensive observations. We find a strong correlation between the $K_S$-band luminosity ($M_K$), the observed strength of the $I$-band sodium doublet absorption feature, and [Fe/H] in M dwarfs without strong H$\alpha$ emission. We show that the strength of this feature, coupled with [Fe/H] and spectral type, can be used to derive M dwarf $M_K$ and radius without requiring parallax. Additionally, we find promising evidence that the strengths of the $I$-band sodium doublet and the nearby $I$-band calcium triplet may jointly indicate $\alpha$-element enrichment. The use of these $I$-band features requires only moderate-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy to provide valuable information about the potential habitability of exoplanets around M dwarfs, and surface gravity and distance for M dwarfs throughout the Galaxy. This technique has immediate applicability for both target selection and candidate planet host system characterization for exoplanet missions such as \textit{TESS} and \textit{K2}.
We have developed our original made-to-measure (M2M) algorithm, PRIMAL, with the aim of modelling the Galactic disc from upcoming Gaia data. From a Milky Way like N-body disc galaxy simulation, we have created mock Gaia data using M0III stars as tracers, taking into account extinction and the expected Gaia errors. In PRIMAL, observables calculated from the N-body model are compared with the target stars, at the position of the target stars. Using PRIMAL, the masses of the N-body model particles are changed to reproduce the target mock data, and the gravitational potential is automatically adjusted by the changing mass of the model particles. We have also adopted a new resampling scheme for the model particles to keep the mass resolution of the N-body model relatively constant. We have applied PRIMAL to this mock Gaia data and we show that PRIMAL can recover the structure and kinematics of a Milky Way like barred spiral disc, along with the apparent bar structure and pattern speed of the bar despite the galactic extinction and the observational errors.
The measurement of Zeeman splitting in spectral lines---both in emission and absorption---can provide direct estimates of the magnetic field strength and direction in atomic and molecular clouds, both in our own Milky Way and in external galaxies. This method will probe the magnetic field in the warm and cold neutral components of the interstellar medium, providing a complement to the extensive SKA Faraday studies planning to probe the field in the ionized components.
We estimated the scale-length of the thin disc with the J and W1 magnitudes of the most probable Red Clump (RC) stars in the Galactic plane, $-0\overset{^\circ}.5 \leq b \leq +0\overset{^\circ}.5$, in 19 equal sized fields with consecutive Galactic longitudes which cover the interval $90^\circ \leq l \leq 270^\circ$. Our results are constrained with respect to the solar space density ($D^*=5.95$), which indicates that the radial variation of the density is lower for higher Galactocentric distances. The scale-length of the thin disc is 2 kpc for the fields in the Galactic anticentre direction or close to this direction, while it decreases continuously in the second and third quadrants reaching to a lower limit of $h$ = 1.6 kpc at the Galactic longitudes $l$ = 90$^\circ$ and $l$ = 270$^\circ$. The distribution of the scale-length in 19 fields is consistent with the predictions from the Galaxia model and its variation with longitude is probably due to the inhomogeneity structure of the disc caused by the accreted material or other features such as warp and flare.
Gas outflows are believed to play a pivotal role in shaping galaxies, as they regulate both star formation and black hole growth. Despite their ubiquitous presence, the origin and the acceleration mechanism of such powerful and extended winds is not yet understood. Direct observations of the cold gas component in objects with detected outflows at other wavelengths are needed to assess the impact of the outflow on the host galaxy interstellar medium (ISM). We observed with the Plateau de Bure Interferometer an obscured quasar at z~1.5, XID2028, for which the presence of an ionised outflow has been unambiguously signalled by NIR spectroscopy. The detection of CO(3-2) emission in this source allows us to infer the molecular gas content and compare it to the ISM mass derived from the dust emission. We then analyze the results in the context of recent insights on scaling relations, which describe the gas content of the overall population of star-forming galaxies at a similar redshifts. The Star formation efficiency (~100) and gas mass (M_gas=2.1-9.5x10^{10} M_sun) inferred from the CO(3-2) line depend on the underlying assumptions on the excitation of the transition and the CO-to-H2 conversion factor. However, the combination of this information and the ISM mass estimated from the dust mass suggests that the ISM/gas content of XID2028 is significantly lower than expected for its observed M$_\star$, sSFR and redshift, based on the most up-to-date calibrations (with gas fraction <20% and depletion time scale <340 Myr). Overall, the constraints we obtain from the far infrared and millimeter data suggest that we are observing QSO feedback able to remove the gas from the host
High-precision astrometry throughout the Local Group is a unique capability of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), with potential for transformative science, including constraining the nature of dark matter, probing the epoch of reionization, and understanding key physics of galaxy evolution. While Gaia will provide unparalleled astrometric precision for bright stars in the inner halo of the Milky Way, HST is the only current mission capable of measuring accurate proper motions for systems at greater distances (> 80 kpc), which represents the vast majority of galaxies in the Local Group. The next generation of proper-motion measurements will require long time baselines, spanning many years to decades and possibly multiple telescopes, combining HST with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) or the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). However, the current HST allocation process is not conducive to such multi-cycle/multi-mission science, which will bear fruit primarily over many years. We propose an HST astrometry initiative to enable long-time-baseline, multi-mission science, which we suggest could be used to provide comprehensive kinematic measurements of all dwarf galaxies and high surface-density stellar streams in the Local Group with HST's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) or Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Such an initiative not only would produce forefront scientific results within the next 5 years of HST's life, but also would serve as a critical anchor point for future missions to obtain unprecedented astrometric accuracy, ensuring that HST leaves a unique and lasting legacy for decades to come.
We determine the true and the projected obliquity of HAT-P-36 and WASP-11/HAT-P-10 systems, respectively, which are both composed of a relatively cool star and a hot-Jupiter planet. Thanks to the high-resolution spectrograph HARPS-N, we observed the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for both the systems by acquiring precise radial-velocity measurements during planetary transit events. We also present photometric observations comprising six light curves covering five transit events, obtained using three medium-class telescopes and the telescope-defocussing technique. One transit of WASP-11/HAT-P-10 was followed contemporaneously from two observatories. The three transit light curves of HAT-P-36b show anomalies attributable to starspot complexes on the surface of the parent star, in agreement with the analysis of its spectra that indicate a moderate activity. By analysing the complete HATNet data set of HAT-P-36, we estimated the stellar rotation period by detecting a periodic photometric modulation in the light curve caused by star spots, obtaining Prot=15.3 days, which implies that the inclination of the stellar rotational axis with respect to the line of sight is 65 degree. We used the new spectroscopic and photometric data to revise the main physical parameters and measure the sky-projected misalignment angle of the two systems. We found \lambda=-14 degree for HAT-P-36 and \lambda=7 degree for WASP-11/HAT-P-10, indicating in both cases a good spin-orbit alignment. In the case of HAT-P-36, we also measured its real obliquity, which resulted to be 25 degrees.
The first N-body simulation of interacting galaxies, even producing spiral arms, was performed by Erik Holmberg in Lund (1941), not with a numerical computer, but by his arrangement of movable light-bulbs and photocells to measure the luminosity at each bulb and thereby estimate the gravitational force. A decade later, and with the arrival of the first programable computers, computations of galactic dynamics were performed, which were later transferred into a N-body simulation movie. I present here the background details for this work with a description of the important elements to note in the movie which may be retrieved at this http URL .
Using cosmological hydrodynamics simulations we study the angular momentum content of the simulated galaxies in relation with their morphological type. We found that not only the angular momentum of the disk component follow the expected theoretical relation, Mo, Mao & Whiye (1998), but also the spheroidal one, with a gap due to its lost of angular momentum, in agreement with Fall & Romanowsky (2013),. We also found that the galaxy size can plot in one general relation, despite the morphological type, as found by Kravtsov (2013).
We have observed the clump G34.43+00.24 MM3 associated with an infrared dark cloud in DNC $J$=3--2, HN$^{13}$C $J$=3--2, and N$_2$H$^+$ $J$=3--2 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The N$_2$H$^+$ emission is found to be relatively weak near the hot core and the outflows, and its distribution is clearly anti-correlated with the CS emission. This result indicates that a young outflow is interacting with cold ambient gas. The HN$^{13}$C emission is compact and mostly emanates from the hot core, whereas the DNC emission is extended around the hot core. Thus, the DNC and HN$^{13}$C emission traces warm regions near the protostar differently. The DNC emission is stronger than the HN$^{13}$C emission toward most parts of this clump. The DNC/HNC abundance ratio averaged within a $15^{\prime\prime} \times 15^{\prime\prime}$ area around the phase center is higher than 0.06. This ratio is much higher than the value obtained by the previous single-dish observations of DNC and HN$^{13}$C $J$=1--0 ($\sim$0.003). It seems likely that the DNC and HNC emission observed with the single-dish telescope traces lower density envelopes, while that observed with ALMA traces higher density and highly deuterated regions. We have compared the observational results with chemical-model results in order to investigate the behavior of DNC and HNC in the dense cores. Taking these results into account, we suggest that the low DNC/HNC ratio in the high-mass sources obtained by the single-dish observations are at least partly due to the low filling factor of the high density regions.
The original Kepler mission observed and characterized over 2400 eclipsing binaries in addition to its prolific exoplanet detections. Despite the mechanical malfunction and subsequent non-recovery of two reaction wheels used to stabilize the instrument, the Kepler satellite continues collecting data in its repurposed K2 mission surveying a series of fields along the ecliptic plane. Here we present an analysis of the first full baseline K2 data release: the Campaign 0 data-set. In the 7761 light curves, we have identified a total of 207 eclipsing binaries. Of these, 97 are new discoveries that were not previously identified. Our pixel level analysis of these objects has also resulted in identification of several false positive eclipsing binaries and the serendipitous discovery of three short period exoplanet candidates. We provide catalog cross-matched source identifications, orbital periods, morphologies and ephemerides for these eclipsing systems. We also describe the incorporation of the sample into the Kepler Eclipsing Binary Catalog, present spectroscopic follow up observations for a limited selection of 9 systems, and discuss prospects for upcoming K2 campaigns.
We present spectra of the nuclear regions of 50 nearby (D = 1 - 92 Mpc, median = 20 Mpc) galaxies of morphological types E to Sm. The spectra, obtained with the Gemini Near-IR Spectrograph on the Gemini North telescope, cover a wavelength range of approximately 0.85-2.5 microns at R~1300--1800. There is evidence that most of the galaxies host an active galactic nucleus (AGN), but the range of AGN luminosities (log (L2-10 keV [erg/s]) = 37.0-43.2) in the sample means that the spectra display a wide variety of features. Some nuclei, especially the Seyferts, exhibit a rich emission-line spectrum. Other objects, in particular the type 2 Low Ionisation Nuclear Emission Region galaxies, show just a few, weak emission lines, allowing a detailed view of the underlying stellar population. These spectra display numerous absorption features sensitive to the stellar initial mass function, as well as molecular bands arising in cool stars, and many other atomic absorption lines. We compare the spectra of subsets of galaxies known to be characterised by intermediate-age and old stellar populations, and find clear differences in their absorption lines and continuum shapes. We also examine the effect of atmospheric water vapor on the signal-to-noise ratio achieved in regions between the conventional NIR atmospheric windows, of potential interest to those planning observations of redshifted emission lines or other features affected by telluric H2O. Further exploitation of this data set is in progress, and the reduced spectra and data reduction tools are made available to the community.
We present high signal-to-noise ratio, multi-frequency polarization pulse profiles for 24 millisecond pulsars that are being observed as part of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project. The pulsars are observed in three bands, centred close to 730, 1400 and 3100 MHz, using a dual-band 10 cm/50 cm receiver and the central beam of the 20 cm multibeam receiver. Observations spanning approximately six years have been carefully calibrated and summed to produce high S/N profiles. This allows us to study the individual profile components and in particular how they evolve with frequency. We also identify previously undetected profile features. For many pulsars we show that pulsed emission extends across almost the entire pulse profile. The pulse component widths and component separations follow a complex evolution with frequency; in some cases these parameters increase and in other cases they decrease with increasing frequency. The evolution with frequency of the polarization properties of the profile is also non-trivial. We provide evidence that the pre- and post-cursors generally have higher fractional linear polarization than the main pulse. We have obtained the spectral index and rotation measure for each pulsar by fitting across all three observing bands. For the majority of pulsars, the spectra follow a single power-law and the position angles follow a $\lambda^2$ relation, as expected. However, clear deviations are seen for some pulsars. We also present phase-resolved measurements of the spectral index, fractional linear polarization and rotation measure. All these properties are shown to vary systematically over the pulse profile.
We present the results of a targeted search for intervening HI absorption in six nearby, gas-rich galaxies using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). The sightlines searched have impact parameters of 10-20 kpc. By targeting nearby galaxies we are also able to map their HI emission, allowing us to directly relate the absorption-line detection rate to the extended HI distribution. The continuum sightlines intersect the HI disk in four of the six galaxies, but no intervening absorption was detected. Of these four galaxies, we find that three of the non-detections are the result of the background source being too faint. In the fourth case we find that the ratio of the spin temperature to the covering factor ($T_{\mathrm{S}}/f$) must be much higher than expected ($\gtrsim$5700 K) in order to explain the non-detection. We discuss how the structure of the background continuum sources may have affected the detection rate of HI absorption in our sample, and the possible implications for future surveys. Future work including an expanded sample, and VLBI observations, would allow us to better investigate the expected detection rate, and influence of background source structure, on the results of future surveys.
We present results of weak lensing cluster counts obtained from 11 sq.deg SuprimeCam data. Although the area is much smaller than previous work dealing with weak lensing peak statistics, the number density of galaxies usable for weak lensing analysis is about twice as large as those. The higher galaxy number density reduces the noise in the weak lensing mass maps, and thus increases the signal-to-noise ratio of peaks of the lensing signal due to massive clusters. This enables us to construct a weak lensing selected cluster sample by adopting a high threshold S/N, such that the contamination rate due to false signals is small. We find 6 peaks with S/N>5. For all the peaks, previously identified clusters of galaxies are matched within a separation of 1 arcmin, demonstrating good correspondence between the peaks and clusters of galaxies. We evaluate the statistical error using mock weak lensing data, and find Npeak=6+/-3.1 in an effective area of 9.0 sq.deg. We compare the measured weak lensing cluster counts with the theoretical model prediction based on halo models and place the constraint on Omega_m-sigma_8 plane which is found to be consistent with currently standard LCDM models. It is demonstrated that the weak lensing cluster counts can place a unique constraint on sigma_8-c_0 plane, where c_0 is the normalization of the dark matter halo mass-concentration relationship. Finally we discuss prospects for ongoing/future wide field optical galaxy surveys.
We present a new Subaru/HiCIAO high-contrast H-band polarized intensity (PI) image of a nearby transitional disk associated with TW Hydrae. The scattered light from the disk was detected from 0.2" to 1.5" (11 - 81 AU) and the PI image shows a clear axisymmetric depression in polarized intensity at ~ 0.4" (~ 20 AU) from the central star, similar to the ~ 80 AU gap previously reported from HST images. Azimuthal polarized intensity profile also shows the disk beyond 0.2" is almost axisymmetric. We discuss two possible scenarios explaining the origin of the polarized intensity depression: 1) a gap structure may exist at ~ 20 AU from the central star because of shallow slope seen in the polarized intensity profile, and 2) grain growth may be occurring in the inner region of the disk. Multi-band observations at NIR and millimeter/sub-millimeter wavelengths play a complementary role in investigating dust opacity and may help reveal the origin of the gap more precisely.
Reliable halo mass estimation for a given galaxy system plays an important role both in cosmology and galaxy formation studies. Here we set out to find the way that can improve the halo mass estimation for those galaxy systems with limited brightest member galaxies been observed. Using four mock galaxy samples constructed from semi-analytical formation models, the subhalo abundance matching method and the conditional luminosity functions, respectively, we find that the luminosity gap between the brightest and the subsequent brightest member galaxies in a halo (group) can be used to significantly reduce the scatter in the halo mass estimation based on the luminosity of the brightest galaxy alone. Tests show that these corrections can significantly reduce the scatter in the halo mass estimations by $\sim 50\%$ to $\sim 70\%$ in massive halos depending on which member galaxies are considered. Comparing to the traditional ranking method, we find that this method works better for groups with less than five members, or in observations with very bright magnitude cut.
We utilize magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to develop a numerical model for GMC-GMC collisions between nearly magnetically critical clouds. The goal is to determine if, and under what circumstances, cloud collisions can cause pre-existing magnetically subcritical clumps to become supercritical and undergo gravitational collapse. We first develop and implement new photodissociation region (PDR) based heating and cooling functions that span the atomic to molecular transition, creating a multiphase ISM and allowing modeling of non-equilibrium temperature structures. Then in 2D and with ideal MHD, we explore a wide parameter space of magnetic field strength, magnetic field geometry, collision velocity, and impact parameter, and compare isolated versus colliding clouds. We find factors of ~2-3 increase in mean clump density from typical collisions, with strong dependence on collision velocity and magnetic field strength, but ultimately limited by flux-freezing in 2D geometries. For geometries enabling flow along magnetic field lines, greater degrees of collapse are seen. We discuss observational diagnostics of cloud collisions, focussing on 13CO(J=2-1), 13CO(J=3-2), and 12CO(J=8-7) integrated intensity maps and spectra, which we synthesize from our simulation outputs. We find the ratio of J=8-7 to lower-J emission is a powerful diagnostic probe of GMC collisions.
Spherical collapse of the Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) dark matter model is studied. The evolution of perturbed quantities like the density of the collapsed region and its expansion rate are calculated for two scenarios. Firstly, we consider the case of a sharp phase transition (which happens when the critical temperature is reached) from the normal dark matter state to the condensate one. In the second case studied we consider a smooth first order phase transition where there is a continuous conversion of "normal" dark matter to the BEC phase. We calculate in detail the perturbative quantities at nonlinear level presenting numerical results for the physics of the collapse for a wide range of the model's space parameter. The model is properly compared to the standard dark matter scenario.
We apply the modified kinetic theory to study generation of magnetic field due to anomaly in a primordial plasma of the standard model particles at temperature $T>80$~TeV. It is known that a chiral imbalance in such plasma can lead to instabilities responsible for the origin of the magnetic fields. We have shown that inclusion of the Berry curvature term in the kinetic equation along with the collision term in the relaxation approximation can lead to the chiral vorticity effect. This effect was not considered in the earlier literature based on the heuristic application of the kinetic theory. But in the collisionless regime there may not be any vorticity generation. We also argued that the chiral imbalance in the collisionless regime remains subdominant for the primordial plasma compared to the case where the collisions are important.
We conducted a continuous survey of infrared and visual images of 18020 2MFGC galaxies which were selected on an automatic basis from 1.64 mln extended objects of the 2MASS XSC catalog based on the ratio of the infrared axes a/b>=3. This work aims to exclude "false" objects from the list of flat galaxies. Having observed more than 80 thousand images in different filters, we were able to detect 1512 such objects (8.4% of the total number). We found 23 galaxies duplicated in 2MASS, which have two 2MFGC numbers correspondingly, and three flat galaxies which are not included in other catalogs and are located close to three "false" galaxies. Galaxies with magnitudes fainter than K_s =13 mag compose the main part of the excluded objects. They show small angular sizes, low surface brightnesses and concentration ratios. The results of the work in the form of the 2MFGC table with notes are given in the astronomical databases VizieR, NED, HyperLeda.
Seismic shaking is an attractive mechanism to explain the destabilisation of regolith slopes and the regolith migration found on the surfaces of asteroids (Richardson et al. 2004; Miyamoto et al. 2007). Here, we use a continuum mechanics method to simulate the seismic wave propagation in an asteroid. Assuming that asteroids can be described by a cohesive core surrounded by a thin non-cohesive regolith layer, our numerical simulations of vibrations induced by micro-meteoroids suggest that the surface peak ground accelerations induced by micro-meteoroid impacts may have been previously under-estimated. Our lower bound estimate of vertical accelerations induced by seismic waves is about 50 times larger than previous estimates. It suggests that impact events triggering seismic activity are more frequent than previously assumed for asteroids in the kilometric and sub-kilometric size range. The regolith lofting is also estimated by a first order ballistic approximation. Vertical displacements are small, but lofting times are long compared to the duration of the seismic signals. The regolith movement has a non-linear dependence on the distance to the impact source which is induced by the type of seismic wave generating the first movement. The implications of regolith concentration in lows of surface acceleration potential are also discussed. We suggest that the resulting surface thermal inertia variations of small fast rotators may induce an increased sensitivity of these objects to the Yarkovsky effect.
The shock structure of a plasmoid in magnetic reconnection in low-beta plasmas is investigated by two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Using a high-accuracy code with unprecedented resolution, shocks, discontinuities, and their intersections are resolved and clarified. Contact discontinuities emanate from triple-shock intersection points, separating fluids of different origins. Shock-diamonds inside the plasmoid appear to decelerate a supersonic flow. New shock-diamonds and a slow expansion fan are found inside the Petschek outflow. A sufficient condition for the new shock-diamonds and the relevance to astrophysical jets are discussed.
The regolith-covered surfaces of asteroids preserve records of geophysical processes that have occurred both at their surfaces and sometimes also in their interiors. As a result of the unique micro-gravity environment that these bodies posses, a complex and varied geophysics has given birth to fascinating features that we are just now beginning to understand. The processes that formed such features were first hypothesised through detailed spacecraft observations and have been further studied using theoretical, numerical and experimental methods that often combine several scientific disciplines. These multiple approaches are now merging towards a further understanding of the geophysical states of the surfaces of asteroids. In this chapter we provide a concise summary of what the scientific community has learned so far about the surfaces of these small planetary bodies and the processes that have shaped them. We also discuss the state of the art in terms of experimental techniques and numerical simulations that are currently being used to investigate regolith processes occurring on small-body surfaces and that are contributing to the interpretation of observations and the design of future space missions.
The motivation for this paper is to review the limits set on the MACHO content of the Galactic halo by microlensing experiments in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud. This has been prompted by recent measurements of the Galactic rotation curve, which suggest that the limits have been biassed by the assumption of an over-massive halo. The paper first discusses the security of the detection efficiency calculations which are central to deriving the MACHO content of the Galactic halo. It then sets out to compare the rotation curves from various halo models with recent observations, with a view to establishing what limits can be put on an all-MACHO halo. The main thrust of the paper is to investigate whether lighter halo models which are consistent with microlensing by an all-MACHO halo are also consistent with recent measures of the Galactic rotation curve. In this case the population of bodies discovered by the MACHO collaboration would make up the entire dark matter content of the Galactic halo. The main result of this paper is that it is easy to find low mass halo models consistent with the observed Galactic rotation curve, which also imply an optical depth to microlensing similar to that found by the MACHO collaboration. This means that all-MACHO halos cannot be ruled out on the basis of their observations. In conclusion, limits placed on the MACHO content of the Galactic halo from microlensing surveys in the Magellanic Clouds are inconsistent and model dependent, and do not provide a secure basis for rejecting an all-MACHO halo.
It is common to attribute a flat rotation curve to our Galaxy. However Galazutdinov et al. (2015) in a recent paper have obtained a Keplerian rotation curve for outer parts of the Galaxy. They have calculated the distances from equivalent widths of interstellar CaII lines. The radial velocity was also measured on the interstellar CaII absorption line. We explain this unexpected result assuming elliptical orbits of some objects in our Galaxy. The application of formulas derived with the assumption of circular orbits to elliptical ones mimics the flat rotation curve.
As the 7 December 2007 equinox of Uranus approached, ring and atmosphere observers produced a substantial collection of observations using the 10-m Keck telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope. Those spanning the period from 7 June 2007 through 9 September 2007 we used to identify and track cloud features, determine atmospheric motions, characterize cloud morphology and dynamics, and define changes in atmospheric band structure. We confirmed the existence of the suspected northern hemisphere prograde jet, locating its peak near 58 N, and extended wind speed measurements to 73 N. For 28 cloud features we obtained extremely high wind-speed accuracy through extended tracking times. The new results confirm a small N-S asymmetry in the zonal wind profile, and the lack of any change in the southern hemisphere between 1986 (near solstice) and 2007 (near equinox) suggests that the asymmetry may be permanent rather than seasonally reversing. In the 2007 images we found two prominent groups of discrete cloud features with very long lifetimes. The one near 30 S has departed from its previous oscillatory motion and started a significant northward drift, accompanied by substantial morphological changes. The complex of features near 30 N remained at a nearly fixed latitude, while exhibiting some characteristics of a dark spot accompanied by bright companion features. Smaller and less stable features were used to track cloud motions at other latitudes, some of which lasted over many planet rotations, though many could not be tracked beyond a single transit. A bright band has developed near 45 N, while the bright band near 45 S has begun to decline, both events in agreement with the idea that the asymmetric band structure of Uranus is a delayed response to solar forcing, but with a surprisingly short delay of only a few years.
Tidal interactions of galaxies in galaxy clusters have been proposed as one potential explanation of the morphology-density relation at low masses. The efficiency of tidal transformation is expected to depend strongly on the orbit of a galaxy within the cluster halo. The orbit determines both the strength of the cluster's global tidal field and the probability of encounters with other cluster members. Additionally, we investigate the effect of an inclination between the disk of the infalling galaxy and its orbital plane. We also compare our results to observational data. We find that galaxies that entered a cluster from the outskirts are unlikely to be significantly transformed. Closer to the cluster centre, tidal interactions are a more efficient mechanism for producing harassed galaxies. But the inclination of the disk can reduce the mass loss significantly, yet it amplifies the thickening.
TSUBAME is a micro-satellite that the students of Tokyo Institute of Technology took the lead to develop for measuring hard X-ray polarization of Gamma-Ray Bursts(GRBs) in order to reveal the nature of the central engine of GRBs. TSUBAME has two instruments: Wide-field Burst Monitor (WBM) and Hard X-ray Compton Polarimeter (HXCP). We aim to start observing with HXCP in 15 seconds by pointing the spacecraft using Control Moment Gyro. In August 2014, we assembled TSUBAME and performed an integration test during ~2 weeks.TSUBAME by communication tests with Cute-1.7+APDII in orbit. On Nov 6 2014, TSUBAME was launched from Russia and it was put into Sun-synchronous orbit at 500 km above the ground. However, serious trouble occurred to the ham radio equipment. Therefore we could not start up the X-ray sensors until Feb 10 2015. In this paper, we report the system of TSUBAME and the progress after the launch.
Robertson et al.(Reports, July 25 2014, p440-444)(1) claimed that activity-induced variability is responsible for the Doppler signal of the proposed planet candidate GJ 581d. We point out that their analysis using periodograms of residual data is incorrect, further promoting inadequate tools. Since the claim challenges the viability of the method to detect exo-Earths, we urge for more appropriate analyses (see appendix).
A simplified one dimensional grid is used to model the evolution of magnetized plasma flow. We implement diffusion laws similar to those so-far used to model magnetic reconnection with Cellular Automata. As a novelty, we also explicitly superimpose a background flow. The aim is to numerically investigate the possibility that Self-Organized Criticality appears in a one dimensional magnetized flow. The cellular automaton's cells store information about the parameter relevant to the evolution of the system being modelled. Under the assumption that this parameter stands for the magnetic field, the magnetic energy released by one volume during one individual relaxation event is also computed. Our results show that indeed in this system Self-Organized Criticality is established. The possible applications of this model to the study of the X-ray afterglows of GRBs is also briefly considered.
We describe the design, construction, and characterization of the Band 9 heterodyne receivers (600-720 GHz) for the Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array (ALMA). The ALMA Band 9 receiver units ("cartridges"), which are installed in the telescope's front end, have been designed to detect and down-convert two orthogonal linear polarization components of the light collected by the ALMA antennas. The light entering the front end is refocused with a compact arrangement of mirrors, which is fully contained within the cartridge. The arrangement contains a grid to separate the polarizations and two beam splitters to combine each resulting beam with a local oscillator signal. The combined beams are fed into independent double-sideband mixers, each with a corrugated feedhorn coupling the radiation by way of a waveguide with backshort cavity into an impedance-tuned SIS junction that performs the heterodyne down-conversion. Finally, the generated intermediate frequency signals are amplified by cryogenic and room-temperature HEMT amplifiers and exported to the telescope's back end for further processing and, finally, correlation. The receivers have been constructed and tested in the laboratory and they show excellent performance, complying with ALMA requirements. Performance statistics on all 73 Band 9 receivers are reported. On-sky characterization and tests of the performance of the Band 9 cartridges are presented using commissioning data.
Metal-poor stars hold the fossil record of the Galactic chemical evolution and nucleosynthesis processes that took place at the earliest times in the history of our Galaxy. From detailed abundance studies of low mass, extremely metal-poor stars ([Fe/H] < -3), we can trace and help constrain the formation processes which created the first heavy elements in our Galaxy. Here we present the results of a ~20-star homogeneously analysed sample of metal-poor candidates from the Hamburg/ESO survey. We have derived abundances for a large number of elements ranging from Li to Ba, covering production processes from hydrostatic burning to neutron-capture. The sample includes some of the most metal-poor stars ([Fe/H] < -4) studied to date, containing neutron-capture elements, and also a number of stars enhanced in carbon. The so called CEMP (carbon enhanced metal-poor) stars, these stars make up ~20% of the stars with [Fe/H] < -3, and 80% of the stars with [Fe/H] < -4.5. The progenitors of CEMP stars is still no fully constrained. They could be a result of binary mass transfer or exotic events in the early universe.
In this paper we present the first results from implementing two scalar-tensor modified gravity theories, the symmetron and the Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$-gravity model, into a hydrodynamic N-body code with dark matter particles and a baryonic ideal gas. The study is a continuation of previous work where the symmetron and $f(R)$ have been successfully implemented in the RAMSES code, but for dark matter only. By running simulations, we show that the deviation from $\Lambda$CDM in these models for the gas density profiles are significantly lower than the dark matter equivalents. When it comes to the matter power-spectrum we find that hydrodynamic simulations agree very well with dark matter only simulations as long as we consider scales larger than $k\sim 0.5$ h/Mpc. In general the effects of modified gravity on the baryonic gas is found to not always mirror the effects it has on the dark matter. The largest signature is found when considering temperature profiles. We find that the gas temperatures in the modified gravity model studied here show deviations, when compared to $\Lambda$CDM, that can be a factor of a few larger than the deviations found in density profiles and power spectra.
Cheung (2007) identified a sample of 100 candidate X-shaped radio galaxies
using the NRAO FIRST survey; these are small-axial-ratio extended radio sources
with off-axis emission. Here we present radio images of 52 of these sources
that have been made from archival Very Large Array data with resolution of
about 1 arcsec. Fifty-one of the 52 were observed at 1.4 GHz, seven were
observed at 1.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and one was observed only at 5 GHz. We also
present overlays of the SDSS red images for 41 of the sources, and DSS II
overlays for the remainder. Optical counterparts have been identified for most
sources, but there remain a few empty fields.
Our higher resolution VLA images along with FIRST survey images of the
sources in the sample reveal that extended extragalactic radio sources with
small axial ratios are largely (60%) cases of double radio sources with twin
lobes that have off-axis extensions, usually with inversion-symmetric
structure. The available radio images indicate that at most 20% sources might
be genuine X-shaped radio sources that could have formed by a restarting of
beams in a new direction following an interruption and axis flip. The remaining
20% are in neither of these categories. The implications of this result for the
gravitational wave background are discussed in Roberts, Saripalli, and
Subrahmanyan (2015).
During the pre-Swift era, a clustering of light curves was observed in the X-ray, optical and infrared afterglow of gamma-ray bursts. We used a sample of 254 GRB X-ray afterglows to check this fact in the Swift era. We corrected fluxes for distance, time dilation and losses of energy due to cosmological effects. With all our data in hand, we faced with a problem: our data were scattered. We investigated 3 possibilities to explain this, namely: the clustering does not exist, there are problems during calibration of data, and there are instrumental problems. We finally confirm that our sample is consistent with Dainotti correlation.
Coalescence of super massive black holes (SMBH's) in galactic mergers is potentially the dominant contributor to the low frequency gravitational wave background (GWB). It was proposed by Merritt and Ekers (2002) that X-shaped radio galaxies are signposts of such coalescences, and that their abundance might be used to predict the magnitude of the gravitational wave background. In Roberts et al. (2015) we present radio images of all 52 X-shaped radio source candidates out of the sample of 100 selected by Cheung (2007) for which archival VLA data were available. These images indicate that at most 21% of the candidates might be genuine X-shaped radio sources that were formed by a restarting of beams in a new direction following a major merger. This suggests that fewer than 1.3% of extended radio sources appear to be candidates for genuine axis reorientations, much smaller than the 7% suggested by Leahy and Parma (1992). Thus the associated gravitational wave background may be substantially smaller than previous estimates. These results can be used to normalize detailed calculations of the SMBH coalescence rate and the GWB.
We present a sub-50 pc-scale analysis of the gravitational lens system SDP.81 at redshift 3.042 using Atacama Large submillimetre/Millimetre Array (ALMA) science verification data. These were taken at 236 and 290 GHz using baselines up to 15 km, giving unprecedented insight into the structure of a high-redshift sub-mm galaxy. At mm-wavelengths, the observed system comprises four images in a cusp configuration with an extended, low surface brightness Einstein ring. We model both the mass distribution of the gravitational lensing galaxy and the pixelated surface brightness distribution of the (unlensed) background source using a novel Bayesian technique that fits the data directly in visibility space. We find the mm-wavelength dust emission to be magnified by a factor of u = 17.6 +/- 0.4. The total star-formation rate of the galaxy is 315 +/- 60 M_sol / yr after correcting for the lensing magnification. Our pixelated reconstruction shows the dust emission from SDP.81 to be non-uniform, composed of multiple regions that are heated both by diffuse and by strongly clumped star-formation. We find a possible variation in the spectral slope between the different star-forming regions, which is presumably due a range of dust temperatures within the source. The highest surface brightness region is a ~1.9 x 0.7 kpc disk-like structure, which is surrounded by extended star formation at 20-30 M_sol / yr / kpc^2. The disk contains three compact regions exceeding 120 M_sol / yr / kpc^2, with a maximum of 190 +/- 20 M_sol / yr / kpc^2. This upper limit is below the expectation for Eddington-limited star formation within a radiation-pressure supported starburst.
Reverberation-mapping-based scaling relations are often used to estimate the masses of black holes from single-epoch spectra of AGN. While the radius-luminosity relation that is the basis of these scaling relations is determined using reverberation mapping of the H$\beta$ line in nearby AGN, the scaling relations are often extended to use other broad emission lines, such as MgII, in order to get black hole masses at higher redshifts when H$\beta$ is redshifted out of the optical waveband. However, there is no radius-luminosity relation determined directly from MgII. Here, we present an attempt to perform reverberation mapping using MgII in the well-studied nearby Seyfert 1, NGC 5548. We used Swift to obtain UV grism spectra of NGC 5548 once every two days from April to September 2013. Concurrent photometric UV monitoring with Swift provides a well determined continuum lightcurve that shows strong variability. The MgII emission line, however, is not strongly correlated with the continuum variability, and there is no significant lag between the two. We discuss these results in the context of using MgII scaling relations to estimate high-redshift black hole masses.
We analyze the time evolution of the luminosity of a cluster of Population III protostars formed in the early universe. We argue from the Jeans criterion that primordial gas can collapse to form a cluster of first stars that evolve relatively independently of one another (i.e., with negligible gravitational interaction). We model the collapse of individual protostellar clumps using 2+1D nonaxisymmetric numerical hydrodynamics simulations. Each collapse produces a protostar surrounded by a massive disk (i.e., $M_{\rm disk} / M_{*} \gtrsim 0.1$), whose evolution we follow for a further 30--40 kyr. Gravitational instabilities result in the fragmentation and the formation of gravitationally bound clumps within the disk. The accretion of these fragments by the host protostar produces accretion and luminosity bursts on the order of $10^6\,\LSun$. Within the cluster, we show that a simultaneity of such events across several protostellar cluster members can elevate the cluster luminosity to 5--10${\times}$ greater than expected, and that the cluster spends $\sim15\%$ of it's star-forming history at these levels. This enhanced luminosity effect is particularly enabled in clusters of modest size with $\simeq$ 10--20 members. In one such instance, we identify a confluence of burst events that raise the luminosity to nearly $1000{\times}$ greater than the cluster mean luminosity, resulting in $L > 10^8\,\LSun$. This phenomenon arises solely through the gravitational-instability--driven episodic fragmentation and accretion that characterizes this early stage of protostellar evolution.
