The capture of a compact object in a galactic nucleus by a massive black hole (MBH) is the best way to map space and time around it. It is well established that the event rate of stars kicked directly through the horizon (referred to as direct plunges) is much larger than the gradual inspiral due to the emission of gravitational waves. We prove that it is actually very difficult to get a compact object such a stellar black hole to be swallowed whole. A plunge will most likely be deflected into an EMRI orbit. They are simply very eccentric EMRIs and dominate the event rate. Moreover, if the central MBH is spinning, the net result on the rates is an enhancement, on both kinds of EMRIs. On the other hand, recent work on stellar dynamics has demonstrated that there seems to be a conspiracy in phase space, since rates decrease significantly by the presence of a blockade in the rate at which orbital angular momenta change takes place. This so-called "Schwarzschild barrier" is a result of the impact of relativistic precession on to the stellar potential torques and was first investigated by Merritt and collaborators. We confirm and quantify the existence of this barrier using a statistical sample of 2,500 direct-summation N-body simulations using both a post-Newtonian but also, and for the first time in a direct-summation integrator, a geodesic approximation for the relativistic orbits. Although the existence of the barrier prevents "traditional EMRIs" (i.e. EMRIs which are not very eccentric) from approaching the central MBH, very eccentric EMRIs, wrongly classified as plunges, insolently ignore the presence of the barrier. The combinations of these effects leads to the result that very eccentric orbits will dominate the rates.
In these lectures I review observations of star-forming molecular clouds in
our Galaxy and nearby galaxies to develop a physical intuition for
understanding star formation in the local and high-redshift Universe. A lot of
this material is drawn from early work in the field since much of the work was
done two decades ago and this background is not generally available in the
present literature. I also attempt to synthesise our well-developed
understanding of star formation in low-redshift galaxies with constraints from
theory and observations at high redshift to develop an intuitive model for the
evolution of galaxy mass and luminosity functions in the early Universe.
The overall goal of this contribution is to provide students with background
helpful for analysis of far-infrared (FIR) observations from Herschel and
millimetre/submillimetre (mm/submm) imaging with ALMA (the Atacama Large
Millimetre/submillimetre Array). These two instruments will revolutionise our
understanding of the interstellar medium (ISM) and associated star formation
and galaxy evolution, both locally and in the distant Universe. To facilitate
interpreting the FIR spectra of Galactic star-forming regions and high-redshift
sources, I develop a model for the dust heating and radiative transfer in order
to elucidate the observed infrared (IR) emissions. I do this because I am not
aware of a similar coherent discussion in the literature.
QSO emission-line spectra are compared to predictions based on theoretical ionizing continua of accretion disks. Observed line intensities do not show the expected trend of higher ionization with higher accretion disk temperature as derived from the black hole mass and accretion rate. This suggests that, at least for accretion rates close to the Eddington limit, the inner disk does not reach temperatures as high as expected from standard disk theory. Modified radial temperature profiles, taking account of winds or advection in the inner disk, achieve better agreement with observation. This conclusion agrees with an earlier study of QSO continuum colors as a function of disk temperature. The emission lines of radio-detected and radio-undetected sources show different trends as a function of disk temperature.
We investigate the stochastic dynamics of the long wavelength modes of a generic light scalar field that during inflation is coupled to another scalar field. The coupling plays an important role for the fluctuation of the field amplitude and may block its initial growth. We find that such a blocking is avoided, albeit only temporarily, if the light scalar has an initial non-vanishing expectation value <\phi> larger than a certain critical value, for which we provide an estimate. We also show that the field fluctuations will eventually reach an equilibrium amplitude provided inflation is sufficiently long-lasting. We present a novel, general expression for the variance <\phi^2> that takes into account the coupling of the massless field and describes the growth during the epoch of quasi-free fluctuations as well as the late-time approach to the equilibrium.
The goal of the present study is to establish the physical origin of dust heating and emission based on radiation transfer models, which self-consistently connect the emission components from diffuse dust and the dust in massive star forming regions. NGC 4214 is a nearby dwarf galaxy with a large set of ancillary data, ranging from the ultraviolet (UV) to radio, including maps from SPITZER, HERSCHEL and detections from PLANCK. We mapped this galaxy with MAMBO at 1.2 mm at the IRAM 30 m telescope. We extract separate dust emission components for the HII regions (plus their associated PDRs on pc scales) and for the diffuse dust (on kpc scales). We analyse the full UV to FIR/submm SED of the galaxy using a radiation transfer model which self-consistently treats the dust emission from diffuse and SF complexes components, considering the illumination of diffuse dust both by the distributed stellar populations, and by escaping light from the HII regions. While maintaining consistency with the framework of this model we additionally use a model that provides a detailed description of the dust emission from the HII regions and their surrounding PDRs on pc scales. Due to the large amount of available data and previous studies for NGC 4214 very few free parameters remained in the model fitting process. We achieve a satisfactory fit for the emission from HII+PDR regions on pc scales, with the exception of the emission at 8\mi, which is underpredicted by the model. For the diffuse emission we achieve a good fit if we assume that about 30-70% of the emission escaping the HII+PDR regions is able to leave the galaxy without passing through a diffuse ISM, which is not an unlikely scenario for a dwarf galaxy which has recently undergone a nuclear starburst. We determine a dust-to-gas mass ratio of 350-390 which is close to the expected value based on the metallicity.
We report on an analysis of new Chandra data of the galaxy group HCG 62, well known for possessing cavities in its intragroup medium (IGM) that were inflated by the radio lobes of its central active galactic nucleus (AGN). With the new data, a factor of three deeper than previous Chandra data, we re-examine the energetics of the cavities and determine new constraints on their contents. We confirm that the ratio of radiative to mechanical power of the AGN outburst that created the cavities is less than 10^-4, among the lowest of any known cavity system, implying that the relativistic electrons in the lobes can supply only a tiny fraction of the pressure required to support the cavities. This finding implies additional pressure support in the lobes from heavy particles (e.g., protons) or thermal gas. Using spectral fits to emission in the cavities, we constrain any such volume-filling thermal gas to have a temperature kT > 4.3 keV. For the first time, we detect X-ray emission from the central AGN, with a luminosity of L(2-10 keV) = (1.1 +/- 0.4) x 10^39 erg s^-1 and properties typical of a low-luminosity AGN. Lastly, we report evidence for a recent merger from the surface brightness, temperature, and metallicity structure of the IGM.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed X-ray bubbles in the intracluster medium (ICM) of many nearby cooling flow clusters. The bubbles trace feedback that is thought to couple the central active galactic nucleus (AGN) to the ICM, helping to stabilize cooling flows and govern the evolution of massive galaxies. However, the prevalence and duty cycle of such AGN outbursts is not well understood. To this end, we study how cooling is balanced by bubble heating for complete samples of clusters (the Brightest 55 clusters of galaxies, hereafter B55, and the HIghest X-ray FLUx Galaxy Cluster Sample, HIFLUGCS). We find that the radio luminosity of the central galaxy only exceeds 2.5 x 10^30 erg s^-1 Hz^-1 in cooling flow clusters. This result implies a connection between the central radio source and the ICM, as expected if AGN feedback is operating. Additionally, we find a duty cycle for radio mode feedback, the fraction of time that a system possesses bubbles inflated by its central radio source, of > 69 per cent for B55 and > 63 per cent for HIFLUGCS. These duty cycles are lower limits since some bubbles are likely missed in existing images. We used simulations to constrain the bubble power that might be present and remain undetected in the cooling flow systems without detected bubbles. Among theses systems, almost all could have significant bubble power. Therefore, our results imply that the duty cycle of AGN outbursts with the potential to heat the gas significantly in cooling flow clusters is at least 60 per cent and could approach 100 per cent.
Recent progress on Baade-Wesselink (BW)-type techniques to determine the distances to classical Cepheids is reviewed. Particular emphasis is placed on the near-infrared surface-brightness (IRSB) version of the BW method. Its most recent calibration is described and shown to be capable of yielding individual Cepheid distances accurate to 6%, including systematic uncertainties. Cepheid distances from the IRSB method are compared to those determined from open cluster zero-age main-sequence fitting for Cepheids located in Galactic open clusters, yielding excellent agreement between the IRSB and cluster Cepheid distance scales. Results for the Cepheid period-luminosity (PL) relation in near-infrared and optical bands based on IRSB distances and the question of the universality of the Cepheid PL relation are discussed. Results from other implementations of the BW method are compared to the IRSB distance scale and possible reasons for discrepancies are identified.
Future measurements of the Sandage-Loeb signal will be crucial to probe the so called "redshift desert", thus providing a new tool for cosmological studies. In this paper we quantify the ability of a future measurement of the Sandage-Loeb signal by a CODEX-like spectrograph to constrain a phenomenological parametrization of dynamical dark energy, specifically by obtaining constraints on $w_0$ and $w_a$. We also demonstrate that if used alongside CMB data, the Sandage-Loeb measurements will be able to break degeneracies between expansion parameters, thus greatly improving cosmological constraints.
Features in the primordial scalar power spectrum provide a possible roadway to describe the outliers at the low multipoles in the WMAP data. Apart from the CMB angular power spectrum, these features can also alter the matter power spectrum and, thereby, the formation of the large scale structure. Carrying out a complete numerical analysis, we investigate the effects of primordial features on the formation rates of the halos. We consider a few different inflationary models that lead to features in the scalar power spectrum and an improved fit to the CMB data, and analyze the corresponding imprints on the formation of halos. Performing a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis with the WMAP seven year data and the SDSS halo power spectrum from LRG DR7 for the models of our interest, we arrive at the parameter space of the models allowed by the data. We illustrate that, inflationary potentials, such as the quadratic potential with sinusoidal modulations and the axion monodromy model, which generate certain repeated, oscillatory features in the inflationary perturbation spectrum, do not induce substantial difference in the number density of halos at their best fit values, when compared with, say, a nearly scale invariant spectrum as is generated by the standard quadratic potential. However, we find that the number density and the formation rates of halos change by about 20 - 30% for halo masses ranging over 10^{4} - 10^{14} solar mass, for potential parameters that lie within 2-sigma around the best fit values arrived at from the aforesaid joint constraints. We briefly discuss the implications of our results.
About 30-40 percent of the expected number of baryons is still missing in the
local Universe (z \lesssim 0.4). They are predicted to be hiding in a web of
intergalactic gas at temperatures of about 10^5-10^7 K (the WHIM). Detecting
this matter has had limited success so far, because of its low-density and high
temperature, which makes it difficult to detect with current far-ultraviolet
and X-ray instrumentation.
Here we present the first results from our pilot 500 ks Chandra-LETG
observation of the soft X-ray brightest source in the z > 0.4 sky, the blazar
1ES 1553+113. We identify a total of 11 possible absorption lines, with
single-line statistical significances between 2.2-4.1 sigma. Six of these lines
are detected at high significance (3.6 < \sigma < 4.1), while the remaining
five are regarded as marginal detections in association with either other X-ray
lines detected at higher significance and/or FUV signposts. Three of these
lines are consistent with metal absorption at z~0. The remaining 8 lines may be
imprinted by intervening absorbers and are all consistent with being
high-ionization counterparts of FUV HI and/or OVI IGM signposts. In particular,
four of these eight absorption lines (4.1\sigma, 4.1\sigma, 3.8\sigma and
2.7\sigma), are identified as CV and CVI absorbers belonging to two WHIM
systems at z_X = 0.312 and z_X = 0.133, which also produce broad HI and OVI
absorption in the FUV. The true statistical significances of these two X-ray
absorption systems, after properly accounting for the number of redshift
trials, are 5.8\sigma and 3.8\sigma.
Models for the latest stages of the cosmological evolution rely on a less solid theoretical and observational ground than the description of earlier stages like BBN and recombination. As suggested in a previous work by Vonlanthen et al., it is possible to tweak the analysis of CMB data in such way to avoid making assumptions on the late evolution, and obtain robust constraints on "early cosmology parameters". We extend this method in order to marginalise the results over CMB lensing contamination, and present updated results based on recent CMB data. Our constraints on the minimal early cosmology model are weaker than in a standard LCDM analysis, but do not conflict with this model. Besides, we obtain conservative bounds on the effective neutrino number and neutrino mass, showing no hints for extra relativistic degrees of freedom, and proving in a robust way that neutrinos experienced their non-relativistic transition after the time of photon decoupling. This analysis is also an occasion to describe the main features of the new parameter inference code Monte Python, that we release together with this paper. Monte Python is a user-friendly alternative to other public codes like ComsoMC, interfaced with the Boltzmann code class.
Emission from X-ray binaries (XRBs) is known to be a major component of the total X-ray luminosity of normal galaxies, so X-ray studies of high redshift galaxies allow us to probe the formation and evolution of X-ray binaries on very long timescales (10 Gyr). In this paper, we present results from large-scale population synthesis models of binary populations in galaxies from z = 0 to 20. We use as input into our modeling the Millennium II Cosmological Simulation and the updated semi-analytic galaxy catalog by Guo et al. (2011) to self-consistently account for the star formation history (SFH) and metallicity evolution of each galaxy. We run a grid of 192 models, varying all the parameters known from previous studies to affect the evolution of XRBs. We use the results from each model, along with observationally derived prescriptions for hot gas emission, to calculate the integrated X-ray luminosity of each galaxy in the catalog and create galaxy X-ray luminosity functions (XLFs) for several redshift bins. We compare our models with observed galaxy XLFs from Tzanavaris & Georgantopoulos (2008) and find that some of our models are able to reproduce their overall shape, normalization, and evolution. We use the results from our highest likelihood model to track the evolution of the normal galaxy X-ray luminosity density out to z = 4 and find that its evolution is driven largely by XRBs in galaxies with X-ray luminosities between 1e40 and 1e41 erg/s.
Our aim in this work is to answer, using simulated narrow-band photometry
data, the following general question: What can we learn about galaxies from
these new generation cosmological surveys? For instance, can we estimate
stellar age and metallicity distributions? Can we separate star-forming
galaxies from AGN? Can we measure emission lines, nebular abundances and
extinction? With what precision?
To accomplish this, we selected a sample of about 300k galaxies with good S/N
from the SDSS and divided them in two groups: 200k objects and a template
library of 100k. We corrected the spectra to $z = 0$ and converted them to
filter fluxes. Using a statistical approach, we calculated a Probability
Distribution Function (PDF) for each property of each object and the library.
Since we have the properties of all the data from the {\sc starlight}-SDSS
database, we could compare them with the results obtained from summaries of the
PDF (mean, median, etc).
Our results shows that we retrieve the weighted average of the log of the
galaxy age with a good error margin ($\sigma \approx 0.1 - 0.2$ dex), and
similarly for the physical properties such as mass-to-light ratio, mean stellar
metallicity, etc. Furthermore, our main result is that we can derive emission
line intensities and ratios with similar precision. This makes this method
unique in comparison to the other methods on the market to analyze photometry
data and shows that, from the point of view of galaxy studies, future
photometric surveys will be much more useful than anticipated.
We present a measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature power spectrum using data from the recently completed South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. This measurement is made from observations of 2540 deg^2 of sky with arcminute resolution at 150 GHz, and improves upon previous measurements using the SPT by tripling the sky area. We report CMB temperature anisotropy power over the multipole range 650<\ell<3000. We fit the SPT bandpowers, combined with the results from the seven-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP7) data release, with a six-parameter LCDM cosmological model and find that the two datasets are consistent and well fit by the model. Adding SPT measurements significantly improves LCDM parameter constraints, and in particular tightens the constraint on the angular sound horizon \theta_s by a factor of 2.7. The impact of gravitational lensing on the CMB power spectrum is detected with 8.1 \sigma, the most significant detection to date. The inferred amplitude of the lensing spectrum is consistent with the LCDM prediction. This sensitivity of the SPT+WMAP7 data to lensing by large-scale structure at low redshifts allows us to constrain the mean curvature of the observable universe with CMB data alone to be \Omega_K=-0.003+0.014-0.018. Using the SPT+WMAP7 data, we measure the spectral index of scalar fluctuations to be ns=0.9623+/-0.0097 in the LCDM model, a 3.9 \sigma preference for a scale-dependent spectrum with ns<1. The SPT measurement of the CMB damping tail helps break the degeneracy that exists between the tensor-to-scalar ratio r and ns in large-scale CMB measurements, leading to an upper limit of r<0.18 (95% C.L.) in the LCDM+r model. Adding low-redshift measurements of the Hubble constant ($H_0$) and the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature ...[abridged]
We study the properties of the diffuse gamma-ray background around the Galactic plane at energies 20 -- 200 GeV. We find that the spectrum of this emission possesses significant spacial variations with respect to the average smooth component. The positions and shapes of these spectral features change with the direction on the sky. We therefore argue, that the spectral feature around 130 GeV, found in several regions around the Galactic Center and in the Galactic plane in [1203.1312, 1204.2797, 1205.1045, 1206.1616], can not be interpreted with confidence as a gamma-ray line, but may be a component of the diffuse background and can be of instrumental or astrophysical origin. Therefore, the dark matter origin of this spectral feature becomes dubious.
We investigate the spatially-resolved star formation relation using a galactic disk formed in a comprehensive high-resolution (3.8 pc) simulation. Our new implementation of stellar feedback includes ionizing radiation as well as supernova explosions, and we handle ionizing radiation by solving the radiative transfer equation rather than by a subgrid model. Photoheating by stellar radiation stabilizes gas against Jeans fragmentation, reducing the star formation rate. Because we have self-consistently calculated the location of ionized gas, we for the first time are able to make spatially-resolved mock observations of star formation tracers, such as H-alpha emission. We can also observe how stellar feedback manifests itself in the correlation between ionized and molecular gas. Applying our techniques to the disk in a galactic halo of 2.3e11 Msun, we find that the correlation between star formation rate density (estimated from mock H-alpha emission) and molecular hydrogen density shows large scatter, especially at high resolutions of <~ 75 pc that are comparable to the size of giant molecular clouds (GMCs). This is because an aperture of GMC size captures only particular stages of GMC evolution. By examining the evolving environment around star clusters, we demonstrate that the breakdown of the traditional star formation laws of the Kennicutt-Schmidt type at small scales results from a combination of stars drifting from their birthplaces, and molecular clouds being dispersed via ionizing radiation and supernova feedback.