To better characterize the global star formation (SF) activity in a galaxy, one needs to know not only the star formation rate (SFR) but also the rest-frame, far-infrared (FIR) color (e.g., the 60-to-100 $\mu$m color, $C(60/100)$] of the dust emission. The latter probes the average intensity of the dust heating radiation field and scales statistically with the effective SFR surface density in star-forming galaxies including (ultra-)luminous infrared galaxies [(U)LIRGs]. To this end, we exploit here a new spectroscopic approach involving only two emission lines: CO\,(7$-$6) at 372 $\mu$m and [NII] at 205 $\mu$m. For local (U)LIRGs, the ratios of the CO (7$-$6) luminosity ($L_{\rm CO\,(7-6)}$) to the total infrared luminosity ($L_{\rm IR}$; 8$-$1000 $\mu$m) are fairly tightly distributed (to within $\sim$0.12 dex) and show little dependence on $C(60/100)$. This makes $L_{\rm CO\,(7-6)}$ a good SFR tracer, which is less contaminated by active galactic nuclei (AGN) than $L_{\rm IR}$ and may also be much less sensitive to metallicity than $L_{\rm CO\,(1-0)}$. Furthermore, the logarithmic [NII] 205 $\mu$m to CO (7$-$6) luminosity ratio is fairly steeply (at a slope of $\sim$$-1.4$) correlated with $C(60/100)$, with a modest scatter ($\sim$0.23 dex). This makes it a useful estimator on $C(60/100)$ with an implied uncertainty of $\sim$0.15 [or $\lesssim$4 K in the dust temperature ($T_{\rm dust}$) in the case of a graybody emission with $T_{\rm dust} \gtrsim 30$ K and a dust emissivity index $\beta \ge 1$]. Our locally calibrated SFR and $C(60/100)$ estimators are shown to be consistent with the published data of (U)LIRGs of $z$ up to $\sim$6.5.
If dark matter is embedded in a non-trivial dark sector, it may annihilate and decay to lighter dark-sector states which subsequently decay to the Standard Model. Such scenarios - with annihilation followed by cascading dark-sector decays - can explain the apparent excess GeV gamma-rays identified in the central Milky Way, while evading bounds from dark matter direct detection experiments. Each 'step' in the cascade will modify the observable signatures of dark matter annihilation and decay, shifting the resulting photons and other final state particles to lower energies and broadening their spectra. We explore, in a model-independent way, the effect of multi-step dark-sector cascades on the preferred regions of parameter space to explain the GeV excess. We find that the broadening effects of multi-step cascades can admit final states dominated by particles that would usually produce too sharply peaked photon spectra; in general, if the cascades are hierarchical (each particle decays to substantially lighter particles), the preferred mass range for the dark matter is in all cases 20-150 GeV. Decay chains that have nearly-degenerate steps, where the products are close to half the mass of the progenitor, can admit much higher DM masses. We map out the region of mass/cross-section parameter space where cascades (degenerate, hierarchical or a combination) can fit the signal, for a range of final states. In the current work, we study multi-step cascades in the context of explaining the GeV excess, but many aspects of our results are general and can be extended to other applications.
Hidden sector scenarios in which dark matter (DM) interacts with the Standard Model matter fields through the exchange of massive Z' bosons are well motivated by certain string theory constructions. In this work, we thoroughly study the phenomenological aspects of such scenarios and find that they present a clear and testable consequence for direct DM searches. We show that such string motivated St\"uckelberg portals naturally lead to isospin violating interactions of DM particles with nuclei. We find that the relations between the DM coupling to neutrons and protons for both, spin-independent (fn/fp) and spin-dependent (an/ap) interactions, are very flexible depending on the charges of the quarks under the extra U(1) gauge groups. We show that within this construction these ratios are generically different from plus and minus 1 (i.e. different couplings to protons and neutrons) leading to a potentially measurable distinction from other popular portals. Finally, we incorporate bounds from searches for dijet and dilepton resonances at the LHC as well as LUX bounds on the elastic scattering of DM off nucleons to determine the experimentally allowed values of fn/fp and an/ap.
The so-called black hole shadow is a dark region which is expected to appear in a fine image of optical observation of black holes. It is essentially an absorption cross section of black hole, and the boundary of shadow is determined by unstable circular orbits of photons (UCOP). If there exists a compact object possessing UCOP but no black hole horizon, it can provide us the same shadow image with black holes, and a detection of shadow image cannot be a direct evidence of black hole existence. However, we show that a static spherical polytropic ball of perfect fluid cannot possess UCOP, if the sound speed at centre is subluminal. This implies that, if the polytrope is a good model of stellar matter in compact objects, a detection of shadow image is regarded as a good evidence of black hole existence. As a by-product, we have found an upper bound of mass-to-radius radio of polytropic ball, $M/R < 0.281$.
We construct an extension of standard flat FLRW cosmology with matter, possessing local D = 1, N = 1 proper-time supersymmetry. The fundamental equation for the resulting mini-superspace models of quantum universes is a Dirac-like analogue of the Friedmann and Wheeler-DeWitt equations. We provide solutions of this equation for specific matter configurations based on the supersymmetric O(3) and O(2, 1) sigma-models. It turns out that in the compact model the volume rate of growth of the universe is quantized and non-vanishing due to the zero-point energy of the scalar fields. In the non-compact model the spectrum of the growth rates is continuous but subject to an uncertainty relation involving the scale and the growth factor.
In scalar-tensor theories, presence of matter in the vicinity of black holes can lead to the so called "spontaneous scalarisation" instability that can trigger the development of scalar hair. In the Brans-Dicke type theories, this effect can be understood as a result of tachyonic effective mass of the scalar field, induced by the purely conformal coupling to matter. Here this instability, in matter configurations around both Schwarzschild and rotating black holes, is explored in more general scalar-tensor theories featuring non-conformal, i.e. "disformal", couplings to matter. It is found that on one hand the disformal coupling can add to scalarisation b making the configuration more unstable. On the other hand, especially large enough disformal part of the coupling tends quite generically to stabilise the system.
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We study the kinematics of a local sample of stars, located within a cylinder of 500 pc radius centered on the Sun, in the RAVE dataset. We find clear asymmetries in the $v_R$-$v_\phi$ velocity distributions of thin and thick disk stars: here are more stars moving radially outwards for low azimuthal velocities and more radially inwards for high azimuthal velocities. Such asymmetries have been previously reported for the thin disk as being due to the Galactic bar, but this is the first time that the same type of structures are seen in the thick disk. Our findings imply that the velocities of thick disk stars should no longer be described by Schwarzschild's, multivariate Gaussian or purely axisymmetric distributions. Furthermore, the nature of previously reported substructures in the thick disk needs to be revisited as these could be associated with dynamical resonances rather than to accretion events. It is clear that dynamical models of the Galaxy must fit the 3D velocity distributions of the disks, rather than the projected 1D, if we are to understand the Galaxy fully.
We present new observations of the Kuiper belt analogues around HD 38858 and HD 20794, hosts of super-Earth mass planets within 1 au. As two of the four nearby G-type stars (with HD 69830 and 61 Vir) that form the basis of a possible correlation between low-mass planets and debris disc brightness, these systems are of particular interest. The disc around HD 38858 is well resolved with Herschel and we constrain the disc geometry and radial structure. We also present a probable JCMT sub-mm continuum detection of the disc and a CO J=2-1 upper limit. The disc around HD 20794 is much fainter and appears marginally resolved with Herschel, and is constrained to be less extended than the discs around 61 Vir and HD 38858. We also set limits on the radial location of hot dust recently detected around HD 20794 with near-IR interferometry. We present HARPS upper limits on unseen planets in these four systems, ruling out additional super-Earths within a few au, and Saturn-mass planets within 10 au. We consider the disc structure in the three systems with Kuiper belt analogues (HD 69830 has only a warm dust detection), concluding that 61 Vir and HD 38858 have greater radial disc extent than HD 20794. We speculate that the greater width is related to the greater minimum planet masses (10-20 $M_\oplus$ vs. 3-5 $M_\oplus$), arising from an eccentric planetesimal population analogous to the Solar System's scattered disc. We discuss alternative scenarios and possible means to distinguish among them.
We present the spectroscopic redshift catalog from a wide-field survey of the fields of 28 galaxy-mass strong gravitational lenses. We discuss the acquisition and reduction of the survey data, collected over 40 nights of 6.5m MMT and Magellan time, employing four different multi-object spectrographs. We determine that no biases are introduced by combining datasets obtained with different instrument/spectrograph combinations. Special care is taken to determine redshift uncertainties using repeat observations. The redshift catalog consists of 9768 new and unique galaxy redshifts. 82.4% of the catalog redshifts are between z=0.1 and z=0.7, and the catalog median redshift is z=0.36. The data from this survey will be used to study the lens environments and line-of-sight structures to gain a better understanding of the effects of large scale structure on lens statistics and lens-derived parameters.
The ionising continuum from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is fundamental for interpreting their broad emission lines and understanding their impact on the surrounding gas. Furthermore, it provides hints on how matter accretes onto supermassive black holes. Using HST's Wide Field Camera 3 we have constructed the first stacked ultraviolet (rest-frame wavelengths 600-2500\AA) spectrum of 53 luminous quasars at z=2.4, with a state-of-the-art correction for the intervening Lyman forest and Lyman continuum absorption. The continuum slope ($f_\nu \propto \nu^{\alpha_\nu}$) of the full sample shows a break at ~912\AA\ with spectral index $\alpha_\nu=-0.61\pm0.01$ at $\lambda>912$\AA\ and a softening at shorter wavelengths ($\alpha_\nu=-1.70 \pm 0.61$ at $\lambda\leq 912$\AA). Our analysis proves that a proper intergalactic medium absorption correction is required to establish the intrinsic continuum emission of quasars. We interpret our average ultraviolet spectrum in the context of photoionisation, accretion disk models, and quasar contribution to the ultraviolet background. We find that observed broad line ratios are consistent with those predicted assuming an ionising slope of $\alpha_\mathrm{ion}=$-2.0, similar to the observed ionising spectrum in the same wavelength range. The continuum break and softening are consistent with accretion disk plus X-ray corona models when black hole spin is taken into account. Our spectral energy distribution yields a 30% increase to previous estimates of the specific quasar emissivity, such that quasars may contribute significantly to the total specific Lyman limit emissivity estimated from the Ly$\alpha$ forest at z<3.2.
Cluster mergers may play a fundamental role in the formation and evolution of cluster galaxies. Stroe et al. (2014) revealed unexpected over-densities of candidate H$\alpha$ emitters near the ~1 Mpc-wide shock fronts of the massive (~2x10$^{15}$M$_{\odot}$) "Sausage" merging cluster, CIZA J2242.8+5301. We used Keck/DEIMOS and WHT/AF2 to confirm 83 H$\alpha$ emitters in and around the merging cluster. We find that cluster star-forming galaxies in the hottest X-ray gas and/or in the cluster sub-cores (away from the shock fronts) show high [SII]6716/[SII]6761 and high [SII]6716/H$\alpha$, implying very low electron densities (<30x lower than all other star-forming galaxies outside the cluster) and significant contribution from supernovae, respectively. All cluster star-forming galaxies near the cluster centre show evidence of significant outflows (blueshifted Na D~200-300km/s), likely driven by supernovae. Strong outflows are also found for the cluster H$\alpha$ AGN. H$\alpha$ star-forming galaxies in the merging cluster follow the z~0 mass-metallicity relation, showing systematically higher metallicity (~0.15-0.2 dex) than H$\alpha$ emitters outside the cluster (projected R>2.5 Mpc). This suggests that the shock front may have triggered remaining metal-rich gas which galaxies were able to retain into forming stars. Our observations show that the merger of impressively massive (~10$^{15}$M$_\odot$) clusters can provide the conditions for significant star-formation and AGN activity, but, as we witness strong feedback by star-forming galaxies and AGN (and given how massive the merging cluster is), such sources will likely quench in a few 100 Myrs.
We have used the publicly released Dark Energy Survey data to hunt for new satellites of the Milky Way in the Southern hemisphere. Our search yielded a large number of promising candidates. In this paper, we announce the discovery of 9 new unambiguous ultra-faint objects, whose authenticity can be established with the DES data alone. Based on the morphological properties, three of the new satellites are dwarf galaxies, one of which is located at the very outskirts of the Milky Way, at a distance of 380 kpc. The remaining 6 objects have sizes and luminosities comparable to the Segue 1 satellite and can not be classified straightforwardly without follow-up spectroscopic observations. The satellites we have discovered cluster around the LMC and the SMC. We show that such spatial distribution is unlikely under the assumption of isotropy, and, therefore, conclude that at least some of the new satellites must have been associated with the Magellanic Clouds in the past.
We present a sample of 242 ultra-short-period (P < 0.22 d) eclipsing and ellipsoidal binary stars identified in the OGLE fields toward the Galactic bulge. Based on the light curve morphology, we divide the sample into candidates for contact binaries and non-contact binaries. In the latter group we distinguish binary systems consisting of a cool main-sequence star and a B-type subdwarf (HW Vir stars) and candidates for cataclysmic variables, including five eclipsing dwarf novae. One of the detected eclipsing binary systems - OGLE-BLG-ECL-000066 - with the orbital period below 0.1 d, likely consists of M dwarfs in a nearly contact configuration. If confirmed, this would be the shortest-period M-dwarf binary system currently known. We discuss possible evolutionary mechanisms that could lead to the orbital period below 0.1 d in an M-dwarf binary.
Context. Stars are born together from giant molecular clouds and, if we
assume that the priors were chemically homogeneous and well-mixed, we expect
them to share the same chemical composition. Most of the stellar aggregates are
disrupted while orbiting the Galaxy and most of the dynamic information is
lost, thus the only possibility of reconstructing the stellar formation history
is to analyze the chemical abundances that we observe today.
Aims. The chemical tagging technique aims to recover disrupted stellar
clusters based merely on their chemical composition. We evaluate the viability
of this technique to recover co-natal stars that are no longer gravitationally
bound.
Methods. Open clusters are co-natal aggregates that have managed to survive
together. We compiled stellar spectra from 31 old and intermediate-age open
clusters, homogeneously derived atmospheric parameters, and 17 abundance
species, and applied machine learning algorithms to group the stars based on
their chemical composition. This approach allows us to evaluate the viability
and efficiency of the chemical tagging technique.
Results. We found that stars at different evolutionary stages have distinct
chemical patterns that may be due to NLTE effects, atomic diffusion, mixing,
and biases. When separating stars into dwarfs and giants, we observed that a
few open clusters show distinct chemical signatures while the majority show a
high degree of overlap. This limits the recovery of co-natal aggregates by
applying the chemical tagging technique. Nevertheless, there is room for
improvement if more elements are included and models are improved.
Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) should be an inevitable consequence of the hierarchical growth of massive galaxies through mergers, and the strongest sirens of gravitational waves (GWs) in the cosmos. And yet, their direct detection has remained elusive due to the compact (sub-parsec) orbital separations of gravitationally bound SMBHBs. Here we exploit a theoretically predicted signature of a SMBHB in the time domain: periodic variability caused by a mass accretion rate that is modulated by the binary's orbital motion. We report our first significant periodically varying quasar detection from the systematic search in the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) Medium Deep Survey. Our SMBHB candidate, PSO J334.2028+01.4075, is a luminous radio-loud quasar at $z=2.060$, with extended baseline photometry from the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, as well as archival spectroscopy from the FIRST Bright Quasar Survey. The observed period ($542 \pm 15$ days) and estimated black hole mass ($\log (M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot) = 9.97 \pm 0.50$), correspond to an orbital separation of $7^{+8}_{-4}$ Schwarzschild radii ($\sim 0.006^{+0.007}_{-0.003}$ pc), assuming the rest-frame period of the quasar variability traces the orbital period of the binary. This SMBHB candidate, discovered at the peak redshift for SMBH mergers, is in a physically stable configuration for a circumbinary accretion disk, and within the regime of GW-driven orbital decay. Our search with PS1 is a benchmark study for the exciting capabilities of LSST, which will have orders of magnitude larger survey power, and will potentially pinpoint the locations of thousands of SMBHBs in the variable night sky.
We analyze the low-redshift (z~0.2) circumgalactic medium by comparing absorption-line data from the COS-Halos Survey to absorption around a matched galaxy sample from two cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. The models include different prescriptions for galactic outflows, namely hybrid energy/momentum driven wind (ezw), and constant winds (cw). We extract for comparison direct observables including equivalent widths, covering factors, ion ratios, and kinematics. Both wind models are generally in good agreement with these observations for HI and certain low ionization metal lines, but show poorer agreement with higher ionization metal lines including SiIII and OVI that are well-observed by COS-Halos. These discrepancies suggest that both wind models predict too much cool, metal-enriched gas and not enough hot gas, and/or that the metals are not sufficiently well-mixed. This may reflect our model assumption of ejecting outflows as cool and unmixing gas. Our ezw simulation includes a heuristic prescription to quench massive galaxies by super-heating its ISM gas, which we show yields sufficient low ionisation absorption to be broadly consistent with observations, but also substantial OVI absorption that is inconsistent with data, suggesting that gas around quenched galaxies in the real Universe does not cool. At impact parameters of <50 kpc, recycling winds dominate the absorption of low ions and even HI, while OVI almost always arises from metals ejected longer than 1 Gyr ago. The similarity between the wind models is surprising, since we show that they differ substantially in their predicted amount and phase distribution of halo gas. We show that this similarity owes mainly to our comparison here at fixed stellar mass rather than at fixed halo mass in our previous works, which suggests that CGM properties are more closely tied to the stellar mass of galaxies rather than halo mass.
We present an X-ray and multiwavelength study of 33 weak emission-line quasars (WLQs) and 18 quasars that are analogs of the extreme WLQ, PHL 1811, at z ~ 0.5-2.9. New Chandra 1.5-9.5 ks exploratory observations were obtained for 32 objects while the others have archival X-ray observations. Significant fractions of these luminous type 1 quasars are distinctly X-ray weak compared to typical quasars, including 16 (48%) of the WLQs and 17 (94%) of the PHL 1811 analogs with average X-ray weakness factors of 17 and 39, respectively. We measure a relatively hard ($\Gamma=1.16_{-0.32}^{+0.37}$) effective power-law photon index for a stack of the X-ray weak subsample, suggesting X-ray absorption, and spectral analysis of one PHL 1811 analog, J1521+5202, also indicates significant intrinsic X-ray absorption. We compare composite SDSS spectra for the X-ray weak and X-ray normal populations and find several optical-UV tracers of X-ray weakness; e.g., Fe II rest-frame equivalent width and relative color. We describe how orientation effects under our previously proposed "shielding-gas" scenario can likely unify the X-ray weak and X-ray normal populations. We suggest that the shielding gas may naturally be understood as a geometrically thick inner accretion disk that shields the broad line region from the ionizing continuum. If WLQs and PHL 1811 analogs have very high Eddington ratios, the inner disk could be significantly puffed up (e.g., a slim disk). Shielding of the broad emission-line region by a geometrically thick disk may have a significant role in setting the broad distributions of C IV rest-frame equivalent width and blueshift for quasars more generally.
The discovery of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters has implications for all the aspects of the study of these stellar systems. In this paper, by means of N-body simulations, we study the evolution of binary stars in multiple-population clusters and explore the implications of the initial differences in the spatial distribution of different stellar populations for the evolution and survival of their binary stars. Our simulations show that initial differences between the spatial distribution of first-generation (FG) and second-generation (SG) stars can leave a fingerprint in the current properties of the binary population. SG binaries are disrupted more efficiently than those of the FG population resulting in a global SG binary fraction smaller than that of the FG. As for surviving binaries, dynamical evolution produces a difference between the SG and the FG binary binding energy distribution with the SG population characterized by a larger fraction of high binding energy (more bound) binaries. We have also studied the dependence of the binary properties on the distance from the cluster centre. Although the global binary fraction decreases more rapidly for the SG population, the local binary fraction measured in the cluster inner regions may still be dominated by SG binaries. The extent of the differences between the surviving FG and SG binary binding energy distribution also varies radially within the cluster and is larger in the cluster inner regions.
We present an analysis of long-term photometric variability for nearby red dwarfs at optical wavelengths. The sample consists of 264 M dwarfs south of DEC = +30 with V-K = 3.96-9.16 and Mv~10-20 (spectral types M2V-M8V), most of which are within 25 pc. The stars have been observed in the VRI filters for ~4-14 years at the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9m telescope. Of the 238 red dwarfs within 25 pc, we find that only ~8% are photometrically variable by at least 20 mmag (~2%) in the VRI bands. We find that high variability at optical wavelengths over the long-term can be used to identify young stars. Overall, however, the fluxes of most red dwarfs at optical wavelengths are steady to a few percent over the long term. The low overall rate of photometric variability for red dwarfs is consistent with results found in previous work on similar stars on shorter timescales, with the body of work indicating that most red dwarfs are only mildly variable. We highlight 17 stars that show long-term changes in brightness, sometimes because of flaring activity or spots, and sometimes because of stellar cycles similar to our Sun's solar cycle. Remarkably, two targets show brightnesses that monotonically increase (G 169-029) or decrease (WT 460AB) by several percent over a decade. We also provide long-term variability measurements for seven M dwarfs within 25 pc that host exoplanets, none of which vary by more than 20 mmag. Both as a population, and for the specific red dwarfs with exoplanets observed here, photometric variability is therefore often not a concern for planetary environments, at least at the optical wavelengths where they emit much of their light.
Most of the massive elliptical galaxies in the universe stopped forming stars billions of years ago, even though plenty of hot gas remains available for star formation. Here we present compelling evidence indicating that quenching of star formation depends on both black-hole feedback and Type Ia supernova heating. We analyze Chandra X-ray observations of ten massive ellipticals, five with extended, potentially star-forming multiphase gas and five single-phase ellipticals with no star formation. The ratio of cooling time to freefall time at 1--10 kpc in the multiphase galaxies is tc/tff ~10, indicating that precipitation-driven feedback limits cooling but does not eliminate condensation. In the same region of the single-phase galaxies, the radial profiles of gas entropy are consistent with a thermally stable (tc/tff > 20) supernova-driven outflow that sweeps stellar ejecta out of the galaxy. However, in one of those single-phase ellipticals (NGC 4261) we find tc/tff < 10 at < 300 pc. Notably, its jets are ~50 times more powerful than in the other nine ellipticals, in agreement with models indicating that precipitation near the black hole should switch its fueling mode from Bondi-like accretion to cold chaotic accretion. We conclude by hypothesizing that black-hole feedback outbursts shut off star formation in massive elliptical galaxies by switching on supernova sweeping capable of raising the entropy of the outflowing stellar ejecta to > 100 keV cm^2.
Using a sample of 69,919 red giants from the SDSS-III/APOGEE Data Release 12, we measure the distribution of stars in the [$\alpha$/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] plane and the metallicity distribution functions (MDF) across an unprecedented volume of the Milky Way disk, with radius $3<R<15$ kpc and height $|z|<2$ kpc. Stars in the inner disk ($R<5$ kpc) lie along a single track in [$\alpha$/Fe] vs. [Fe/H], starting with $\alpha$-enhanced, metal-poor stars and ending at [$\alpha$/Fe]$\sim0$ and [Fe/H]$\sim+0.4$. At larger radii we find two distinct sequences in [$\alpha$/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] space, with a roughly solar-$\alpha$ sequence that spans a decade in metallicity and a high-$\alpha$ sequence that merges with the low-$\alpha$ sequence at super-solar [Fe/H]. The location of the high-$\alpha$ sequence is nearly constant across the disk, however there are very few high-$\alpha$ stars at $R>11$ kpc. The peak of the midplane MDF shifts to lower metallicity at larger $R$, reflecting the Galactic metallicity gradient. Most strikingly, the shape of the midplane MDF changes systematically with radius, with a negatively skewed distribution at $3<R<7$ kpc, to a roughly Gaussian distribution at the solar annulus, to a positively skewed shape in the outer Galaxy. For stars with $|z|>1$ kpc or [$\alpha$/Fe]$>0.18$, the MDF shows little dependence on $R$. The positive skewness of the outer disk MDF may be a signature of radial migration; we show that blurring of stellar populations by orbital eccentricities is not enough to explain the reversal of MDF shape but a simple model of radial migration can do so.
We have carried out photometric follow-up observations of bright transiting extrasolar planets using the CbNUOJ 0.6m telescope. We have tested the possibility of obtaining high photometric precision by applying the telescope defocus technique allowing the use of several hundred seconds in exposure time for a single measurement. We demonstrate that this technique is capable of obtaining a root-mean-square scatter of order sub-millimagnitude over several hours for a V $\sim$ 10 host star typical for transiting planets detected from ground-based survey facilities. We compare our results with transit observations with the telescope operated in in-focus mode. High photometric precision is obtained due to the collection of a larger amount of photons resulting in a higher signal compared to other random and systematic noise sources. Accurate telescope tracking is likely to further contribute to lowering systematic noise by probing the same pixels on the CCD. Furthermore, a longer exposure time helps reducing the effect of scintillation noise which otherwise has a significant effect for small-aperture telescopes operated in in-focus mode. Finally we present the results of modelling four light-curves for which a root-mean-square scatter of 0.70 to 2.3 milli-magnitudes have been achieved.
We search for electron anti-neutrinos ($\overline{\nu}_e$) from long and short-duration gamma-ray bursts~(GRBs) using data taken by the KamLAND detector from August 2002 to June 2013. No statistically significant excess over the background level is found. We place the tightest upper limits on $\overline{\nu}_e$ fluence from GRBs below 7\,MeV and place first constraints on the relation between $\overline{\nu}_e$ luminosity and effective temperature.
We report the redshift of an unlensed, highly obscured submillimetre galaxy (SMG), HS1700.850.1, the brightest SMG (S850um =19.1 mJy) detected in the JCMT/SCUBA-2 Baryonic Structure Survey, based on the detection of its CO line emission. Using the IRAM PdBI-WIDEX with 3.6GHz band width, we serendipitously detect an emission line at 150.6 GHz. Confirmation of the identification of this line as CO(5-4) at z = 2.816 comes from a search over 14.5 GHz in the 3-mm and 2-mm atmospheric windows, meaning that it does not reside in the z~2.30 proto-cluster in this field. Measurement of the 870um source size (<0.74") from the Sub-Millimeter Array (SMA) confirms a compact emission in a S870um =14.5mJy, LIR~10^13 Lsun component, suggesting an Eddington-limited starburst. We use the double-peaked CO line profile measurements along with the SMA size constraints to study the gas dynamics of a HyLIRG, estimating the gas and dynamical masses of HS1700.850.1. While HS1700.850.1 is one of the most extreme galaxies known in the Universe, we find that it occupies a relative void in the Lyman-Break Galaxy distribution in this field. Comparison with other extreme objects at similar epochs (HyLIRG Quasars), and cosmological simulations, suggests such an anti-bias of bright SMGs could be relatively common, with the brightest SMGs rarely occupying the most overdense regions at z=2-4.
We present the first three dimensional (3D) simulation of the final minutes of iron core growth in a massive star, up to and including the point of core gravitational instability and collapse. We self-consistently capture the development of strong convection driven by violent Si burning in the shell surrounding the iron core. This convective burning builds the iron core to its critical (Chandrasekhar) mass and collapse ensues, driven by electron capture and photodisintegration. The non-spherical structure and motion (turbulent fluctuations) generated by 3D convection is substantial at the point of collapse. We examine the impact of such physically-realistic 3D initial conditions on the core-collapse supernova mechanism using 3D simulations including multispecies neutrino leakage. We conclude that non-spherical progenitor structure should not be ignored, and has a significant and favorable impact on the likelihood for neutrino-driven explosions.
We analyse three years of nearly-continuous Kepler spacecraft short cadence observations of the pulsating subdwarf B star KIC 3527751. We detect a total of 251 periodicities, most in the g-mode domain, but some where p-modes occur, confirming that KIC 3527751 is a hybrid pulsator. We apply seismic tools to the periodicities to characterize the properties of KIC 3527751. Techniques to identify modes include asymptotic period spacing relationships, frequency multiplets, and the separation of multiplet splittings. These techniques allow for 189 (75%) of the 251 periods to be associated with pulsation modes. Included in these are three sets of ell=4 multiplets and possibly an ell=9 multiplet. Period spacing sequences indicate ell=1 and 2 overtone spacings of 266.4 +/-0.2 and 153.2 +/-0.2 seconds, respectively. We also calculate reduced periods, from which we find evidence of trapped pulsations. Such mode trappings can be used to constrain the core/atmosphere transition layers. Interestingly, frequency multiplets in the g-mode region, which sample deep into the star, indicate a rotation period of 42.6 +/-3.4 days while p-mode multiplets, which sample the outer envelope, indicate a rotation period of 15.3 +/-0.7 days. We interpret this as differential rotation in the radial direction with the core rotating more slowly. This is the first example of differential rotation for a subdwarf B star.
We introduce StratOS, a Big Data platform for general computing that allows a datacenter to be treated as a single computer. With StratOS, the process of writing a massively parallel program for a datacenter is no more complicated than writing a Python script for a desktop computer. Users can run pre-existing analysis software on data distributed over thousands of machines with just a few keystrokes. This greatly reduces the time required to develop distributed data analysis pipelines. The platform is built upon industry-standard, open-source Big Data technologies, from which it inherits fast data throughput and fault tolerance. StratOS enhances these technologies by adding an intuitive user interface, automated task monitoring, and other usability features.
We investigate the luminosity and redshift dependence of the quasar continuum by means of composite spectrum using a large non-BAL radio-quiet quasar sample drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Quasar continuum slopes in the UV-Opt band are measured at two different wavelength ranges, i.e., $\alpha_{\nu12}$ ($1000\sim 2000 \rm\AA$) and $\alpha_{\nu24}$ ($2000 \sim 4000 \rm\AA$) derived from power law fitting. Generally, the UV spectra slope becomes harder (higher $\alpha_{\nu}$) towards higher bolometric luminosity. On the other hand, when quasars are further grouped into luminosity bins, we find both $\alpha_{\nu12}$ and $\alpha_{\nu24}$ show significant anti-correlation with redshift (i.e., quasar continuum becomes redder towards higher redshift). We suggest that the cosmic dust extinction is very likely the cause of this observed $\alpha_\nu-z$ relation. We build a simple cosmic dust extinction model to quantify the observed reddening tendency and find an effective dust density $n\sigma_v \sim 10^{-5}h~\rm Mpc^{-1}$ at $z<1.5$. The other possibilities that could produce such a reddening effect have also been discussed.
We describe the HIgh Precision Polarimetric Instrument (HIPPI), a polarimeter built at UNSW Australia and used on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). HIPPI is an aperture polarimeter using a ferro-electric liquid crystal modulator. HIPPI measures the linear polarization of starlight with a sensitivity in fractional polarization of ~4 x 10$^{-6}$ on low polarization objects and a precision of better than 0.01% on highly polarized stars. The detectors have a high dynamic range allowing observations of the brightest stars in the sky as well as much fainter objects. The telescope polarization of the AAT is found to be 48 $\pm$ 5 x 10$^{-6}$ in the g' band.
The large availability and rich spectral coverage of today's observational data of the solar corona, and the high spatial and temporal resolution of many instruments, has enabled the evolution of three-dimensional (3D) physical models to a great level of detail. However, the 3D information provided by the data is rather limited as every instrument observes from a single angle of vision, or two at the most in the case of the STEREO mission. Two powerful available observational techniques to infer detailed 3D information of the solar corona from empirical data are stereoscopy and tomography. In particular, the technique known as \emph{differential emission measure tomography} (DEMT) allows determination of the 3D distribution of the coronal electron density and temperature in the inner corona. This paper summarizes the main technical aspects of DEMT, reviews all published work based on it, and comments its future development and applications.
We present an analysis of the Qatar-1 and TrES-5 transiting exoplanetary systems, which contain Jupiter-like planets on short-period orbits around K-dwarf stars. Our data comprise a total of 20 transit light curves obtained using five medium-class telescopes, operated using the defocussing technique. The average precision we reach in all our data is $RMS_{Q} = 1.1$ mmag for Qatar-1 ($V = 12.8$) and $RMS_{T} = 1.0$ mmag for TrES-5 ($V = 13.7$). We use these data to refine the orbital ephemeris, photometric parameters, and measured physical properties of the two systems. One transit event for each object was observed simultaneously in three passbands ($gri$) using the BUSCA imager. The QES survey light curve of Qatar-1 has a clear sinusoidal variation on a period of $P_{\star} = 23.697 \pm 0.123$\,d, implying significant starspot activity. We searched for starspot crossing events in our light curves, but did not find clear evidence in any of the new datasets. The planet in the Qatar-1 system did not transit the active latitudes on the surfaces of its host star. Under the assumption that $P_{\star}$ corresponds to the rotation period of Qatar-1\,A, the rotational velocity of this star is very close to the $v \sin i_\star$ value found from observations of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect. The low projected orbital obliquity found in this system thus implies a low absolute orbital obliquity, which is also a necessary condition for the transit chord of the planet to avoid active latitudes on the stellar surface.
We study the effects of neutron captures in AGB stars on \oq Fe-group\cqb elements, with an emphasis on Cr, Fe, and Ni. These elements show anomalies in $^{54}$Cr, $^{58}$Fe, and $^{64}$Ni in solar-system materials, which are commonly attributed to SNe. However, as large fractions of the interstellar medium (ISM) were reprocessed in AGB stars, these elements were reprocessed, too. We calculate the effects of such reprocessing on Cr, Fe, and Ni through 1.5\msb and 3\msb AGB models, adopting solar and 1/3 solar metallicities. All cases produce excesses of $^{54}$Cr, $^{58}$Fe, and $^{64}$Ni, while the other isotopes are little altered; hence, the observations may be explained by AGB processing. The results are robust and not dependent on the detailed initial isotopic composition. Consequences for other \oq Fe group\cqb elements are then explored. They include $^{50}$Ti excesses, and some production of $^{46,47,49}$Ti. In many circumstellar condensates, Ti quantitatively reflects these effects of AGB neutron captures. Scatter in the data results from small variations (granularity) in the isotopic composition of the local ISM. For Si, the main effects are instead due to variations in the local ISM from different SNe sources. The problem of Ca is discussed, particularly with regard to $^{48}$Ca. The measured data are usually represented assuming terrestrial values for $^{42}$Ca/$^{44}$Ca. Materials processed in AGB stars or sources with variable initial $^{42}$Ca/$^{44}$Ca ratios can give apparent $^{48}$Ca excesses/deficiencies, attributed to SNe. The broader issue of Galactic Chemical Evolution is also discussed in view of the isotopic granularity in the ISM. \end{abstract}
We report and analyze the observational evidence of global kink oscillations in a solar filament as observed in H alpha by National Solar Observatory (NSO)/Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) instrument. An M1.1-class flare in active region 11692 on 2013 March 15 induced a global kink mode in the filament lying in the south-west of AR11692.We find periods of about 61 - 67 minutes and damping times of 92 - 117 minutes at three vertical slice positions chosen in and around the filament apex. We find that the waves are damped. From the observed global kink mode period and damping time scale using the theory of resonant absorption we perform prominence seismology. We estimate a lower cut-off value for the inhomogeneity length-scale to be around 0.34 - 0.44 times the radius of the filament cross-section.
We present near-infrared (NIR) time-series spectroscopy, as well as complementary ultraviolet (UV), optical, and NIR data, of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) iPTF13ebh, which was discovered within two days from the estimated time of explosion. The first NIR spectrum was taken merely 2.3 days after explosion and may be the earliest NIR spectrum yet obtained of a SN Ia. The most striking features in the spectrum are several NIR C I lines, and the C I {\lambda}1.0693 {\mu}m line is the strongest ever observed in a SN Ia. Interestingly, no strong optical C II counterparts were found, even though the optical spectroscopic time series began early and is densely-cadenced. Except at the very early epochs, within a few days from the time of explosion, we show that the strong NIR C I compared to the weaker optical C II appears to be general in SNe Ia. iPTF13ebh is a fast decliner with {\Delta}m15(B) = 1.79 $\pm$ 0.01, and its absolute magnitude obeys the linear part of the width-luminosity relation. It is therefore categorized as a "transitional" event, on the fast-declining end of normal SNe Ia as opposed to subluminous/91bg-like objects. iPTF13ebh shows NIR spectroscopic properties that are distinct from both the normal and subluminous/91bg-like classes, bridging the observed characteristics of the two classes. These NIR observations suggest composition and density of the inner core similar to that of 91bg-like events, and a deep reaching carbon burning layer not observed in slower declining SNe Ia. There is also a substantial difference between the explosion times inferred from the early-time light curve and the velocity evolution of the Si II {\lambda}0.6355 {\mu}m line, implying a long dark phase of ~ 4 days.
Saturation affects a significant rate of images recorded by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on the Solar Dynamics Observatory. This paper describes a computational method and a technological pipeline for the de-saturation of such images, based on several mathematical ingredients like Expectation Maximization, image correlation and interpolation. An analysis of the computational properties and demands of the pipeline, together with an assessment of its reliability are performed against a set of data recorded from the Feburary 25 2014 flaring event.
We present a measurement of the $B$-mode polarization power spectrum (the $BB$ spectrum) from 100 $\mathrm{deg}^2$ of sky observed with SPTpol, a polarization-sensitive receiver currently installed on the South Pole Telescope. The observations used in this work were taken during 2012 and early 2013 and include data in spectral bands centered at 95 and 150 GHz. We report the $BB$ spectrum in five bins in multipole space, spanning the range $300 \le \ell \le 2300$, and for three spectral combinations: 95 GHz $\times$ 95 GHz, 95 GHz $\times$ 150 GHz, and 150 GHz $\times$ 150 GHz. We subtract small ($< 0.5 \sigma$ in units of statistical uncertainty) biases from these spectra and account for the uncertainty in those biases. The resulting power spectra are inconsistent with zero power but consistent with predictions for the $BB$ spectrum arising from the gravitational lensing of $E$-mode polarization. If we assume no other source of $BB$ power besides lensed $B$ modes, we determine a preference for lensed $B$ modes of $4.9 \sigma$. After marginalizing over tensor power and foregrounds, namely polarized emission from galactic dust and extragalactic sources, this significance is $4.3 \sigma$. Fitting for a single parameter, $A_\mathrm{lens}$, that multiplies the predicted lensed $B$-mode spectrum, and marginalizing over tensor power and foregrounds, we find $A_\mathrm{lens} = 1.08 \pm 0.26$, indicating that our measured spectra are consistent with the signal expected from gravitational lensing. The data presented here provide the best measurement to date of the $B$-mode power spectrum on these angular scales.
Recent discoveries of super-massive black holes at high redshifts indicate a possible tension with the standard Lambda CDM paradigm of early universe cosmology which has difficulties in explaining the origin of the required nonlinear compact seeds which trigger the formation of these super-massive black holes. Here we show that cosmic string loops which result from a scaling solution of strings formed during a phase transition in the very early universe lead to an additional source of compact seeds. The number density of string-induced seeds dominates at high redshifts and can help trigger the formation of the observed super-massive black holes.
We present a search for gamma-ray emission from the direction of the newly discovered dwarf galaxy Reticulum 2. Using Fermi-LAT data, we detect a signal that exceeds expected backgrounds between ~2-10 GeV and is consistent with annihilation of dark matter for particle masses less than a few x 10^2 GeV. Modeling the background as a Poisson process based on Fermi-LAT diffuse models, and taking into account trials factors, we detect emission with p-value less than 9.8 x 10^-5 (>3.7 sigma). An alternative, model-independent treatment of background reduces the significance, raising the p-value to 9.7 x 10^-3 (2.3 sigma). Even in this case, however, Reticulum 2 has the most significant gamma-ray signal of any known dwarf galaxy. If Reticulum 2 has a dark matter halo that is similar to those inferred for other nearby dwarfs, the signal is consistent with the s-wave relic abundance cross section for annihilation.
Astrophysical sources are extremely efficient accelerators. Some sources emit
photons up to multi-TeV energies, a signature of the presence, within them, of
particles with energies much higher than those achievable with the largest
accelerators on Earth. Even more compelling evidence comes from the study of
Cosmic Rays, charged relativistic particles that reach the Earth with
incredibly high energies: at the highest energy end of their spectrum, these
subatomic particles are carrying a macroscopic energy, up to a few Joules.
Here I will address the best candidate sources and mechanisms as cosmic
particle accelerators. I will mainly focus on Galactic sources such as
Supernova Remnants and Pulsar Wind Nebulae, which being close and bright, are
the best studied among astrophysical accelerators. These sources are held
responsible for most of the energy that is put in relativistic particles in the
Universe, but they are not thought to accelerate particles up to the highest
individual energies, $\approx 10^{20}$ eV. However they allow us to study in
great detail acceleration mechanisms such as shock acceleration (both in the
newtonian and relativistic regime) or magnetic reconnection, the same processes
that are likely to be operating also in more powerful sources.
Pulsar Wind Nebulae are the astrophysical sources that host the most
relativistic shocks in Nature and the only Galactic sources in which we have
direct evidence of PeV particles. These facts make them very interesting from
the point of view of particle acceleration physics, and their proximity and
brightness make them a place where fundamental processes common to different
classes of relativistic sources have a better chance to be understood.
I will discuss how well we understand the physics of Pulsar Wind Nebulae,
describing recent progress and highlighting the main open questions. I will be
mostly concerned with the subject of particle acceleration, but, as we will
see, in order to clarify the physics of this process, it is important to
determine the conditions of the plasma in the nebula. These in turn can only be
constrained through detailed modelling of the PWN dynamics and radiation.
The shock in the Crab Nebula is probably the most efficient accelerator
known, both in terms of conversion of the flow energy into accelerated
particles (tens of percent) and in terms of maximum energy achieved ($\approx
10^{15}$ eV). I will review the different mechanisms proposed to explain
particle acceleration and recent constraints derived from the comparison of
synthetic emission maps with multi-wavelength data, including variability.
Magnetic fields have only recently been included in theoretical simulations of high-mass star formation. The simulations show that magnetic fields can play a crucial role not only in the formation and dynamics of molecular outflows, but also in the evolution of circumstellar disks. Therefore, new measurements of magnetic fields at milliarcsecond resolution close to massive young stellar objects (YSOs) are fundamental for providing new input for numerical simulations and for understanding the formation process of massive stars. The polarized emission of 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers allows us to investigate the magnetic field close to the massive YSO where the outflows and disks are formed. Recently, we have detected with the EVN CH3OH maser polarized emission towards 10 massive YSOs. From a first statistical analysis we have found evidence that magnetic fields are primarily oriented along the molecular outflows. To improve our statistics we are carrying on a large observational EVN campaign for a total of 19 sources, the preliminary results of the first seven sources are presented in this contribution. Furthermore, we also describe our efforts to estimate the Lande' g-factors of the CH3OH maser transition to determine the magnetic field strength from our Zeeman-splitting measurements.
The Taurus-Auriga molecular complex (TMC) is the main laboratory for the study of low mass star formation. The density and properties of interstellar dust are expected to vary across the TMC. These variations trace important processes such as dust nucleation or the magnetic field coupling with the cloud. In this article, we show how the combination of near ultraviolet (NUV) and infrared (IR) photometry can be used to derive the strength of the 2175 \AA\ bump and thus any enhancement in the abundance of small dust grains and PAHs in the dust grains size distribution. This technique is applied to the envelope of the TMC, mapped by the GALEX All Sky Survey (AIS). UV and IR photometric data have been retrieved from the GALEX-AIS and the 2MASS catalogues. NUV and K-band star counts have been used to identify the areas in the cloud envelope where the 2175 \AA\ bump is weaker than in the diffuse ISM namely, the low column density extensions of L1495, L1498 and L1524 in Taurus, L1545, L1548, L1519, L1513 in Auriga and L1482-83 in the California region. This finding agrees with previous results on dust evolution derived from Spitzer data and suggests that dust grains begin to decouple from the environmental galactic magnetic field already in the envelope.
We present a python package "ScalPy" for studying the late time scalar field cosmology for a wide variety of scalar field models, namely the quintessence, tachyon and Galileon model. The package solves the autonomous system of equations for power law and exponential potential. But it can be easily generalized to add more complicated potential. For completeness, we also include the standard parameterization for dark energy models, e.g. the $\Lambda$CDM, $w$CDM, $w_{0}w_{a}$CDM as well as the GCG parameterization. The package also solves the linear growth equation for matter perturbations on sub-horizon scales. All the important observables related to background universe as well as to the perturbed universe, e.g. luminosity distance ($D_{L}(z)$), angular diameter distance ($D_{A}(z)$), normalized Hubble parameter ($h(z)$), lookback time ($t_{L}$), equation of state for the dark energy ($w(z)$), growth rate ($f=\frac{d \ln\delta}{d \ln a}$), linear matter power spectra ($P(k)$), and its normalization $\sigma_{8}$ can be obtained from this package. The code is further integrated with the publicly available MCMC hammer "emcee" to constrain the different models using the presently available observational data.
The intra-cluster medium contains cosmic rays and magnetic fields that are manifested through the large scale synchrotron sources, termed as radio halos, relics and mini-halos. The Extended Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) Radio Halo Survey (EGRHS) is an extension of the GMRT Radio Halo Survey (GRHS) designed to search for radio halos using GMRT 610/235 MHz observations. The GRHS+EGRHS consists of 64 clusters in the redshift range 0.2 -- 0.4 that have an X-ray luminosity larger than 5x10^44 erg/s in the 0.1 -- 2.4 keV band and with declinations > -31 deg in the REFLEX and eBCS X-ray cluster catalogues. In this second paper in the series, GMRT 610/235 MHz data on the last batch of 11 galaxy clusters and the statistical analysis of the full sample are presented. A new mini-halo in RXJ2129.6+0005 and candidate diffuse sources in Z5247, A2552 and Z1953 are discovered. A unique feature of this survey are the upper limits on the detections of 1 Mpc sized radio halos; 4 new are presented here making a total of 31 in the survey. Of the sample, 58 clusters that have adequately sensitive radio information were used to obtain the most accurate occurrence fractions so far. The occurrence of radio halos in our X-ray selected sample is ~22%, that of mini-halos is 13% and that of relics is ~5%. The radio power - X-ray luminosity diagrams for the radio halos and mini-halos with the detections and upper limits are presented. The morphological estimators namely, centroid shift (w), concentration parameter (c) and power ratios (P_3/P_0) derived from the Chandra X-ray images are used as proxies for the dynamical states of the GRHS+EGRHS clusters. The clusters with radio halos and mini-halos occupy distinct quadrants in the c-w, c-P_3/P_0 and w - P_3/P_0 planes, corresponding to the more and less morphological disturbance, respectively. The non-detections span both the quadrants.
The spectral index of synchrotron emission is an important parameter in understanding the properties of cosmic ray electrons (CREs) and the interstellar medium (ISM). We determine the synchrotron spectral index ($\alpha_{\rm nt}$) of four nearby star-forming galaxies, namely NGC 4736, NGC 5055, NGC 5236 and NGC 6946 at sub-kpc linear scales. The $\alpha_{\rm nt}$ was determined between 0.33 and 1.4 GHz for all the galaxies. We find the spectral index to be flatter ($\gtrsim -0.7$) in regions with total neutral (atomic + molecular) gas surface density, $\Sigma_{\rm gas} \gtrsim \rm 50~M_\odot pc^{-2}$, typically in the arms and inner parts of the galaxies. In regions with $\Sigma_{\rm gas} \lesssim \rm 50~M_\odot pc^{-2}$, especially in the interarm and outer regions of the galaxies, the spectral index steepens sharply to $<-1.0$. The flattening of $\alpha_{\rm nt}$ is unlikely to be caused due to thermal free--free absorption at 0.33 GHz. Our result is consistent with the scenario where the CREs emitting at frequencies below $\sim0.3$ GHz are dominated by bremsstrahlung and/or ionization losses. For denser medium ($\Sigma_{\rm gas} \gtrsim \rm 200~M_\odot pc^{-2}$), having strong magnetic fields ($\sim 30~\mu$G), $\alpha_{\rm nt}$ is seen to be flatter than $-0.5$, perhaps caused due to ionization losses. We find that, due to the clumpy nature of the ISM, such dense regions cover only a small fraction of the galaxy ($\lesssim5$ percent). Thus, the galaxy-integrated spectrum may not show indication of such loss mechanisms and remain a power-law over a wide range of radio frequencies (between $\sim 0.1$ to 10 GHz).
Cosmic rays are a fundamental source of ionization for molecular and diffuse clouds, influencing their chemical, thermal, and dynamical evolution. The amount of cosmic rays inside a cloud also determines the $\gamma$-ray flux produced by hadronic collisions between cosmic rays and cloud material. We study the spectrum of cosmic rays inside and outside of a diffuse cloud, by solving the stationary transport equation for cosmic rays including diffusion, advection and energy losses due to ionization of neutral hydrogen atoms. We found that the cosmic ray spectrum inside a diffuse cloud differs from the one in the interstellar medium for energies smaller than $E_{br}\approx 100$ MeV, irrespective of the model details. Below $E_{br}$, the spectrum is harder (softer) than that in the interstellar medium if the latter is a power law $\propto p^{-s}$ with $s$ larger (smaller) than $\sim0.42$.
Observations indicate that most universal matter are invisible and gravitational constant $G(t)$ maybe depends on the time. The theory of variation of $G$ (VG) is explored in this paper, with naturally resulting to the invisible components in universe. We utilize the observational data: lookback time data, model-independent gamma ray bursts data, growth function of matter linear perturbations, type Ia supernovae data with systematic errors, cosmic microwave background, and baryon acoustic oscillation data from the radial scale measurement and the peak-positions measurement, to restrict the unified model (UM) of dark components in VG theory. Using the best-fit values of parameters with the covariance matrix, constraints on the variation of $G$ are $(\frac{G}{G_{0}})_{z=3.5}\simeq 1.0003^{+0.0014}_{-0.0016}$ and $(\frac{\dot{G}}{G})_{today}\simeq 0.7977^{+2.3566}_{-2.3566}\times 10^{-13} yr^{-1}$ in a flat geometry, the small uncertainties around constants. Limit on equation of state of dark matter is $w_{0dm}=0.0151^{+0.0171}_{-0.0171}$ with assuming $w_{0de}=-1$ in the UM model, and dark energy is $w_{0de}=-0.9986^{+0.0011}_{-0.0011}$ with assuming $w_{0dm}=0$ at prior. Restriction on UM parameters are $B_{s}=0.7662^{+0.0127+0.0248}_{-0.0125-0.0269}$ and $\alpha=0.0204^{+0.0201+0.0425}_{-0.0217-0.0398}$ with $1\sigma$ and $2\sigma$ confidence level. For the non-flat case, at $1\sigma$ confidence level the $\Lambda$CDM ($\Omega_{k}=0$, $\beta=0$ and $\alpha=0$) is not included in VG-UM model, and larger errors are given: $\Omega_{k}=-0.0311^{+0.0259+0.0517}_{-0.0248-0.0501}$, $(\frac{G}{G_{0}})_{z=3.5}\simeq 0.9917^{+0.0104}_{-0.0131}$ and $(\frac{\dot{G}}{G})_{today}\simeq 19.3678^{+21.8262}_{-21.8262}\times 10^{-13}yr^{-1}$.
Aims. In this work we derive new precise and homogeneous parameters for 37 stars with planets. For this purpose, we analyze high resolution spectra obtained by the NARVAL spectrograph for a sample composed of bright planet host stars in the northern hemisphere. The new parameters are included in the SWEET-Cat online catalogue. Methods. To ensure that the catalogue is homogeneous, we use our standard spectroscopic analysis procedure, ARES+MOOG, to derive effective temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities. These spectroscopic stellar parameters are then used as input to compute the stellar mass and radius, which are fundamental for the derivation of the planetary mass and radius. Results. We show that the spectroscopic parameters, masses, and radii are generally in good agreement with the values available in online databases of exoplanets. There are some exceptions, especially for the evolved stars. These are analyzed in detail focusing on the effect of the stellar mass on the derived planetary mass. Conclusions. We conclude that the stellar mass estimations for giant stars should be managed with extreme caution when using them to compute the planetary masses. We report examples within this sample where the differences in planetary mass can be as high as 100% in the most extreme cases.
The core-degenerate (CD) scenario for type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) involves the merger of the hot core of an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star and a white dwarf, and might contribute a non-negligible fraction of all thermonuclear supernovae. Despite its potential interest, very few studies, and based on only crude simplifications, have been devoted to investigate this possible scenario, compared with the large efforts invested to study some other scenarios. Here we perform the first three-dimensional simulations of the merger phase, and find that this process can lead to the formation of a massive white dwarf, as required by this scenario. We consider two situations, according to the mass of the circumbinary disk formed around the system during the final stages of the common envelope phase. If the disk is massive enough, the stars merge on a highly eccentric orbit. Otherwise, the merger occurs after the circumbinary disk has been ejected and gravitational wave radiation has brought the stars close to the Roche lobe radius on a nearly circular orbit. Not surprisingly, the overall characteristics of the merger remnants are similar to those found for the double-degenerate (DD) scenario, independently of the very different core temperature and of the orbits of the merging stars. They consist of a central massive white dwarf, surrounded by a hot, rapidly rotating corona and a thick debris region.
The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) telescope on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) provides coronal EUV imaging over a broader temperature sensitivity range than the previous generations of instruments (EUVI, EIT, and TRACE). Differential emission measure tomography (DEMT) of the solar corona based on AIA data is presented here for the first time. The main product of DEMT is the three-dimensional (3D) distribution of the local differential emission measure (LDEM). While in previous studies, based on EIT or EUVI data, there were 3 available EUV bands, with a sensitivity range $\sim 0.60 - 2.70$ MK, the present study is based on the 4 cooler AIA bands (aimed at studying the quiet sun), sensitive to the range $\sim 0.55 - 3.75$ MK. The AIA filters allow exploration of new parametric LDEM models. Since DEMT is better suited for lower activity periods, we use data from Carrington Rotation 2099, when the Sun was in its most quiescent state during the AIA mission. Also, we validate the parametric LDEM inversion technique by applying it to standard bi-dimensional (2D) differential emission measure (DEM) analysis on sets of simultaneous AIA images, and comparing the results with DEM curves obtained using other methods. Our study reveals a ubiquitous bimodal LDEM distribution in the quiet diffuse corona, which is stronger for denser regions. We argue that the nanoflare heating scenario is less likely to explain these results, and that alternative mechanisms, such as wave dissipation appear better supported by our results.
Lindal et al. (1987, J. Geophys. Res. 92, 14987-15001) presented a range of temperature and CH4 profiles for Uranus that were consistent with 1986 Voyager radio occultation measurements. A localized refractivity slope variation near 1.2 bars was interpreted to be the result of a condensed CH4 cloud layer. However, models fit to near-IR spectra found particle concentrations in the 1.5-3 bar range (Sromovsky et al. 2006, Icarus 182, 577-593, Sromovsky and Fry 2008, Icarus 193, 211-229, Irwin et al. 2010, Icarus 208, 913-926), and a recent analysis of STIS spectra argued that aerosol particles formed diffusely distributed hazes, with no compact condensation layer (Karkoschka and Tomasko 2009, Icarus 202, 287-309). Trying to reconcile these results, we reanalyzed the occultation observations with a He volume mixing ratio reduced from 0.15 to 0.116, which is near the edge of the 0.033 range given by Conrath et al. (1987, J. Geophys. Res., 15003-10). This allowed us to obtain saturated CH4 mixing ratios within the putative cloud layer and to reach above-cloud and deep CH4 mixing ratios compatible with STIS spectral constraints. Using a 5-layer vertical aerosol model with two compact cloud layers in the 1-3 bar region, we find that the best fit pressure for the upper layer is virtually identical to the pressure range inferred from the occultation analysis for a methane mixing ratio near 4% at 5 deg S, arguing that Uranus does indeed have a compact methane cloud layer. While our cloud model can fit the latitudinal variations in spectra between 30 deg S and 20 deg N using the same temperature and CH4 profiles, closer to the pole, the model requires the introduction of an increasingly strong upper tropospheric depletion of CH4 at increased latitudes, in rough agreement with the trend identified by Karkoschka and Tomasko (2009, Icarus 202, 287-309).
We present the performance of the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) of SPHERE, the high-contrast imager for the ESO VLT telescope designed to perform imaging and spectroscopy of extrasolar planets, obtained from tests performed at the Institute de Plan\'etologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble facility during the integration phase of the instrument.} {The tests were performed using the instrument software purposely prepared for SPHERE. The output data were reduced applying the SPHERE data reduction and handling software, adding an improved spectral deconvolution procedure. To this aim, we prepared an alternative procedure for the spectral subtraction exploiting the principal components analysis algorithm. Moreover, a simulated angular differential imaging procedure was also implemented to estimate how the instrument performed once this procedure was applied at telescope. The capability of the IFS to faithfully retrieve the spectra of the detected faint companions was also considered.} {We found that the application of the updated version of the spectral deconvolution procedure alone, when the algorithm throughput is properly taken into account, gives us a $5\sigma$ limiting contrast of the order of 5$\times$$10^{-6}$ or slightly better. The further application of the angular differential imaging procedure on these data should allow us to improve the contrast by one order of magnitude down to around 7$\times$$10^{-7}$ at a separation of 0.3 arcsec. The application of a principal components analysis procedure that simultaneously uses spectral and angular data gives comparable results. Finally, we found that the reproducibility of the spectra of the detected faint companions is greatly improved when angular differential imaging is applied in addition to the spectral deconvolution.
The theory of bigravity offers one of the simplest possibilities to describe a massive graviton while having self-accelerating cosmological solutions without a cosmological constant. However, it has been shown recently that bigravity is affected by early-time fast growing modes on the tensor sector. Here we argue that we can only trust the linear analysis up to when perturbations are in the linear regime and use a cut-off to stop the growing of the metric perturbations. This analysis, although more consistent, still leads to growing tensor modes that are unacceptably large for the theory to be compatible with measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), both in temperature and polarization spectra. In order to suppress the growing modes and make the model compatible with CMB spectra, we find it necessary to either fine-tune the initial conditions, modify the theory or set the cut-off for the tensor perturbations of the second metric much lower than unity. Initial conditions such that the growing mode is sufficiently suppresed can be achieved in scenarios in which inflation ends at the GeV scale.
Measuring radio source counts is critical for characterizing new extragalactic populations, brings a wealth of science within reach and will inform forecasts for SKA and its pathfinders. Yet there is currently great debate (and few measurements) about the behaviour of the 1.4-GHz counts in the microJy regime. One way to push the counts to these levels is via 'stacking', the covariance of a map with a catalogue at higher resolution and (often) a different wavelength. For the first time, we cast stacking in a fully bayesian framework, applying it to (i) the SKADS simulation and (ii) VLA data stacked at the positions of sources from the VIDEO survey. In the former case, the algorithm recovers the counts correctly when applied to the catalogue, but is biased high when confusion comes into play. This needs to be accounted for in the analysis of data from any relatively-low-resolution SKA pathfinders. For the latter case, the observed radio source counts remain flat below the 5-sigma level of 85 microJy as far as 40 microJy, then fall off earlier than the flux hinted at by the SKADS simulations and a recent P(D) analysis (which is the only other measurement from the literature at these flux-density levels, itself extrapolated in frequency). Division into galaxy type via spectral-energy distribution reveals that normal spiral galaxies dominate the counts at these fluxes.
A growing body of evidence has been supporting the existence of so-called "dark molecular gas" (DMG), which is invisible in the most common tracer of molecular gas, i.e., CO rotational emission. DMG is believed to be the main gas component of the intermediate extinction region between A$\rm_v$$\sim$0.05-2, roughly corresponding to the self-shielding threshold of H$_2$ and $^{13}$CO. To quantify DMG relative to HI and CO, we are pursuing three observational techniques, namely, HI self-absorption, OH absorption, and TeraHz C$^+$ emission. In this paper, we focus on preliminary results from a CO and OH absorption survey of DMG candidates. Our analysis show that the OH excitation temperature is close to that of the Galactic continuum background and that OH is a good DMG tracer co-existing with molecular hydrogen in regions without CO. Through systematic "absorption mapping" by Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and ALMA, we will have unprecedented, comprehensive knowledge of the ISM components including DMG in terms of their temperature and density, which will impact our understanding of galaxy evolution and star formation profoundly.
The detection of biologically important, organic molecules on Mars is an important goal that may soon be reached. However, the current small number of organic detections at the Martian surface may be due to the harsh UV and radiation conditions there. It seems likely that a successful search will require probing the subsurface of Mars, where penetrating cosmic rays and Solar energetic particles dominate the radiation environment, with an influence that weakens with depth. Toward the goal of understanding the survival of organic molecules in cold radiation-rich environments on Mars, we present new kinetics data on the radiolytic destruction of glycine diluted in frozen carbon dioxide. Rate constants were measured in situ with infrared spectroscopy, without additional sample manipulation, for irradiations at 25, 50, and 75 K with 0.8-MeV protons. The resulting half-lives for glycine in CO2-ice are compared to previous results for glycine in H2O-ice and show that glycine in CO2-ice is much less stable in a radiation environment, with destruction rate constants ~ 20-40 times higher than glycine in H2O-ice. Extrapolation of these results to conditions in the Martian subsurface results in half-lives estimated to be less than 100-200 million years even at depths of a few meters.
As part of a long-term project to revisit the kinematics and dynamics of the large disc galaxies of the Local Group, we present the first deep, wide-field (42' x 56') 3D-spectroscopic survey of the ionized gas disc of Messier 33. Fabry-Perot interferometry has been used to map its Ha distribution and kinematics at unprecedented angular resolution (<3'') and resolving power (12600), with the 1.6m telescope at the Observatoire du Mont Megantic. The ionized gas distribution follows a complex, large-scale spiral structure, unsurprisingly coincident with the already-known spiral structures of the neutral and molecular gas discs. The kinematical analysis of the velocity field shows that the rotation center of the Ha disc is distant from the photometric center by 170 pc (sky projected distance) and that the kinematical major-axis position angle and disc inclination are in excellent agreement with photometric values. The Ha rotation curve agrees very well with the HI rotation curves for 0 < R < 6.5 kpc, but the Ha velocities are 10-20 km/s higher for R > 6.5 kpc. The reason for this discrepancy is not well understood. The velocity dispersion profile is relatively flat around 16 km/s, which is at the low end of velocity dispersions of nearby star-forming galactic discs. A strong relation is also found between the Ha velocity dispersion and the Ha intensity. Mass models were obtained using the Ha rotation curve but, as expected, the dark matter halo's parameters are not very well constrained since the optical rotation curve only extends out to 8 kpc.
I present high-resolution column density maps of two molecular clouds having
strikingly different star formation rates. To better understand the unusual,
massive G216-2.5, a molecular cloud with no massive star formation, the
distribution of its molecular gas is compared to that of the Rosette Molecular
Cloud.
Far-infrared data from Herschel are used to derive $N(\mathrm{H}_2)$ maps of
each cloud and are combined with $I_{\mathrm{CO}}$ data to determine the
CO-to-H$_2$ ratio, $X_{\mathrm{CO}}$. In addition, the probability distribution
functions (PDFs) and cumulative mass fractions of the clouds are compared.
For G216-2.5, $< N(\mathrm{H}_2) >=7.8\times 10^{20} cm^{-2}$ and $<
X_{\mathrm{CO}} > =2.2\times 10^{20} (K km s^{-1})^{-1}$; for the Rosette, $<
N(\mathrm{H}_2) > =1.8\times 10^{21} cm^{-2}$ and $ < X_{\mathrm{CO}} >
=2.8\times 10^{20} (K km s^{-1})^{-1}$. The PDFs of both clouds are log-normal
for extinctions below $\sim 2$ mag and both show departures from log-normality
at high extinctions. Although it is the less-massive cloud, the Rosette has a
higher fraction of its mass in the form of dense gas and contains $1389
M_\odot$ of gas above the so-called extinction threshold for star formation,
$A_V = 7.3$ mag. The G216-2.5 cloud has $874 M_\odot$ of dense gas above this
threshold.
The study of stellar parameters of planet-hosting stars, such as metallicity and chemical abundances, help us to understand the theory of planet formation and stellar evolution. Here, we present a catalogue of accurate stellar atmospheric parameters and iron abundances for a sample of 257 K and G field evolved stars that are being surveyed for planets using precise radial--velocity measurements as part of the CORALIE programme to search for planets around giants. The analysis was done using a set of high--resolution and high--signal-to-noise Ultraviolet and Visible Echelle Spectrograph spectra. The stellar parameters were derived using Fe I and II ionization and excitation equilibrium methods. To take into account possible effects related to the choice of the lines on the derived parameters, we used three different iron line-list sets in our analysis, and the results differ among themselves by a small factor for most of stars. {For those stars with previous literature parameter estimates, we found very good agreement with our own values.} In the present catalogue we are providing new precise spectroscopic measurements of effective temperature, surface gravity, microturbulence, and metallicity for 190 stars for which it has not been found or published in previous articles.
In the present study we explore the astrobiological significance of F-type stars of spectral type between F5 V and F9.5 V, which possess Jupiter-type planets within or close to their climatological habitable zones. These planets, or at least a subset of them, may also possess rocky exomoons, which potentially offer habitable environments. Our work considers eight selected systems. The Jupiter-type planets in these systems are in notably different orbits with eccentricities ranging from 0.08 to 0.72. Particularly, we consider the stellar UV environments provided by the photospheric stellar radiation in regard to the circumstellar habitability of the system. According to previous studies, DNA is taken as a proxy for carbon-based macromolecules following the paradigm that extraterrestrial biology might be based on hydrocarbons. Thus, the DNA action spectrum is utilized to represent the impact of the stellar UV radiation. Atmospheric attenuation is taken into account based on parameterized attenuation functions. We found that the damage inflicted on DNA is notably different for the range of systems studied, and also varies according to the orbit of the Jupiter-type planet, especially in systems of high ellipticity. For some systems large values of damage are attained compared to an Earth-type planet at Earth-like positions in the solar system. A highly protective exomoon atmosphere would be required in most systems to foster habitable environments, notwithstanding extremophiles or systems based on nonstandard exobiology, which are beyond the scope of the present study.
We present JCMT SCUBA-2 850microns submillimetre (submm) observations of 30 mid-infrared (mid-IR) luminous AGN, detected jointly by the WISE all-sky IR survey and the NVSS/FIRST radio survey. These rare sources are selected by their extremely red mid-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and compact radio counterparts. Further investigations show that they are highly obscured, have abundant warm AGN-heated dust and are thought to be experiencing intense AGN feedback. These galaxies appear to be consistent with an AGN-dominated galaxy, and could be a transient phase of merging galaxies. When comparing the number of submm galaxies (SMGs) detected serendipitously in the surrounding 1.5-arcmin to those in blank-field submm surveys, there is a very significant overdensity, of order 5, but no sign of radial clustering centred at our primary objects. The WISE/radio-selected AGN thus reside in 10-Mpc-scale overdense environments, that could be forming in pre-viralised clusters of galaxies. WISE/radio-selected AGNs appear to be the strongest signposts of high-density regions of active, luminous and dusty galaxies. SCUBA-2 850microns observations indicate that their submm fluxes are low compared to many popular AGN SED templates, hence the WISE/radio-selected AGNs have either less cold and/or more warm dust emission than normally assumed for typical AGN. Most of the targets are not detected, only four targets are detected at SCUBA-2 850microns, and have total IR luminosities >= 10^13 L_solar, if their redshifts are consistent with the subset of the 10 SCUBA-2 undetected targets with known redshifts, z ~ 0.44 - 2.86.
Anglada-Escud\'e and Tuomi question the statistical rigor of our analysis while ignoring the stellar activity aspects that we present. Although we agree that improvements in multiparametric radial velocity (RV) modeling are necessary for the detection of Earth-mass planets, the key physical points we raised were not challenged. We maintain that activity on Gliese 581 induces RV shifts that were interpreted as exoplanets.
Numerical simulations carried out over the past decade suggest that the orbits of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems are unstable, resulting in an apparent chaotic growth of the eccentricity. Here we show that the irregular and haphazard character of these orbits reflects a similar irregularity in the orbits of many celestial bodies in our Solar System. We find that secular resonances, involving linear combinations of the frequencies of nodal and apsidal precession and the rate of regression of lunar nodes, occur in profusion so that the phase space is threaded by a devious stochastic web. As in all cases in the Solar System, chaos ensues where resonances overlap. These results may be significant for the analysis of disposal strategies for the four constellations in this precarious region of space.
We report the discovery of eight new Milky Way companions in ~1,800 deg^2 of optical imaging data collected during the first year of the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Each system is identified as a statistically significant over-density of individual stars consistent with the expected isochrone and luminosity function of an old and metal-poor stellar population. The objects span a wide range of absolute magnitudes (M_V from -2.2 mag to -7.4 mag), physical sizes (10 pc to 170 pc), and heliocentric distances (30 kpc to 330 kpc). Based on the low surface brightnesses, large physical sizes, and/or large Galactocentric distances of these objects, several are likely to be new ultra-faint satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and/or Magellanic Clouds. We introduce a likelihood-based algorithm to search for and characterize stellar over-densities, as well as identify stars with high satellite membership probabilities. We also present completeness estimates for detecting ultra-faint galaxies of varying luminosities, sizes, and heliocentric distances in the first-year DES data.
We introduce a Bayesian method for fitting faint, resolved stellar spectra in order to obtain simultaneous estimates of redshift and stellar-atmospheric parameters. We apply the method to thousands of spectra---covering 5160-5280 Angs. at resolution R~20,000---that we have acquired with the MMT/Hectochelle fibre spectrograph for red-giant and horizontal branch candidates along the line of sight to the Milky Way's dwarf spheroidal satellite in Draco. The observed stars subtend an area of ~4 deg^2, extending ~3 times beyond Draco's nominal `tidal' radius. For each spectrum we tabulate the first four moments---central value, variance, skewness and kurtosis---of posterior probability distribution functions representing estimates of the following physical parameters: line-of-sight velocity v_los, effective temperature (T_eff), surface gravity (logg) and metallicity ([Fe/H]). After rejecting low-quality measurements, we retain a new sample consisting of 2813 independent observations of 1565 unique stars, including 1879 observations for 631 stars with (as many as 13) repeat observations. Parameter estimates have median random errors of sigma_{v_los}=0.88 km/s, sigma_{T_eff}=162 K, sigma_logg=0.37 dex and sigma_[Fe/H]=0.20 dex. Our estimates of physical parameters distinguish ~470 likely Draco members from interlopers in the Galactic foreground.
About one third of early-type barred galaxies host small-scale secondary bars. The formation and evolution of such double-barred galaxies remain far from being well understood. In order to understand the formation of such systems, we explore a large parameter space of isolated pure-disk simulations. We show that a dynamically cool inner disk embedded in a hotter outer disk can naturally generate a steady secondary bar while the outer disk forms a large-scale primary bar. The independent bar instabilities of inner and outer disks result in long-lived double-barred structures whose dynamical properties are comparable with observations. This formation scenario indicates that the secondary bar might form from the general bar instability, the same as the primary bar. Under some circumstances, the interaction of the bars and the disk leads to the two bars aligning or single, nuclear, bars only. Simulations that are cool enough of the center to experience clump instabilities may also generate steady double-barred galaxies. In this case, the secondary bars are "fast", i.e., the bar length is close to the co-rotation radius. This is the first time that double-barred galaxies containing a fast secondary bar are reported. Previous orbit-based studies had suggested that fast secondary bars are not dynamically possible.
Dust lanes, nuclear rings, and nuclear spirals are typical gas structures in the inner region of barred galaxies Their shapes and properties are linked to the physical parameters of the host galaxy. We use high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations to study 2D gas flows in simple barred galaxy models. The nuclear rings formed in our simulations can be divided into two groups: one group is nearly round and the other is highly elongated. We find that roundish rings may not form when the bar pattern speed is too high or the bulge central density is too low. We also study the periodic orbits in our galaxy models, and find that the concept of inner Lindblad resonance (ILR) may be generalized by the extent of $x_2$ orbits. All roundish nuclear rings in our simulations settle in the range of $x_2$ orbits (or ILRs). However, knowing the resonances is insufficient to pin down the exact location of these nuclear rings. We suggest that the backbone of round nuclear rings is the $x_2$ orbital family, i.e. round nuclear rings are allowed only in the radial range of $x_2$ orbits. A round nuclear ring forms exactly at the radius where the residual angular momentum of infalling gas balances the centrifugal force, which can be described by a parameter $f_{\rm ring}$ measured from the rotation curve. The gravitational torque on gas in high pattern speed models is larger, leading to a smaller ring size than in the low pattern speed models. Our result may have important implications for using nuclear rings to measure the parameters of real barred galaxies with 2D gas kinematics.
Creation of Cold Dark Matter (CCDM), in the context of Einstein Field Equations, leads to a negative creation pressure, which can be used to explain the accelerated expansion of the Universe. Recently, it has been shown that the dynamics of expansion of such models can not be distinguished from the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model, even at higher orders in the evolution of density perturbations, leading at the so called "dark degeneracy". However, depending on the form of the CDM creation rate, the inclusion of spatial curvature leads to a different behavior of CCDM when compared to $\Lambda$CDM, even at background level. With a simple form for the creation rate, namely, $\Gamma\propto\frac{1}{H}$, we show that this model can be distinguished from $\Lambda$CDM, provided the Universe has some amount of spatial curvature. Observationally, however, the current limits on spatial flatness from CMB indicate that neither of the models are significantly favored against the other by current data, at least in the background level.
Context: A number of pulsating stars with rotational splittings have been
observed thanks to the CoRoT and Kepler missions. This is particularly true of
evolved (sub-giant and giant) stars, and has led various groups to investigate
their rotation profiles via different methods.
Aims: We would like to set up some criteria which will help us to know
whether a decreasing rotation profile, or one which satisfies Rayleigh's
stability criterion, is compatible with a set of observed rotational splittings
for a given reference model.