Quasars with a high redshift (z) are important to understand the evolution processes of galaxies in the early universe. However only a few of these distant objects are known to this date. The costs of building and operating a 10-metre class telescope limit the number of facilities and, thus, the available observation time. Therefore an efficient selection of candidates is mandatory. This paper presents a new approach to select quasar candidates with high redshift (z>4.8) based on photometric catalogues. We have chosen to use the z>4.8 limit for our approach because the dominant Lyman alpha emission line of a quasar can only be found in the Sloan i and z-band filters. As part of the candidate selection approach, a photometric redshift estimator is presented, too. Three of the 120,000 generated candidates have been spectroscopically analysed in follow-up observations and a new z=5.0 quasar was found. This result is consistent with the estimated detection ratio of about 50 per cent and we expect 60,000 high-redshift quasars to be part of our candidate sample. The created candidates are available for download at MNRAS or at this http URL
We discuss the possibility that dark matter axions form a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) due to the gravitational self-interactions. The formation of BEC occurs in the condensed regime, where the transition rate between different momentum states is large compared to the energy exchanged in the transition. The time evolution of the quantum state occupation number of axions in the condensed regime is derived based on the in-in formalism. We recover the expression for the thermalization rate due to self-interaction of the axion field, which was obtained in the other literature. It is also found that the leading order contributions for interactions between axions and other species vanish, which implies that the axion BEC does not give any significant modifications on standard cosmological parameters.
Generation of the curvature perturbation is calculated when the modulation is implemented in the generalized curvaton mechanism, in which the curvaton may not scale like matter. We first consider the slow-roll curvaton scenario with/without modulation at the end of the slow-roll, where the curvaton and the modulation share the same source of the perturbation. We calculate the non-linearity parameter using the non-linear formalism, which is the first exact analytical calculation of the non-Gaussianity created by the slow-roll curvaton. Unlike the conventional curvaton mechanism, in which $f_{NL}$ can become large but arbitrary, our result shows that $f_{NL}\sim O(10)$ is natural in the typical inflating curvaton scenario. Our calculation is also valid in the conventional modulation that is usually caused by an extra light field, in which the curvaton and the modulation may have the individual (separable) source of the perturbations. For the separable perturbations we consider the simplest multi-field inflation.
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We present deep Keck/LRIS spectroscopy and HST/WFC3 imaging in the rest-frame optical for a sample of eight galaxies at z~1.5 with high photometrically-determined stellar masses. The data are combined with VLT/XShooter spectra of five galaxies from van de Sande et al. (2011, 2012 to be submitted). We find that these thirteen galaxies have high velocity dispersions, with a median of sigma=301 km s^{-1}. This high value is consistent with their relatively high stellar masses and compact sizes. We study their stellar populations using the strength of Balmer absorption lines, which are not sensitive to dust absorption. We find a large range in Balmer absorption strength, with many galaxies showing very strong lines indicating young ages. The median Hdelta_A equivalent width, determined directly or inferred from the H10 line, is 5.4 Angstroms, indicating a luminosity-weighted age of ~1 Gyr. Although this value may be biased towards higher values because of selection effects,high-dispersion galaxies with such young ages are extremely rare in the local Universe. Interestingly we do not find a simple correlation with rest-frame U-V color: some of the reddest galaxies have very strong Balmer absorption lines. These results demonstrate that many high-dispersion galaxies at z~1.5 were quenched recently. This implies that there must be a population of star-forming progenitors at z~2 with high velocity dispersions or linewidths, which are notoriously absent from CO/Halpha selected surveys.
Identifying the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave (GW) sources detected by upcoming networks of advanced ground-based interferometers will be challenging due in part to the large number of unrelated astrophysical transients within the ~10-100 square degree sky localizations. A potential way to greatly reduce the number of such false positives is to limit detailed follow-up to only those candidates near galaxies within the GW sensitivity range of ~200 Mpc for binary neutron star mergers. Such a strategy is currently hindered by the fact that galaxy catalogs are grossly incomplete within this volume. Here we compare two methods for completing the local galaxy catalog: (1) a narrow-band H-alpha imaging survey; and (2) an HI emission line radio survey. Using H-alpha fluxes, stellar masses (M_star), and star formation rates (SFR) from galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), combined with HI data from the GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey and the Herschel Reference Survey, we estimate that a H-alpha survey with a luminosity sensitivity of L_H-alpha = 1e40 erg/s at 200 Mpc could achieve a completeness of f_SFR ~ 75% with respect to total SFR, but only f_Mstar ~ 33% with respect to stellar mass (due to lack of sensitivity to early-type galaxies). These numbers are significantly lower than those achieved by an idealized spectroscopic survey due to the loss of H-alpha flux resulting from resolving out nearby galaxies and the inability to correct for the underlying stellar continuum. An HI survey with sensitivity similar to the proposed WALLABY survey on ASKAP could achieve f_SFR ~ 80% and f_Mstar ~ 50%, somewhat higher than that of the H-alpha survey. Finally, both H-alpha and HI surveys should achieve > 50% completeness with respect to the host galaxies of short duration gamma-ray bursts, which may trace the population of binary neutron star mergers.
The total anisotropy of a diffuse background composed of two or more sources, such as the Fermi-LAT--measured gamma-ray background, is set by the anisotropy of each source population and the contribution of each population to the total intensity. The total anisotropy as a function of energy (the anisotropy energy spectrum) will modulate as the relative contributions of the sources change, implying that the anisotropy energy spectrum also encodes the intensity spectrum of each source class. We develop techniques, applicable to any such diffuse background, for unraveling the intensity spectrum of each component source population given a measurement of the total intensity spectrum and the total anisotropy energy spectrum, without introducing \emph{a priori} assumptions about the spectra of the source classes. We demonstrate the potential of these methods by applying them to example scenarios for the composition of the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray background consistent with current data and feasible within 10 years of observation.
We assess evolution in the black hole mass - stellar velocity dispersion relationship (M-sigma relationship) for quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 for the redshift range 0.1 < z < 1.2. We estimate the black hole mass using the "photoionization method," with the broad Hbeta or Mg II emission line and the quasar continuum luminosity. For the stellar velocity dispersion, we use the narrow [O III] or [O II] emission line as a surrogate. This study is a follow-up to an earlier study in which we investigated evolution in the M-sigma relationship in quasars from Data Release 3. The greatly increased number of quasars in our new sample has allowed us to break our lower-redshift subsample into black hole mass bins and probe the M-sigma relationship for constant black hole mass. The M-sigma relationship for the highest-mass (log M > 9 solar masses) and lowest-mass (log M < 7.5 solar masses) black holes appears to evolve significantly, however most or all of this apparent evolution can be accounted for by various observational biases due to intrinsic scatter in the relationship and to uncertainties in observed quantities. The M-sigma relationship for black holes in the middle mass range (7.5 < log M < 9 solar masses) shows minimal change with redshift. The overall results suggest a limit of +/- 0.2 dex on any evolution in the M-sigma relationship for quasars out to z ~ 1 compared with the relationship observed in the local universe. Intrinsic scatter may also provide a plausible way to reconcile the wide range of results of several different studies of the black hole - galaxy relationships.
We perform a Fisher matrix analysis to forecast the capability of ongoing and future Sunyaev-Zeldovich cluster surveys in constraining the deviations from Gaussian distribution of primordial density perturbations. We use the constraining power of the cluster number counts and clustering properties to forecast limits on the $\fnl$ parameter. The primordial non-Gaussianity effects on the mass function and halo bias are considered. We adopt self-calibration for the mass-observable scaling relation, and evaluate constraints for the SPT, Planck, CCAT--like, SPTPol and ACTPol surveys. We show that the scale-dependence of halo bias induced by the local NG provides strong constraints on $\fnl$, while the results from number count are two orders of magnitude worse. When combining information from number counts and power spectrum, the \planck\ cluster catalog provides the tightest constraint with $\sigma_{\fnl}=7$ (68% C.L.) even for relatively conservative assumptions on the expected cluster yields and systematics. This value is a factor of 2 smaller than the $1\sigma$ error as measured by WMAP CMB measurements, and comparable to what expected from Planck. We find that the results are mildly sensitive to the mass threshold of the surveys, but strongly depend on the survey coverage: a full-sky survey like Planck is more favorable because it can probe longer wavelengths modes which are most sensitive to NG effects. In addition, the constraints are largely insensitive to priors on nuisance parameters as they are mainly driven by the power spectrum probe which has a mild dependence on the mass-observable relations.
We present new photometric observations of Supernova (SN) 2003ie starting one month before discovery, obtained serendipitously while observing its host galaxy. With only a weak upper limit derived on the mass of its progenitor (<25 M_sun) from pre-explosion studies, this event could be a potential exception to the "red supergiant (RSG) problem" (the lack of high mass RSGs exploding as Type IIP supernovae). However, this is true only if SN2003ie was a Type IP event, something which has never been determined. Using recently derived core collapse SN light curve templates, as well as by comparison to other known SNe, we find that SN2003ie was indeed a likely Type IIP event. However, it is found to be a member of the faint Type IIP class. Previous members of this class have been shown to arise from relatively low mass progenitors (<12 M_sun). It therefore seems unlikely that this SN had a massive RSG progenitor. The use of core collapse SN light curve templates is shown to be helpful in classifying SNe with sparse coverage. These templates are likely to become more robust as large homogeneous samples of core collapse events are collected.
Accurate knowledge of the effect of feedback from galaxy formation on the matter distribution is a key requirement for future weak lensing experiments. Recent studies using hydrodynamic simulations have shown that different baryonic feedback scenarios lead to significantly different two-point shear statistics. In this paper we extend earlier work to three-point shear statistics. We show that, relative to the predictions of dark matter only models, the amplitude of the signal can be reduced by as much as 30-40% on scales of a few arcminutes. As is the case for two-point shear tomography, the interpretation of three-point shear statistics with dark matter only models is therefore plagued by a strong bias. However, we find that baryonic feedback affects two- and three-point shear statistics differently and demonstrate that this can be used to assess the fidelity of various feedback models. In particular, upcoming surveys such as Euclid can discriminate between different feedback models by measuring both second- and third-order shear statistics. Because it will likely remain impossible to predict baryonic feedback with high accuracy from first principles, we argue in favour of phenomenological models that can capture the relevant effects of baryonic feedback processes in addition to changes in cosmology. We construct such a model by modifying the standard (dark matter only) halo model to characterise the generic effects of energetic feedback using a small number of parameters. We demonstrate that weak lensing surveys such as Euclid may be able to mitigate the effects of baryonic processes, such as outflows driven by feedback from star formation and AGN, by marginalising over the feedback parameters.