Methods: We derive inequalities on the rotational splittings using a
reformulated version of the equation which relates the splittings to the
rotation profile and kernels.
Results: These inequalities are tested out on some simple examples. The first
examples show how they are able to reveal when a rotation profile is increasing
somewhere or inconsistent with Rayleigh's criterion in a main sequence star,
depending on the profile and the $\ell$ values of the splittings. The next
example illustrates how a slight mismatch between an observed evolved star and
a reference model can lead to erroneous conclusions about the rotation profile.
We also show how frequency differences between the star and the model, which
should normally reveal this mismatch, can be masked by frequency corrections
for near-surface effects.
Under cosmic irradiation, the interstellar water ice mantles evolve towards a compact amorphous state. Crystalline ice amorphisation was previously monitored mainly in the keV to hundreds of keV ion energies. We experimentally investigate heavy ion irradiation amorphisation of crystalline ice, at high energies closer to true cosmic rays, and explore the water-ice sputtering yield. We irradiated thin crystalline ice films with MeV to GeV swift ion beams, produced at the GANIL accelerator. The ice infrared spectral evolution as a function of fluence is monitored with in-situ infrared spectroscopy (induced amorphisation of the initial crystalline state into a compact amorphous phase). The crystalline ice amorphisation cross-section is measured in the high electronic stopping-power range for different temperatures. At large fluence, the ice sputtering is measured on the infrared spectra, and the fitted sputtering-yield dependence, combined with previous measurements, is quadratic over three decades of electronic stopping power. The final state of cosmic ray irradiation for porous amorphous and crystalline ice, as monitored by infrared spectroscopy, is the same, but with a large difference in cross-section, hence in time scale in an astrophysical context. The cosmic ray water-ice sputtering rates compete with the UV photodesorption yields reported in the literature. The prevalence of direct cosmic ray sputtering over cosmic-ray induced photons photodesorption may be particularly true for ices strongly bonded to the ice mantles surfaces, such as hydrogen-bonded ice structures or more generally the so-called polar ices.
The ESA Gaia mission uses two telescopes to create the most ambitious survey of the Galaxy. The angle between them must be known with exquisite precision and accuracy. An interferometer: the Basic Angle Monitoring system measures its variations. High quality data have been retrieved and analysed for more than a year. A summary of the in-orbit performance and some early results are presented
The Wide-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS) is a wide-field
multi-wavelength survey of X-ray selected clusters at z =0.04-0.07. The
original 34'x34' WINGS field-of- view has now been extended to cover a 1 sq.deg
field with both photometry and spectroscopy. In this paper we present the
Johnson B and V-band OmegaCAM/VST observations of 46 WINGS clusters, together
with the data reduction, data quality and Sextractor photometric catalogs.
With a median seeing of 1arcs in both bands, our 25-minutes exposures in each
band typically reach the 50% completeness level at V=23.1 mag. The quality of
the astrometric and photometric accuracy has been verified by comparison with
the 2MASS as well as with SDSS astrometry, and SDSS and previous WINGS imaging.
Star/galaxy separation and sky-subtraction procedure have been tested comparing
with previous WINGS data.
The Sextractor photometric catalogues are publicly available at the CDS, and
will be included in the next release of the WINGS database on the VO together
with the OmegaCAM reduced images. These data form the basis for a large ongoing
spectroscopic campaign with AAOmega/AAT and is being employed for a variety of
studies. [abridged]
Due to their proximity, high dark matter content, and apparent absence of non-thermal processes, Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies (dSphs) are excellent targets for the indirect detection of dark matter. Recently, eight new dSph candidates were discovered using the first year of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). We searched for gamma-ray emission coincident with the positions of these new objects in six years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data. We found no significant excesses of gamma-ray emission. Under the assumption that the DES candidates are dSphs with dark matter halo properties similar to the known dSphs, we computed individual and combined limits on the velocity-averaged dark matter annihilation cross section for these new targets. If confirmed, they will constrain the annihilation cross section to lie below the thermal relic cross section for dark matter particles with masses < 20 GeV annihilating via the b-bbar or tau+tau- channels.
Hierarchical structure formation implies that the number of subhalos within a dark matter halo depends not only on halo mass, but also on the formation history of the halo. This dependence on the formation history, which is highly correlated with halo concentration, can account for the super-Poissonian scatter in subhalo occupation at a fixed halo mass that has been previously measured in simulations. Here we propose a model to predict the subhalo abundance function for individual host halos, that incorporates both halo mass and concentration. We combine results of cosmological simulations with a new suite of zoom-in simulations of Milky Way-mass halos to calibrate our model. We show the model can successfully reproduce the mean and the scatter of subhalo occupation in these simulations. The implications of this correlation between subhalo abundance and halo concentration are further investigated. We also discuss cases in which inferences about halo properties can be affected if this correlation between subhalo abundance and halo concentration is ignored; in these cases our model would give a more accurate inference. We propose that with future deep surveys, satellite occupation in the low-mass regime can be used to verify the existence of halo assembly bias.
The dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies (dSphs) of the Milky Way are some of the most dark matter (DM) dominated objects known. We report on gamma-ray observations of Milky Way dSphs based on 6 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data processed with the new Pass 8 event-level analysis. None of the dSphs are significantly detected in gamma rays, and we present upper limits on the DM annihilation cross section from a combined analysis of 15 dSphs. These constraints are among the strongest and most robust to date and lie below the canonical thermal relic cross section for DM of mass $\lesssim$ 100 GeV annihilating via quark and $\tau$-lepton channels.
Heat input roughly balances radiative cooling in the gaseous cores of galaxy clusters even when the central cooling time is short, implying that cooling triggers a feedback loop that maintains thermal balance. Furthermore, cores with short cooling times tend to have multiphase structure, suggesting that the intracluster medium (ICM) becomes locally thermally unstable for cooling times < 1 Gyr. In this work, we use 2D and 3D hydrodynamic simulations to study the onset of condensation in idealized galaxy-cluster cores. In particular, we look at how the condensation process depends on the ratio of cooling time to freefall time and on the geometry of the gravitational potential. We conclude that the ICM can always evolve to a state in which condensation occurs if given enough time, but that an initial timescale ratio tcool /tff < 10 is needed for thermal instability to grow quickly enough to affect realistic cluster cores within a timescale that is relevant for cosmological structure formation. We find that instability leads to convection and that perturbations continue to grow while the gas convects. Condensation occurs when the timescale ratio in the low-entropy tail of the perturbation distribution drops below tcool /tff < 3, even if the volume-averaged timescale ratio is substantially greater. In our simulations, the geometry of the gravitational potential does not have a strong effect on thermal stability. Finally, we find that if condensation is powering feedback, a conversion efficiency of around 10^-3 for converting the condensed mass into thermal energy is sufficient to maintain thermal balance in the ICM.
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations from the 2014 Long Baseline Campaign in dust continuum and spectral line emission from the HL Tau region. The continuum images at wavelengths of 2.9, 1.3, and 0.87 mm have unprecedented angular resolutions of 0.075 arcseconds (10 AU) to 0.025 arcseconds (3.5 AU), revealing an astonishing level of detail in the circumstellar disk surrounding the young solar analogue HL Tau, with a pattern of bright and dark rings observed at all wavelengths. By fitting ellipses to the most distinct rings, we measure precise values for the disk inclination (46.72pm0.05 degrees) and position angle (+138.02pm0.07 degrees). We obtain a high-fidelity image of the 1.0 mm spectral index ($\alpha$), which ranges from $\alpha\sim2.0$ in the optically-thick central peak and two brightest rings, increasing to 2.3-3.0 in the dark rings. The dark rings are not devoid of emission, we estimate a grain emissivity index of 0.8 for the innermost dark ring and lower for subsequent dark rings, consistent with some degree of grain growth and evolution. Additional clues that the rings arise from planet formation include an increase in their central offsets with radius and the presence of numerous orbital resonances. At a resolution of 35 AU, we resolve the molecular component of the disk in HCO+ (1-0) which exhibits a pattern over LSR velocities from 2-12 km/s consistent with Keplerian motion around a ~1.3 solar mass star, although complicated by absorption at low blue-shifted velocities. We also serendipitously detect and resolve the nearby protostars XZ Tau (A/B) and LkHa358 at 2.9 mm.
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 1.3 mm continuum images of the asteroid 3 Juno obtained with an angular resolution of 0.042 arcseconds (60 km at 1.97 AU). The data were obtained over a single 4.4 hr interval, which covers 60% of the 7.2 hr rotation period, approximately centered on local transit. A sequence of ten consecutive images reveals continuous changes in the asteroid's profile and apparent shape, in good agreement with the sky projection of the three-dimensional model of the Database of Asteroid Models from Inversion Techniques. We measure a geometric mean diameter of 259pm4 km, in good agreement with past estimates from a variety of techniques and wavelengths. Due to the viewing angle and inclination of the rotational pole, the southern hemisphere dominates all of the images. The median peak brightness temperature is 215pm13 K, while the median over the whole surface is 197pm15 K. With the unprecedented resolution of ALMA, we find that the brightness temperature varies across the surface with higher values correlated to the subsolar point and afternoon areas, and lower values beyond the evening terminator. The dominance of the subsolar point is accentuated in the final four images, suggesting a reduction in the thermal inertia of the regolith at the corresponding longitudes, which are possibly correlated to the location of the putative large impact crater. These results demonstrate ALMA's potential to resolve thermal emission from the surface of main belt asteroids, and to measure accurately their position, geometric shape, rotational period, and soil characteristics.
We present initial results of very high resolution Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the $z$=3.04 gravitationally lensed galaxy HATLAS J090311.6+003906 (SDP.81). These observations were carried out using an extended configuration as part of Science Verification for the 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign, with baselines of up to 15 km. We present continuum imaging at 151, 236 and 290 GHz, at angular resolutions as fine as 23 milliarcseconds (mas; corresponding to an un-magnified spatial scale of 180 pc at z=3.042). The ALMA images clearly show two main gravitational arc components with emission tracing a radius of 1.5 arcseconds. We also present imaging of CO(10-9), CO(8-7), CO(5-4) and H2O line emission. The CO data has an angular resolution of 170 mas and the emission is found to broadly trace the gravitational arc structures. We detect H2O line emission but only using the shortest baselines. The ALMA continuum and spectral line fluxes are consistent with previous Plateau de Bure Interferometer and Submillimeter Array observations despite the increase in angular resolution. Finally, we detect weak unresolved continuum emission at all three observed frequencies from a position that is spatially coincident with the centre of the foreground lensing galaxy.
The process of gravitational collapse excites the fields propagating in the background geometry and gives rise to thermal radiation. We demonstrate by explicit calculations that the density matrix corresponding to such radiation actually describes a pure state. While Hawking's leading order density matrix contains only the diagonal terms, we calculate the off-diagonal correlation terms. These correlations start very small, but then grow in time. The cumulative effect is that the correlations become comparable to the leading order terms and significantly modify the density matrix. While the trace of the Hawking's density matrix squared goes from unity to zero during the evolution, the trace of the total density matrix squared remains unity at all times and all frequencies. This implies that the process of radiation from a collapsing object is unitary.
We examine the behaviour of circular geodesics describing orbits of neutral test particles around an extreme Kerr-Newman black hole. It is well known that the radial Boyer-Lindquist coordinates of the prograde photon orbit $r=r_{\rm ph}$, marginally bound orbit $r=r_{\rm mb}$ and innermost stable orbit $r=r_{\rm ms}$ of the extreme Kerr black hole all coincide with the event horizon's value $r=r_+$. We find that the same property holds for the extreme Kerr-Newman black hole with mass $M$, angular momentum $J$ and electric charge $Q=\pm\sqrt{M^2-J^2/M^2}$ ($|J|\le M^2$) if and only if $|J|$ is greater than or equal to $M^2/2$, $M^2/\sqrt{3}$ and $M^2/\sqrt{2}$, respectively.
The relativistic generalization of the Newtonian Lagrangian perturbation theory is investigated. In previous works, the first-order trace solutions that are generated by the spatially projected gravitoelectric part of the Weyl tensor were given together with extensions and applications for accessing the nonperturbative regime. We here furnish construction rules to obtain from Newtonian solutions the gravitoelectric class of relativistic solutions, for which we give the complete perturbation and solution schemes at any order of the perturbations. By construction, these schemes generalize the complete hierarchy of solutions of the Newtonian Lagrangian perturbation theory.
Cosmic rays are known to cause biological effects directly and through ionizing radiation produced by their secondaries. These effects have been detected in airline crews and other specific cases where members of the population are exposed to above average secondary fluxes. Recent work has found a correlation between solar particle events and congenital malformations. In this work we use the results of computational simulations to approximate the ionizing radiation from such events as well as longer term increases in cosmic ray flux. We find that the amounts of ionizing radiation produced by these events are insufficient to produce congenital malformations under the current paradigm regarding muon ionizing radiation. We believe that further work is needed to determine the correct ionizing radiation contribution of cosmogenic muons. We suggest that more extensive measurements of muon radiation effects may show a larger contribution to ionizing radiation dose than currently assumed.
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In this paper, we present the properties of 10 halo globular clusters with luminosities $L\simeq 5-7\times 10^5{L_\odot}$ in the Local Group galaxy M33 using the images of {\it Hubble Space Telescope} Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in the F555W and F814W bands. We obtained ellipticities, position angles and surface brightness profiles for them. In general, the ellipticities of M33 sample clusters are similar to those of M31 clusters. The structural and dynamical parameters are derived by fitting the profiles to three different models combined with mass-to-light ratios ($M/L$ values) from population-synthesis models. The structural parameters include core radii, concentration, half-light radii {\bf and} central surface brightness. The dynamical parameters include the integrated cluster mass, integrated binding energy, central surface mass density {\bf and} predicted line-of-sight velocity dispersion at the cluster center. The velocity dispersions of four clusters predicted here agree well with the observed dispersions by Larsen et al. The results here showed that the majority of the sample halo globular clusters are well fitted by King model as well as by Wilson model, and better than by S\'ersic model. In general, the properties of clusters in M33, M31 and the Milky Way fall in the same regions of parameter spaces. The tight correlations of cluster properties indicate a "fundamental plane" for clusters, which reflects some universal physical conditions and processes operating at the epoch of cluster formation.
In this Letter we model the chemistry of DCO$^{+}$ in protoplanetary disks. We find that the overall distribution of the DCO$^{+}$ abundance is qualitatively similar to that of CO but is dominated by thin layer located at the inner disk surface. To understand its distribution, we investigate the different key gas-phase deuteration pathways that can lead to the formation of DCO$^{+}$. Our analysis shows that the recent update in the exothermicity of the reaction involving CH$_2$D$^{+}$ as a parent molecule of DCO$^{+}$ favors deuterium fractionation in warmer conditions. As a result the formation of DCO$^{+}$ is enhanced in the inner warm surface layers of the disk where X-ray ionization occurs. Our analysis points out that DCO$^{+}$ is not a reliable tracer of the CO snow line as previously suggested. We thus predict that DCO$^{+}$ is a tracer of active deuterium and in particular X-ray ionization of the inner disk.
Numerical simulations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback in cool-core galaxy clusters have successfully avoided classical cooling flows, but often produce too much cold gas. We perform adaptive mesh simulations that include momentum-driven AGN feedback, self-gravity, star formation and stellar feedback, focusing on the interplay between cooling, AGN heating and star formation in an isolated cool-core cluster. Cold clumps triggered by AGN jets and turbulence form filamentary structures tens of kpc long. This cold gas feeds both star formation and the supermassive black hole (SMBH), triggering an AGN outburst that increases the entropy of the ICM and reduces its cooling rate. Within 1-2 Gyr, star formation completely consumes the cold gas, leading to a brief shutoff of the AGN. The ICM quickly cools and redevelops multiphase gas, followed by another cycle of star formation/AGN outburst. Within 6.5 Gyr, we observe three such cycles. There is good agreement between our simulated cluster and the observations of cool-core clusters. ICM cooling is dynamically balanced by AGN heating, and a cool-core appearance is preserved. The minimum cooling time to free-fall time ratio typically varies between a few and $\gtrsim 20$. The star formation rate (SFR) covers a wide range, from 0 to a few hundred $\rm M_{\odot}\, yr^{-1}$, with an average of $\sim 40 \,\rm M_{\odot}\, yr^{-1}$. The instantaneous SMBH accretion rate shows large variations on short timescales, but the average value correlates well with the SFR. Simulations without stellar feedback or self-gravity produce qualitatively similar results, but a lower SMBH feedback efficiency (0.1% compared to 1%) results in too many stars.
We present results from a blind survey to identify strong gravitational lenses among the population of low-redshift early-type galaxies. The SINFONI Nearby Elliptical Lens Locator Survey (SNELLS) uses integral-field infrared spectroscopy to search for lensed emission line sources behind massive lens candidates at $z$<0.055. From 27 galaxies observed, we have recovered one previously-known lens (ESO325-G004) at $z$=0.034, and discovered two new systems, at $z$=0.031 and $z$=0.052. All three lens galaxies have high velocity dispersions (\sigma>300 km/s) and \alpha-element abundances ([Mg/Fe]>0.3). From the lensing configurations we derive total J-band mass-to-light ratios of 1.8$\pm$0.1, 2.1$\pm$0.1 and 1.9$\pm$0.2 within the $\sim$2 kpc Einstein radius. Correcting for estimated dark-matter contributions, and comparing to stellar population models with a Milky Way (Kroupa) initial mass function (IMF), we determine the "mass excess factor", \alpha. Assuming the lens galaxies have "old" stellar populations (10$\pm$1 Gyr), the average IMF mass factor is $\langle\alpha\rangle$=1.10$\pm$0.08$\pm$0.10, where the first error is random and the second is systematic. If we instead fit the stellar populations from 6dF optical survey spectra, all three galaxies are consistent with being old, but the age errors are 3-4 Gyr, due to limited signal-to-noise. The IMF constraints are therefore looser in this case, with $\langle\alpha\rangle$ = $1.23^{+0.16}_{-0.13}\pm{0.10}$. Our results are thus consistent with a Kroupa IMF (\alpha=1.00) on average, and strongly reject very heavy IMFs with \alpha>2. A Salpeter IMF (\alpha=1.55) is inconsistent at the 3.5$\sigma$ level if the galaxies are old, but cannot be excluded using age constraints derived from the currently-available optical spectra.
The {\it Fermi} Large Area Telescope (LAT) has been routinely gathering science data since August 2008, surveying the full sky every three hours. The first Fermi-LAT catalog of sources detected above 10 GeV (1FHL) relied on three years of data to characterize the $>$10 GeV sky. The improved acceptance and point-spread function of the new Pass 8 event reconstruction and classification together with six years of observations now available allow the detection and characterization of sources directly above 50 GeV. This closes the gap between ground-based Cherenkov telescopes, which have excellent sensitivity but small fields of view and short duty cycles, and all-sky observations at GeV energies from orbit. In this contribution we present the second catalog of hard Fermi-LAT sources detected at $>$50\,GeV.
We study the properties of gas in and around 10^12 solar mass halos at z=2 using a suite of high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic 'zoom' simulations. We quantify the thermal and dynamical structure of these gaseous reservoirs in terms of their mean radial distributions and angular variability along different sightlines. With each halo simulated at three levels of increasing resolution, the highest reaching a baryon mass resolution of ~10,000 solar masses, we study the interaction of filamentary inflow and the quasi-static hot halo atmosphere. We highlight the discrepancy between the spatial resolution available in the halo gas as opposed to within the galaxy itself, and find that stream morphologies become increasingly complex at higher resolution, with large coherent flows revealing density and temperature structure at progressively smaller scales. Moreover, multiple gas components co-exist at the same radius within the halo, making radially averaged analyses misleading. This is particularly true where the hot, quasi-static, high entropy halo atmosphere interacts with cold, rapidly inflowing, low entropy accretion. We investigate the process of gas virialization and identify different regimes for the heating of gas as it accretes from the intergalactic medium. Haloes at this mass have a well-defined virial shock, associated with a sharp jump in temperature and entropy at ~1.25 r_vir. The presence, radius, and radial width of this boundary feature, however, vary not only from halo to halo, but also as a function of angular direction, covering roughly ~85% of the 4pi sphere. Our findings are relevant for the proper interpretation of observations pertaining to the circumgalactic medium, including evidence for large amounts of cold gas surrounding massive haloes at intermediate redshifts.
We study the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation between average star formation rate and average cold gas surface density in the Hi dominated ISM of nearby spiral and dwarf irregular galaxies. We divide the galaxies into grid cells varying from sub-kpc to tens of kpc in size. Grid-cell measurements of low SFRs using H-alpha emission can be biased and scatter may be introduced because of non-uniform sampling of the IMF or because of stochastically varying star formation. In order to alleviate these issues, we use far-ultraviolet emission to trace SFR, and we sum up the fluxes from different bins with the same gas surface density to calculate the average $\Sigma_{SFR}$ at a given value of $\Sigma_{gas}$. We study the resulting Kennicutt-Schmidt relation in 400 pc, 1 kpc and 10 kpc scale grids in nearby massive spirals and in 400 pc scale grids in nearby faint dwarf irregulars. We find a relation with a power law slope of 1.5 in the HI-dominated regions for both kinds of galaxies. The relation is offset towards longer gas consumption timescales compared to the molecular hydrogen dominated centres of spirals, but the offset is an order-of-magnitude less than that quoted by earlier studies. Our results lead to the surprising conclusion that conversion of gas to stars is independent of metallicity in the HI dominated regions of star-forming galaxies. Our observed relations are better fit by a model of star formation based on thermal and hydrostatic equilibrium in the ISM, in which feedback driven turbulence sets the thermal pressure.
One of the first stages of planet formation is the growth of small planetesimals. This stage occurs much before the dispersal of most of the gas from the protoplanetary disk. For small planetesimals, aerodynamic gas drag keeps their relative velocities low and enhances their growth rate. For large protoplanets, m~0.1M_Earth, the net torque due to spiral density waves causes the planet to migrate. There is an additional mass range, m~10^21-10^25 g of intermediate size planetesimals, where gas dynamical friction (GDF) dominates over aerodynamic gas drag, and the net torque of spiral density waves is negligible. Recently, GDF has been studied in the context of fully evolved planets. However, current studies of gas-planetesimal interaction do not account for planetesimal evolution due to GDF in the range of intermediate mass planetesimals (IMPs). Here, we study the implications of GDF on single IMPs by including GDF into few-body simulations of their evolution. We find that planetesimals with small inclinations dissipate their inclinations and rapidly become co-planar with the disk. Eccentric orbits circularize within a few Myrs, provided the the planetesimal mass is sufficiently large, m>10^23 g and that the initial eccentricity is sufficiently low, e<0.1. Planetesimals of higher masses, m~10^24-10^25 g lose their orbital energy on a time-scale of a few Myrs, leading to an embryonic migration to the inner disk. This may lead to an over-abundance of rocky material (in the form of IMPs) in the inner protoplanetary disk (<1AU). In turn, this may induce rapid planetary growth in these regions, and may help explain the origin of super-Earth planets found close to their host stars. In addition, GDF assists in damping the velocities of IMPs, thereby cooling the planetesimal disk and affecting its collisional evolution through quenching the effects of viscous stirring by the large bodies.
We present a detailed gravitational lens model of the galaxy cluster RCS2 J232727.6-020437. Due to cosmological dimming of cluster members and ICL, its high redshift ($z=0.6986$) makes it ideal for studying background galaxies. Using new ACS and WFC3/IR HST data, we identify 16 multiple images. From MOSFIRE follow up, we identify a strong emission line in the spectrum of one multiple image, likely confirming the redshift of that system to $z=2.083$. With a highly magnified ($\mu\gtrsim2$) source plane area of $\sim0.7$ arcmin$^2$ at $z=7$, RCS2 J232727.6-020437 has a lensing efficiency comparable to the Hubble Frontier Fields clusters. We discover four highly magnified $z\sim7$ candidate Lyman-break galaxies behind the cluster, one of which may be multiply-imaged. Correcting for magnification, we find that all four galaxies are fainter than $0.5 L_{\star}$. One candidate is detected at ${>10\sigma}$ in both Spitzer/IRAC [3.6] and [4.5] channels. A spectroscopic follow-up with MOSFIRE does not result in the detection of the Lyman-alpha emission line from any of the four candidates. From the MOSFIRE spectra we place median upper limits on the Lyman-alpha flux of $5-14 \times 10^{-19}\, \mathrm{erg \,\, s^{-1} cm^{-2}}$ ($5\sigma$).
We describe a NOVel form of Adaptive softening (NovA) for collisionless $N$-body simulations, implemented in the Ramses adaptive mesh refinement code. We introduce a refinement criterion that the particle distribution within each cell be sufficiently isotropic, as measured by its moment of inertia tensor. In this way, collapse is only refined if it occurs along all three axes, ensuring that the softening $\epsilon$ is always of order twice the largest inter-particle spacing in a cell. This more conservative force softening criterion is designed to minimise spurious two-body effects, while maintaining high force resolution in collapsed regions of the flow. We test NovA using an antisymmetric perturbed plane wave collapse (`Valinia' test) before applying it to warm dark matter (WDM) simulations. For the Valinia test, we show that -- unlike the standard $N$-body method -- NovA produces no numerical fragmentation while still being able to correctly capture fine caustics and shells around the collapsing regions. For the WDM simulations, we find that NovA converges significantly more rapidly than standard $N$-body, producing little or no spurious halos on small scales. We show, however, that determining whether or not halos exist below the free streaming mass $M_{\rm fs}$ is complicated by the fact that our halo finder (AHF) likely incorrectly labels some caustics and criss-crossing filaments as halos, while one or two particularly massive filaments appear to fragment in any version of NovA where refinement is allowed. Such massive filaments may be physically unstable to collapse, as is the case for infinite, static, self-gravitating cylinders. We will use NovA in forthcoming papers to study the issue of halo formation below $M_{\rm fs}$; filament stability; and to obtain new constraints on the temperature of dark matter.
Sulphur is an important, volatile alpha element but its role in the Galactic chemical evolution is still uncertain. We derive the S abundances in RGB stars in three Galactic globular clusters (GC) that cover a wide metallicity range (-2.3<[Fe/H]<-1.2), namely M4, M22, and M30. The halo field stars show a large scatter in the [S/Fe] ratio in this metallicity span, which is inconsistent with canonical chemical evolution models. To date, very few measurements of [S/Fe] exist for stars in GCs, which are good tracers of the chemical enrichment of their environment. However, some light and alpha elements show star-to-star variations within individual GCs and it is yet unclear whether sulphur also varies between GC stars. We used the the infrared spectrograph CRIRES to obtain high-resolution (R~50000), high signal-to-noise (SNR~200 per px) spectra in the region of the S I multiplet 3 at 1045 nm for 15 GC stars selected from the literature (6 stars in M4, 6 stars in M22 and 3 stars in M30). Multiplet 3 is better suited for S abundance derivation than the more commonly used lines of multiplet 1 at 920 nm, since its lines are not blended by telluric absorption or other stellar features at low metallicity. We used spectral synthesis to derive the [S/Fe] ratio of the stars assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). We find mean [S/Fe] = 0.58 +/- 0.01 +/- 0.20 dex (statistical and systematic error) for M4, [S/Fe] = 0.57+/-0.01+/-0.19 dex for M22, and [S/Fe] = 0.55+/-0.02+/-0.16 dex for M30. The negative NLTE corrections are estimated to be in the order of the systematic uncertainties. With the tentative exception of two stars with measured high S abundances, we conclude that sulphur behaves like a typical alpha element in the studied Galactic GCs, showing enhanced abundances with respect to the solar value at metallicities below [Fe/H] = -1.0 dex without a considerable spread.
We examine the performance of four different methods which are used to measure mass segregation in star-forming regions: the radial variation of the mass function $\mathcal{M}_{\rm MF}$; the minimum spanning tree-based $\Lambda_{\rm MSR}$ method; the local surface density $\Sigma_{\rm LDR}$ method; and the $\Omega_{\rm GSR}$ technique, which isolates groups of stars and determines whether the most massive star in each group is more centrally concentrated than the average star. All four methods have been proposed in the literature as techniques for quantifying mass segregation, yet they routinely produce contradictory results as they do not all measure the same thing. We apply each method to synthetic star-forming regions to determine when and why they have shortcomings. When a star-forming region is smooth and centrally concentrated, all four methods correctly identify mass segregation when it is present. However, if the region is spatially substructured, the $\Omega_{\rm GSR}$ method fails because it arbitrarily defines groups in the hierarchical distribution, and usually discards positional information for many of the most massive stars in the region. We also show that the $\Lambda_{\rm MSR}$ and $\Sigma_{\rm LDR}$ methods can sometimes produce apparently contradictory results, because they use different definitions of mass segregation. We conclude that only $\Lambda_{\rm MSR}$ measures mass segregation in the classical sense (without the need for defining the centre of the region), although $\Sigma_{\rm LDR}$ does place limits on the amount of previous dynamical evolution in a star-forming region.
We carry out two-fluid, two-dimensional global hydrodynamic simulations to test whether protostellar infall can trigger Rossby wave instability (RWI) in protoplanetry disks. Our results show that infall can trigger the RWI and generate vortices near the outer edge of the mass landing on the disk (i.e. centrifugal radius). We find that the RWI is triggered under a variety of conditions, although the details depend on the disk parameters and the infall pattern. The common key feature of triggering the RWI is the steep radial gradient of the azimuthal velocity induced by the local increase in density at the outer edge of the infall region. Vortices form when the instability enters the nonlinear regime. In our standard model where self-gravity is neglected, vortices merge together to a single vortex within $\sim 20$ local orbital times, and the merged vortex survives for the remaining duration of the calculation ($> 170$ local orbital times). The vortex takes part in outward angular momentum transport, with a Reynolds stress of $\lesssim10^{-2}$. Our two-fluid calculations show that vortices efficiently trap dust particles with stopping times of the order of the orbital time, locally enhancing the dust to gas ratio for particles of the appropriate size by a factor of $\sim 40$ in our standard model. When self-gravity is considered, however, vortices tend to be impeded from merging and may eventually dissipate. We conclude it may well have that protoplanetary disks have favorable conditions for vortex formation during the protostellar infall phase, which might enhance early planetary core formation.
We use K2 short cadence data obtained over a duration of 50 days during Campaign 0 to observe two M1V dwarf stars, TYC 1330-879-1 and RXJ 0626+2349. We provide an overview of our data analysis, in particular, making a comparison between using a fixed set of pixels and an aperture which follows the position of the source. We find that this moving aperture approach can give fewer non-astrophysical features compared to a fixed aperture. Both sources shows flares as energetic as observed from several M4V stars using both Kepler and ground based telescopes. We find that the flare energy distribution of the sources shown here are very similar to the less active M3-M5 stars but are ~8 times less likely to produce a flare of a comparable energy to the more active M0--M5 stars. We discuss the biases and sources of systematic errors when comparing the activity of stars derived from different instruments. We conclude that K2 observations will provide an excellent opportunity to perform a census of flare activity across the full range of M dwarf spectral class and hence the physical mechanisms which power them.
We map out calcium II & sodium I absorption (Fraunhofer H, K & D lines) induced by both the interstellar medium and the circumgalactic medium of the Milky Way. Our measurements cover more than $9000$ deg$^2$ and make use of about $300,000$ extragalactic spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We present absorption maps for these two species and then compare their distributions to those of neutral hydrogen and dust. We show that the abundance of Na I with respect to neutral hydrogen stays roughly constant in different environments, while that of Ca II decreases with hydrogen column density. Studying how these tracers vary as a function of velocity, we show that, on average, the N(Na I)/N(Ca II) ratio decreases at higher velocity with respect to the local standard of rest, similar to the local Routly-Spitzer effect but seen on Galactic scale. We show that it is likely caused by higher gas/dust density at lower velocity. Finally, we show that Galactic Ca II and Na I absorption needs to be taken into account for precision photometry and, more importantly, for photometric redshift estimation with star forming galaxies. Our maps of Ca II and Na I absorption are publicly available.
Since the detection of very high energy (VHE) $\gamma$-rays from Mrk 501, its broad band emission of radiation was mostly and quite effectively modeled using one zone emission scenario. However, broadband spectral and flux variability studies enabled by the multiwavelength campaigns carried out during the recent years have revealed rather complex behavior of Mrk 501. The observed emission from Mrk 501 could be due to a complex superposition of multiple emission zones. Moreover new evidences of detection of very hard intrinsic $\gamma$-ray spectra obtained from {\it Fermi}--LAT observations have challenged the theories about origin of VHE $\gamma$-rays. Our studies based on {\it Fermi}--LAT data indicate the existence of two separate components in the spectrum, one for low energy $\gamma$-rays and the other for high energy $\gamma$-rays. Using multiwaveband data from several ground and space based instruments, in addition to HAGAR data, the spectral energy distribution of Mrk~501 is obtained for various flux states observed during 2011. In the present work, this observed broadband spectral energy distribution is reproduced with a leptonic, multi-zone Synchrotron Self-Compton model.
Re-observations with the H.E.S.S. telescope array of the very-high-energy (VHE) source HESS J1018-589 A coincident with the Fermi-LAT $\gamma$-ray binary 1FGL J1018.6-5856 have resulted in a source detection significance of more than 9$\sigma$, and the detection of variability ($\chi^2$/$\nu$ of 238.3/155) in the emitted $\gamma$-ray flux. This variability confirms the association of HESS J1018-589 A with the high-energy $\gamma$-ray binary detected by Fermi-LAT, and also confirms the point-like source as a new very-high-energy binary system. The spectrum of HESS J1018-589 A is best fit with a power-law function with photon index $\Gamma = 2.20 \pm 0.14_{\rm stat} \pm 0.2_{\rm sys}$. Emission is detected up to ~20 TeV. The mean differential flux level is $(2.9 \pm 0.4)\times10^{-13}$ TeV$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ at 1 TeV, equivalent to ~1% of the flux from the Crab Nebula at the same energy. Variability is clearly detected in the night-by-night lightcurve. When folded on the orbital period of 16.58 days, the rebinned lightcurve peaks in phase with the observed X-ray and high-energy phaseograms. The fit of the H.E.S.S. phaseogram to a constant flux provides evidence of periodicity at the level of 3$\sigma$. The shape of the VHE phaseogram and measured spectrum suggest a low inclination, low eccentricity system with a modest impact from VHE $\gamma$-ray absorption due to pair production ($\tau$ < 1 at 300 GeV).
The energy for the coronal heating must be provided from the convection zone. The amount and the method by which this energy is transferred into the corona depends on the properties of the lower atmosphere and the corona itself. We review: 1) how the energy could be built in the lower solar atmosphere; 2) how this energy is transferred through the solar atmosphere; and 3) how the energy is finally dissipated in the chromosphere and/or corona. Any mechanism of energy transport has to deal with the various physical processes in the lower atmosphere. We will focus on a physical process that seems to be highly important in the chromosphere and not deeply studied until recently: the ion-neutral interaction effects (INIE) in the chromosphere. We review the relevance and the role of the partial ionization in the chromosphere and show that this process actually impacts considerably the outer solar atmosphere. We include analysis of our 2.5D radiative MHD simulations with the Bifrost code (Gudiksen et al. 2011) including the partial ionization effects on the chromosphere and corona and thermal conduction along magnetic field lines. The photosphere, chromosphere and transition region are partially ionized and the interaction between ionized particles and neutral particles has important consequences on the magneto-thermodynamics of these layers. The INIE are treated using generalized Ohm's law, i.e., we consider the Hall term and the ambipolar diffusion in the induction equation. The interaction between the different species affects the modeled atmosphere as follows: 1) the ambipolar diffusion dissipates magnetic energy and increases the minimum temperature in the chromosphere; 2) the upper chromosphere may get heated and expanded over a greater range of heights. These processes reveal appreciable differences between the modeled atmospheres of simulations with and without INIE.
We present a new symplectic numerical integrator designed for collisional gravitational $N$-body problems which makes use of Kepler solvers. The integrator is also reversible and conserves 9 integrals of motion of the $N$-body problem to machine precision. The integrator is second order, but the order can easily be increased by the method of \citeauthor{yos90}. We use fixed time step in all tests studied in this paper to ensure preservation of symplecticity. We study small $N$ collisional problems and perform comparisons with typically used integrators. In particular, we find comparable or better performance when compared to the 4th order Hermite method and much better performance than adaptive time step symplectic integrators introduced previously. The integrator is a promising tool in collisional gravitational dynamics. We plan larger $N$ tests of the method in future work.
We develop our previous study of the transition to deconfined quark phase in neutron stars, including the interaction in the quark equation of state to the leading order in the perturbative expansion within the confinement density-dependent mass model. Using the Gibbs conditions the hadron-quark mixed phase is constructed matching the latter with the hadron equation of state derived from the microscopic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approximation. The influence of quark interaction parameters on threshold properties and phase diagram of dense neutron star matter are discussed in detail. We find that the leading-order quark interaction expands the density range of the mixed phase, pushing forward the disappearance of the hadron phase. Moreover, since the equation of state could turn out to be stiffer, a high-mass hybrid star is possible with mixed-phase core with typical parameter sets.