If torsion exists, it generates gravitational four-fermion interaction (GFFI). This interaction gets dominating on the Planck scale. If one confines to the regular, axial-axial part of this interaction, the results do not comply with the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmology for the spatial flat or closed Universe. In principle, the anomalous, vector-vector interaction could restore the agreement.
Large-amplitude asymptotic giant branch variables potentially rival Cepheid variables as fundamental calibrators of the distance scale, particularly if observations are made in the infrared, or where there is substantial interstellar obscuration. They are particularly useful for probing somewhat older populations, such as those found in dwarf spheroidal galaxies, elliptical galaxies or in the halos of spirals. Calibration data from the Galaxy and new observations of various Local Group galaxies are described and the outlook for the future, with a calibration from Gaia and observations from the next generation of infrared telescopes, is discussed.
Mild, unavoidable deviations from circular-symmetry of instrumental beams in
current Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments now pose a significant
challenge to deriving high precision inferences from the high sensitivity and
resolution of CMB measurements. We present analytic results, verified by
numerical simulations, that CMB maps of cosmological signal that respect
underlying statistical isotropy (SI) symmetry, measured with an instrument that
has mildly non-circular (NC) beam would, nevertheless, exhibit SI violation.
Further, we show that appropriate observable measures constructed within the
Bipolar spherical harmonic (BipoSH) representation of SI violation capture
subtle NC-beam effects coupled with the scan strategy of the instrument.
Accompanying their latest 7-year data release, the WMAP team published very
high significance measurements of non-zero BipoSH spectra, A^{20}_{l l} and
A^{20}_{l-2 l}, in the "W" and "V" band of the experiment. We present a strong
case that the BipoSH measurement are primarily explained by the quadrupolar
(m=2) component of the NC-beams, b_{l2}, of the respective channels. The fact
that subtle levels of non-circularity, e.g., WMAP beams |b_{l2}|/b_{l0} < 0.01,
lead to measurable BipoSH spectra points to the immense promise and potential
of the BipoSH representation. The key result of this work is that using BipoSH
measurements it is possible to estimate an equivalent single hit,'parallel
transported' effective NC-beam that matches both the angular power spectrum and
the non-zero BipoSH measurements of the observed maps. Hence, BipoSH analysis
provides a very simple and effective characterization of CMB maps made with
NC-beam. (Abridged)
[abridged] With their long mean free paths and efficient heating of the intergalactic medium (IGM), X-rays could have a dramatic impact on the thermal and ionization history of the Universe. We explore this in various signals: (i) Reionization history: including X-rays results in an earlier, more extended reionization. Efficient thermal feedback from X-ray heating could yield an extended, ~10% ionized epoch. (ii) Reionization morphology: a sizable (~10%) contribution of X-rays to reionization results in a more uniform morphology, though the impact is modest when compared at the same global neutral fraction, xH. However, changes in morphology cannot be countered by increasing the bias of the ionizing sources, making them a robust signature. (iii) The kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect: at a fixed reionization history, X-rays decrease the kSZ power at l=3000 by ~0.5 microK^2. Our extreme model in which X-rays dominate reionization is the only one that is marginally consistent with upper limits from the South Pole Telescope, assuming no thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) - dusty galaxy correlation. Since this extreme model is unlikely, we conclude that there should be a sizable tSZ-dusty galaxy signal. (iv) The cosmic 21cm signal: the impact of X-rays on the 21cm power spectrum during the advanced stages of reionization (xH<0.8) is modest, except in extreme, X-ray dominated models. The largest impact of X-rays is to govern IGM heating. In fact, unless thermal feedback is efficient, the epoch of X-ray heating likely overlaps with the beginning of reionization (xH>0.9). This results in a 21cm power spectrum which is ~ 10-100 times higher than obtained from naive estimates ignoring this overlap. However, if thermal feedback is efficient, the resulting extended epoch between X-ray heating and reionization could provide a clean probe of the matter power spectrum in emission.
In this paper, we continue to study a unified dark fluid model with a constant adiabatic sound speed but with the entropic perturbations. When the entropic perturbations are included, an effective sound speed, which reduces to the adiabatic sound speed when the entropic perturbations are zero, has to be specified as an additional free model parameter. Due to the relations between the adiabatic sound speed and equations of state (EoS) $c^2_{s,ad}(a)=w(a)-d\ln(1+w(a))/3 d\ln a$, the equation of state can be determined up to an integration constant in principle when an adiabatic sound speed is given. Then there are two degrees of freedom to describe the linear perturbations for a fluid. Its micro-scale properties are characterized by its EoS or adiabatic sound speed and an effective sound speed. We take the effective sound speed and adiabatic sound speed as free model parameters and then use the currently available cosmic observational data sets, which include type Ia supernova Union 2.1, baryon acoustic oscillation and WMAP 7-year data of cosmic background radiation, to constrain the possible entropic perturbations and the adiabatic sound speed via the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. The results show that the cosmic observations favor a small effective sound speed $c^2_{s,eff}=0.00155_{- 0.00155- 0.00155- 0.00155}^{+ 0.000319+ 0.00241+ 0.00493}$ in $1,2,3\sigma$ regions. It means that a UDF model with small entropy perturbation is favored but the pure adiabatic case is not ruled out.
We explore a range of chemical evolution models for the Local Group dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy, Carina. A novel aspect of our work is the removal of the star formation history (SFH) as a `free parameter' in the modeling, making use, instead, of its colour-magnitude diagram (CMD)-constrained SFH. By varying the relative roles of galactic winds, re-accretion, and ram-pressure stripping within the modeling, we converge on a favoured scenario which emphasises the respective roles of winds and re-accretion. While our model is successful in recovering most elemental abundance patterns, comparable success is not found for all the neutron capture elements. Neglecting the effects of stripping results in predicted gas fractions approximately two orders of magnitude too high, relative to that observed.
Realistic models of high-energy physics include multiple scalar fields. Renormalization requires that the fields have nonminimal couplings to the spacetime Ricci curvature scalar, and the couplings can be large at the energy scales of early-universe inflation. The nonminimal couplings induce a nontrivial field-space manifold in the Einstein frame, and they also yield an effective potential in the Einstein frame with nontrivial curvature. The ridges or bumps in the Einstein-frame potential can lead to primordial non-Gaussianities of observable magnitude. We develop a covariant formalism to study perturbations in such models and calculate the primordial bispectrum. As in previous studies of non-Gaussianities in multifield models, our results for the bispectrum depend sensitively on the fields' initial conditions.
We present the Seyfert and star formation Activity in the Far-InfraRed (SAFIR) project, a small (15.1h) Herschel guaranteed time proposal performing PACS and SPIRE imaging of a small sample of nearby Seyfert galaxies. This project is aimed at studying the physical nature of the nuclear IR emission by means of multi-component spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting and the star formation properties of AGN hosts, as traced by cold dust. We summarize the results achieved so far and outline the on-going work.
In order to investigate possibilities to measure non-Gaussian signatures of the non-linear iSW effect, we study in this work the family of mixed bispectra <tau^q gamma^(3-q)> and trispectra <tau^q gamma^(4-q)> between the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (iSW) temperature perturbation tau and the galaxy over-density gamma. We use standard Eulerian perturbation theory restricted to tree level expansion for predicting the cosmic matter field. As expected, the spectra are found to decrease in amplitude with increasing q. The transition scale between linear domination and the scales, on which non-linearities take over, moves to larger scales with increasing number of included iSW source fields q. We derive the cumulative signal-to-noise ratios for a combination of Planck CMB data and the galaxy sample of a Euclid-like survey. Including scales down to l_max = 1000 we find sobering values of sigma = 0.83 for the mixed bispectrum and sigma = 0.19 in case of the trispectrum for q=1. For higher values of q the polyspectra <tau^2 gamma> and <tau^3 gamma> are found to be far below the detection limit.
In the lead-up to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, several next-generation radio telescopes and upgrades are already being built around the world. These include APERTIF (The Netherlands), ASKAP (Australia), eMERLIN (UK), VLA (USA), e-EVN (based in Europe), LOFAR (The Netherlands), Meerkat (South Africa), and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). Each of these new instruments has different strengths, and coordination of surveys between them can help maximise the science from each of them. A radio continuum survey is being planned on each of them with the primary science objective of understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies over cosmic time, and the cosmological parameters and large-scale structures which drive it. In pursuit of this objective, the different teams are developing a variety of new techniques, and refining existing ones. Here we describe these projects, their science goals, and the technical challenges which are being addressed to maximise the science return.
We present results from a 140 ks Chandra/ACIS-S observation of the hot gas around the canonical FR I radio galaxy 3C 449. An earlier, shorter 30 ks Chandra observation of the group gas showed an unusual entropy distribution and a surface brightness edge in the gas that could be a strong shock around the inner radio lobes. In our deeper data we find no evidence for a temperature increase inside of the brightness edge, but a temperature decrease across part of the edge. This suggests that the edge is a "sloshing" cold front due to a merger within the last ~1.3-1.6 Gyrs. Both the northern and the southern inner jets are bent slightly to the west in projection as they enter their respective lobes, suggesting that the sloshing core is moving to the east. The straight inner jet flares at approximately the position where it crosses the contact edge, suggesting that the jet is entraining and thermalizing some of the hot gas as it crosses the edge. We also detect filaments of X-ray emission around the southern inner radio jet and lobe which we attribute to low entropy entrained gas. The lobe flaring and gas entrainment were originally predicted in simulations of Loken et al. (1995) and are confirmed in our deep observation.
We performed GMRT low frequency observations of the radio halos, relics and new candidates belonging to the GMRT Radio Halo Cluster Sample first observed at 610 MHz. High sensitivity imaging was performed using the GMRT at 325 MHz and 240 MHz. The properties of the diffuse emission in each cluster were compared to our 610 MHz images and/or literature information available at other frequencies, in order to derive the integrated spectra over a wide frequency range.Beyond the classical radio halos, whose spectral index $\alpha$ is in the range $\sim1.2\div1.3$ (S$\propto\nu^{-\alpha}$), we found sources with $\alpha\sim1.6\div1.9$. This result supports the idea that the spectra of the radiating particles in radio halos is not universal, and that inefficient mechanisms of particle acceleration are responsible for their origin. We also found a variety of brightness distributions, i.e. centrally peaked as well as clumpy halos. Even though the thermal and relativistic plasma tend to occupy the same cluster volume, in some cases a positional shift between the radio and X-ray peaks of emission is evident. Our observations also revealed the existence of diffuse cluster sources which cannot be easily classified either as halos or relics. New candidate relics were found in A1300 and in A1682, and in some clusters "bridges" of radio emission have been detected, connecting the relic and radio halo emission. Combining our new data with literature information, we derived the LogL$_{\rm X}$-LogP$_{\rm 325 MHz}$ correlation for radio halos, and investigated the possible trend of the spectral index of radio halos with the temperature of the intracluster medium.
We are entering an era where progress in cosmology is driven by data, and alternative models will have to be compared and ruled out according to some consistent criterium. The most conservative and widely used approach is Bayesian model comparison. In this paper we explicitly calculate the Bayes factors for all models that are linear with respect to their parameters. We do this in order to test the so called Jeffreys' scale and determine analytically how accurate its predictions are in a simple case where we fully understand and can calculate everything analytically. We also discuss the case of nested models, e.g. one with $M_1$ and another with $M_2\supset M_1$ parameters and we derive analytic expressions for both the Bayes factor and the Figure of Merit, defined as the inverse area of the model parameter's confidence contours. With all this machinery and the use of an explicit example we demonstrate that the threshold nature of Jeffreys' scale is not a "one size fits all" reliable tool for model comparison and that it may lead to biased conclusions. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of choosing the right basis in the context of models that are linear with respect to their parameters and how that basis affects the parameter estimation and the derived constraints.
Time delays of gravitationally lensed sources can be used to constrain the mass model of a deflector and determine cosmological parameters. We here present an analysis of the time-delay distribution of multiply imaged sources behind 17 strong lensing galaxy clusters with well-calibrated mass models. We find that for time delays less than 1000 days, at z=3.0, their logarithmic probability distribution functions are well represented by P (log \Delta t)=5.3 x 10^-4 \Delta t^\beta M_250^-2\beta, with \beta=0.77, where M_250 is the projected cluster mass inside 250 kpc (in 10^14 M_sun), and \beta is the power-law slope of the distribution. The resultant probability distribution function enables us to estimate the time-delay distribution in a lensing cluster of known mass. For a cluster with M_250=2 x 10^14 M_sun, the fraction of time delays less than 1000 days is approximately 3%. Taking Abell 1689 as an example, its dark halo and brightest galaxies, with central velocity dispersions larger than 500 km/s, mainly produce large time delays, while galaxy-scale mass clumps are responsible for generating smaller time delays. We estimate the probability of observing multiple images of a supernova in the known images of Abell 1689. A two-component model of estimating the supernova rate is applied in this work. For a magnitude threshold of m_AB=26.5, the yearly rate of Type Ia (core-collapse) supernovae with time delays less than 1000 days is 0.004 +- 0.002 (0.029 +- 0.001). If the magnitude threshold is lowered to m_AB ~ 27.0, the rate of core-collapse supernovae suitable for time delay observation is 0.044 +- 0.015 per year.
The first half of this paper explores the origin of systematic biases in the
measurement of weak gravitational lensing. Compared to previous work, we expand
the investigation of PSF instability and fold in for the first time the effects
of non-idealities in electronic imaging detectors and imperfect galaxy shape
measurement algorithms. Together, these now explain the additive A(l) and
multiplicative M(l) systematics typically reported in current lensing
measurements. We find that overall performance is driven by a product of a
telescope/camera's *absolute performance*, and our *knowledge about its
performance*.
The second half of this paper propagates any residual shear measurement
biases through to their effect on cosmological parameter constraints. Fully
exploiting the statistical power of Stage IV weak lensing surveys will require
additive biases A<1.8e-12 and multiplicative biases M<4.0e-3. These can be
allocated between individual budgets in hardware, calibration data and
software, using results from the first half of the paper.
If instrumentation is stable and well-calibrated, we find extant shear
measurement software from GREAT10 already meet requirements on galaxies
detected at S/N=40. Averaging over a population of galaxies with a realistic
distribution of sizes, it also meets requirements for a 2D cosmic shear
analysis from space. If used on fainter galaxies or for 3D cosmic shear
tomography, existing algorithms would need calibration on simulations to avoid
introducing bias at a level similar to the statistical error. Requirements on
hardware and calibration data are discussed in more detail in a companion
paper. Our analysis is intentionally general, but is specifically being used to
drive the hardware and ground segment performance budget for the design of the
European Space Agency's recently-selected Euclid mission.
Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) remain a Dark Matter (DM) candidate of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Previously, we proposed a new method of constraining the remaining PBH DM mass range using microlensing of stars monitored by NASA's Kepler mission. We improve this analysis using a more accurate treatment of the population of the Kepler source stars, their variability and limb-darkening. We extend the theoretically detectable PBH DM mass range down to $2\times10^{-10} M_\sun$, two orders of magnitude below current limits and one third order of magnitude below our previous estimate. We address how to extract the DM properties such as mass and spatial distribution if PBH microlensing events were detected. We correct an error in a well-known finite-source limb-darkening microlensing formula and also examine the effects of varying the light curve cadence on PBH DM detectability. We also introduce an approximation for estimating the predicted rate of detection per star as a function of the star's properties, thus allowing for selection of source stars in future missions, and extend our analysis to planned surveys, such as WFIRST.
The evolution of masses and sizes of passive (early-type) galaxies with redshift provides ideal constraints to galaxy formation models. These parameters can in principle be obtained for large galaxy samples from multi-band photometry alone. However the accuracy of photometric masses is limited by the non-universality of the IMF. Galaxy sizes can be biased at high redshift due to the inferior quality of the imaging data. Both problems can be avoided using galaxy dynamics, and in particular by measuring the galaxies stellar velocity dispersion. Here we provide an overview of the efforts in this direction.
The first galaxies form due to gravitational collapse of primordial halos. During this collapse, weak magnetic seed fields get amplified exponentially by the small-scale dynamo - a process converting kinetic energy from turbulence into magnetic energy. We use the Kazantsev theory, which describes the small-scale dynamo analytically, to study magnetic field amplification for different turbulent velocity correlation functions. For incompressible turbulence (Kolmogorov turbulence), we find that the growth rate is proportional to the square root of the hydrodynamic Reynolds number, Re^(1/2). In the case of highly compressible turbulence (Burgers turbulence) the growth rate increases proportional to Re^(1/3). With a detailed chemical network we are able to follow the chemical evolution and determine the kinetic and magnetic viscosities (due to Ohmic and ambipolar diffusion) during the collapse of the halo. This way, we can calculate the growth rate of the small-scale dynamo quantitatively and predict the evolution of the small-scale magnetic field. As the magnetic energy is transported to larger scales on the local eddy-timescale, we obtain an estimate for the magnetic field on the Jeans scale. Even there, we find that equipartition with the kinetic energy is reached on small timescales. Dynamically relevant field structures can thus be expected already during the formation of the first objects in the Universe.
We present 16-GHz Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations using the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) and subsequent Bayesian analysis of six galaxy clusters at redshift ($z \approx 1$) chosen from an X-ray and Infrared selected sample from Culverhouse et al. (2010). In the subsequent analysis we use two cluster models, an isothermal \beta-model and a Dark Matter GNFW (DM-GNFW) model in order to derive a formal detection probability and the cluster parameters. We detect two clusters (CLJ1415+3612 & XMJ0830+5241) and measure their total masses out to a radius of 200 $\times$ the critical density at the respective cluster's redshift. For CLJ1415+3612 and XMJ0830+5241, we find M_{\mathrm{T},200} for each model, which agree with each other for each cluster. We also present maps before and after source subtraction of the entire sample and provide 1D and 2D posterior marginalised probability distributions for each fitted cluster profile parameter of the detected clusters. Using simulations which take into account the measured source environment from the AMI Large Array (LA), source confusion noise, CMB primordials, instrument noise, we estimate from low-radius X-ray data from Culverhouse et al. (2010), the detectability of each cluster in the sample and compare it with the result from the Small Array (SA) data. Furthermore, we discuss the validity of the assumptions of isothermality and constant gas mass fraction. We comment on the bias that these small-radius estimates introduce to large-radius SZ predictions. In addition, we follow-up the two detections with deep, single-pointed LA observations. We find a 3 sigma tentative decrement toward CLJ1415+3612 at high-resolution and a 5 sigma high-resolution decrement towards XMJ0830+5241.