Electric currents in solar active regions are thought to provide the energy released via magnetic reconnection in solar flares. Vertical electric current densities $J_z$ at the photosphere may be estimated from vector magnetogram data, subject to substantial uncertainties. The values provide boundary conditions for nonlinear force- free modelling of active region magnetic fields. A method is presented for estimating values of $J_z$ taking into account uncertainties in vector magnetogram field values, and minimizing $J_z^2$ across the active region. The method is demonstrated using the boundary values of the field for a force-free twisted bipole, with the addition of noise at randomly chosen locations.
We present numerical models of the gas dynamics in the inner parsec of the Galactic centre. We follow the gas from its origin as stellar winds of several observed young massive stars, until it is either captured by the central black hole, or leaves the system. Unlike our previous models, we include an outflow from the inner accretion flow. Two different kinds of outflows are modelled: (i) an instantaneous-response feedback mode, in which the outflow rate is directly proportional to the current black hole gas capture rate; and (ii) an outburst mode, which is stronger but lasts for a limited time. The latter situation may be particularly relevant to Sgr A*, since there is evidence that Sgr A* was much brighter in the recent past. We find that both types of outflow perturb the gas dynamics near the Bondi radius and the black hole capture rate significantly. The effects persist longer than the outflow itself. We also compare the effects of spherically symmetric and collimated outflows, and find that the latter are far less efficient in transferring its energy to the surrounding gas near the capture radius. Our results imply that accretion feedback is important for non-radiative accretion flows not only within but also outside the capture radius. Steady-state Bondi accretion rate estimates that do not account for feedback outflows over-predict not only the accretion rate onto the black hole but also the capture rate at the Bondi radius itself. Finally, the steady-state assumption under which non-radiative flows have been routinely studied in the literature may have to be abandoned if accretion feedback is bursty in nature.
The formation of a double white dwarf binary likely involves a common envelope (CE) event between a red giant and a white dwarf (WD) during the most recent episode of Roche lobe overflow mass transfer. We study the role of recombination energy with hydrodynamic simulations of such stellar interactions. We find that the recombination energy helps to expel the common envelope entirely, while if recombination energy is not taken into account, a significant fraction of the common envelope remains bound. We apply our numerical methods to constrain the progenitor system for WD 1101+364 -- a double WD binary that has well-measured mass ratio of $q=0.87\pm0.03$ and an orbital period of 0.145 days. Our best-fit progenitor for the pre-common envelope donor is a 1.5 $M_\odot$ red giant.
In this Letter we investigate the role of recombination energy during a common envelope event. We confirm that taking this energy into account helps to avoid the formation of the circumbinary envelope commonly found in previous studies. For the first time, we can model a complete common envelope event, with a clean compact double white dwarf binary system formed at the end. The resulting binary orbit is almost perfectly circular. In addition to considering recombination energy, we also show that between 1/4 and 1/2 of the released orbital energy is taken away by the ejected material. We apply this new method to the case of the double-white dwarf system WD 1101+364, and we find that the progenitor system at the start of the common envelope event consisted of a $\sim1.5M_\odot$ red giant star in a $\sim 30$ day orbit with a white dwarf companion.
A sample of 46 nearby clusters observed with Chandra is analyzed to produce radial density, temperature, entropy and metallicity profiles, as well as other morphological measurements. The entropy profiles are computed to larger radial extents than in previous Chandra cluster sample analyses. We find that the iron mass fraction measured in the inner 0.15 R500 shows a larger dispersion across the sample of low-mass clusters, than it does for the sample of high-mass clusters. We interpret this finding as the result of the mixing of more haloes in large clusters than in small clusters, which leads to an averaging of the metal content in the large clusters, and thus less dispersion of metallicity for high-mass clusters. This interpretation lends support to the idea that the low-entropy, metal-rich gas of merging haloes reaches clusters' centers, which explains observations of Core-Collapse Supernova products metallicity peaks, and which is seen in hydrodynamical simulations. The gas in these merging haloes would have to reach the centers of clusters without mixing in the outer regions, in order to support our interpretation. On the other hand, metallicity dispersion does not change with mass in the outer regions of clusters, suggesting that most of the outer metals come from a source with a more uniform metallicity level, such as during pre-enrichment. We also measure a correlation between the metal content in low-mass clusters and the degree to which their Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM) is morphologically disturbed, as measured by centroid shift. This suggests an alternative interpretation of the large width of the metallicity distribution in low-mass clusters, whereby a metallicity boost in the center of low-mass clusters is induced as a transitional state, during mergers.
Measuring GRB properties in their rest-frame is crucial to understand the
physics at work in gamma-ray bursts. This can only be done for GRBs with known
redshift. Since redshifts are usually measured from the optical spectrum of the
afterglow, correlations between prompt and afterglow emissions may introduce
biases in the distribution of rest-frame properties of the prompt emission,
especially considering that we measure the redshift of only one third of Swift
GRBs.
In this paper we study the brightness of optical GRB afterglows and the role
of optical selection effects in the distribution of various intrinsic
properties of GRBs and on the Epi - Eiso relation discovered by Amati et al.
(2002). Our analysis is based on a sample of 85 GRBs with good optical
follow-up and well measured prompt emission. 71 of them have a measure of
redshift and 14 have no redshift. We discuss the connection between the
location of GRBs in the Epi-Eiso plane and their optical brightness measured
two hours after the trigger in the GRB rest frame. We show that the brightness
of GRBs in our sample is mainly driven by their intrinsic luminosity and
depends only slightly on their redshift. We also show that GRBs with faint
afterglows are preferentially located in the upper part of the Epi-Eiso plane.
This optical selection effect favors the detection of GRBs with bright
afterglows located below the best fit Epi - Eiso relation whose redshift is
easily measurable.
We conclude that the distributions of prompt GRB properties in the rest frame
undergo selection effects due to the need to measure the redshift from the
optical afterglow emission. These biases put significant uncertanties when
interpreting the statistical studies of GRB properties in the rest frame. We
show that the Epi - Eiso relation is not immune to these selection effects.
We present the J and H-band source catalog covering the AKARI North Ecliptic Pole field. Filling the gap between the optical data from other follow-up observations and mid-infrared (MIR) data from AKARI, our near-infrared (NIR) data provides contiguous wavelength coverage from optical to MIR. For the J and H-band imaging, we used the FLoridA Multi-object Imaging Near-ir Grism Observational Spectrometer (FLAMINGOS) on the Kitt Peak National Observatory 2.1m telescope covering a 5.1 deg2 area down to a 5 sigma depth of ~21.6 mag and ~21.3 mag (AB) for J and H-band with an astrometric accuracy of 0.14" and 0.17" for 1 sigma in R.A. and Decl. directions, respectively. We detected 208,020 sources for J-band and 203,832 sources for H-band. This NIR data is being used for studies including analysis of the physical properties of infrared sources such as stellar mass and photometric redshifts, and will be a valuable dataset for various future missions.
Shear flows have an important impact on the dynamics in an assortment of different astrophysical objects including accreditation discs and stellar interiors. Investigating shear flow instabilities in a polytropic atmosphere provides a fundamental understanding of the motion in stellar interiors where turbulent motions, mixing processes, as well as magnetic field generation takes place. Here, a linear stability analysis for a fully compressible fluid in a two-dimensional Cartesian geometry is carried out. Our study focuses on determining the critical Richardson number for different Mach numbers and the destabilising effects of high thermal diffusion. We find that there is a deviation of the predicted stability threshold for moderate Mach number flows along with a significant effect on the growth rate of the linear instability for small P\'eclet numbers. We show that in addition to a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability a Holmboe instability can appear and we discuss the implication of this in stellar interiors.
The current cosmological paradigm sees the formation and evolution of the
cosmic large-scale structure as governed by the gravitational attraction of the
Dark Matter (DM) and the repulsion of the Dark Energy (DE).
We characterize the relative importance of uniform and constant dark energy,
as given by the Lambda term in the standard LCDM cosmology, in galaxy systems
of different scales, from groups to superclusters.
An instructive "Lambda significance graph" is introduced where the matter-DE
density ratio <rho_M>/rho_Lambda for different galaxy systems is plotted
against the radius R. This presents gravitation and DE dominated regions and
shows directly the zero velocity radius, the zero-gravity radius, and the
Einstein-Straus radius for any fixed value of mass.
Example galaxy groups and clusters from the local universe illustrate the use
of the Lambda significance graph. These are generally located deep in the
gravity-dominated region <rho_M}>/rho_Lambda > 2, being virialized. Extended
clusters and main bodies of superclusters can reach down near the border line
between gravity-dominated and DE dominated regions <rho_M>/rho_Lambda = 2. The
scale--mass relation from the standard 2-point correlation function intersects
this balance line near the correlation lenght.
The log <rho_M>/rho_Lambda vs. log R diagram is a useful and versatile way to
characterize the dynamical state of systems of galaxies within the Lambda
dominated expanding universe.
We discuss the coherent transition radiation emitted by a macroscopic bunch of particles with a net charge traversing the boundary of two different media. The obtained expression is compared to the emission from a relativistically moving steady charge, as well the emission from a time-varying charge or current. As a first application, we discuss the transition radiation from high-energy cosmic-ray induced air showers hitting Earth's surface before the cascade has died out in the atmosphere. The induced emission gives rise to a radio signal which should be detectable in the currently operating Askaryan radio detectors built to search for the GZK neutrino flux.
In 1914, Eddington derived a formula for the difference between the mean
absolute magnitudes of stars "in space" or gathered "from the sky". Malmquist
(1920) derived a general relation for this difference in Euclidean space. Here
we study this statistical bias in cosmology, clarifying and expanding previous
work.
We derived the Malmquist relation within a general cosmological framework,
including Friedmann's model, analogously to the way Malmquist showed in 1936
that his formula is also valid in the presence of extinction in Euclidean
space. We also discuss some conceptual aspects that explain the wide scope of
the bias relation.
The Malmquist formula for the intrinsic difference <M>_m - M_0 = - sigma_M^2
dlna(m)/dm is also valid for observations made in an expanding Friedmann
universe. This is holds true for bolometric and finite-band magnitudes when
a(m) refers to the distribution of observed (uncorrected for K-effect or
z-dependent extinction) apparent magnitudes.
We perform a detailed 2-dimensional weak gravitational lensing analysis of the nearby (z = 0.058) galaxy cluster Abell 3128 using deep ugrz imaging from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam). We have designed a pipeline to remove instrumental artifacts from DECam images and stack multiple dithered observations without inducing a spurious ellipticity signal. We develop a new technique to characterize the spatial variation of the PSF which enables us to circularize the field to better than 0.5% and thereby extract the intrinsic galaxy ellipticities. By fitting photometric redshifts to sources in the observation, we are able to select a sample of background galaxies for weak lensing analysis free from low-redshift contaminants. Photometric redshifts are also used to select a high-redshift galaxy subsample with which we successfully isolate the signal from an interloping z = 0.44 cluster. We estimate the total mass of Abell 3128 by fitting the tangential ellipticity of background galaxies with the weak lensing shear profile of an NFW halo, and also perform NFW fits to substructures detected in the 2-D mass maps of the cluster. This study yields one of the highest resolution mass maps of a low-z cluster to date, and is the first step in a larger effort to characterize the redshift evolution of mass substructures in clusters.
Selection of extragalactic point sources, e.g. QSOs, is often hampered by significant selection effects causing existing samples to have rather complex selection functions. We explore whether a purely astrometric selection of extragalactic point sources, e.g. QSOs, is feasible with the ongoing Gaia mission. Such a selection would be interesting as it would be unbiased in terms of colours of the targets and hence would allow selection also with colours in the stellar sequence. We have analyzed a total of 18 representative regions of the sky by using \textit{GUMS}, the simulator prepared for ESAs Gaia mission, both in the range of $12\le G \le 20$ mag and $12\le G \le 18$ mag. For each region we determine the density of apparently stationary stellar sources, i.e. sources for which Gaia cannot measure a significant proper motion. The density is contrasted with the density of extragalactic point sources, e.g. QSOs, in order to establish in which celestial directions a pure astrometric selection is feasible. When targeting regions at galactic latitude $|b| \ge 30^\mathrm{o}$ the ratio of QSOs to apparently stationary stars is above 50\% and when observing towards the poles the fraction of QSOs goes up to about $\sim80$\%. We show that the proper motions from the proposed Gaia successor mission in about 20 years would dramatically improve these results at all latitudes. Detection of QSOs solely from zero proper motion, unbiased by any assumptions on spectra, might lead to the discovery of new types of QSOs or new classes of extragalactic point sources.
Submillimetre (submm) observations of WISE-selected, dusty, luminous, high-redshift galaxies have revealed intriguing overdensities around them on arcmin scales. They could be the best signposts of overdense environments on the sky.
We estimate the size and distribution of the parent populations for the 6 largest (at least 20 stars in the Solar neighborhood) chemical groups identified in the Chemical Tagging experiment by Mitschang et al.~2014. Stars in the abundance groups tend to lie near a boundary in angular momentum versus eccentricity space where the probability is highest for a star to be found in the Solar neighborhood and where orbits have apocenter approximately equal to the Sun's galactocentric radius. Assuming that the parent populations are uniformly distributed at all azimuthal angles in the Galaxy, we estimate that the parent populations of these abundance groups contain at least 200,000 members. The spread in angular momentum of the groups implies that the assumption of a uniform azimuthal distribution only fails for the two youngest groups and only for the highest angular momentum stars in them. The parent populations of three thin disk groups have narrow angular momentum distributions, but tails in the eccentricity and angular momentum distributions suggest that only a small fraction of stars have migrated and increased in eccentricity. In contrast, the parent populations of the thick disk groups exhibit both wide angular momentum and eccentricity distributions implying that both heating and radial migration has taken place.
NGC 1275 is a gamma-ray-emitting radio galaxy at the center of the Perseus cluster. Its multi-wavelength spectrum is similar to that of blazers, and thus a jet-origin of gamma-ray emissions is believed. In the optical and X-ray region, NGC 1275 also shows a bright core, but their origin has not been understood, since a disk emission is not ruled out. In fact, NGC 1275 exhibits optical broad emission lines and a X-ray Fe-K line, which are typical for Seyfert galaxies. In our precious studies of NGC 1275 with Suzaku/XIS, no X-ray time variability was found from 2006 to 2011, regardless of moderate gamma-ray variability observed by {it Fermi}-LAT~\cite{Yamazaki}. We have continued monitoring observations of NGC 1275 with Suzaku/XIS. In 2013-2014, MeV/GeV gams-ray flux of NGC 1275 gradually increased and reached the maximum at the beginning of 2014. Correlated with this recent gamma-ray activity, we found that X-ray flux also increased, and this is the first evidence of X-ray variability of NGC 1275. Following these results, we discuss the emission component during the time variability, but we cannot decide the origin of X-ray variability correlating with gamma-ray. Therefore, for future observation, it is important to observe NGC 1275 by using Fermi gamma-ray, XMM-Newton, NuStar, ASTRO-H X-ray, CTA TeV gamma-ray and Kanata optical telescope.
We obtained spectra of red giants in 15 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) clusters in the region of the CaII lines with FORS2 on the Very Large Telescope (VLT). We determined the mean metallicity and radial velocity with mean errors of 0.05 dex and 2.6 km/s, respectively, from a mean of 6.5 members per cluster. One cluster (B113) was too young for a reliable metallicity determination and was excluded from the sample. We combined the sample studied here with 15 clusters previously studied by us using the same technique, and with 7 clusters whose metallicities determined by other authors are on a scale similar to ours. This compilation of 36 clusters is the largest SMC cluster sample currently available with accurate and homogeneously determined metallicities. We found a high probability that the metallicity distribution is bimodal, with potential peaks at -1.1 and -0.8 dex. Our data show no strong evidence of a metallicity gradient in the SMC clusters, somewhat at odds with recent evidence from CaT spectra of a large sample of field stars Dobbie et al. (2014). This may be revealing possible differences in the chemical history of clusters and field stars. Our clusters show a significant dispersion of metallicities, whatever age is considered, which could be reflecting the lack of a unique AMR in this galaxy. None of the chemical evolution models currently available in the literature satisfactorily represents the global chemical enrichment processes of SMC clusters.
The bursting pulsar, GRO J1744-28, went again in outburst after $\sim$18 years of quiescence in mid-January 2014. We studied the broad-band, persistent, X-ray spectrum using X-ray data from a XMM-Newton observation, performed almost at the peak of the outburst, and from a close INTEGRAL observation, performed 3 days later, thus covering the 1.3-70.0 keV band. The spectrum shows a complex continuum shape that cannot be modelled with standard high-mass X-ray pulsar models, nor by two-components models. We observe broadband and peaked residuals from 4 to 15 keV, and we propose a self-consistent interpretation of these residuals, assuming they are produced by cyclotron absorption features and by a moderately smeared, highly ionized, reflection component. We identify the cyclotron fundamental at $\sim$ 4.7 keV, with hints for two possible harmonics at 10.4 keV and 15.8 keV. The position of the cyclotron fundamental allows an estimate for the pulsar magnetic field of (5.27 $\pm$ 0.06) $\times$ 10$^{11}$ G, if the feature is produced at its surface. From the dynamical and relativistic smearing of the disk reflected component, we obtain a lower limit estimate for the truncated accretion disk inner radius, ($\gtrsim$ 100 R$_g$), and for the inclination angle (18$^{\circ}$-48$^{\circ}$). We also detect the presence of a softer thermal component, that we associate with the emission from an accretion disk truncated at a distance from the pulsar of 50-115 R$_g$. From these estimates, we derive the magneto-spheric radius for disk accretion to be $\sim$ 0.2 times the classical Alfv\'en radius for radial accretion.
In this paper, we report our multiwavelength observations of a partial filament eruption event in NOAA active region 11283 on 2011 September 8. A magnetic null point and the corresponding spine and separatrix surface are found in the active region. Beneath the null point, a sheared arcade supports the filament along the highly complex and fragmented polarity inversion line. After being activated, the sigmoidal filament erupted and split into two parts. The major part rose at the speeds of 90$-$150 km s$^{-1}$ before reaching the maximum apparent height of $\sim$115 Mm. Afterwards, it returned to the solar surface in a bumpy way at the speeds of 20$-$80 km s$^{-1}$. The rising and falling motions were clearly observed in the extreme-ultravoilet (EUV), UV, and H$\alpha$ wavelengths. The failed eruption of the main part was associated with an M6.7 flare with a single hard X-ray source. The runaway part of the filament, however, separated from and rotated around the major part for $\sim$1 turn at the eastern leg before escaping from the corona, probably along large-scale open magnetic field lines. The ejection of the runaway part resulted in a very faint coronal mass ejection (CME) that propagated at an apparent speed of 214 km s$^{-1}$ in the outer corona. The filament eruption also triggered transverse kink-mode oscillation of the adjacent coronal loops in the same AR. The amplitude and period of the oscillation were 1.6 Mm and 225 s. Our results are important for understanding the mechanisms of partial filament eruptions and provide new constraints to theoretical models. The multiwavelength observations also shed light on space weather prediction.
We present a multi-wavelength observational study of a low-mass star-forming region, L1251-C, with observational results at wavelengths from the near-infrared to the millimeter. Spitzer Space Telescope observations confirmed that IRAS 22343+7501 is a small group of protostellar objects. The extended emission to east-west direction with its intensity peak at the center of L1251A has been detected at 350 and 850 micron with the CSO and JCMT telescopes, tracing dense envelope materials around L1251A. The single-dish data from the KVN and TRAO telescopes show inconsistencies between the intensity peaks of several molecular line emission and that of the continuum emission, suggesting complex distributions of molecular abundances around L1251A. The SMA interferometer data, however, show intensity peaks of CO 2-1 and 13CO 2-1 located at the position of IRS 1, which is both the brightest source in IRAC image and the weakest source in the 1.3 mm dust continuum map. IRS 1 is the strongest candidate for the driving source of the newly detected compact CO 2-1 outflow. Over the whole region (14' by 14') of L125l-C, 3 Class I and 16 Class II sources have been detected, including three YSOs in L1251A. A comparison with the average projected distance among 19 YSOs in L1251-C and that among 3 YSOs in L1251A suggests L1251-C is an example of low-mass cluster formation, where protostellar objects are forming in a small group.
A new analytical model for constraining the extent of gravitationally bound structure in the Universe is presented. This model is based on a simple modification of the spherical collapse model (SCM), and its performance in predicting the limits of bound structure in N-body simulations is compared to that of two previous models with the aid of new software named COLDGaS-- compute unified device architecture (CUDA) object location determination in GADGET2 snapshots -- which was developed by the author. All of these models can be distilled down to a single unique parameter {\xi}, here named the critical parameter, which was found to have values of 3 and 1.18 from the previous studies, and a value of 1.89 from the modified SCM. While still on the conservative side, this new model tends to better identify what structure is gravitationally bound in simulations. All three analytical models are applied to the Corona Borealis supercluster, with the modified SCM and {\xi} = 1.18 model making predictions that are in agreement with recent work showing that A2056, A2061, A2065, A2067, and A2089 comprise a gravitationally bound supercluster. As an additional test, the modified SCM is used to estimate the mass within the turn around radius of the Virgo cluster, providing results in good agreement with studies relating the virial mass of clusters to the total mass within turn around.
Aims. We explore the problem of the site of production of Eu. We use also the information present in the observed spread in the Eu abundances in the early Galaxy, not only its average trend. Moreover, we extend to other heavy elements (Ba, Sr, Rb, Zr) our investigations to provide additional constraints to our results. Methods. We adopt a stochastic chemical evolution model taking into account inhomogeneous mixing. The adopted yields of Eu from neutron star mergers (NSM) and from core-collapse supernovae (SNII) are those that are able to explain the average [Eu/Fe]-[Fe/H] trend observed for solar neighborhood stars, in the framework of a well-tested homogeneous model for the chemical evolution of the MilkyWay. Rb, Sr, Zr, and Ba are produced by both the s- and r-process. The s-process contribution by spinstars is the same as in our previous papers. Results. NSM that merge in less than 10 Myr or NSM combined with a source of r-process generated by massive stars can explain the spread of [Eu/Fe] in the Galactic halo. The combination of r-process production by NSM and s-process production by spinstars is able to reproduce the available observational data for Sr, Zr and Ba. We also show the first predictions for Rb in the Galactic halo. Conclusions. We confirm previous results that either NSM with very short time scale or both NSM and at least a fraction of SNII should have contributed to the synthesis of Eu in the Galaxy. The r-process production by NSM - complemented by an s-process production by spinstars - provide results compatible with our previous findings based on other r-process sites. We critically discuss the weak and strong points of both NSM and SNII scenarios for producing Eu and eventually suggest that the best solution is probably a mixed one in which both sources produce Eu. In fact, this scenario better reproduces the scatter observed in all the studied elements. [abridged]
The whole Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS, 14,555 deg^2 has been searched for intergalactic globular clusters (IGCs) in the Local Group (LG). Using optical, infrared, and ultraviolet photometric selection criteria and photometric redshifts, the 2.1x10^8 of objects in the SDSS Galaxy Catalogue were reduced to only 183,791 brighter than r_o = 19 that might be GCs. Visual examination of their SDSS images recovered 84 percent of the confirmed GCs in M31 and M33 and yielded 17 new GC candidates, 5 of them of high confidence, which we could confirm as GCs in MegaPrime images from the Canada, France, Hawaii Telescope. These 5 GCs are within M31's halo, but the other 12 candidates are not close to LG galaxies or galaxies within 3 Mpc of the LG. Even though this search covers only one-third of the sky and some GCs could have been missed, it suggests that the LG does not contain a large population of IGCs more luminous than Mv ~ -6. In the direction of the M81 Group, the search yielded five candidate GCs, probable members of that group.
The 9.7-micron silicate absorption profile in the interstellar medium provides important information on the physical and chemical composition of interstellar dust grains. Measurements in the Milky Way have shown that the profile in the diffuse interstellar medium is very similar to the amorphous silicate profiles found in circumstellar dust shells around late M stars, and narrower than the silicate profile in denser star-forming regions. Here, we investigate the silicate absorption profile towards the very heavily obscured nucleus of NGC 4418, the galaxy with the deepest known silicate absorption feature, and compare it to the profiles seen in the Milky Way. Comparison between the 8-13 micron spectrum obtained with TReCS on Gemini and the larger aperture spectrum obtained from the Spitzer archive indicates that the former isolates the nuclear emission, while Spitzer detects low surface brightness circumnuclear diffuse emission in addition. The silicate absorption profile towards the nucleus is very similar to that in the diffuse ISM in the Milky Way with no evidence of spectral structure from crystalline silicates or silicon carbide grains.
In this review, we describe how high resolution near infrared spectroscopy and spectro-astrometry have been used to study the disks around Herbig~Ae/Be stars. We show how these tools can be used to identify signposts of planet formation and elucidate the mechanism by which Herbig Ae/Be stars accrete. We also highlight some of the artifacts that can complicate the interpretation of spectro-astrometric measurements and discuss best practices for mitigating these effects. We conclude with a brief discussion of the value of long term monitoring of these systems.
Aims. The high energy spectrum of 3C 273 is usually understood in terms of inverse-Compton emission in a relativistic leptonic jet. This model predicts variability patterns and delays that could be tested with simultaneous observations from the radio to the GeV range. Methods. The instruments IBIS, SPI, JEM-X on board INTEGRAL, PCA on board RXTE, and LAT on board Fermi have enough sensitivity to follow the spectral variability of 3C 273 from the keV to the GeV. We looked for correlations between the different energy bands, including radio data at 37 GHz collected at the Mets\"ahovi Radio Observatory and built quasi-simultaneous multiwavelength spectra in the high energy domain when the source is flaring either in the X-rays or in the {\gamma} rays. Results. Both temporal and spectral analysis suggest a two-component model to explain the complete high energy spectrum. X-ray emission is likely dominated by a Seyfert-like component while the {\gamma}-ray emission is dominated by a blazar-like component produced by the relativistic jet. The variability of the blazar-like component is discussed, comparing the spectral parameters in the two different spectral states. Changes of the electron Lorentz factor are found to be the most likely source of the observed variability.
Flickering is a ubiquitous phenomenon in cataclysmic variables (CVs). Although the underlying light source is one of the main contributors to the optical radiation, the mechanism leading to flickering is not understood as yet. The present study aims to contribute to the set of boundary conditions, defined by observations, which must be met by physical models that describe the flickering. In particular, time lags in the occurrence of flickering events at different wavelengths over the optical range are examined. To this end, the cross-correlation functions (CCFs) of numerous light curves of a sample of CVs are analysed that were observed simultaneously or quasi-simultaneously in different bands of various photometric systems. Deviations of the maxima of the CCFs from zero time-shift indicate a dependence of the flickering activity on the wavelength in the sense that flickering flares reach their maxima slightly earlier in the blue range than in the red. While the available observational material does not permit detecting this individually in all observed systems, the ensemble of all data clearly shows this effect. Particularly instructive are the cases of V603 Aql and TT Ari, where time lags of 15.1 sec and 4.3 sec, respectively, are observed between the U and R bands. In principle this can be understood if during the development of a flickering flare the radiation characteristics of the light source responsible for flickering change such that in the early phases of a flare more short-wavelength radiation is emitted, and later on, the peak of the emission shifts to the red. Respective scenarios are discussed and shown to be in qualitative and quantitative agreement with observations.
AstroStat is an easy-to-use tool for performing statistical analysis on data. It has been designed to be compatible with Virtual Observatory (VO) standards thus enabling it to become an integral part of the currently available collection of VO tools. A user can load data in a variety of formats into AstroStat and perform various statistical tests using a menu driven interface. Behind the scenes, all analysis is done using the public domain statistical software - R and the output returned is presented in a neatly formatted form to the user. The analyses performable include exploratory tests, visualizations, distribution fitting, correlation & causation, hypothesis testing, multivariate analysis and clustering. The tool is available in two versions with identical interface and features - as a web service that can be run using any standard browser and as an offline application. AstroStat will provide an easy-to-use interface which can allow for both fetching data and performing power statistical analysis on them.
While from the energetic point of view SNRs are viable sources of Galactic CRs, the issue of whether they can accelerate protons up to PeV remains unsolved. Here we discuss particle acceleration at the forward shock of SN and discuss the possibility that the escaping particle current may excite a non-resonant instability that in turn leads to the formation of resonant modes confining particles close to the shock and increasing the maximum energy. This mechanism works throughout the expansion of the SN explosion, from the ejecta dominated (ED) to the Sedov-Taylor (ST) phase. Because of their higher explosion rate,we focus on type II SNae expanding in the slow, dense red supergiant wind. When the explosion occurs in such winds, the transition between the ED and the ST phase is likely to take place within a few tens of years. As a result, the spectrum of accelerated particles shows a break in the slope, at the maximum energy (Em) achieved at the beginning of the ST phase. Above this energy, the spectrum becomes steeper but remains a power law than developing an exponential cutoff. We show that for type II SNae typical parameters, proton Em can easily reach PeV energies, confirming that type II SNRs are the best candidate sources for CRs at the knee. We have tried to fit KASCADE-Grande, ARGO -YBJ and YAC1-Tibet Array data with our model but we could not find any parameter combination that could explain all data sets. Indeed the recent measurement of the proton and helium spectra in the knee region, with the ARGO-YBJ and YAC1-Tibet Array, has made the situation very confused. These measurements suggest that the knee in the light component is at 650 TeV, appreciably below the overall spectrum knee. This finding would resolve the problem of reaching very high energies in SNae, but, on the other hand, it would open a critical issue in the transition region between Galactic and extragalactic CRs.
(Abridged) Low-mass stars have been recognised as promising targets in the search for rocky, small planets with the potential of supporting life. Doppler search programmes using high-resolution spectrographs like HARPS or HARPS-N are providing huge quantities of optical spectra of M dwarfs. We aim to calibrate empirical relationships to determine stellar parameters for early M dwarfs (spectral types M0-M4.5) using the same spectra that are used for the radial velocity determinations. Our methodology consists in the use of ratios of pseudo equivalent widths of spectral features as a temperature diagnostic. Stars with effective temperatures obtained from interferometric estimates of their radii are used as calibrators. Empirical calibrations for the spectral type are also provided. Combinations of features and ratios of features are used to derive calibrations for the stellar metallicity. Our methods are then applied to a large sample of M dwarfs that are being observed in the framework of the HARPS search for extrasolar planets.The derived temperatures and metallicities are used together with photometric estimates of mass, radius, and surface gravity to calibrate empirical relationships for these parameters. A total of 112 temperature sensitive ratios have been calibrated over the range 3100-3950 K, providing Teff values with typical uncertainties of the order of 70 K. Eighty-two ratios of pseudo equivalent widths of features were calibrated to derive spectral types. Regarding stellar metallicity, 696 combinations of pseudo equivalent widths of individual features and temperature-sensitive ratios have been calibrated, over the metallicity range from -0.54 to +0.24 dex, with estimated uncertainties in the range of 0.07-0.10 dex. We provide our own empirical calibrations for stellar mass, radius, and surface gravity.
Sufficiently massive clumps of molecular gas collapse under self-gravity and fragment to spawn a cluster of stars that have a range of masses. We investigate observationally the early stages of formation of a stellar cluster in a massive filamentary infrared dark cloud, G28.34+0.06 P1, in the 1.3mm continuum and spectral line emission using the ALMA. Sensitive continuum data reveal further fragmentation in five dusty cores at a resolution of several 10^3 AU. Spectral line emission from C18O, CH3OH, 13CS, H2CO and N2D+ are detected for the first time toward these dense cores. We found that three cores are chemically more evolved as compared with the other two; interestingly though, all of them are associated with collimated outflows as suggested by evidence from the CO, SiO, CH3OH, H2CO and SO emissions. The parsec-scale kinematics in NH3 exhibit velocity gradients along the filament, consistent with accretion flows toward the clumps and cores. The moderate luminosity and the chemical signatures indicate that the five cores harbor low- to intermediate-mass protostars that likely become massive ones at the end of the accretion. Despite the fact that the mass limit reached by the 1\sigma dust continuum sensitivity is 30 times lower than the thermal Jeans mass, there is a lack of a distributed low-mass protostellar population in the clump. Our observations indicate that in a protocluster, low-mass stars form at a later stage after the birth of more massive protostars.
Alternative parameterization of particle shower longitudinal profile is presented. The accuracy of obtained shower profile description is about 2-3% for the 0-1500 g/cm^2 atmosphere slant depths and primary H, He,... Fe nuclei in 1 PeV-10 EeV energy range. It is shown that the shape of shower profile depends only on the nucleon energy, whereas the maximum shower size also depends on the energy of parental nucleus. Results are based on the CORSIKA simulated shower profiles and are presented in comparison with Gaisser-Hillas parameterization.
The high quality light curves of Kepler space telescope make it possible to analyze the optical variability of AGNs with an unprecedented time resolution. Studying the asymmetry in variations could give independent constraints on the physical models for AGN variability. In this paper, we use Kepler observations of 19 sources to perform analyses on the variability asymmetry of AGNs. We apply smoothing-correction to light curves to deduct the bias to high frequency variability asymmetry, caused by long term variations which are poorly sampled due to the limited length of light curves. A parameter $\beta$ based on structure functions is introduced to quantitively describe the asymmetry and its uncertainty is measured using extensive Monte-Carlo simulations. Individual sources show no evidence of asymmetry at timescales of $1\sim20$ days and there is not a general trend toward positive or negative asymmetry over the whole sample. Stacking data of all 19 AGNs, we derive averaged $\overline{\beta}$ of 0.00$\pm$0.03 and -0.02$\pm$0.04 over timescales of 1$\sim$5 days and 5$\sim$20 days, respectively, statistically consistent with zero. Quasars and Seyfert galaxies show similar asymmetry parameters. Our results indicate that short term optical variations in AGNs are highly symmetric.
The stages before the formation of stars in molecular clouds are poorly understood. Insights can be gained by studying the properties of quiescent clouds, such as their magnetic field structure. The plane-of-the-sky orientation of the field can be traced by polarized starlight. We present the first extended, wide-field ($\sim$10 $\rm deg^2$) map of the Polaris Flare cloud in dust-absorption induced optical polarization of background stars, using the RoboPol polarimeter at the Skinakas Observatory. This is the first application of the wide-field imaging capabilities of RoboPol. The data were taken in the R-band and analysed with the automated reduction pipeline of the instrument. We present in detail optimizations in the reduction pipeline specific to wide-field observations. Our analysis resulted in reliable measurements of 648 stars with median fractional linear polarization 1.3%. The projected magnetic field shows a large scale ordered pattern. At high longitudes it appears to align with faint striations seen in dust emission, while in the central 4-5 deg$^2$ it shows an eddy-like feature. The overall polarization pattern we obtain is in good agreement with large scale measurements by Planck of the dust emission polarization in the same area of the sky.
We point out that kinetic and St\"uckelberg mixings that are generically present in the low energy effective action of axions can significantly widen the window of axion decay constants. We show that an effective super-Planckian decay constant can be obtained even when the axion kinetic matrix has only sub-Planckian entries. Our minimal model involves only two axions, a St\"uckelberg U(1) and a modest rank instanton generating non-Abelian group. Below the mass of the St\"uckelberg U(1), there is only a single axion with a non-perturbatively generated potential. In contrast to previous approaches, the enhancement of the axion decay constant is not tied to the number of degrees of freedom introduced. We also discuss how kinetic mixings can lower the decay constant to the desired axion dark matter window. String theory embeddings of this scenario and their phenomenological features are briefly discussed.
The detection of a stochastic gravitational-wave signal from the superposition of many inspiraling supermassive black holes with pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) is likely to occur within the next decade. With this detection will come the opportunity to learn about the processes that drive black-hole-binary systems toward merger through their effects on the gravitational-wave spectrum. We use Bayesian methods to investigate the extent to which effects other than gravitational-wave emission can be distinguished using PTA observations. We show that, even in the absence of a detection, it is possible to place interesting constraints on these dynamical effects for conservative predictions of the population of tightly bound supermassive black-hole binaries. For instance, if we assume a relatively weak signal consistent with a low number of bound binaries and a low black-hole-mass to galaxy-mass correlation, we still find that a non-detection by a simulated array, with a sensitivity that should be reached in practice within a few years, disfavors gravitational-wave-dominated evolution with an odds ratio of $\sim$30:1. Such a finding would suggest either that all existing astrophysical models for the population of tightly bound binaries are overly optimistic, or else that some dynamical effect other than gravitational-wave emission is actually dominating binary evolution even at the relatively high frequencies/small orbital separations probed by PTAs.
In this paper we investigate the decoupling limit of a particular class of multi-gravity theories, i.e. of theories of interacting spin-2 fields. We explicitly compute the interactions of helicity-0 modes in this limit, showing that they take on the form of multi-Galileons and dual forms. In the process we extend the recently discovered Galileon dualities, deriving a set of new multi-Galileon dualities. These are also intrinsically connected to healthy, but higher-derivative, multi-scalar field theories akin to `beyond Horndeski' models.
Certain physical quantities that characterize neutron stars and quark stars (e.g. their mass, spin angular momentum and quadrupole moment) are interrelated in a way that is approximately insensitive to their internal structure. Such approximately universal relations are useful to break degeneracies in data analysis for future radio, X-ray and gravitational wave observations. Although the pressure inside compact stars is most likely nearly isotropic, certain scenarios have been put forth that suggest otherwise, for example due to phase transitions. We here investigate whether pressure anisotropy affects the approximate universal relations and whether it prevents their use in future observations. We achieve this by numerically constructing slowly-rotating and tidally-deformed, anisotropic, compact stars in General Relativity to third order in spin. We find that anisotropy affects the universal relations only weakly; the relations become less universal by a factor of 1.5-3 relative to the isotropic case, but remain approximately universal to 10%. We succeed in explaining this increase in variability as an increase in the eccentricity variation of isodensity contours, which provides further support for the emergent approximate symmetry explanation of universality. Anisotropy does not affect the universal relations to a sufficient level to prevent their use in gravitational wave astrophysics or in experimental relativity. We provide an explicit example of the latter in dynamical Chern-Simons gravity. The increase in variability of the universal relations due to pressure anisotropy could affect their use in future X-ray observations. Given expected observational uncertainties, however, the relations remain sufficiently universal for use in such observations if the anisotropic modifications to the moment of inertia and the quadrupole moment are less than 10% of their isotropic values.
We study cold dense quark matter and hybrid neutron stars with a Dyson-Schwinger quark model and various choices of the quark-gluon vertex. We obtain the equation of state of quark matter in beta equilibrium and investigate the hadron-quark phase transition in combination with a hadronic equation of state derived within the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock many-body theory. Comparing with the results for quark matter with the rainbow approximation, the Ball-Chiu ansatz and the 1BC ansatz for the quark-gluon vertex lead to a reduction of the effective interaction at finite chemical potential, qualitatively similar to the effect of our gluon propagator. We find that the phase transition and the equation of state of the quark or mixed phase and consequently the resulting hybrid star mass and radius depend mainly on a global reduction of the effective interaction due to effects of both the quark-gluon vertex and gluon propagator, but are not sensitive to the vertex ansatz.
We extract constraints on the transition redshift $z_{tr}$, determining the onset of cosmic acceleration, predicted by an effective cosmographic construction, in the framework of $f(T)$ gravity. In particular, employing cosmography we obtain bounds on the viable $f(T)$ forms and their derivatives. Since this procedure is model independent, as long as the scalar curvature is fixed, we are able to determine intervals for $z_{tr}$. In this way we guarantee that the Solar-System constraints are preserved and moreover we extract bounds on the transition time and the free parameters of the scenario. We find that the transition redshifts predicted by $f(T)$ cosmology, although compatible with the standard $\Lambda$CDM predictions, are slightly smaller. Finally, in order to obtain observational constraints on $f(T)$ cosmology, we perform a Monte Carlo fitting using supernova data, involving the most recent union 2.1 data set.
We investigate the Cosmic Censorship Conjecture by means of the horizon wave-function (HWF) formalism. We consider a charged massive particle whose quantum mechanical state is represented by a spherically symmetric Gaussian wave-function, and restrict our attention to the superxtremal case (with charge-to-mass ratio $\alpha>1$), which is the prototype of a naked singularity in the classical theory. We find that one can still obtain a normalisable HWF for $\alpha^2<{2}$, and this configuration has a non-vanishing probability of being a black hole, thus extending the classically allowed region for a charged black hole. However, the HWF is not normalisable for $\alpha^2 > 2$, and the uncertainty in the location of the horizon blows up at $\alpha^2=2$, signalling that such an object is no more well-defined. This perhaps implies that a {\em quantum\/} Cosmic Censorhip might be conjectured by stating that no black holes with charge-to-mass ratio greater than a critical value (of the order of $\sqrt{2}$) can exist.
We study the general multi-axion systems, focusing on the possibility of large field inflation driven by axions. We find that through axion mixing from a non-diagonal metric on the moduli space and/or from St\"uckelberg coupling to a U(1) gauge field, an effectively super-Planckian decay constant can be generated without the need of "alignment" in the axion decay constants. We also investigate the consistency conditions related to the gauge symmetries in the multi-axion systems, such as vanishing gauge anomalies and the potential presence of generalized Chern-Simons terms. Our scenario applies generally to field theory models whose axion periodicities are intrinsically sub-Planckian, but it is most naturally realized in string theory. The types of axion mixings invoked in our scenario appear quite commonly in D-brane models, and we present its implementation in type II superstring theory. Explicit stringy models exhibiting all the characteristics of our ideas are constructed within the frameworks of Type IIA intersecting D6-brane models on T6/OR and Type IIB intersecting D7-brane models on Swiss-Cheese Calabi-Yau orientifolds.
The leading theory for the origin of the Moon is the giant impact hypothesis, in which the Moon was formed out of the debris left over from the collision of a Mars-sized body with the Earth. Soon after its formation, the orbit of the Moon may have been very different than it is today. We have simulated the phases of the Moon in a model for its formation wherein the Moon develops a highly elliptical orbit with its major axis tangential to the Earth's orbit. This note describes these simulations and their pedagogical value.
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We present parallax observations and a detailed model atmosphere analysis of 54 cool and ultracool ($T_{\rm eff}$ < 4000 K) white dwarfs (WDs) in the solar neighborhood. For the first time, a large number of cool and ultracool WDs have distance and tangential velocities measurements available. Our targets have distances ranging from 21 pc to >100 pc, and include five stars within 30 pc. Contrary to expectations, all but two of them have tangential velocities smaller than 150 km s$^{-1}$ thus suggesting Galactic disk membership. The oldest WDs in this sample have WD cooling ages of 10 Gyr, providing a firm lower limit to the age of the thick disk population. Many of our targets have uncharacteristically large radii, indicating that they are low mass WDs. It appears that we have detected the brighter population of cool and ultracool WDs near the Sun. The fainter population of ultracool CO-core WDs remain to be discovered in large numbers. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope should find these elusive, more massive ultracool WDs in the solar neighborhood.
According to the second Fermi LAT Catalog (2FGL), about one third of the gamma-ray sources listed have no assigned counterparts at lower energies. Many statistical methods have been developed to find proper counterparts for these sources. We explore the sky area covered at low radio frequency by Westerbork in the Southern Hemisphere (WISH) survey to search for blazar-like associations among the unidentified gamma-ray sources listed in the 2FGL (UGSs). Searching the WISH and NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) radio surveys within the positional uncertainty regions of the 2FGL UGSs, we select as gamma-ray blazar candidates the radio sources characterized by flat radio spectra between 352 MHz and 1400 MHz. We propose new gamma-ray blazar associations for eight UGSs and we also discuss their spectral properties at low radio frequencies. We compare the radio flux density distribution of the low radio frequency gamma-ray blazar candidates with that of gamma-ray blazars associated with other methods. We find significant differences between these distributions. Finally, we discuss the results of this association method and its possible applicability to other regions of the sky and future radio surveys.
We examine the effects that the modelling of a Boxy/Peanut (B/P) bulge will have on the estimates of the stellar gravitational potential, forces, orbital structure and bar strength of barred galaxies. We present a method for obtaining the potential of disc galaxies from surface density images, assuming a vertical density distribution (height function), which is let to vary with position, thus enabling it to represent the geometry of a B/P. We construct a B/P height function after the results from a high-resolution, N-body+SPH simulation of an isolated galaxy and compare the resulting dynamical model to those obtained with the commonly used, position-independent "flat" height functions. We show that methods that do not allow for a B/P can induce errors in the forces in the bar region of up to 40% and demonstrate that this has a significant impact on the orbital structure of the model, which in turn determines its kinematics and morphology. Furthermore, we show that the bar strength is reduced in the presence of a B/P. We conclude that neglecting the vertical extent of a B/P can introduce considerable errors in the dynamical modelling. We also examine the errors introduced in the model due to uncertainties in the parameters of the B/P and show that even for generous but realistic values of the uncertainties, the error will be noticeably less than that of not modelling a B/P bulge at all.
Spiral structure is the most distinctive feature of disk galaxies and yet debate persists about which theory of spiral structure is the correct one. Many versions of the density wave theory demand that the pitch angle is uniquely determined by the distribution of mass in the bulge and disk of the galaxy. We present evidence that the tangent of the pitch angle of logarithmic spiral arms in disk galaxies correlates strongly with the density of neutral atomic hydrogen in the disk and with the central stellar bulge mass of the galaxy. These three quantities, when plotted against each other, form a planar relationship which, we argue should be fundamental to our understanding of spiral structure in disk galaxies. We further argue that any successful theory of spiral structure must be able to explain this relationship.
A number of stellar sources have been advocated as the origin of the enriched material required to explain the abundance anomalies seen in ancient globular clusters (GCs). Most studies to date have compared the yields from potential sources (asymptotic giant branch stars (AGBs), fast rotating massive stars (FRMS), high mass interacting binaries (IBs), and very massive stars (VMS)) with observations of specific elements that are observed to vary from star-to-star in GCs, focussing on extreme GCs such as NGC 2808, which display large He variations. However, a consistency check between the results of fitting extreme cases with the requirements of more typical clusters, has rarely been done. Such a check is particularly timely given the constraints on He abundances in GCs now available. Here we show that all of the popular enrichment sources fail to reproduce the observed trends in GCs, focussing primarily on Na, O and He. In particular, we show that any model that can fit clusters like NGC 2808, will necessarily fail (by construction) to fit more typical clusters like 47 Tuc or NGC 288. All sources severely over-produce He for most clusters. Additionally, given the large differences in He spreads between clusters, but similar spreads observed in Na--O, only sources with large degrees of stochasticity in the resulting yields will be able to fit the observations. We conclude that no enrichment source put forward so far (AGBs, FRMS, IBs, VMS - or combinations thereof) is consistent with the observations of GCs. Finally, the observed trends of increasing [N/Fe] and He spread with increasing cluster mass cannot be resolved within a self-enrichment framework, without further exacerbating the mass budget problem.
Ten years of operations of the Swift satellite have allow us to collect a small sample of long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) at redshift larger than six. I will review here the present status of this research field and discuss the possible use of GRBs as a fundamental new tool to explore the early Universe, complementary to quasar and galaxy surveys.
We present the abundance analysis of 82 red giant branch stars in the dense, metal-poor globular cluster NGC 6093 (M 80), the largest sample of stars analyzed in this way for this cluster. From high resolution UVES spectra of 14 stars and intermediate resolution GIRAFFE spectra for the other stars we derived abundances of O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu. On our UVES metallicity scale the mean metal abundance of M 80 is [Fe/H]=-1.791+/-0.006+/-0.076 (+/-statistical +/-systematic error) with rms=0.023 (14 stars). M 80 shows star to star variations in proton-capture elements, and the extension of the Na-O anticorrelation perfectly fit the relations with (i) total cluster mass, (ii) horizontal branch morphology, and (iii) cluster concentration previously found by our group. The chemistry of multiple stellar populations in M 80 does not look extreme. The cluster is also a typical representative of halo globular clusters for what concerns the pattern of alpha-capture and Fe-group elements. However we found that a significant contribution from the s-process is required to account for the distribution of neutron-capture elements. A minority of stars in M 80 seem to exhibit slightly enhanced abundances of s-process species, compatible with those observed in M 22 and NGC 1851, although further confirmation from larger samples is required.
We report the discovery of rapid variations of a high-velocity CIV broad absorption line trough in the quasar SDSS J141007.74+541203.3. This object was intensively observed in 2014 as a part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project, during which 32 epochs of spectroscopy were obtained with the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey spectrograph. We observe significant (>4sigma) variability in the equivalent width of the broad (~4000 km/s wide) CIV trough on rest-frame timescales as short as 1.20 days (~29 hours), the shortest broad absorption line variability timescale yet reported. The equivalent width varied by ~10% on these short timescales, and by about a factor of two over the duration of the campaign. We evaluate several potential causes of the variability, concluding that the most likely cause is a rapid response to changes in the incident ionizing continuum. If the outflow is at a radius where the recombination rate is higher than the ionization rate, the timescale of variability places a lower limit on the density of the absorbing gas of n_e > 3.9 x 10^5 cm^-3. The broad absorption line variability characteristics of this quasar are consistent with those observed in previous studies of quasars, indicating that such short-term variability may in fact be common and thus can be used to learn about outflow characteristics and contributions to quasar/host-galaxy feedback scenarios.
Instabilities in planetary systems can result in the ejection of planets from their host system, resulting in free-floating planets (FFPs). If this occurs in a star cluster, the FFP may remain bound to the star cluster for some time and interact with the other cluster members until it is ejected. Here, we use $N$-body simulations to characterise close star-planet and planet-planet encounters and the dynamical fate of the FFP population in star clusters containing $500-2000$ single or binary star members. We find that FFPs ejected from their planetary system at low velocities typically leave the star cluster 40% earlier than their host stars, and experience tens of close ($<1000$ AU) encounters with other stars and planets before they escape. The fraction of FFPs that experiences a close encounter depends on both the stellar density and the initial velocity distribution of the FFPs. Approximately half of the close encounters occur within the first 30 Myr, and only 10% occur after 100 Myr. The periastron velocity distribution for all encounters is well-described by a modified Maxwell-Bolzmann distribution, and the periastron distance distribution is linear over almost the entire range of distances considered, and flattens off for very close encounters due to strong gravitational focusing. Close encounters with FFPs can perturb existing planetary systems and their debris structures, and they can result in re-capture of FFPs. In addition, these FFP populations may be observed in young star clusters in imaging surveys; a comparison between observations and dynamical predictions may provide clues to the early phases of stellar and planetary dynamics in star clusters.
To provide a quantitative cosmological context to ongoing observational work on the formation histories and location of compact massive galaxies, we locate and study a sample of exceptionally compact systems in the Bolshoi simulation, using the dark matter structural parameters from a real, compact massive galaxy (NGC1277) as a basis for our working criteria. We find that over 80% of objects in this nominal compact category are substructures of more massive groups or clusters, and that the probability of a given massive substructure being this compact increases significantly with the mass of the host structure; rising to ~30% for the most massive clusters in the simulation. Tracking the main progenitors of this subsample back to z=2, we find them all to be distinct structures with scale radii and densities representative of the population as a whole at this epoch. What does characterise their histories, in addition to mostly becoming substructures, is that they have almost all experienced below-average mass accretion since z=2; a third of them barely retaining, or even losing mass during the intervening 10 Gyr.
We have observed 15 red giant stars in the relatively massive, metal-poor globular cluster NGC 4833 using the MIKE spectrograph at Magellan. We calculate stellar parameters for each star and perform a standard abundance analysis to derive abundances of 43 species of 39 elements, including 20 elements heavier than the iron group. We derive <[Fe/H]> = -2.25 +/- 0.02 from Fe I lines and <[Fe/H> = -2.19 +/- 0.013 from Fe II lines. We confirm earlier results that found no internal metallicity spread in NGC 4833, and there are no significant star-to-star abundance dispersions among any elements in the iron group (19 <= Z <= 30). We recover the usual abundance variations among the light elements C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, and possibly Si. The heavy-element distribution reflects enrichment by r-process nucleosynthesis ([Eu/Fe] = +0.36 +/- 0.03), as found in many other metal-poor globular clusters. We investigate small star-to-star variations found among the neutron-capture elements, and we conclude that these are probably not real variations. Upper limits on the Th abundance, log epsilon (Th/Eu) < -0.47 +/- 0.09, indicate that NGC 4833, like other globular clusters where Th has been studied, did not experience a so-called "actinide boost."
We obtained a time series of spectra covering the secondary maximum in the I-band of the bright Type Ia supernova 2014J in M82 with the TIGRE telescope. Comparing the observations with theoretical models calculated with the time dependent extension of the PHOENIX code, we identify the feature that causes the secondary maximum in the I-band light curve. Fe II 3d6(3D)4s-3d6(5D)4p and similar high excitation transitions produce a blended feature at 7500 {\AA}, which causes the rise of the light curve towards the secondary maximum. The series of observed spectra of SN 2014J and archival data of SN 2011fe confirm this conclusion. We further studied the plateau phase of the Rband light curve of SN 2014J and searched for features which contribute to the flux. The theoretical models do not clearly indicate a new feature that may cause the Rband plateau phase. However, Co II features in the range of 6500 - 7000 {\AA} and the Fe II feature of the I-band are clearly seen in the theoretical spectra, but do not appear to provide all of the flux necessary for the R-band plateau.
We explore the connection between the black hole mass and its relativistic jet for a sample of radio-loud AGN (z < 1), in which the relativistic jet parameters are well estimated by means of long term monitoring with the 14m Mets\"ahovi millimeter wave telescope and the Very Long Base-line Array (VLBA). NIR host galaxy images taken with the NOTCam on the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) and retrieved from the 2MASS all-sky survey allowed us to perform a detailed surface brightness decomposition of the host galaxies in our sample and to estimate reliable black hole masses via their bulge luminosities. We present early results on the correlations between black hole mass and the relativistic jet parameters. Our preliminary results suggest that the more massive the black hole is, the faster and the more luminous jet it produces.
The aim of this work is to study the energy transport by means of MHD waves propagating in quiet Sun magnetic topology from layers below the surface to the corona. Upward propagating waves find obstacles, such as the equipartition layer with plasma b=1 and the transition region, and get converted, reflected and refracted. Understanding the mechanisms by which MHD waves can reach the corona can give us information about the solar atmosphere and the magnetic structures. We carry out two-dimensional numerical simulations of wave propagation in a magnetic field structure that consists of two vertical flux tubes separated by an arcade shaped magnetic field. This configuration contains a null point in the corona, that significantly modifies the behaviour of the waves. We describe in detail the wave propagation through the atmosphere under different driving conditions. We also present the spatial distribution of the mean acoustic and magnetic energy fluxes and the spatial distribution of the dominant frequencies in the whole domain. We conclude that the energy reaches the corona preferably along vertical magnetic fields, inside the flux tubes, and it has an acoustic nature. Most of the magnetic energy keeps concentrated below the transition region due to the refraction of the magnetic waves and the continuous conversion of acoustic-like waves into fast magnetic waves in the equipartition layer located in the photosphere. However, part of the magnetic energy reaches the low corona when propagating in the region where the arcades are located, but waves are sent back downwards to the lower atmosphere at the null point surroundings. This phenomenon, together with the reflection and refraction of waves in the TR and the lower turning point, act as a re-feeding of the atmosphere. In the frequency distribution, we find that high frequency waves can reach the corona outside the vertical flux tubes.
The debris disk closest to Earth is the one around the star epsilon Eridani at a distance of 3.2 pc. It is the prime target for detailed studies of a belt of planetesimals left from the early phase of planet formation other than the Kuiper Belt. The non-uniform ring-like structure around epsilon Eridani, originally discovered at lambda=850 microns with the bolometer camera SCUBA, could be the signpost of unseen long-period planets interior to the disk that gravitationally interact with it through mean-motion resonances. However, the reliability of the structure at 850 microns, which has been debated, has not been verified with independent observations until now. We present a high signal-to-noise ratio image of this structure at lambda=1.2 mm made with the bolometer camera MAMBO and compare this with the SCUBA image. We have found that three of the four emission clumps (NE, NW, SW) and the two deep hollows to the east and west are at the same positions in the MAMBO and SCUBA images within astrometric uncertainty. The SE clump is at odds, significantly brighter and more extended in the SCUBA than in the MAMBO images, but it is possible that this mismatch is an artifact. We conclude that this degree of positional coincidence provides tentative evidence that the observed structure is robust. In addition, we present the radial brightness profile of our MAMBO image and show that the width of the planetesimal belt around epsilon Eridani is narrower than 22 AU, a more stringent upper limit than determined from previous observations. The corresponding relative width is $0.1 < \Delta R / R < 0.4$, which is lower than for the Kuiper Belt.
Between July 2012 and February 2013, NuSTAR and XMM-Newton performed four long-look joint obser- vations of the type 1.8 Seyfert, NGC 1365. We have analyzed the variable absorption seen in these observations in order to characterize the geometry of the absorbing material. Two of the observations caught NGC 1365 in an unusually low absorption state, revealing complexity in the multi-layer absorber which had previously been hidden. We find the need for three distinct zones of neutral absorption in addition to the two zones of ionized absorption and the Compton-thick torus previously seen in this source. The most prominent absorber is likely associated with broad line region clouds with column densities of around $\sim\,$10$^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$ and a highly clumpy nature as evidenced by an occultation event in February 2013. We also find evidence of a patchy absorber with a variable column around $\sim\,10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ and a line of sight covering fraction of 0.3$-$0.9 which responds directly to the intrinsic source flux, possibly due to a wind geometry. A full-covering, constant absorber with a low column density of $\sim\,1 \times$ 10$^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ is also present, though the location of this low density haze is unknown.
A galaxy group catalog is built from the sample of the 2MASS Redshift Survey almost complete to Ks=11.75 over 91% of the sky. Constraints in the construction of the groups were provided by scaling relations determined by close examination of well defined groups with masses between 10^11 and 10^15 Msun. Group masses inferred from Ks luminosities are statistically in agreement with masses calculated from application of the virial theorem. While groups have been identified over the full redshift range of the sample, the properties of the nearest and farthest groups are uncertain and subsequent analysis has only considered groups with velocities between 3,000 and 10,000 km/s. The 24,044 galaxies in this range are identified with 13,607 entities, 3,461 of them with two or more members. A group mass function is constructed. The Sheth-Tormen formalism provides a good fit to the shape of the mass function for group masses above 6/h x 10^12 Msun but the count normalization is poor. Summing all the mass associated with the galaxy groups between 3,000 and 10,000 km/s gives a density of collapsed matter as a fraction of the critical density of Omega_collapsed = 0.16.
Our work is based on the "Bluedisk" project, a program to map the neutral gas in a sample of 25 HI-rich spirals and a similar number of control galaxies with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT). In this paper we focus on the HI properties of the galaxies in the environment of our targeted galaxies. In total, we extract 65 galaxies from the WSRT cubes with stellar masses between $10^8M_{\odot}$ and $10^{11}M_{\odot}$. Most of these galaxies are located on the same HI mass-size relation and "HI-plane" as normal spiral galaxies. We find that companions around HI-rich galaxies tend to be HI-rich as well and to have larger R90,HI/R50,HI. This suggests a scenario of "HI conformity", similar to the colour conformity found by Weinmann et al. (2006): galaxies tend to adopt the HI properties of their neighbours. We visually inspect the outliers from the HI mass-size relation and galaxies which are offset from the HI plane and find that they show morphological and kinematical signatures of recent interactions with their environment. We speculate that these outliers have been disturbed by tidal or ram-pressure stripping processes, or in a few cases, by accretion events.
Previous analysis of the fossil-group/cluster RXJ1159+5531 with X-ray observations from a central Chandra pointing and an offset-North Suzaku pointing indicate a radial intracluster medium (ICM) entropy profile at the virial radius ($R_{\rm vir}$) consistent with predictions from gravity-only cosmological simulations, in contrast to other cool-core clusters. To examine the generality of these results, we present three new Suzaku observations that, in conjunction with the North pointing, provide complete azimuthal coverage out to $R_{\rm vir}$. With two new Chandra ACIS-I observations overlapping the North Suzaku pointing, we have resolved $\gtrsim$50\% of the cosmic X-ray background there. We present radial profiles of the ICM density, temperature, entropy, and pressure obtained for each of the four directions. We measure only modest azimuthal scatter in the ICM properties at $R_{\rm 200}$ between the Suzaku pointings: 7.6\% in temperature and 8.6\% in density, while the systematic errors can be significant. The temperature scatter, in particular, is lower than that studied at $R_{\rm 200}$ for a small number of other clusters observed with Suzaku. These azimuthal measurements verify that RXJ1159+5531 is a regular, highly relaxed system. The well-behaved entropy profiles we have measured for RXJ1159+5531 disfavor the weakening of the accretion shock as an explanation of the entropy flattening found in other cool-core clusters but is consistent with other explanations such as gas clumping, electron-ion non-equilibrium, non-thermal pressure support, and cosmic ray acceleration. Finally, we mention that the large-scale galaxy density distribution of RXJ1159+5531 seems to have little impact on its gas properties near $R_{\rm vir}$.
While the X-ray, GeV gamma-ray, and TeV gamma-ray skies have been extensively studied, the MeV gamma-ray sky is not well investigated after the Imaging Compton Telescope (COMPTEL) scanned the sky about two decades ago. In this paper, we investigate prospects for active galactic nuclei population studies with future MeV gamma-ray missions using recent spectral models and luminosity functions of Seyfert and flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs). Both of them are plausible candidates as the origins of the cosmic MeV gamma-ray background. If the cosmic MeV gamma-ray background radiation is dominated by non-thermal emission from Seyferts, the sensitivity of 10^-12 erg cm^-2 s^-1 is required to detect several hundred Seyferts in the entire sky. If FSRQs make up the cosmic MeV gamma-ray background, the sensitivity of ~4 x 10^-12 erg cm^-2 s^-1 is required to detect several hundred FSRQs following the recent FSRQ X-ray luminosity function. However, based on the latest FSRQ gamma-ray luminosity function, with which FSRQs can explain up to ~30% of the MeV background, we can expect several hundred FSRQs even with the sensitivity of 10^-11 erg cm^-2 s^-1 which is almost the same as the sensitivity goal of the next generation MeV telescopes.
We analyze the distinguishability of populations of coalescing binary neutron stars, neutron-star black-hole binaries, and binary black holes, whose gravitational-wave signatures are expected to be observed by the advanced network of ground-based interferometers LIGO and Virgo. We consider population-synthesis predictions for plausible merging binary distributions in mass space, along with measurement accuracy estimates from the main gravitational-wave parameter-estimation pipeline. We find that for our model compact-object binary mass distribution, we can always distinguish binary neutron stars and black-hole--neutron-star binaries, but not necessarily black-hole--neutron-star binaries and binary black holes; however, with a few tens of detections, we can accurately identify the three subpopulations and measure their respective rates.
(Abridged) NASA's Kepler mission has provided several thousand transiting planet candidates, yet only a small subset have been confirmed as true planets. Therefore, the most fundamental question about these candidates is the fraction of bona fide planets. Estimating the rate of false positives of the overall Kepler sample is necessary to derive the planet occurrence rate. We present the results from two large observational campaigns that were conducted with the Spitzer telescope during the the Kepler mission. These observations are dedicated to estimating the false positive rate (FPR) amongst the Kepler candidates. We select a sub-sample of 51 candidates, spanning wide ranges in stellar, orbital and planetary parameter space, and we observe their transits with Spitzer at 4.5 microns. We use these observations to measures the candidate's transit depths and infrared magnitudes. A bandpass-dependent depth alerts us to the potential presence of a blending star that could be the source of the observed eclipse: a false-positive scenario. For most of the candidates (85%), the transit depths measured with Kepler are consistent with the depths measured with Spitzer as expected for planetary objects, while we find that the most discrepant measurements are due to the presence of unresolved stars that dilute the photometry. The Spitzer constraints on their own yield FPRs between 5-40%, depending on the KOIs. By considering the population of the Kepler field stars, and by combining follow-up observations (imaging) when available, we find that the overall FPR of our sample is low. The measured upper limit on the FPR of our sample is 8.8% at a confidence level of 3 sigma. This observational result, which uses the achromatic property of planetary transit signals that is not investigated by the Kepler observations, provides an independent indication that Kepler's false positive rate is low.
The inspirals and mergers of binary systems comprised of black holes (BHs) and/or neutron stars (NSs) are expected to be abundant sources for ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. We assess the capabilities of Advanced LIGO and Virgo to measure component masses using inspiral waveform models which include spin-precession effects by studying a large ensemble of plausible GW sources. We make quantitative predictions for how well LIGO and Virgo will be able to distinguish between black holes and neutron stars and appraise the prospect of using LIGO/Virgo observations to definitively confirm, or reject, the existence of a putative "mass gap" between NSs ($m\leq3\ M_\odot$) and BHs ($m\geq 5\ M_\odot$). We find sources with the smaller mass component satisfying $m_2 \lesssim1.5\ M_\odot$ to be unambiguously identified as containing at least one NS, while systems with $m_2\gtrsim6\ M_\odot$ will be confirmed binary BHs. However, binary BHs with $m_2<5\ M_\odot$ (i.e., in the gap) cannot be distinguished from NSBH binaries. High-mass NSs ($2<m<3$ $M_\odot$) are often consistent with low-mass BH ($m<5\ M_\odot$), posing a challenge for determining the maximum NS mass from LIGO/Virgo observations alone. Individual sources will seldom be measured well enough to confirm objects in the mass gap and statistical inferences drawn from the detected population will be strongly dependent on the underlying distribution. If nature happens to provide a mass distribution with the populations relatively cleanly separated in chirp mass space, as some population synthesis models suggest, then NSs and BHs are more easily distinguishable.
We report on a second epoch of Chandra X-ray imaging spectroscopy of the spatially-resolved old nova remnant GK Persei. An ACIS-S3 observation of 97.4 ks was conducted in November 2013 after a lapse of 13.8 years from the last visit in 2000. The X-ray emitting nebula appeared more faint and patchy compared with the first epoch. The flux decline was particularly evident in fainter regions and the mean decline was 30-40 % in the 0.5-1.2 keV energy band. A typical expansion of the brightest part of the remnant was 1.9 arcsec, which corresponds to an expansion rate of 0.14 arcsec yr^{-1}. The soft X-ray spectra extracted from both the 2000 and 2013 data can be explained by a non-equilibrium ionization collisional plasma model convolved with interstellar absorption, though do not allow us to constrain the origin of the flux evolution. The plasma temperature has not significantly evolved since the 2000 epoch and we conclude that the fading of the X-ray emission is due largely to expansion. This implies that recent expansion has been into a lower density medium, a scenario that is qualitatively consistent with the structure of the circumstellar environment photographed soon after the initial explosion more than a century ago. Fainter areas are fading more quickly than brighter areas, indicating that they are fainter because of a lower ambient medium density and consequently more rapid expansion.
The external forward shock (EFS) models have been the standard paradigm to interpret the broad-band afterglow data of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). One prediction of the models is that some afterglow temporal breaks at different energy bands should be achromatic. Observations in the Swift era have revealed chromatic afterglow behaviors at least in some GRBs, casting doubts on the EFS origin of GRB afterglows. In this paper, we perform a systematic study to address the question: how bad/good are the external forward shock models? Our sample includes 85 GRBs well-monitored X-ray and optical lightcurves. Based on how well the data abide by the EFS models, we categorize them as: Gold sample: (Grade I and II) include 45/85 GRBs. They show evidence of, or are consistent with having, an achromatic break. The temporal/spectral behaviors in each afterglow segment are consistent with the predictions (closure relations) of the EFS models. Silver sample: (Grade III and IV) include 37/85 GRBs. They are also consistent with having an achromatic break, even though one or more afterglow segments do not comply with the closure relations. Bad sample: (Grade V), 3/85 shows direct evidence of chromatic behaviors, suggesting that the EFS models are inconsistent with the data. These are included in the Bad sample. We further perform statistical analyses of various observational properties ($\alpha$, $\beta$, $t_b$ and model parameters (energy injection index q, p, $\theta_j$, $\eta_\gamma$, etc) of the GRBs in the Gold Sample, and derive constraints on the magnetization parameter $\epsilon_B$ in the EFS. Overall, we conclude that the simplest EFS models can account for the multi-wavelength afterglow data of at least half of the GRBs. When more advanced modeling (e.g., long-lasting reverse shock, structured jets) is invoked, up to $>90 \%$ of the afterglows may be interpreted within the framework of the ESF models.
Determining physical parameters of binary microlenses is hampered by the lack of information about the angular Einstein radius due to the difficulty of resolving caustic crossings. In this paper, we present the analysis of the binary microlensing event OGLE-2013-BLG-0578, for which the caustic exit was precisely predicted in advance from real-time analysis, enabling to densely resolve the caustic crossing and to measure the Einstein radius. From the mass measurement of the lens system based on the Einstein radius combined with the additional information about the lens parallax, we identify that the lens is a binary that is composed of a late-type M-dwarf primary and a substellar brown-dwarf companion. The event demonstrates the capability of current real-time microlensing modeling and the usefulness of microlensing in detecting and characterizing faint or dark objects in the Galaxy.
1H0323+342 is one of narrow-line radio-loud Seyfert 1 galaxies (RL-NLS1), which is a new class of gamma-ray emitting AGNs. Narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1) have a small-mass black hole, but its mass accretion rate is almost as high as Eddington limit. Therefore, by observing NLS1s, we can know the evolution of supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies. Some of NLS1s are radio-loud and we call them RL-NLS1. From past observations, multi-wavelength spectrum of RL-NLS1s is similar to that of typical blazars; the synchrotron emission in the lower energy band up to the optical band, and inverse Compton scattering of low energy photons from disk, torus, and broad line region. X-ray band is a transittion region between the synchrotron and inverse Compton, and also there is a possible disk/corona emission. Therefore, we studied the energy-dependence of time variability of the X-ray emission of 1H0323+342, which have been observed by Suzaku in 2009 and 2013, in order to constrain the emission mechanism. We found that the lower energy below 1 keV and the higher energy above 7 keV show a different variability from the middle energy band, indicating at least two emission components in the X-ray band. X-ray spectrum is not a simple power-law, but requires an additional features; a broken power-law plus flat hard component, or a power-law plus a relativistic reflection component. Each spectral component seems to vary independently.
We report trace element concentrations of silicate phases in chondrules from LL3 ordinary chondrites Bishunpur and Semarkona. Results are similar to previously reported data for carbonaceous chondrites, with rare earth element (REE) concentrations increasing in the sequence olivine < pyroxene < mesostasis, and heavy REE (HREE) being enriched by 1-2 orders of magnitude (CI-normalized) relative to light REE (LREE) in ferromagnesian silicates, although no single olivine with very large LREE/HREE fractionation has been found. On average, olivine in type II chondrules is poorer in refractory lithophile incompatible elements (such as REE) than its type I counterpart by a factor of ~2. This suggests that olivine in type I and II chondrules formed by batch and fractional crystallization, respectively, implying that type II chondrules formed under faster cooling rates (> ~ 10 K/h) than type I chondrules. Appreciable Na concentrations (3-221 ppm) are measured in olivine from both chondrule types; type II chondrules seem to have behaved as closed systems, which may require chondrule formation in the vicinity of protoplanets or planetesimals. At any rate, higher solid concentrations in type II chondrule forming regions may explain the higher oxygen fugacities they record compared to type I chondrules. Type I and type II chondrules formed in different environments and the correlation between high solid concentrations and/or oxygen fugacities with rapid cooling rates is a key constraint that chondrule formation models must account for.
Time-series transit photometry from the Kepler space telescope has allowed for the discovery of thousands of exoplanets. We explore the potential of yet improved future missions such as PLATO 2.0 in detecting solar system analogues. We use real-world solar data and end-to-end simulations to explore the stellar and instrumental noise properties. By injecting and retrieving planets, rings and moons of our own solar system, we show that the discovery of Venus- and Earth-analogues transiting G-dwarfs like our Sun is feasible at high S/N after collecting 6yrs of data, but Mars and Mercury will be difficult to detect due to stellar noise. In the best cases, Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons will be detectable even in single transit observations. Through the high number (>1bn) of observed stars by PLATO 2.0, it will become possible to detect thousands of single-transit events by cold gas giants, analogue to our Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Our own solar system aside, we also show, through signal injection and retrieval, that PLATO 2.0-class photometry will allow for the secure detection of exomoons transiting quiet M-dwarfs. This is the first study analyzing in-depth the potential of future missions, and the ultimate limits of photometry, using realistic case examples.
With the temperature power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at least four orders of magnitude larger than the B-mode polarisation power spectrum, any instrumental imperfections that couple temperature to polarisation must be carefully controlled and/or removed. Here we present two new map-making algorithms that can create polarisation maps that are clean of temperature-to-polarisation leakage systematics due to differential gain and pointing between a detector pair. Where a half wave plate is used, we show that the spin-2 systematic due to differential ellipticity can also by removed using our algorithms. The algorithms require no prior knowledge of the imperfections or temperature sky to remove the temperature leakage. Instead, they calculate the systematic and polarisation maps in one step directly from the time ordered data (TOD). The first algorithm is designed to work with scan strategies that have a good range of crossing angles for each map pixel and the second for scan strategies that have a limited range of crossing angles. The first algorithm can also be used to identify if systematic errors that have a particular spin are present in a TOD. We demonstrate the use of both algorithms and the ability to identify systematics with simulations of TOD with realistic scan strategies and instrumental noise.