We use recently published measurements of the kinematics, surface brightness and stellar mass-to-light ratio of the globular cluster NGC 2419 to examine the possibility that this Galactic halo satellite is embedded in a low-mass dark matter halo. NGC 2419 is a promising target for such a study, since its extreme Galactocentric distance and large mass would have greatly facilitated the retention of dark matter. A Markov-Chain Monte Carlo approach is used to investigate composite dynamical models containing a stellar and a dark matter component. We find that it is unlikely that a significant amount of dark matter (less than approx. 6% of the luminous mass inside the tidal limit of the cluster) can be present if the stars follow an anisotropic Michie model and the dark matter a double power law model. However, we find that more general models, derived using a new technique we have developed to compute non-parametric solutions to the spherical Jeans equation, suggest the presence of a significant dark matter fraction (approximately twice the stellar mass). Thus the presence of a dark matter halo around NGC 2419 cannot be fully ruled out at present, yet any dark matter within the 10 arcmin visible extent of the cluster must be highly concentrated and cannot exceed 1.1x10^6 Solar masses (99% confidence), in stark contrast to expectations for a plausible progenitor halo of this structure.
Studying loop corrections to inflationary perturbations, with particular emphasis on infrared factors, is important to understand the consistency of the inflationary theory, its predictivity and to establish the existence of the slow-roll eternal inflation phenomena and its recently found volume bound. In this paper we show that \zeta-correlators are time-independent at large distances at all-loop level in single clock inflation. We write the n-th order correlators of \dot\zeta\ as the time-integral of Green's functions times the correlators of local sources that are function of the lower order fluctuations. The Green's functions are such that only non-vanishing correlators of the sources at late times can lead to non-vanishing correlators for \dot\zeta\ at long distances. When the sources are connected by high wavenumber modes, the correlator is peaked at short distances, and these diagrams cannot lead to a time-dependence by simple diff. invariance arguments. When the sources are connected by long wavenumber modes one can use similar arguments once the constancy of \zeta\ at lower orders was established. Therefore the conservation of \zeta\ at a given order follows from the conservation of \zeta\ at the lower orders. Since at tree-level \zeta\ is constant, this implies constancy at all-loops by induction.
The short GRB 120323A had the highest flux ever detected with the Fermi/GBM. Here we study its remarkable spectral properties and their evolution using two spectral models: (i) a single emission component scenario, where the spectrum is modeled by the empirical Band function, and (ii) a two component scenario, where thermal (Planck-like) emission is observed simultaneously with a non-thermal component (a Band function). We find that the latter model fits the integrated burst spectrum significantly better than the former, and that their respective spectral parameters are dramatically different: when fit with a Band function only, the Epeak of the event is unusually soft for a short GRB, while adding a thermal component leads to more typical short GRB values. Our time-resolved spectral analysis produces similar results. We argue here that the two-component model is the preferred interpretation for GRB 120323A, based on: (i) the values and evolution of the Band function parameters of the two component scenario, which are more typical for a short GRB, and (ii) the appearance in the data of a significant hardness-intensity correlation, commonly found in GRBs, when we employee two-component model fits; the correlation is non-existent in the Band-only fits. GRB 110721A, a long burst with an intense photospheric emission, exhibits the exact same behavior. We conclude that GRB 120323A has a strong photospheric emission contribution, first time observed in a short GRB. Magnetic dissipation models are difficult to reconcile with these results, which instead favor photospheric thermal emission and fast cooling synchrotron radiation from internal shocks. Finally, we derive a possibly universal hardness-luminosity relation in the source frame using a larger set of GRBs L,i=(1.59+/-0.84).10^50 (Epeak,i)^(1.33+/-0.07) erg/s), which could be used as a possible redshift estimator for cosmology.
In this paper we investigate large non-gaussianity in axion N-flation models, taking account while dynamically a large number of axions begin away from the hilltop region(come down from the hill) and so serve only to be the source of the Hubble rate. Therefore the single field stays closest to the hilltop sources the non-Gaussianity. In this case most of axions can be replaced by a single effective field with a quadratic potential. So our potential will contain two fields. The full cosine is responsible for the axion closest to hilltop and quadratic term which is a source for Hubble rate [4]. We obtain power spectrum, spectral index and non-gaussianity parameter, then we impose conditions from WMAP for power spectrum and spectral index and see how large on non-gaussianity parameter it is possible to achieve with such conditions. Finally we swap quadratic term to {\lambda}{\phi}^4 and see whether this makes it harder or easier to achieve large non-gaussianity.We find large non-gaussianity is achievable by imposing data from WMAP conditional on axion decay constant f has reasonable value in connection with Planck mass and by requiring number of e-folds must be bounded between 40-60.When we swap to {\lambda}{\phi}^4 we find that it is harder to achieve non-Gaussianity, because we are imposed to investigate only {\lambda}{\phi}^4 domination in consistency with WMAP data for spectral index. Although, in this case we find that large non-gaussianity is still achievable. Finally we verify imposing the condition for spectral index to be nearly one and find acceptable and detectable value for non-gaussianity typically of order of 10 and 100 depending on value of decay constant f.Swapping to {\lambda}{\phi}^4 in this case does not give us any significant relation. In this paper we consider models which can generate large non-gaussianity. We restrict ourselves to axion N-flation models.
From July 11 to July 13, 2012, Raman Research Institute (Bangalore, India) hosted the Fifth International ASTROD Symposium on Laser Astrodynamics, Space Test of Relativity and Gravitational-Wave Astronomy. This is a report on the symposium with an exposition of the outlook of direct gravitational-wave detection.
We propose a new approximated expression for non-linear Dark Matter power spectrum much beyond BAO scales. The proposed expression agrees with the result of N-body simulation with the accuracy better than 2 % up to k=1.0 [h/Mpc] and k=0.7 [h/Mpc] at z=3.0 and z=1.0, respectively. Even at z=0.35, the accuracy remains within 10 % up to k=0.8 [h/Mpc]. In doing so, we used an approximation for the kernel functions used in the Standard Perturbation Theory (SPT) which is also used to prove the Reg PT proposed by Bernardeau et al. (2011).
In this paper we investigate the perturbation theory of the asymptotically safe inflation and we find that all modes of gravitational waves perturbation become ghosts in order to achieve a large enough number of e-folds. Formally we can calculate the power spectrum of gravitational waves perturbation, but we find that it is negative. It indicates that there is serious trouble with the asymptotically safe inflation.
First, the formation of first objects driven by dark matter is revisited by high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations. It is revealed that dark matter haloes of ~10^4M_sun can produce first luminous objects with the aid of dark matter cusps. Therefore, the mass of first objects is smaller by roughly two orders of magnitude than in the previous prediction. This implies that the number of Pop III stars formed in the early universe could be significantly larger than hitherto thought. Secondly, the feedback by photo-ionization and photo-dissociation photons in the first objects is explored with radiation hydrodynamic simulations, and it is demonstrated that multiple stars can form in a 10^5M_sun halo. Thirdly, the fragmentation of an accretion disk around a primordial protostar is explored with photo-dissociation feedback. As a result, it is found that the photo-dissociation can reduce the mass accretion rate onto protostars. Also, protostars as small as 0.8M_sun may be ejected and evolve with keeping their mass, which might be detected as "real first stars" in the Galactic halo. Finally, state-of-the-art radiation hydrodynamic simulations are performed to investigate the internal ionization of first galaxies and the escape of ionizing photons. We find that UV feedback by forming massive stars enhances the escape fraction even in a halo as massive as > 6* 10^9M_sun, while it reduces the star formation rate significantly. This may have a momentous impact on the cosmic reionization.
We report the analysis of a highly magnetised neutron star in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The high mass X-ray binary pulsar Swift J045106.8-694803 has been observed with Swift X-ray telescope (XRT) in 2008, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in 2011 and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission - Newton (XMM-Newton) in 2012. The change in spin period over these four years indicates a spin-up rate of -5.01+/-0.06 s/yr, amongst the highest observed for an accreting pulsar. This spin-up rate can be accounted for using Ghosh and Lamb's (1979) accretion theory assuming it has a magnetic field of (1.2 +0.2 -0.7)x10^14 Gauss. This is over the quantum critical field value. There are very few accreting pulsars with such high surface magnetic fields and this is the first of which to be discovered in the LMC. The large spin-up rate is consistent with Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) observations which show that Swift J045106.8-694803 has had a consistently high X-ray luminosity for at least five years. Optical spectra have been used to classify the optical counterpart of Swift J045106.8-694803 as a B0-1 III-V star and a possible orbital period of 21.631+/-0.005 days has been found from MACHO optical photometry.
This paper describes the definition of a typical next-generation space-based weak gravitational lensing experiment. We first adopt a set of top-level science requirements from the literature, based on the scale and depth of the galaxy sample, and the avoidance of systematic effects in the measurements which would bias the derived shear values. We then identify and categorise the contributing factors to the systematic effects, combining them with the correct weighting, in such a way as to fit within the top-level requirements. We present techniques which permit the performance to be evaluated and explore the limits at which the contributing factors can be managed. Besides the modelling biases resulting from the use of weighted moments, the main contributing factors are the reconstruction of the instrument point spread function (PSF), which is derived from the stellar images on the image, and the correction of the charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) in the CCD detectors caused by radiation damage.