The sensitivity of pulsar timing arrays to gravitational waves is, at some level, limited by timing noise. Red timing noise - the stochastic wandering of pulse arrival times with a red spectrum - is prevalent in slow-spinning pulsars and has been identified in many millisecond pulsars. Phenomenological models of timing noise, such as from superfluid turbulence, suggest that the timing noise spectrum plateaus below some critical frequency, $f_c$, potentially aiding the hunt for gravitational waves. We examine this effect for individual pulsars by calculating minimum observation times, $T_{\rm min}(f_c)$, over which the gravitational wave signal becomes larger than the timing noise plateau. We do this in two ways: 1) in a model-independent manner, and 2) by using the superfluid turbulence model for timing noise as an example to illustrate how neutron star parameters can be constrained. We show that the superfluid turbulence model can reproduce the data qualitatively from a number of pulsars observed as part of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. We further show how a value of $f_c$, derived either through observations or theory, can be related to $T_{\rm min}$. This provides a diagnostic whereby the usefulness of timing array pulsars for gravitational-wave detection can be quantified.
H-poor super-luminous supernovae (SLSNe) are a rare and poorly understood class of explosion. We assemble the largest sample (24) of such objects to date, with griz light curves and optical spectra. We parameterize the light curve through rise and decline timescales, finding that these are highly correlated. Magnetar-powered models reproduce the correlation, with the diversity in rise and decline driven by the diffusion timescale. Circumstellar interaction models can exhibit a similar rise-decline relation, but for only a narrow density range, which may be problematic for these models. We see a similar correlation in normal SNe Ibc (powered by 56Ni), though SLSNe rise and decline more slowly, and their peak luminosity requires an additional energy source. We find that SLSN light curves are approximately 3.5 mag brighter and 3 times broader than SNe Ibc, but that the intrinsic shapes are similar. Some SLSNe (2007bi-like) have very broad light curves, possibly indicating two progenitor channels, but statistical tests do not distinguish separate populations in our sample. The spectral evolution is also presented. Velocities measured from the Fe II 5169 line are similar for SLSNe and SNe Ic, suggesting that the difference in diffusion time is dominated by the ejected mass. If the opacities in SLSNe are similar to other SNe Ibc, then the average ejected mass in SLSNe is higher by more than a factor of two. Assuming kappa = 0.1 cm2/g, we estimate a mean (median) SLSN ejecta mass of ~10 Msun (6 Msun), with a range of ~3-30 Msun, though doubling the opacity would bring the mass estimates in line with other SNe Ibc. The velocities of many SLSNe are constant, indicating a dense shell of ejecta. We conclude that the most probable mechanism for generating SLSNe is the explosion of a star similar to, but more massive than, a typical SN Ic progenitor, powered by an engine such as a magnetar.
There is a deep connection between cosmology -- the science of the infinitely large --and particle physics -- the science of the infinitely small. This connection is particularly manifest in neutron particle physics. Basic properties of the neutron -- its Electric Dipole Moment and its lifetime -- are intertwined with baryogenesis and nucleosynthesis in the early Universe. I will cover this topic in the first part, that will also serve as an introduction (or rather a quick recap) of neutron physics and Big Bang cosmology. Then, the rest of the manuscript will be devoted to a new idea: using neutrons to probe models of Dark Energy. In the second part, I will present the chameleon theory: a light scalar field accounting for the late accelerated expansion of the Universe, which interacts with matter in such a way that it does not mediate a fifth force between macroscopic bodies. However, neutrons can alleviate the chameleon mechanism and reveal the presence of the scalar field with properly designed experiments. In the third part, I will describe a recent experiment performed with a neutron interferometer at the Institut Laue Langevin that sets already interesting constraints on the chameleon theory. Last, the chameleon field can be probed by measuring the quantum states of neutrons bouncing over a mirror. In the fourth part I will present the status and prospects of the GRANIT experiment at the ILL.
Aims. This study was designed to examine the viability of protonated nitrogen-substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (H+PANHs) as candidates for the carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). Methods. We obtained the electronic spectra of two protonated PANH cations, protonated acridine and phenanthridine, using parent ion photo-fragment spectroscopy and generated theoretical electronic spectra using ab initio calculations. Results. We show that the spectra of the two species studied here do not correspond to known DIBs. However, based on the general properties derived from the spectra of these small protonated nitrogen-substituted PAHs, we propose that larger H+PANH cations represent good candidates for DIB carriers due to the expected positions of their electronic transitions in the UV-visible and their narrow spectral bands.
Aims. We track the time evolution of planet traps and snowlines in a
viscously evolving protoplanetary disk using an opacity table that accounts for
the composition of the dust material.
Methods. We coupled a dynamical and thermodynamical disk model with a
temperature-dependent opacity table (that accounts for the sublimation of the
main dust components) to investigate the formation and evolution of snowlines
and planet traps during the first million years of disk evolution.
Results. Starting from a minimum mass solar nebula (MMSN), we find that the
disk mid-plane temperature profile shows several plateaux (0.1-1 AU wide) at
the different sublimation temperatures of the species that make up the dust.
For water ice, the correspond- ing plateau can be larger than 1 AU, which means
that this is a snow "region" rather than a snow "line". As a consequence, the
surface density of solids in the snow region may increase gradually, not
abruptly. Several planet traps and desert regions appear naturally as a result
of abrupt local changes in the temperature and density profiles over the disk
lifetime. These structures are mostly located at the edges of the temperature
plateaux (surrounding the dust sublimation lines) and at the heat-transition
barrier where the disk stellar heating and viscous heating are of the same
magnitude (around 10 AU after 1 Myr).
Conclusions. Several traps are identified: although a few appear to be
transient, most of them slowly migrate along with the heat- transition barrier
or the dust sublimation lines. These planet traps may temporarily favor the
growth of planetary cores.
We examine GRBs with both Fermi-LAT and X-ray afterglow data. Assuming that the 100MeV (LAT) emission is radiation from cooled electrons accelerated by external shocks, we show that the kinetic energy of the blast wave estimated from the 100MeV flux is 50 times larger than the one estimated from the X-ray flux. This can be explained if either: i) electrons radiating at X-rays are significantly cooled by SSC (suppressing the synchrotron flux above the cooling frequency) or ii) if the X-ray emitting electrons, unlike those emitting at 100MeV energies, are in the slow cooling regime. In both cases the X-ray flux is no longer an immediate proxy of the blast wave kinetic energy. We model the LAT, X-ray and optical data and show that in general these possibilities are consistent with the data, and explain the apparent disagreement between X-ray and LAT observations. All possible solutions require weak magnetic fields: $10^{-6}< \epsilon_B < 10^{-3}$ (where $\epsilon_B$ is the fraction of shocked plasma energy in magnetic fields). Using the LAT emission as a proxy for the blast wave kinetic energy we find that the derived prompt efficiencies are of order 15%. This is considerably lower compared with previous estimates (87% and higher for the same bursts). This provides at least a partial solution to the "prompt high efficiency paradox".
We present a survey of star clusters in the halo of IC 10, a starburst galaxy in the Local Group based on Subaru R band images and NOAO Local Group Survey UBVRI images. We find five new star clusters. All these star clusters are located far from the center of IC 10, while previously known star clusters are mostly in the main body. Interestingly the distribution of these star clusters shows an asymmetrical structure elongated along the east and south-west direction. We derive UBVRI photometry of 66 star clusters including these new star clusters as well as previously known star clusters. Ages of the star clusters are estimated from the comparison of their UBVRI spectral energy distribution with the simple stellar population models. We find that the star clusters in the halo are all older than 1 Gyr, while those in the main body have various ages from very young (several Myr) to old (>1 Gyr). The young clusters (<10 Myr) are mostly located in the H{\alpha} emission regions and are concentrated on a small region at 2' in the south-east direction from the galaxy center, while the old clusters are distributed in a wider area than the disk. Intermediate-age clusters (~100 Myr) are found in two groups. One is close to the location of the young clusters and the other is at ~4' from the location of the young clusters. The latter may be related with past merger or tidal interaction.
We introduce new methods for robust high-precision photometry from well-sampled images of a non-crowded field with a strongly varying point-spread function. For this work, we used archival imaging data of the open cluster M37 taken by MMT 6.5m telescope. We find that the archival light curves from the original image subtraction procedure exhibit many unusual outliers, and more than 20% of data get rejected by the simple filtering algorithm adopted by early analysis. In order to achieve better photometric precisions and also to utilize all available data, the entire imaging database was re-analyzed with our time-series photometry technique (Multi-aperture Indexing Photometry) and a set of sophisticated calibration procedures. The merit of this approach is as follows: we find an optimal aperture for each star with a maximum signal-to-noise ratio, and also treat peculiar situations where photometry returns misleading information with more optimal photometric index. We also adopt photometric de-trending based on a hierarchical clustering method, which is a very useful tool in removing systematics from light curves. Our method removes systematic variations that are shared by light curves of nearby stars, while true variabilities are preserved. Consequently, our method utilizes nearly 100% of available data and reduce the rms scatter several times smaller than archival light curves for brighter stars. This new data set gives a rare opportunity to explore different types of variability of short (~minutes) and long (~1 month) time scales in open cluster stars.
We examine the consequences of the effective field theory (EFT) of dark matter-nucleon scattering for current and proposed direct detection experiments. Exclusion limits on EFT coupling constants computed using the optimum interval method are presented for SuperCDMS Soudan, CDMS II, and LUX, and the necessity of combining results from multiple experiments in order to determine dark matter parameters is discussed. We demonstrate that spectral differences between the standard dark matter model and a general EFT interaction can produce a bias when calculating exclusion limits and when developing signal models for likelihood and machine learning techniques. We also discuss the implications of the EFT for the next-generation (G2) direct detection experiments and point out regions of complementarity in the EFT parameter space.
Understanding the properties of type III radio bursts in the solar corona and interplanetary space is one of the best ways to remotely deduce the characteristics of solar accelerated electron beams and the solar wind plasma. One feature of all type III bursts is the lowest frequency they reach (or stopping frequency). This feature reflects the distance from the Sun that an electron beam can drive the observable plasma emission mechanism. The stopping frequency has never been systematically studied before from a theoretical perspective. Using numerical kinetic simulations, we explore the different parameters that dictate how far an electron beam can travel before it stops inducing a significant level of Langmuir waves, responsible for plasma radio emission. We use the quasilinear approach to model self-consistently the resonant interaction between electrons and Langmuir waves in inhomogeneous plasma, and take into consideration the expansion of the guiding magnetic flux tube and the turbulent density of the interplanetary medium. We find that the rate of radial expansion has a significant effect on the distance an electron beam travels before enhanced leves of Langmuir waves, and hence radio waves, cease. Radial expansion of the guiding magnetic flux tube rarefies the electron stream to the extent that the density of non-thermal electrons is too low to drive Langmuir wave production. The initial conditions of the electron beam have a significant effect, where decreasing the beam density or increasing the spectral index of injected electrons would cause higher type III stopping frequencies. We also demonstrate how the intensity of large-scale density fluctuations increases the highest frequency that Langmuir waves can be driven by the beam and how the magnetic field geometry can be the cause of type III bursts only observed at high coronal frequencies.
The transient X-ray source CXOM31 004205.77+411330.43 exhibited several outbursts during our long-term monitoring campaign of ~monthly observations of the M31 center with Chandra. However, the decay profile appears to be unlike those observed from Galactic transients. We followed up the 2011 outburst with two ~B band HST/ACS observations, one in outburst and the other in quiescence, and used difference imaging to search for a counterpart; this would be dominated by re-processed X-ray emission from the disk. We found a counterpart with B = 28.21+/-0.16. An XMM-Newton observation from a previous outburst yielded a spectrum that is well described by an absorbed power law with absorption equivalent to ~2.6 E+21 H atom cm^(-2) and photon index ~1.8; the highest quality Chandra spectrum yielded only $\sim$130 counts, and best fits consistent with the XMM-Newton results. We calculated an absolute V magnitude of +1.9 during outburst for a typical disk spectrum. An empirical relation between the ratio of X-ray to optical flux and orbital period suggests a period < ~4 hr for a black hole accretor. Such a short period is expected to yield an asymmetric, precessing disk, and we propose that the observed decay lightcurve is due to modulation of the mass transfer rate due to the disk precession.
The presence of a helical magnetic field threading the jet of an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) should give rise to a gradient in the observed Faraday rotation measure (RM) across the jet, due to the associated systematic change in the line-of-sight magnetic field. Reports of observations of transverse RM gradients across AGN jets have appeared in the literature starting from 2002, but concerns were raised about the resolution required for these gradients to be reliable, and there was a lack of a full understanding of the best approach to accurate estimation of the uncertainties of local RM values. These questions have now been resolved by recent Monte Carlo simulations carried out by various groups, enabling both a verification of previously published results and reliable analyses of new data. We consider here RM gradients across the jet structures of 15 AGN, some previously published in the refereed literature but without a correct and complete error analysis, and some published for the first time here, all of which have monotonic transverse RM gradients with significances of at least 3 sigma.
The standard Bayesian model formalism comparison cannot be applied to most cosmological models as they lack well-motivated parameter priors. However, if the data-set being used is separable then it is possible to use some of the data to obtain the necessary parameter distributions, the rest of the data being retained for model comparison. While such methods are not fully prescriptive, they provide a route to applying Bayesian model comparison in cosmological situations where it could not otherwise be used.
ALMA is revolutionizing the way we study and understand the astrophysics of galaxies, both as a whole and individually. By exploiting its unique sensitivity and resolution to make spatially and spectrally resolved images of the gas and dust in the interstellar medium (ISM), ALMA can reveal new information about the relationship between stars and gas, during and between galaxies' cycles of star formation and AGN fueling. However, this can only be done for a modest number of targets, and thus works in the context of large samples drawn from other surveys, while providing parallel deep imaging in small fields around. Recent ALMA highlights are reviewed, and some areas where ALMA will potentially make great contributions in future are discussed.
The rapidly rotating Be star phi Persei was spun up by mass and angular momentum transfer from a now stripped-down, hot subdwarf companion. Here we present the first high angular resolution images of phi Persei made possible by new capabilities in longbaseline interferometry at near-IR and visible wavelengths. We observed phi Persei with the MIRC and VEGA instruments of the CHARA Array. Additional MIRC-only observations were performed to track the orbital motion of the companion, and these were fit together with new and existing radial velocity measurements of both stars to derive the complete orbital elements and distance. The hot subdwarf companion is clearly detected in the near-IR data at each epoch of observation with a flux contribution of 1.5% in the H band, and restricted fits indicate that its flux contribution rises to 3.3% in the visible. A new binary orbital solution is determined by combining the astrometric and radial velocity measurements. The derived stellar masses are 9.6+-0.3Msol and 1.2+-0.2Msol for the Be primary and subdwarf secondary, respectively. The inferred distance (186 +- 3 pc), kinematical properties, and evolutionary state are consistent with membership of phi Persei in the alpha Per cluster. From the cluster age we deduce significant constraints on the initial masses and evolutionary mass transfer processes that transformed the phi Persei binary system. The interferometric data place strong constraints on the Be disk elongation, orientation, and kinematics, and the disk angular momentum vector is coaligned with and has the same sense of rotation as the orbital angular momentum vector. The VEGA visible continuum data indicate an elongated shape for the Be star itself, due to the combined effects of rapid rotation, partial obscuration of the photosphere by the circumstellar disk, and flux from the bright inner disk.
We present an analysis of the nature of the rapidly rotating, apparently single giant based on rotational and radial velocity measurements carried out by the CORAVEL spectrometers. From the analyzed sample, composed of 2010 spectroscopic, apparently single, evolved stars of luminosity classes IV, III, II, and Ib with spectral types G and K, we classified 30 stars that presented unusual, moderate to rapid rotation. This work reports, for the first time, the presence of these abnormal rotators among subgiant, bright giant, and Ib supergiant stars. To date, this class of stars was reported only among giant stars of luminosity class III. Most of these abnormal rotators present an IRAS infrared excess, which, in principle, can be related to dust around these stars.
We report the discovery of HATS-13b and HATS-14b, two hot-Jupiter transiting planets discovered by the HATSouth survey. The host stars are quite similar to each other (HATS-13: V = 13.9 mag, M* = 0.96 Msun, R* = 0.89 Rsun, Teff = 5500 K, [Fe/H] = 0.05; HATS-14: V = 13.8 mag, M* = 0.97 Msun, R* = 0.93 Rsun, Teff = 5350 K, [Fe/H] = 0.33) and both the planets orbit around them with a period of roughly 3 days and a separation of roughly 0.04 au. However, even though they are irradiated in a similar way, the physical characteristics of the two planets are very different. HATS-13b, with a mass of Mp = 0.543 MJ and a radius of Rp = 1.212 RJ, appears as an inflated planet, while HATS-14b, having a mass of Mp = 1.071 MJ and a radius of Rp = 1.039 RJ, is only slightly larger in radius than Jupiter.
Natural (axionic) inflation provides a well-motivated and predictive scheme for the description of the early universe. It leads to sizeable primordial tensor modes and thus a high mass scale of the inflationary potential. Naively this seems to be at odds with low (TeV) scale supersymmetry, especially when embedded in superstring theory. We show that low scale supersymmetry is compatible with natural (high scale) inflation. The mechanism requires the presence of two axions that are provided through the moduli of string theory.
The minimal geometric deformation approach was introduced in order to study the exterior space-time around spherically symmetric self-gravitating systems, like stars or similar astrophysical objects as well, in the Randall-Sundrum brane-world framework. A consistent extension of this approach is developed here, which contains modifications of both the time component and the radial component of a spherically symmetric metric. A modified Schwarzschild geometry is obtained as an example of its simplest application.
We study the inverse seesaw mechanism for neutrino masses and phenomenological consequences in the context of conformal electro-weak symmetry breaking. The main difference to the usual case is that all explicit fermion mass terms including Majorana masses for neutrinos are forbidden. All fermion mass terms arise therefore from vacuum expectation values of suitable scalars times some Yukawa couplings. This leads to interesting consequences for model building, neutrino mass phenomenology and the Dark Matter abundance. In the context of the inverse seesaw we find a favoured scenario with heavy pseudo-Dirac sterile neutrinos at the TeV scale, which in the conformal framework conspire with the electro-weak scale to generate keV scale warm Dark Matter. The mass scale relations provide naturally the correct relic abundance due to a freeze-in mechanism. We demonstrate also how conformal symmetry decouples the right-handed neutrino mass scale and effective lepton number violation. We find that lepton flavour violating processes can be well within the reach of modern experiments. Furthermore, interesting decay signatures are expected at the LHC.
Inert scalar doublet model of dark matter can be valid upto the Planck scale. We briefly review the bounds on the model in such a scenario and identify parameter spaces that lead to absolute stability and metastability of the electroweak vacuum.
Using a solitonic model of nuclear matter, the BPS Skyrme model, we compare neutron stars obtained in the full field theory, where gravitational back reaction is completely taken into account, with calculations in a mean-field approximation using the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff approach. In the latter case, a mean-field-theory equation of state is derived from the original BPS field theory. We show that in the full field theory, where the energy density is non-constant even at equilibrium, there is no universal and coordinate independent equation of state of nuclear matter, in contrast to the mean-field approximation. We also study how neutron star properties are modified by going beyond mean field theory, and find that the differences between mean field theory and exact results can be considerable.
The problem of families, "Why are there three families of fermions?", is a long awaited question to be answered within a reasonable framework. We propose anti-SU(N) groups for the unification of families in grand unification (GUT) groups, where the separation of color and weak gauge groups in the GUT is achieved by antisymmetric tensor Brout-Englert-Higgs boson instead of an adjoint representation. Theories of anti-SU(N)'s are proposed for the unification of families. The Z{12-I) orbifold compactification, where the missing partner mechanism is realized.
The dynamics of particle transport under the influence of localised high energy anomalies (explosions) is a complicated phenomena dependent on many physical parameters of both the particle and the medium it resides in. Here we present a conceptual model that establishes simple scaling laws for particle dispersion in relation to the energy released in a blast, properties of the medium, physical properties of particles and their initial position away from a blast epicenter. These dependencies are validated against numerical simulations and we discuss predictions of the model which can be validated experimentally. Other applications and extensions to the framework are also considered.
According to the no-hair theorem, static black holes are described by a Schwarzschild spacetime provided there are no other sources of the gravitational field. This requirement, however, is in astrophysical realistic scenarios often violated, e.g., if the black hole is part of a binary system or if it is surrounded by an accretion disk. In these cases, the black hole is distorted due to tidal forces. Nonetheless, the subsequent formulation of the no-hair theorem holds: The contribution of the distorted black hole to the multipole moments that describe the gravitational field close to infinity and, thus, all sources is that of a Schwarzschild black hole. It still has no hair. This implies that there is no multipole moment induced in the black hole and that its second Love numbers, which measure some aspects of the distortion, vanish as was already shown in approximations to general relativity. But here we prove this property for astrophysical relevant black holes in full general relativity.
We analyze the direct detection signals of a toy model consisting of a Dirac dark matter particle which couples to one Standard Model fermion via a scalar mediator. For all scenarios, the dark matter particle scatters off nucleons via one loop-induced electromagnetic and electroweak moments, as well as via the one-loop exchange of a Higgs boson. Besides, and depending on the details of the model, the scattering can also be mediated at tree level via the exchange of the scalar mediator or at one loop via gluon-gluon interactions. We show that, for thermally produced dark matter particles, the current limits from the LUX experiment on these scenarios are remarkably strong, even for dark matter coupling only to leptons. We also discuss future prospects for XENON1T and DARWIN and we argue that multi-ton xenon detectors will be able to probe practically the whole parameter space of the model consistent with thermal production and perturbativity. We also discuss briefly the implications of our results for the dark matter interpretation of the Galactic GeV excess.
On September, 15th, 2007, in the community of Carancas (Puno, Peru) a stony meteorite formed a crater explosive type with a mean diameter of 13.5 m. some samples meteorite fragments were collected. The petrologic analysis performed corresponds to a meteorite ordinary chondrite H 4-5. In this paper we have analyzed the magnetic properties of a meteorite fragment with a proton magnetometer. Also in order to have a complete characterization of the Carancas meteorite and its crater, from several papers, articles and reports, we have made a compilation of the most important characteristics and properties of this meteorite.
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We demonstrate that high abundances of water vapor could have existed in extremely low metallicity ($10^{-3}$ solar) partially shielded gas, during the epoch of first metal enrichment of the interstellar medium of galaxies at high redshifts.
Eclipsing systems of massive stars allow one to explore the properties of their components in great detail. We perform a multi-wavelength, non-LTE analysis of the three components of the massive multiple system $\delta$ Ori A, focusing on the fundamental stellar properties, stellar winds, and X-ray characteristics of the system. The primary's distance-independent parameters turn out to be characteristic for its spectral type (O9.5 II), but usage of the ${\rm \it Hipparcos}$ parallax yields surprisingly low values for the mass, radius, and luminosity. Consistent values follow only if $\delta$ Ori lies at about twice the ${\rm \it Hipparcos}$ distance, in the vicinity of the $\sigma$-Orionis cluster. The primary and tertiary dominate the spectrum and leave the secondary only marginally detectable. We estimate the V-band magnitude difference between primary and secondary to be $\Delta V \approx 2.\!\!^{\rm m}8$. The inferred parameters suggest the secondary is an early B-type dwarf ($\approx$ B1 V), while the tertiary is an early B-type subgiant ($\approx$ B0 IV). We find evidence for rapid turbulent velocities ($\sim 200$ km ${\rm s}^{-1}$) and wind inhomogeneities, partially optically thick, in the primary's wind. The bulk of the X-ray emission likely emerges from the primary's stellar wind ($\log L_{\text{X}} / L_{\text{Bol}} \approx -6.85$), initiating close to the stellar surface at $R_0 \sim 1.1\,R_*$. Accounting for clumping, the mass-loss rate of the primary is found to be $\log \dot{M} \approx -6.4\,[M_\odot\,{\rm yr}^{-1}]$, which agrees with hydrodynamic predictions, and provides a consistent picture along the X-ray, UV, optical and radio spectral domains.
We present a new potential-density pair designed to model nearly isothermal star clusters (and similar self-gravitating systems) with a central core and an outer turnover radius, beyond which density falls off as $r^{-4}$. In the intermediate zone, the profile is similar to that of an isothermal sphere (density $\rho \propto r^{-2}$), somewhat less steep than the King 1962 profile, and with the advantage that many dynamical quantities can be written in a simple closed form. We derive analytic expressions for the cluster binding energy, central velocity dispersion, and escape velocity, and apply these to create toy models for cluster core collapse and evaporation. We rederive classical results for evaporating, collapsing, and quasi-equilibrium (heated) clusters, and fit our projected surface brightness profiles to observed globular and open clusters. We find that the quality of the fit is generally at least as good as that for the surface brightness profiles of King 1962. This model can be used for convenient computation of the dynamics and evolution of globular and nuclear star clusters.
Recent observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies and the distribution of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the Lyman Alpha forest have constrained the shape of the power spectrum of matter fluctuations on large scales k < few h/Mpc. We explore a new technique to constrain the matter power spectrum on smaller scales, assuming the dark matter is a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) that annihilates at early epochs. Energy released by dark matter annihilation can modify the spectrum of CMB temperature fluctuations and thus CMB experiments such as Planck have been able to constrain the quantity f <sigma v> /m < 1/88 picobarn c / GeV, where f is the fraction of energy absorbed by gas, <sigma v> is the annihilation rate assumed constant, and m is the particle mass. We assume the standard scale-invariant primordial matter power spectrum of P_prim(k) ~ k^{n_s} at large scales k < k_p, while we adopt the modified power law of P_prim(k) ~ k_p^{n_s} (k/k_p)^{m_s} at small scales. We then aim at deriving constraints on m_s. For m_s > n_s, the excess small-scale power results in a much larger number of nonlinear small mass halos, particularly at high redshifts. Dark matter annihilation in these halos releases sufficient energy to partially ionize the gas, and consequently modify the spectrum of CMB fluctuations. We show that the recent Planck data can already be used to constrain the power spectrum on small scales. For a simple model with an NFW profile with halo concentration parameter c_200 = 5 and f <sigma v> / m = 1/100 picobarn c / GeV, we can limit the mass variance sigma_{max} < 100 at the 95% confidence level, corresponding to a power law index m_s < 1.43 (1.63) for k_p = 100 (1000) h/Mpc. Our results are also relevant to theories that feature a running spectral index.
We test the hypothesis that the polarization vectors of flat-spectrum radio sources (FSRS) in the JVAS/CLASS 8.4-GHz surveys are randomly oriented on the sky. The sample with robust polarization measurements is made of $4155$ objects and redshift information is known for $1531$ of them. We performed two statistical analyses: one in two dimensions and the other in three dimensions when distance is available. We find significant large-scale alignments of polarization vectors for samples containing only quasars (QSO) among the varieties of FSRS's. While these correlations prove difficult to explain either by a physical effect or by biases in the dataset, the fact that the QSO's which have significantly aligned polarization vectors are found in regions of the sky where optical polarization alignments were previously found is striking.
A well known property of the gamma-ray sources detected by COS-B in the 1970s, by the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory in the 1990s and recently by the Fermi observations is the presence of radio counterparts, in particular for those associated to extragalactic objects. This observational evidence is the basis of the radio-gamma-ray connection established for the class of active galactic nuclei known as blazars. In particular, the main spectral property of the radio counterparts associated with gamma-ray blazars is that they show a flat spectrum in the GHz frequency range. Our recent analysis dedicated to search blazar-like candidates as potential counterparts for the unidentified gamma-ray sources (UGSs) allowed us to extend the radio-gamma-ray connection in the MHz regime. We also showed that below 1 GHz blazars maintain flat radio spectra. Thus on the basis of these new results, we assembled a low-frequency radio catalog of flat spectrum sources built by combining the radio observations of the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS) and of the Westerbork in the southern hemisphere (WISH) catalog with those of the NRAO Very Large Array Sky survey (NVSS). This could be used in the future to search for new, unknown blazar-like counterparts of the gamma-ray sources. First we found NVSS counterparts of WSRT radio sources and then we selected flat spectrum radio sources according to a new spectral criterion specifically defined for radio observations performed below 1 GHz. We also described the main properties of the catalog listing 28358 radio sources and their logN-logS distributions. Finally a comparison with with the Green Bank 6-cm radio source catalog has been performed to investigate the spectral shape of the low-frequency flat spectrum radio sources at higher frequencies.
We show that in a certain, angle-averaged squeezed limit, the $N$-point function of matter is related to the response of the matter power spectrum to a long-wavelength density perturbation, $P^{-1}d^nP(k|\delta_L)/d\delta_L^n|_{\delta_L=0}$, with $n=N-2$. By performing N-body simulations with a homogeneous overdensity superimposed on a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Lema\^itre-Walker (FRLW) universe using the \emph{separate universe} approach, we obtain measurements of the nonlinear matter power spectrum response up to $n=3$, which is equivalent to measuring the fully nonlinear matter $3-$ to $5-$point function in this squeezed limit. The sub-percent to few percent accuracy of those measurements is unprecedented. We then test the hypothesis that nonlinear $N$-point functions at a given time are a function of the linear power spectrum at that time, which is predicted by standard perturbation theory (SPT) and its variants that are based on the ideal pressureless fluid equations. Specifically, we compare the responses computed from the separate universe simulations and simulations with a rescaled initial (linear) power spectrum amplitude. We find discrepancies of 10\% at $k\simeq 0.2 - 0.5 \,h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ for $5-$ to $3-$point functions at $z=0$. The discrepancy occurs at higher wavenumbers at $z=2$. Thus, SPT and its variants, carried out to arbitrarily high order, are guaranteed to fail to describe matter $N$-point functions ($N>2$) around that scale.
The Swift AGN and Cluster Survey (SACS) uses 125 deg^2 of Swift XRT serendipitous fields with variable depths surrounding gamma-ray bursts to provide a medium depth (4e-15 erg/s/cm^2) and area survey filling the gap between deep, narrow Chandra/XMM-Newton surveys and wide, shallow ROSAT surveys. Here we present a catalog of 22,563 point sources and 442 extended sources and examine the number counts of the AGN and galaxy cluster populations. SACS provides excellent constraints on the AGN number counts at the bright end with negligible uncertainties due to cosmic variance, and these constraints are consistent with previous measurements. We use Wise mid-infrared (MIR) colors to classify the sources. For AGN we can roughly separate the point sources into MIR-red and MIR-blue AGN, finding roughly equal numbers of each type in the soft X-ray band (0.5-2 keV), but fewer MIR-blue sources in the hard X-ray band (2-8 keV). The cluster number counts, with 5% uncertainties from cosmic variance, are also consistent with previous surveys but span a much larger continuous flux range. Deep optical or IR follow-up observations of this cluster sample will significantly increase the number of higher redshift (z > 0.5) X-ray-selected clusters.
We present the results of a spectroscopic follow-up of various puzzling variable objects detected in the OGLE-III Galactic disk and bulge fields. The sample includes mainly short-period multi-mode pulsating stars that could not have been unambiguously classified as either delta Sct or beta Cep type stars based on photometric data only, also stars with irregular fluctuations mimicking cataclysmic variables and stars with dusty shells, and periodic variables displaying brightenings in their light curves that last for more than half of the period. The obtained low-resolution spectra show that all observed short-period pulsators are of delta Sct type, the stars with irregular fluctuations are young stellar objects, and the objects with regular brightenings are A type stars or very likely Ap stars with strong magnetic field responsible for the presence of bright caps around magnetic poles on their surface. We also took spectra of objects designated OGLE-GD-DSCT-0058 and OGLE-GD-CEP-0013. An estimated effective temperature of 33,000 K in OGLE-GD-DSCT-0058 indicates that it cannot be a delta Sct type variable. This very short-period (0.01962 d) high-amplitude (0.24 mag in the I-band) object remains a mystery. It may represent a new class of variables. The spectrum of OGLE-GD-CEP-0013 confirms that this is a classical Cepheid despite a peculiar shape of its light curve. The presented results will help in proper classification of variable objects in the OGLE Galactic Variability Survey.
The evolution and distribution of the angular momentum of dark matter halos have been discussed in several studies over the last decades. In particular, the idea arose that angular momentum conservation should allow to infer the total angular momentum of the entire dark matter halo from measuring the angular momentum of the baryonic component, which is populating the center of the halo, especially for disk galaxies. To test this idea and to understand the connection between the angular momentum of the dark matter halo and its galaxy, we use the Magneticum Simulations. We successfully produce populations of spheroidal and disk galaxies self-consistently. Thus, we are able to study the dependance of galactic properties on their morphology. We find that: (I) The specific angular momentum of stars in disk and spheroidal galaxies as function of their stellar mass compares well with observational results; (II) The specific angular momentum of the stars in disk galaxies is slightly smaller compared to the specific angular momentum of the cold gas, in good agreement with observations; (III) Simulations including the baryonic component show a dichotomy in the specific stellar angular momentum distribution when splitting the galaxies according to their morphological type. This dichotomy can also be seen in the spin parameter, where disk galaxies populate halos with slightly larger spin compared to spheroidal galaxies; (IV) Disk galaxies preferentially populate halos in which the angular momentum vector of the dark matter component in the central part shows a better alignment to the angular momentum vector of the entire halo; (V) The specific angular momentum of the cold gas in disk galaxies is approximately 40 percent smaller than the specific angular momentum of the total dark matter halo and shows a significant scatter.
Artificial fragmentation of the matter density field causes the formation of spurious groups of particles in N-body simulations of non-standard Dark Matter (DM) models which are characterized by a small scale cut-off in the linear matter power spectrum. These spurious halos alter the prediction of the mass function in a range of masses where differences among DM models are most relevant to observational tests. Using a suite of high resolution simulations we show that the contamination of artificial groups of particles significantly affect the statistics of halo spin, shape and virial state parameters. We find that spurious halos have systematically larger spin values, are highly elliptical or prolate and significantly deviate from virial equilibrium. These characteristics allow us to detect the presence of spurious halos even in non-standard DM models for which the low-mass end of the mass function remains well behaved. We show that selecting halos near the virial equilibrium provides a simple and effective method to remove the bulk of spurious halos from numerical halo catalogs and consistently recover the halo mass function at low masses.
We present a simple and powerful method for extracting a transit signal from noisy light curves. Assuming the signal is periodic, we illustrate that systematic noise can be removed in Fourier space at all frequencies, by only using data from inside a time window which is matched to the main planet transits. This results in a reconstruction of the signal which on average is unbiased, despite that no prior knowledge of either the noise or the transit signal itself is used in the analysis. The method has therefore clear advantages over standard phase folding, which normally requires external input such as nearby stars or noise models for removing systematic components. In addition, we extract the full 360 degree transit signal simultaneously, and Kepler like data can be analyzed in just a few seconds. We illustrate the performance of our method by applying it to a dataset composed of light curves from Kepler with a fake injected signal emulating a planet with rings. For extracting periodic transit signals, our presented method is in general the optimal and least biased estimator and could therefore lead the way towards the first detections of, e.g., planet rings and exo-trojan asteroids.
We present a study on the effect of undetected stellar companions on the derived planetary radii for the Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs). The current production of the KOI list assumes that the each KOI is a single star. Not accounting for stellar multiplicity statistically biases the planets towards smaller radii. The bias towards smaller radii depends on the properties of the companion stars and whether the planets orbit the primary or the companion stars. Defining a planetary radius correction factor $X_R$, we find that if the KOIs are assumed to be single, then, {\it on average}, the planetary radii may be underestimated by a factor of $\langle X_R \rangle \approx 1.5$. If typical radial velocity and high resolution imaging observations are performed and no companions are detected, this factor reduces to $\langle X_R \rangle \approx 1.2$. The correction factor $\langle X_R \rangle$ is dependent upon the primary star properties and ranges from $\langle X_R \rangle \approx 1.6$ for A and F stars to $\langle X_R \rangle \approx 1.2$ for K and M stars. For missions like K2 and TESS where the stars may be closer than the stars in the Kepler target sample, observational vetting (primary imaging) reduces the radius correction factor to $\langle X_R \rangle \approx 1.1$. Finally, we show that if the stellar multiplicity rates are not accounted for correctly, occurrence rate calculations for Earth-sized planets may overestimate the frequency of small planets by as much as $15-20$\%.
We present recent evolutions of the detailed opacity code SCO-RCG which combines statistical modelings of levels and lines with fine-structure calculations. The code now includes the Partially-Resolved-Transition-Array model, which allows one to replace a complex transition array by a small-scale detailed calculation preserving energy and variance of the genuine transition array and yielding improved high-order moments. An approximate method for studying the impact of strong magnetic field on opacity and emissivity was also recently implemented. The Zeeman line profile is modeled by fourth-order Gram-Charlier expansion series, which is a Gaussian multiplied by a linear combination of Hermite polynomials. Electron collisional line broadening is often modeled by a Lorentzian function and one has to calculate the convolution of a Lorentzian with Gram-Charlier distribution for a huge number of spectral lines. Since the numerical cost of the direct convolution would be prohibitive, we propose, in order to obtain the resulting profile, a fast and precise algorithm, relying on a representation of the Gaussian by cubic splines.