The formation of stars from gas drives the evolution of galaxies. Yet, it remains one of the hardest processes to understand when trying to connect observations of stellar and galaxy populations to models of large scale structure formation. The star formation rate at redshifts z > 2 drops off rather more quickly than was thought even five years ago. Theoretical models have tended to overpredict the star formation rate at these high redshifts substantially, primarily due to overcooling. Overcooling in galaxies typically occurs because of unphysical radiative cooling. As a result, insufficient turbulence is driven by stellar feedback. I show that such turbulence has the net effect of strongly inhibiting star formation, despite its ability to locally promote star formation by compression. Radiation pressure appears less likely to be a dominant driver of the turbulence than has been argued, but supernova and magnetorotational instabilities remain viable. Gravity alone cannot be the main driver, as otherwise well-resolved models without feedback would accurately predict star formation rates. Star formation rate surface density correlates well with observed molecular gas surface density, as well as with other tracers of high density material. Correlation does not, however, imply causation. It appears that both molecule formation and star formation occur as a consequence of gravitational collapse, with molecules not essential in cooling. The basic concept that gravitational instability drives star formation remains a true guide through the thickets of complexity surrounding this topic. I finally briefly note that understanding ionization heating and radiation pressure from the most massive stars will likely require much higher resolution models (sub-parsec scale) than resolving supernova feedback. (lightly abridged)
After a brief discussion of baryon and lepton number nonconservation, we review the status of thermal leptogenesis with GUT scale neutrino masses, as well as low scale alternatives with keV neutrinos as dark matter and heavy neutrino masses within the reach of the LHC. Recent progress towards a full quantum mechnical description of leptogenesis is described with resonant leptogenesis as an application. Finally, cosmological B-L breaking after inflation is considered as origin of the hot early universe, generating entropy, baryon asymmetry and dark matter.
We introduce Bayesian Estimation Applied to Multiple Species (BEAMS), an algorithm designed to deal with parameter estimation when using contaminated data. We present the algorithm and demonstrate how it works with the help of a Gaussian simulation. We then apply it to supernova data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), showing how the resulting confidence contours of the cosmological parameters shrink significantly.
In this paper, we prove that the superhorizon conservation of the curvature perturbation zeta in single-field inflation holds as an operator statement. This implies that all zeta-correlators are time independent at all orders in the loop expansion. Our result follows directly from locality and diffeomorphism invariance of the underlying theory. We also explore the relationship between the conservation of zeta, the single-field consistency relation and the renormalization of composite operators
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We justify the `separate universe' method for the inflationary bispectrum in a multiple-field model by deriving it from an underlying quantum field theory. We work to tree-level in quantum effects but to all orders in the slow-roll expansion, with masses accommodated perturbatively. In addition to justifying the conventional formalism, our method provides a systematic basis to account for novel sources of time-dependence. We use our result to obtain the correct matching prescription between the `quantum' and `classical' parts of the separate universe computation.
We present the results of integral-field spectroscopic observations of the two disk galaxies NGC 3593 and NGC 4550 obtained with VIMOS/VLT. Both galaxies are known to host 2 counter-rotating stellar disks, with the ionized gas co-rotating with one of them. We measured in each galaxy the ionized gas kinematics and metallicity, and the surface brightness, kinematics, mass surface density, and the stellar populations of the 2 stellar components to constrain the formation scenario of these peculiar galaxies. We applied a novel spectroscopic decomposition technique to both galaxies, to separate the relative contribution of the 2 counter-rotating stellar and one ionized-gas components to the observed spectrum. We measured the kinematics and the line strengths of the Lick indices of the 2 counter-rotating stellar components. We modeled the data of each stellar component with single stellar population models that account for the alpha/Fe overabundance. In both galaxies we successfully separated the main from the secondary stellar component that is less massive and rotates in the same direction of the ionized-gas component. The 2 stellar components have exponential surface-brightness profiles. In both galaxies, the two counter-rotating stellar components have different stellar populations: the secondary stellar disk is younger, more metal poor, and more alpha-enhanced than the main galaxy stellar disk. Our findings rule out an internal origin of the secondary stellar component and favor a scenario where it formed from gas accreted on retrograde orbits from the environment fueling an in situ outside-in rapid star formation. The event occurred ~ 2 Gyr ago in NGC 3593, and ~ 7 Gyr ago in NGC 4550. The binary galaxy merger scenario cannot be ruled out, and a larger sample is required to statistically determine which is the most efficient mechanism to build counter-rotating stellar disks (abridged).
We use a set of cosmological simulations combined with radiative transfer calculations to investigate the distribution of neutral hydrogen in the post-reionization Universe. We assess the contributions from the metagalactic ionizing background, collisional ionization and diffuse recombination radiation to the total ionization rate at redshifts z=0-5. We find that the densities above which hydrogen self-shielding becomes important are consistent with analytic calculations and previous works. However, because of diffuse recombination radiation, whose intensity peaks at the same density, the transition between highly ionized and self-shielded regions is smoother than what is usually assumed. We provide fitting functions to the simulated photoionization rate as a function of density and show that post-processing simulations with the fitted rates yields results that are in excellent agreement with the original radiative transfer calculations. The predicted neutral hydrogen column density distributions agree very well with the observations. In particular, the simulations reproduce the remarkable lack of evolution in the column density distribution of Lyman limit and weak damped Ly\alpha\ systems below z = 3. The evolution of the low column density end is affected by the increasing importance of collisional ionization with decreasing redshift. On the other hand, the simulations predict the abundance of strong damped Ly\alpha\ systems to broadly track the cosmic star formation rate density.
We study the emission by dust and stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, a pair of low-metallicity nearby galaxies, as traced by their spatially resolved spectral energy distributions (SEDs). This project combines Herschel Space Observatory PACS and SPIRE far-infrared photometry with other data at infrared and optical wavelengths. We build maps of dust and stellar luminosity and mass of both Magellanic Clouds, and analyze the spatial distribution of dust/stellar luminosity and mass ratios. These ratios vary considerably throughout the galaxies, generally between the range $0.01\leq L_{\rm dust}/L_\ast\leq 0.6$ and $10^{-4}\leq M_{\rm dust}/M_\ast\leq 4\times10^{-3}$. We observe that the dust/stellar ratios depend on the interstellar medium (ISM) environment, such as the distance from currently or previously star-forming regions, and on the intensity of the interstellar radiation field (ISRF). In addition, we construct star formation rate (SFR) maps, and find that the SFR is correlated with the dust/stellar luminosity and dust temperature in both galaxies, demonstrating the relation between star formation, dust emission and heating, though these correlations exhibit substantial scatter.
We place our sample of 18 Virgo dwarf early-type galaxies (dEs) on the V-K - velocity dispersion, Faber-Jackson, and Fundamental Plane (FP) scaling relations for massive early-type galaxies (Es). We use a generalized velocity dispersion, which includes rotation, to be able to compare the location of both rotationally and pressure supported dEs with those of early and late-type galaxies. We find that dEs seem to bend the Faber-Jackson relation of Es to lower velocity dispersions, being the link between Es and dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs). Regarding the FP relation, we find that dEs are significantly offset with respect to massive hot stellar systems, and re-casting the FP into the so-called kappa-space suggests that this offset is related to dEs having a total mass-to-light ratio higher than Es but still significantly lower than dSph galaxies. Given a stellar mass-to-light ratio based on the measured line indices of dEs, the FP offset allows us to infer that the dark matter fraction within the half light radii of dEs is on average >~ 42% (uncertainties of 17% in the K band and 20% in the V band), fully consistent with an independent estimate in an earlier paper in this series. We also find that dEs in the size-luminosity relation in the near-infrared, like in the optical, are offset from early-type galaxies, but seem to be consistent with late-type galaxies. We thus conclude that the scaling relations show that dEs are different from Es, and that they further strengthen our previous findings that dEs are closer to and likely formed from late-type galaxies.
Abridge. We have conducted a spectrophotometric study of dwarf early-type galaxies (dEs) in the Virgo cluster and in regions of lower density. We have found that these galaxies show many properties in common with late-type galaxies but not with more massive early-types (E/S0). The properties of the dEs in Virgo show gradients within the cluster. dEs in the outer parts of the Virgo cluster are kinematically supported by rotation, while those in the center are supported by the random motions of their stars (i.e. pressure supported). The rotationally supported dEs have disky isophotes and faint underlying spiral/irregular substructures, they also show younger ages than those pressure supported, which have boxy isophotes and are smooth and regular, without any substructure. We compare the position of these dEs with massive early-type galaxies in the Faber-Jackson and Fundamental Plane relations, and we find that, although there is no difference between the position of rotationally and pressure supported dEs, both deviate from the relations of massive early-type galaxies in the direction of dwarf spheroidal systems (dSphs). We have used their offset with respect to the Fundamental Plane of E/S0 galaxies to estimate their dark matter fraction. All the properties studied in this work agree with a ram pressure stripping scenario, where late-type galaxies infall into the cluster, their interaction with the intergalactic medium blows away their gas and, as a result, they are quenched in a small amount of time. However, those dEs in the center of the cluster seem to have been fully transformed leaving no trace of their possible spiral origin, thus, if that is the case, they must have experienced a more violent mechanism in combination with ram pressure stripping.