Absorption lines from water, methane and carbon monoxide are detected in the atmosphere of exoplanet HR8799b. A medium-resolution spectrum presented here shows well-resolved and easily identified spectral features from all three molecules across the K band. The majority of the lines are produced by CO and H2O, but several lines clearly belong to CH4. Comparisons between these data and atmosphere models covering a range of temperatures and gravities yield log mole fractions of H2O between -3.09 and -3.91, CO between -3.30 and -3.72 and CH4 between -5.06 and -5.85. More precise mole fractions are obtained for each temperature and gravity studied. A reanalysis of H-band data, previously obtained at similar spectral resolution, results in a nearly identical water abundance as determined from the K-band spectrum. The methane abundance is shown to be sensitive to vertical mixing and indicates an eddy diffusion coefficient in the range of 10^6 to 10^8 cm^2 s^-1, comparable to mixing in the deep troposphere of Jupiter. The model comparisons also indicate a C/O between ~ 0.58 and 0.7, encompassing previous estimates for a second planet in the same system, HR8799c. Super-stellar C/O could indicate planet formation by core-accretion, however, the range of possible C/O for these planets (and the star) is currently too large to comment strongly on planet formation. More precise values of the bulk properties (e.g., effective temperature and surface gravity) are needed for improved abundance estimates.
We have carried out 13CO (J=2-1) observations of the active star-forming region N159 West in the LMC with ALMA. We have found that the CO distribution at a sub-pc scale is highly elongated with a small width. These elongated clouds called "filaments" show straight or curved distributions with a typical width of 0.5-1.0 pc and a length of 5-10 pc. All the known infrared YSOs are located toward the filaments. We have found broad CO wings of two molecular outflows toward young high-mass stars in N159W-N and N159W-S, whose dynamical timescale is ~10^4 yrs. This is the first discovery of protostellar outflow in external galaxies. For N159W-S which is located toward an intersection of two filaments we set up a hypothesis that the two filaments collided with each other ~10^5 yrs ago and triggered formation of the high-mass star having ~37Mo. The colliding clouds show significant enhancement in linewidth in the intersection, suggesting excitation of turbulence in the shocked interface layer between them as is consistent with the magneto-hydro-dynamical numerical simulations (Inoue & Fukui 2013). This turbulence increases the mass accretion rate to ~10^-4 Mo yr^-1, which is required to overcome the stellar feedback to form the high-mass star.
Close-in exoplanets interact with their host stars gravitationally as well as via their magnetized plasma outflows. The rich dynamics that arises may result in distinct observable features. Our objective is to study and classify the morphology of the different types of interaction that can take place between a giant close-in planet (a Hot Jupiter) and its host star, based on the physical parameters that characterize the system. We perform 3D magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulations to model the star--planet interaction, incorporating a star, a Hot Jupiter, and realistic stellar and planetary outflows. We explore a wide range of parameters and analyze the flow structures and magnetic topologies that develop. Our study suggests the classification of star--planet interactions into four general types, based on the relative magnitudes of three characteristic length scales that quantify the effects of the planetary magnetic field, the planetary outflow, and the stellar gravitational field in the interaction region. We describe the dynamics of these interactions and the flow structures that they give rise to, which include bow shocks, cometary-type tails, and inspiraling accretion streams. We point out the distinguishing features of each of the classified cases and discuss some of their observationally relevant properties. The magnetized interactions of star--planet systems can be categorized, and their general morphologies predicted, based on a set of basic stellar, planetary, and orbital parameters.
A deep, wide-field, near-infrared imaging survey was used to construct an extinction map of the southeastern part of the California Molecular Cloud (CMC) with $\sim$ 0.5 arc min resolution. The same region was also surveyed in the $^{12}$CO(2-1), $^{13}$CO(2-1), C$^{18}$O(2-1) emission lines at the same angular resolution. Strong spatial variations in the abundances of $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O were found to be correlated with variations in gas temperature, consistent with temperature dependent CO depletion/desorption on dust grains. The $^{13}$CO to C$^{18}$O abundance ratio was found to increase with decreasing extinction, suggesting selective photodissociation of C$^{18}$O by the ambient UV radiation field. The cloud averaged X-factor is found to be $<$X$_{\rm CO}$$>$ $=$ 2.53 $\times$ 10$^{20}$ ${\rm cm}^{-2}~({\rm K~km~s}^{-1})^{-1}$, somewhat higher than the Milky Way average. On sub-parsec scales we find no single empirical value of the X-factor that can characterize the molecular gas in cold (T$_{\rm k}$ $\lesssim$ 15 K) regions, with X$_{\rm CO}$ $\propto$ A$_{\rm V}$$^{0.74}$ for A$_{\rm V}$ $\gtrsim$ 3 magnitudes. However in regions containing relatively hot (T$_{\rm ex}$ $\gtrsim$ 25 K) gas we find a clear correlation between W($^{12}$CO) and A$_{\rm V}$ over a large (3 $\lesssim$ A$_{\rm V}$ $\lesssim$ 25 mag) extinction range. This suggests a constant X$_{\rm CO}$ $=$ 1.5 $\times$ 10$^{20}$ ${\rm cm}^{-2}~({\rm K~km~s}^{-1})^{-1}$ for the hot gas, a lower value than either the average for the CMC or Milky Way. We find a correlation between X$_{\rm CO}$ and T$_{\rm ex}$ with X$_{\rm CO}$ $\propto$ T$_{\rm ex}$$^{-0.7}$ suggesting that the global X-factor of a cloud may depend on the relative amounts of hot gas within it.
To determine the velocity ellipsoid of the solar neighborhood white dwarfs, we use the space velocity components of stars. Two samples of white dwarfs are used, 20 pc and 25 pc samples. Beside the two main samples, the solar velocity and velocity dispersions are calculated for the four subsamples, namely DA, non - DA, hot and cool white dwarfs. Comparison between the results of 20 pc sample and those of 25 pc sample gives good agreement, while the comparison between the other subsamples gives bad agreement. Dependence of the velocity dispersions and solar velocity on the chemical composition and effective temperatures are discussed.
This is the third in a series of papers reporting on a large reverberation-mapping campaign aimed to study the properties of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with high accretion rates. We present new results on the variability of the optical Fe II emission lines in 10 AGNs observed by the Yunnan Observatory 2.4m telescope during 2012--2013. We detect statistically significant time lags, relative to the AGN continuum, in nine of the sources. This accurate measurement is achieved by using a sophisticated spectral fitting scheme that allows for apparent flux variations of the host galaxy, and several narrow lines, due to the changing observing conditions. Six of the newly detected lags are indistinguishable from the Hbeta lags measured in the same sources. Two are significantly longer and one is slightly shorter. Combining with Fe II lags reported in previous studies, we find a Fe II radius--luminosity relationship similar to the one for Hbeta, although our sample by itself shows no clear correlation. The results support the idea that Fe II emission lines originate in photoionized gas which, for the majority of the newly reported objects, is indistinguishable from the Hbeta-emitting gas. We also present a tentative correlation between the lag and intensity of Fe II and Hbeta and comment on its possible origin.
In this work we use gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow spectra observed with the VLT/X-shooter spectrograph to measure rest-frame extinction in GRB lines-of-sight by modeling the broadband near-infrared (NIR) to X-ray afterglow spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Our sample consists of nine Swift GRBs, eight of them belonging to the long-duration and one to the short-duration class. Dust is modeled using the average extinction curves of the Milky Way and the two Magellanic Clouds. We derive the rest-frame extinction of the entire sample, which fall in the range $0 \lesssim {\it A}_{\rm V} \lesssim 1.2$. Moreover, the SMC extinction curve is the preferred extinction curve template for the majority of our sample, a result which is in agreement with those commonly observed in GRB lines-of-sights. In one analysed case (GRB 120119A), the common extinction curve templates fail to reproduce the observed extinction. To illustrate the advantage of using the high-quality X-shooter afterglow SEDs over the photometric SEDs, we repeat the modeling using the broadband SEDs with the NIR-to-UV photometric measurements instead of the spectra. The main result is that the spectroscopic data, thanks to a combination of excellent resolution and coverage of the blue part of the SED, are more successful in constraining the extinction curves and therefore the dust properties in GRB hosts with respect to photometric measurements. In all cases but one the extinction curve of one template is preferred over the others. We show that the modeled values of the extinction and the spectral slope, obtained through spectroscopic and photometric SED analysis, can differ significantly for individual events. Finally we stress that, regardless of the resolution of the optical-to-NIR data, the SED modeling gives reliable results only when the fit is performed on a SED covering a broader spectral region.
We investigate the fraction of metal nuclei in the relativistic jets of gamma-ray bursts associated with core-collapse supernovae. We simulate the fallback in jet-induced explosions with two-dimensional relativistic hydrodynamics calculations and the jet acceleration with steady, radial, relativistic magnetohydrodynamics calculations, and derive detail nuclear composition of the jet by postprocessing calculation. We found that if the temperature at the jet launch site is above $4.7\times 10^9$K, quasi-statistical equilibrium (QSE) is established and heavy nuclei are dissociated to light particles such as $^4$He during the acceleration of the jets. The criterion for the survival of metal nuclei is written in terms of the isotropic jet luminosity as $L_{\rm j}^{\rm iso} \lesssim 3.9\times 10^{50}(R_{\rm i}/10^7{\rm cm})^2 (1+\sigma_{\rm i})~{\rm erg~s^{-1}}$, where $R_{\rm i}$ and $\sigma_{\rm i}$ are the initial radius of the jets and the initial magnetization parameter, respectively. If the jet is initially dominated by radiation field (i.e., $\sigma_{\rm i} \ll 1$) and the isotropic luminosity is relatively high ($L_{\rm j}^{\rm iso}\gtrsim 4\times 10^{52}~{\rm erg s^{-1}}$), the metal nuclei cannot survive in the jet. On the other hand, if the jet is mainly accelerated by magnetic field (i.e., $\sigma_{\rm i} \gg1$), metal nuclei initially contained in the jet can survive without serious dissociation even for the case of high luminosity jet. If the jet contains metal nuclei, the dominant nuclei are $^{28}$Si, $^{16}$O, and $^{32}$S and the mean mass number can be $\langle$A$\rangle\sim25$.
The Kepler space mission provided near-continuous and high-precision photometry of about 207,000 stars, which can be used for asteroseismology. However, for successful seismic modelling it is equally important to have accurate stellar physical parameters. Therefore, supplementary ground-based data are needed. We report the results of the analysis of high-resolution spectroscopic data of A- and F-type stars from the Kepler field, which were obtained with the HERMES spectrograph on the Mercator telescope. We determined spectral types, atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances for a sample of 117 stars. Hydrogen Balmer, Fe I, and Fe II lines were used to derive effective temperatures, surface gravities, and microturbulent velocities. We determined chemical abundances and projected rotational velocities using a spectrum synthesis technique. The atmospheric parameters obtained were compared with those from the Kepler Input Catalogue (KIC), confirming that the KIC effective temperatures are underestimated for A stars. Effective temperatures calculated by spectral energy distribution fitting are in good agreement with those determined from the spectral line analysis. The analysed sample comprises stars with approximately solar chemical abundances, as well as chemically peculiar stars of the Am, Ap, and Lambda Boo types. The distribution of the projected rotational velocity, Vsini, is typical for A and F stars and ranges from 8 to about 280 km/s, with a mean of 134 km/s.
The time evolution of the equation of state $w$ for quintessence models with a scalar field as dark energy is studied up to the third derivative ($d^3w/da^3$) with respect to scale factor $a$, in order to predict the future observations and specify the scalar potential parameters with the observables. The third derivative of $w$ for general potential $V$ was derived and applied to several types of potential. They are the inverse power-law ($V=M^{4+\alpha}/Q^{\alpha}$), exponential ($V=M^4\exp{(\beta M/Q)}$), mixed ( $V=M^{4+\gamma}\exp{(\beta M/Q)}/Q^{\gamma}$), cosine ($V=M^4(\cos (Q/f)+1)$) and the Gaussian types ($V=M^4\exp(-Q^2/\sigma^2)$), which are prototypical potentials for the freezing and thawing models. If the parameter number for a potential form is $ n$, it is necessary to find at least for $n+2$ independent observations to identify the potential form and the evolution of scalar field ($Q$ and $ \dot{Q} $). Such observations would be the values of $ \Omega_Q, w, dw/da. \cdots $, and $ dw^n/da^n$. From these specific potentials, we could predict the $ n+1 $ and higher derivative of $w$ ; $ dw^{n+1}/da^{n+1}, \cdots$. Since four of the above mentioned potentials have two parameters, it is necessary to calculate the third derivative of $w$ for them to estimate the predict values. If they are tested observationally, it will be understood whether the dark energy could be described by the scalar field with this potential. At least it will satisfy the necessary conditions.
A family of spherical halo models with flat circular velocity curves is presented. This includes models in which the rotation curve has a finite central value but declines outwards (like the Jaffe model). It includes models in which the rotation curve is rising in the inner parts, but flattens asymptotically (like the Binney model). The family encompasses models with both finite and singular (cuspy) density profiles. The self-consistent distribution function depending on binding energy $E$ and angular momentum $L$ is derived and the kinematical properties of the models discussed. These really describe the properties of the total matter (both luminous and dark). For comparison with observations, it is better to consider tracer populations of stars. These can be used to represent elliptical galaxies or the spheroidal components of spiral galaxies. Accordingly, we study the properties of tracers with power-law or Einasto profiles moving in the doubloon potential. Under the assumption of spherical alignment, we provide a simple way to solve the Jeans equations for the velocity dispersions. This choice of alignment is supported by observations on the stellar halo of the Milky Way. Power-law tracers have prolate spheroidal velocity ellipsoids everywhere. However, this is not the case for Einasto tracers, for which the velocity ellipsoids change from prolate to oblate spheroidal near the pole. Asymptotic forms of the velocity distributions close to the escape speed are also derived, with an eye to application to the high velocity stars in the Milky Way. Power-law tracers have power-law or Maxwellian velocity distributions tails, whereas Einasto tracers have super-exponential cut-offs.
[Abridged] Fullerenes have been recently detected in various circumstellar and interstellar environments, raising the question of their formation pathway. It has been proposed that they can form by the photo-chemical processing of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Following our previous work on the evolution of PAHs in the NGC 7023 reflection nebula, we evaluate, using photochemical modeling, the possibility that the PAH C$_{66}$H$_{20}$ (i.e. circumovalene) can lead to the formation of C$_{60}$ upon irradiation by ultraviolet photons. The chemical pathway involves full dehydrogenation, folding into a floppy closed cage and shrinking of the cage by loss of C$_2$ units until it reaches the symmetric C$_{60}$ molecule. At 10" from the illuminating star and with realistic molecular parameters, the model predicts that 100\% of C$_{66}$H$_{20}$ is converted into C$_{60}$ in $\sim$ 10$^5$ years, a timescale comparable to the age of the nebula. Shrinking appears to be the kinetically limiting step of the whole process. Hence, PAHs larger than C$_{66}$H$_{20}$ are unlikely to contribute significantly to the formation of C$_{60}$, while PAHs containing between 60 and 66 C atoms should contribute to the formation of C$_{60}$ with shorter timescales, and PAHs containing less than 60 C atoms will be destroyed. Assuming a classical size distribution for the PAH precursors, our model predicts absolute abundances of C$_{60}$ are up to several $10^{-4}$ of the elemental carbon, i.e. less than a percent of the typical interstellar PAH abundance, which is consistent with observational studies. According to our model, once formed, C$_{60}$ can survive much longer than other fullerenes because of the remarkable stability of the \cs molecule at high internal energies.Hence, a natural consequence is that \cs is more abundant than other fullerenes in highly irradiated environments.
Magnetic fields are one of the most important drivers of the highly dynamic processes that occur in the lower solar atmosphere. They span a broad range of sizes, from large- and intermediate-scale structures such as sunspots, pores and magnetic knots, down to the smallest magnetic elements observable with current telescopes. On small scales, magnetic flux tubes are often visible as Magnetic Bright Points (MBPs). Apart from simple $V/I$ magnetograms, the most common method to deduce their magnetic properties is the inversion of spectropolarimetric data. Here we employ the SIR code for that purpose. SIR is a well-established tool that can derive not only the magnetic field vector and other atmospheric parameters (e.g., temperature, line-of-sight velocity), but also their stratifications with height, effectively producing 3-dimensional models of the lower solar atmosphere. In order to enhance the runtime performance and the usability of SIR we parallelized the existing code and standardized the input and output formats. This and other improvements make it feasible to invert extensive high-resolution data sets within a reasonable amount of computing time. An evaluation of the speedup of the parallel SIR code shows a substantial improvement in runtime.
Near-infrared adaptive optics imaging of Uranus by the Keck 2 telescope during 2003 and 2004 has revealed numerous discrete cloud features, 70 of which were used to extend the zonal wind profile of Uranus up to 60\deg N. We confirmed the presence of a north-south asymmetry in the circulation (Karkoschka, Science 111, 570-572, 1998), and improved its characterization. We found no clear indication of long term change in wind speed between 1986 and 2004, although results of Hammel et al. (2001, Icarus 153, 229-235) based on 2001 HST and Keck observations average ~10 m/s less westward than earlier and later results, and 2003 observations by Hammel et al. (2005, Icarus 175, 534-545) show increased wind speeds near 45\deg N, which we don't see in our 2003-2004 observations. We observed a wide range of lifetimes for discrete cloud features: some features evolve within ~1 hour, many have persisted at least one month, and one feature near 34\deg S (termed S34) seems to have persisted for nearly two decades, a conclusion derived with the help of Voyager 2 and HST observations. S34 oscillates in latitude between 32\deg S and 36.5\deg S, with a period of $\sim$1000 days, which may be a result of a non-barotropic Rossby wave. It also varied its longitudinal drift rate between -20\deg /day and -31\deg /day in approximate accord with the latitudinal gradient in the zonal wind profile, exhibiting behavior similar to that of the DS2 feature observed on Neptune (Sromovsky et al., Icarus 105, 110-141, 1993). S34 also exhibits a superimposed rapid oscillation with an amplitude of 0.57\deg in latitude and period of 0.7 days, which is approximately consistent with an inertial oscillation.
We investigate the plausibility of detecting X-ray emission from a stellar jet that impacts against a dense molecular cloud. This scenario may be usual for classical T Tauri stars with jets in dense star-forming complexes. We first model the impact of a jet against a dense cloud by 2D axisymmetric hydrodynamic simulations, exploring different configurations of the ambient environment. Then, we compare our results with XMM-Newton observations of the Herbig-Haro object HH 248, where extended X-ray emission aligned with the optical knots is detected at the edge of the nearby IC 434 cloud. Our simulations show that a jet can produce plasma with temperatures up to 10 MK, consistent with production of X-ray emission, after impacting a dense cloud. We find that jets denser than the ambient medium but less dense than the cloud produce detectable X-ray emission only at the impact onto the cloud. From the exploration of the model parameter space, we constrain the physical conditions (jet density and velocity, cloud density) that reproduce well the intrinsic luminosity and emission measure of the X-ray source possibly associated with HH 248. Thus, we suggest that the extended X-ray source close to HH 248 corresponds to the jet impacting on a dense cloud.
We give new constraints on small-scale non-Gaussianity of primordial curvature perturbations by the use of anisotropies in acoustic reheating. Mixing of local thermal or local kinetic equilibrium systems with different temperatures yields a locally averaged temperature rise, which is proportional to the square of temperature perturbations damping in the photon diffusion scale. Such secondary temperature perturbations are indistinguishable from the standard temperature perturbations linearly coming from primordial curvature perturbations and hence should be subdominant compared to the standard ones. We show that small-scale higher order correlation functions (connected non-Gaussian and disconnected Gaussian parts) of primordial curvature perturbations can be probed by investigating auto power spectrum of the generated secondary perturbations and the cross power spectrum with the standard perturbations. This is simply because these power spectra come from higher order correlation functions of primordial curvature perturbations with non-linear parameters such as $f_{\rm NL}$ and $\tau_{\rm NL}$ since secondary temperature perturbations are second order effects. Thus, the observational results $l(l+1)C^{TT}_l\simeq 6\times 10^{-10}$ at large scales give a robust and universal upper bound on small-scale non-Gaussianities of primordial curvature perturbations.
This report describes the 2014 study by the Science Definition Team (SDT) of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission. It is a space observatory that will addresses the most compelling scientific problems in dark energy, exoplanets and general astrophysics using a 2.4m telescope with a wide-field infrared instrument and an optical coronagraph. The Astro2010 Decadal Survey recommended a Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope as its top priority for a new large space mission. As conceived by the decadal survey, WFIRST would carry out a dark energy science program, a microlensing program to determine the demographics of exoplanets, and a general observing program utilizing its ultra wide field. In October 2012, NASA chartered a Science Definition Team (SDT) to produce, in collaboration with the WFIRST Study Office at GSFC and the Program Office at JPL, a Design Reference Mission (DRM) for an implementation of WFIRST using one of the 2.4-m, Hubble-quality telescope assemblies recently made available to NASA. This DRM builds on the work of the earlier WFIRST SDT, reported by Green et al. (2012) and the previous WFIRST-2.4 DRM, reported by Spergel et. (2013). The 2.4-m primary mirror enables a mission with greater sensitivity and higher angular resolution than the 1.3-m and 1.1-m designs considered previously, increasing both the science return of the primary surveys and the capabilities of WFIRST as a Guest Observer facility. The addition of an on-axis coronagraphic instrument to the baseline design enables imaging and spectroscopic studies of planets around nearby stars.
We present new homogeneous measurements of Na, Al and three alpha-elements (Mg, Si, Ca) for 75 Galactic Cepheids. The abundances are based on high spectral resolution (R ~ 38,000) and high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ~ 50-300) spectra collected with UVES at ESO VLT. The current measurements were complemented with Cepheid abundances either provided by our group (75) or available in the literature, for a total of 439 Galactic Cepheids. Special attention was given in providing a homogeneous abundance scale for these five elements plus iron (Genovali et al. 2013, 2014). In addition, accurate Galactocentric distances (RG) based on near-infrared photometry are also available for all the Cepheids in the sample (Genovali et al. 2014). They cover a large fraction of the Galactic thin disk (4.1 <= RG <= 18.4 kpc). We found that the above five elements display well defined linear radial gradients and modest standard deviations over the entire range of RG. Moreover, the [element/Fe] abundance ratios are constant across the entire thin disk; only the Ca radial distribution shows marginal evidence of a positive slope. These results indicate that the chemical enrichment history of iron and of the quoted five elements has been quite similar across the four quadrants of the Galactic thin disk. The [element/Fe] ratios are also constant over the entire period range. This empirical evidence indicates that the chemical enrichment of Galactic Cepheids has also been very homogenous during the range in age that they cover (~10-300 Myr). Once again, [Ca/Fe] vs. log(P) shows a (negative) gradient, being underabundant among youngest Cepheids. Finally, we also found that Cepheid abundances agree quite well with similar abundances for thin and thick disk dwarf stars and they follow the typical Mg-Al and Na-O correlations.
The geometry and physics of the spiral structure of the giant Hubble type Sc
galaxy NGC 309 is studied. A schematic of two patterns with three arms in each
is suggested for the blue spiral. The red and blue patterns form together a
grand design with two-fold symmetry. A possible gas-dynamics explanation of the
phenomenon is suggested which shows how the two-arm red spiral may induce the
formation of the six-arm coherent blue spiral.
Key words: galaxies: individual (NGC 309) -- galaxies: spiral
A time projection chamber (TPC) can be used to measure the polarization of gamma rays with excellent angular precision and sensitivity in the MeV-GeV energy range through the conversion of photons to e+e- pairs. The Hermetic ARgon POlarimeter (HARPO) prototype was built to demonstrate this concept. It was recently tested in the polarized photon beam at the NewSUBARU facility in Japan. We present this data-taking run, which demonstrated the excellent performance of the HARPO TPC.
We present an ultrafast opacity calculator for application to exoplanetary atmospheres, which we name HELIOS-K. It takes a line list as an input, computes the shape of each spectral line (e.g., a Voigt profile) and provides an option for grouping an enormous number of lines into a manageable number of bins. We implement a combination of Algorithm 916 and Gauss-Hermite quadrature to compute the Voigt profile, write the code in CUDA and optimise the computation for graphics processing units (GPUs). We use the k-distribution method to reduce $\sim 10^5$ to $10^8$ lines to $\sim 10$ to $10^4$ wavenumber bins, which may then be used for radiative transfer, atmospheric retrieval and general circulation models. We demonstrate that the resampling of the k-distribution function, within each bin, is an insignificant source of error across a broad range of wavenumbers and column masses. By contrast, the choice of line-wing cutoff for the Voigt profile is a significant source of error and affects the value of the computed flux by $\sim 10\%$. This is an outstanding physical (rather than computational) problem, due to our incomplete knowledge of pressure broadening of spectral lines in the far line wings. We emphasize that this problem remains regardless of whether one performs line-by-line calculations or uses the k-distribution method and affects all calculations of exoplanetary atmospheres requiring the use of wavelength-dependent opacities. We provide a checklist for reviewing radiative transfer and retrieval studies that require computations of the opacity function. Using a NVIDIA K20 GPU, HELIOS-K is capable of computing an opacity function with $\sim 10^5$ spectral lines in $\sim 1$ second and is publicly available as part of the Exoclimes Simulation Platform (ESP; www.exoclime.org).
Magnetars are fascinating objects that are thought to be neutron stars powered by their strong internal magnetic fields. Clear evidence of a sudden spin-down was detected in the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar AXP 1E 2259+586, an object cataloged as a magnetar. This event received the name "anti-glitch". In this work we present a simple internal mechanism which could account for the observed sudden spin-down of the star.
We aim at contributing to the resolution of three of the fundamental puzzles related to the still unsolved problem of the structure of the dense core of compact stars (CS): (i) the hyperon puzzle: how to reconcile pulsar masses of $2\,$M$_\odot$ with the hyperon softening of the equation of state (EoS); (ii) the masquerade problem: modern EoS for cold, high density hadronic and quark matter are almost identical; and (iii) the reconfinement puzzle: what to do when after a deconfinement transition the hadronic EoS becomes favorable again? We show that taking into account the compositeness of baryons (by excluded volume and/or quark Pauli blocking) on the hadronic side and confining and stiffening effects on the quark matter side results in an early phase transition to quark matter with sufficient stiffening at high densities which removes all three present-day puzzles of CS interiors. Moreover, in this new class of EoS for hybrid CS falls the interesting case of a strong first order phase transition which results in the observable high mass twin star phenomenon, an astrophysical observation of a critical endpoint in the QCD phase diagram.
Theoretical and observational cosmology have enjoyed a number of significant successes over the last two decades. Cosmic microwave background measurements from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and Planck, together with large-scale structure and supernova (SN) searches, have put very tight constraints on cosmological parameters. Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) played a central role in the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the Universe, recognised by the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011. The last decade has seen an enormous increase in the amount of high quality SN observations, with SN catalogues now containing hundreds of objects. This number is expected to increase to thousands in the next few years, as data from next-generation missions, such as the Dark Energy Survey and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope become available. In order to exploit the vast amount of forthcoming high quality data, it is extremely important to develop robust and efficient statistical analysis methods to answer cosmological questions, most notably determining the nature of dark energy. To address these problems my work is based on nested-sampling approaches to parameter estimation and model selection and neural networks for machine-learning. Using advanced Bayesian techniques, I constrain the properties of dark-matter haloes along the SN lines-of-sight via their weak gravitational lensing effects, develop methods for classifying SNe photometrically from their lightcurves, and present results on more general issues associated with constraining cosmological parameters and testing the consistency of different SN compilations.
Magnetic flux emergence into the outer layers of the Sun is a fundamental mechanism for releasing energy into the chromosphere and the corona. In this paper, we study the emergence of granular-sized flux concentrations and the structuring of the corresponding physical parameters and atmospheric diagnostics in the upper photo- sphere and in the chromosphere. We make use of a realistic 3D MHD simulation of the outer layers of the Sun to study the formation of the Ca II 8542 line. We also derive semi-empirical 3D models from non-LTE inversions of our observations. These models contain depth-dependent information of the temperature and line-of-sight stratification. Our analysis explains the peculiar Ca II 8542 profiles observed in the flux-emerging region. In addition, we derive detailed temperature and velocity maps describing the ascent of magnetic bubbles from the photosphere to the chromosphere. The inversions suggest that, in active regions, granular-sized bubbles emerge up to the lower chromosphere where the existing large-scale field hinders their ascent. We report hints of heating when the field reaches the chromosphere.
The relativistic plasma jets from a misaligned black hole-accretion disk system will not be axially symmetric. Here we analyze nonaxisymmetric, stationary, translation invariant jets in the force-free approximation where the field energy dominates the particle energy. We derive a stream equation for these configurations involving the flux function $\psi$ for the transverse magnetic field, the linear velocity $v(\psi)$ of field lines along the jet, and the longitudinal magnetic field $B_z(\psi)$. The equations can be completely solved when $|v|=1$, and when $|v|<1$ the problem can be reduced to the pure magnetic case $v=0$ by a "field line dependent boost". We also find a large class of time-dependent, nonaxisymmetric solutions. We consider a novel type of jet that has vanishing electromagnetic pressure $\tfrac{1}{2}(B^2-E^2)$ and requires no external pressure for confinement. We prove that such self-confinement is impossible when $B^2>E^2$. Finally, we write down specific solutions approximating numerical results for the nonaxisymmetric jet produced by a spinning black hole in an external, misaligned magnetic field.
In this paper, we apply a method identified by Puerari & Dottori (1997) to find the corotation radii (CR) in spiral galaxies. We apply our method to 57 galaxies, 17 of which have already have their CR locations determined using other methods. The method we adopted entails taking Fourier transforms along radial cuts in the u, g, r, i, and z wavebands and comparing the phase angles as a function of radius between them. The radius at which the phase angles cross indicates the location of the corotation radius. We then calculated the relative bar pattern speed, $\mathcal{R}$, and classified the bar as "fast", where $\mathcal{R} < 1.4$, slow, where $\mathcal{R} \geq 1.4$, or intermediate, where the errors on $\mathcal{R}$ are consistent with the bar being "slow" or "fast". For the 17 galaxies that had their CR locations previously measured, we found that our results were consistent with the values of $\mathcal{R}$ obtained by the computer simulations of Rautiainen, Salo & Laurikainen (2008). For the larger sample, our results indicate that 34 out of 57 galaxies (~60%) have fast bars. We discuss these results in the context of its implications for dark matter concentrations in disk galaxies. We also discuss these results in the context of different models for spiral structure in disk galaxies.
Data assimilation procedures have been developed for thermospheric models using satellite density measurements as part of the EU Framework Package 7 ATMOP Project. Two models were studied; one a general circulation model, TIEGCM, and the other a semi-empirical drag temperature model, DTM. Results of runs using data assimilation with these models were compared with independent density observations from CHAMP and GRACE satellites throughout solar cycles 23 and 24. Time periods of 60 days were examined at solar minimum and maximum, including the 2003 Hallowe'en storms. The differences between the physical and the semi-empirical models have been characterised. Results indicate that both models tend to show similar behaviour; underestimating densities at solar maximum, and overestimating them at solar minimum. DTM performed better at solar minimum, with both models less accurate at solar maximum. A mean improvement of ~4% was found using data assimilation with TIEGCM. With further improvements, the use of general circulation models in operational space weather forecasting (in addition to empirical methods currently used) is plausible. Future work will allow near-real-time assimilation of thermospheric data for improved forecasting.
The idea that black holes (BHs) result in highly excited states representing both the "hydrogen atom" and the "quasi-thermal emission" in quantum gravity is today an intuitive but general conviction. In this paper it will be shown that such an intuitive picture is more than a picture. In fact, we will discuss a model of quantum BH somewhat similar to the historical semi-classical model of the structure of a hydrogen atom introduced by Bohr in 1913. The model is completely consistent with existing results in the literature, starting from the celebrated result of Bekenstein on the area quantization.
In the framework of the MSSM, we examine several simplified models where only a few superpartners are light. This allows us to study WIMP-nucleus scattering in terms of a handful of MSSM parameters and thereby scrutinize their impact on dark matter direct-detection experiments. Focusing on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering, we derive simplified, analytic expressions for the Wilson coefficients associated with Higgs and squark exchange. We utilize these results to study the complementarity of constraints due to direct-detection, flavor, and collider experiments. We also identify parameter configurations that produce (almost) vanishing cross sections. In the proximity of these so-called blind spots, the amount of isospin violation is found to be much larger than typically expected in the MSSM. This feature is a generic property of parameter regions where cross sections are suppressed, and highlights the importance of a careful analysis of the nucleon couplings and the associated hadronic uncertainties. This becomes especially relevant once the increased sensitivity of future direct-detection experiments corners the MSSM into these regions of parameter space.
We consider a simplifed model for self-induced flavor conversions of a dense neutrino gas in two dimensions, showing new solutions that spontaneously break the spatial symmetries of the initial conditions. As a result of the symmetry breaking induced by the neutrino-neutrino interactions, the coherent behavior of the neutrino gas becomes unstable. This instability produces large spatial variations in the flavor content of the ensemble. Furthermore, it also leads to the creation of domains of different net lepton number flux. The transition of the neutrino gas from a coherent to incoherent behavior shows an intriguing analogy with a streaming flow changing from laminar to turbulent regime. These finding would be relevant for the self-induced conversions of neutrinos streaming-off a supernova core.
We calculate finite-temperature corrections to the decay rate of a generic neutral (pseudo)scalar particle that decays into (pseudo)scalars or fermion-antifermion pairs. The ratio of the finite-temperature decay rate to the zero-temperature decay rate is presented. Thermal effects are largest in the limit where the decaying particle is nonrelativistic but with a mass well below the background temperature, but significant effects are possible even when we relax the former assumption. We discuss cosmological scenarios under which these conditions can be achieved.
A unique test of general relativity is possible with the space radio telescope RadioAstron. The ultra-stable on-board hydrogen maser frequency standard and the highly eccentric orbit make RadioAstron an ideal instrument for probing the gravitational redshift effect. Large gravitational potential variation, occurring on the time scale of $\sim$24 hr, causes large variation of the on-board H-maser clock rate, which can be detected via comparison with frequency standards installed at various ground radio astronomical observatories. The experiment requires specific on-board hardware operating modes and support from ground radio telescopes capable of tracking the spacecraft continuously and equipped with 8.4 or 15 GHz receivers. Our preliminary estimates show that $\sim$30 hr of the space radio telescope's observational time are required to reach $\sim 2\times10^{-5}$ accuracy in the test, which would constitute a factor of 10 improvement over the currently achieved best result.
The gamma-ray excess observed by the Fermi-LAT in the Galactic Center can be interpreted by the dark matter annihilation to $b\bar{b}$ via a light pseudoscalar in the NMSSM. It is interesting to note that the corresponding singlet scalar is useful to achieve a strongly first order phase transition required by the electroweak baryogenesis. In this paper, we investigate the possibility that the NMSSM model can simultaneously accommodate these two issues. The phase transition strength can be characterized by the vacua energy gap at zero temperature and be sufficiently enhanced by the tree-level effect in the NMSSM. We find that the annihilation of Singlino/Higgsino DM particles occurring close to the light pseudoscalar resonance is favored by the galactic center excess and the observed DM relic density, and a resulting small $\kappa/\lambda$ and a negative $A_\kappa$ can also lead to a successful strongly first order electroweak phase transition.
In this work, we present a study of a purely kinetic k-essence model, characterized basically by a parameter $\alpha$ in presence of a bulk dissipative term, whose relationship between viscous pressure $\Pi$ and energy density $\rho$ of the background follows a polytropic type law $\Pi \propto \rho^{\lambda+1/2}$, where $\lambda$, in principle, is a parameter without restrictions. Analytical solutions for the energy density of the k-essence field are found in two specific cases: $\lambda=1/2$ and $\lambda=(1-\alpha)/2\alpha$, and then we show that these solutions posses the same functional form than the non-viscous counterpart. Finally, both approach are contrasted with observational data from type Ia supernova, and the most recent Hubble parameter measurements, and therefore, the best values for the parameters of the theory are founds.
We compute the cosmological power spectrum in a non-commutative space-time using a canonical approach. The power spectrum is computed at leading order in the non-commutative parameter \theta^{\mu\nu} and in the spatial separation (x'-x)^{i}. We obtain an anisotropic dipolar imaginary primordial power spectrum of the form which was recently anticipated in the literature on the basis of the observed dipole modulation in CMBR data.
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