What happens to dwarf galaxies as they enter the cluster potential well is one of the main unknowns in studies of galaxy evolution. Several evidence suggests that late-type galaxies enter the cluster and are transformed to dwarf early-type galaxies (dEs). We study the Virgo cluster to understand which mechanisms are involved in this transformation. We find that the dEs in the outer parts of Virgo have rotation curves with shapes and amplitudes similar to late-type galaxies of the same luminosity. These dEs are rotationally supported, have disky isophotes, and younger ages than those dEs in the center of Virgo, which are pressure supported, often have boxy isophotes and are older. Ram pressure stripping, thus, explains the properties of the dEs located in the outskirts of Virgo. However, the dEs in the central cluster regions, which have lost their angular momentum, must have suffered a more violent transformation. A combination of ram pressure stripping and harassment is not enough to remove the rotation and the spiral/disky structures of these galaxies. We find that on the the Faber-Jackson and the Fundamental Plane relations dEs deviate from the trends of massive elliptical galaxies towards the position of dark matter dominated systems such as the dwarf spheroidal satellites of the Milky Way and M31. Both, rotationally and pressure supported dEs, however, populate the same region in these diagrams. This indicates that dEs have a non-negligible dark matter fraction within their half light radius.
Typically the fluctuations generated from a decaying field during inflation do not contribute to the large scale structures. In this paper we provide an example where it is possible for a field which slow rolls and then decays during inflation to create all the matter perturbations with a slightly red-tilted spectral index, with no isocurvature perturbations, and with a possibility of a departure from Gaussian fluctuations.
Here we present a novel N-body simulation technique that allows us to compute
ensemble statistics on a local basis, directly relating halo properties to
their environment. This is achieved by the use of an ensemble simulation in
which the otherwise independent realizations share the same fluctuations above
a given cut-off scale. This produces a constrained ensemble where the LSS is
common to all realizations while having an independent halo population. By
generating a large number of semi-independent realizations we can effectively
increase the local halo density by an arbitrary factor thus breaking the
fundamental limit of the finite halo density (for a given halo mass range)
determined by the halo mass function.
This technique allows us to compute local ensemble statistics of the
matter/halo distribution at a particular position in space, removing the
intrinsic stochasticity in the halo formation process and directly relating
halo properties to their environment. This is a major improvement over global
descriptors of the matter/halo distribution which can not resolve local
variations.
We introduce the Multum In Parvo (MIP) constrained ensemble simulation
consisting of 220 realizations of a 32 h^{-1} Mpc box with 256^3 particles
each. We illustrate the potential of the technique presented here by computing
the local mass function at several characteristic environments and along a path
from the center of a void to its border. We can study for the first time the
effect of local environment in the height, shape and characteristic mass of the
halo mass function.
We review recent developments in the theory of inflation and cosmological perturbations produced from inflation. After a brief introduction of the standard, single-field slow-roll inflation, and the curvature and tensor perturbations produced from it, we discuss possible sources of nonlinear, non-Gaussian perturbations in other models of inflation. Then we describe the so-called $\delta N$ formalism, which is a powerful tool for evaluating nonlinear curvature perturbations on super Hubble scales.
Radio galaxies are among the largest and most powerful single objects known and are found at variety of redshifts, hence they are believed to have had a significant impact on the evolving Universe. Their relativistic jets inject considerable amounts of energy into the environments in which the sources reside; thus the knowledge of the fundamental properties (such as kinetic luminosities, lifetimes and ambient gas densities) of these sources is crucial for understanding AGN feedback in galaxy clusters. In this work, we explore the intrinsic and extrinsic fundamental properties of Fanaroff-Riley II (FR II) objects through the construction of multidimensional Monte Carlo simulations which use complete, flux limited radio catalogues and semi-analytical models of FR IIs' time evolution to create artificial samples of radio galaxies. This method allows us to set better limits on the confidence intervals of the intrinsic and extrinsic fundamental parameters and to investigate the total energy produced and injected to the clusters' environments by populations of FR IIs at various cosmological epochs (0.0<z<2.0). We find the latter estimates to be strikingly robust despite the strong degeneracy between the fundamental parameters -- such a result points to a conclusive indicator of the scale of AGN feedback in clusters of galaxies.
Hierarchical galaxy formation models predict the development of elliptical galaxies through a combination of the mergers and interactions of smaller galaxies. We are carrying out a study of Early-Type Galaxies (ETGs) using GAMA multi-wavelength and Herschel-ATLAS sub- mm data to understand their intrinsic dust properties. The dust in some ETGs may be a relic of past interactions and mergers of galaxies, or may be produced within the galaxies themselves. With this large dataset we will probe the properties of the dust and its relation to host galaxy properties. This paper presents our criteria for selecting ETGs and explores the usefulness of proxies for their morphology, including optical colour, Sersic index and Concentration index. We find that a combination of criteria including r band Concentration index, ellipticity and apparent sizes is needed to select a robust sample. Optical and sub-mm parameter diagnostics are examined for the selected ETG sample, and the sub-mm data are fitted with modified Planck functions giving initial estimates for the cold dust temperatures and masses.
It is shown that a disformally coupled theory in which the gravitational sector has the Einstein-Hilbert form is equivalent to a particular DBI Galileon Lagrangian, possesing non-linear higher derivative interactions, and hence allowing for the Vainshtein effect. This Einstein frame description considerably simplifies the dynamical equations. The study of highly dense, non-relativistic environments within this description unravels the existence of a disformal screening mechanism, which represents an alternative way to investigate the Vainshtein mechanism. Disformal couplings to matter also allow the construction of Dark Energy models, which behave differently than conformally coupled ones and introduce new effects on the growth of Large Scale Structure over cosmological scales, on which the scalar force is not screened. We consider a simple Disformally Coupled Dark Matter model in detail, in which standard model particles follow geodesics of the gravitational metric and only Dark Matter is affected by the disformal scalar field. This particular model is not compatible with observations in the linearly perturbed regime. Nonetheless, disformally coupled theories offer enough freedom to construct realistic cosmological scenarios, which can be distinguished from the standard model through characteristic signatures. The use of more general disformal transformations provides even further relations between scalar-tensor theories of gravity.
Aims: We study the emission of molecular gas in 3C236, a FR II radio source at z~0.1, and search for the footprints of AGN feedback. 3C236 shows signs of a reactivation of its AGN triggered by a recent minor merger episode. Observations have also previously identified an extreme HI outflow in this source. Methods: The IRAM PdBI has been used to study the distribution and kinematics of molecular gas in 3C236 by imaging with high spatial resolution the emission of the 12CO(2-1) line in the nucleus of the galaxy. We have searched for outflow signatures in the CO map. We have also derived the SFR in 3C236 using data available from the literature at UV, optical and IR wavelengths, to determine the star-formation efficiency of molecular gas. Results: The CO emission in 3C236 comes from a spatially resolved 2.6 kpc disk with a regular rotating pattern. Within the limits imposed by the sensitivity and velocity coverage of the CO data, we do not detect any outflow signatures in the cold molecular gas. The disk has a cold gas mass M(H2)~2.1x10^9 Msun. We determine a new value for the redshift of the source zCO=0.09927. The similarity between the CO and HI profiles indicates that the deep HI absorption in 3C236 can be accounted for by a rotating HI structure, restricting the evidence of HI outflow to the most extreme velocities. In the light of the new redshift, the analysis of the ionized gas kinematics reveals a 1000 km/s outflow. As for the CO emitting gas, outflow signatures are nevertheless absent in the warm molecular gas emission traced by infrared H2 lines. The star-formation efficiency in 3C236 is consistent with the value measured in normal galaxies, which follow the canonical KS-law. This result, confirmed to hold in other young radio sources examined in this work, is in stark contrast with the factor of 10-50 lower SFE that seems to characterize evolved powerful radio galaxies.
We introduce a new method for calculating density perturbations in hybrid inflation which avoids treating the fluctuations of the "waterfall" field as if they were small perturbations about a classical trajectory. We quantize only the waterfall field, treating it as a free quantum field with a time-dependent $m^2$, which evolves from positive values to tachyonic values. Although this potential has no minimum, we think it captures the important dynamics that occurs as $m^2$ goes through zero, at which time a large spike in the density perturbations is generated. We assume that the time-delay formalism provides an accurate approximation to the density perturbations, and proceed to calculate the power spectrum of the time delay fluctuations. While the evolution of the field is linear, the time delay is a nonlinear function to which all modes contribute. Using the Gaussian probability distribution of the mode amplitudes, we express the time-delay power spectrum as an integral which can be carried out numerically. We use this method to calculate numerically the spectrum of density perturbations created in hybrid inflation models for a wide range of parameters. A characteristic of the spectrum is the appearance of a spike at small length scales, which can be used to relate the model parameters to observational data. It is conceivable that this spike could seed the formation of black holes that can evolve to become the supermassive black holes found at the centers of galaxies.
We propose a new model of slow-roll inflation in string cosmology, based on warped throat supergravity solutions displaying `walking' dynamics, i.e. the coupling constant of the dual gauge theory slowly varies over a range of energy scales. The features of the throat geometry are sourced by a rich field content, given by the dilaton and RR and NS fluxes. By considering the motion of a D3-brane probe in this geometry, we are able to analytically calculate the brane potential in a physically interesting regime. This potential has an inflection point: in its proximity we realize a model of inflation lasting sixty e-foldings, and whose robust predictions are in agreement with current observations. We are also able to interpret some of the most interesting aspects of this scenario in terms of the properties of the QFT dual theory.
The symmetron scalar field is a matter-coupled dark energy candidate which effectively decouples from matter in high-density regions through a symmetry restoration. We consider a previously unexplored regime, in which the vacuum mass $\mu \sim 10^{-3}$ eV of the symmetron is near the dark energy scale, and the matter coupling parameter $M \sim 1$ TeV is just beyond Standard Model energies. Such a field will give rise to a fifth force at submillimeter distances which can be probed by short-range gravity experiments. We show that a torsion pendulum experiment such as E\"ot-Wash can exclude symmetrons in this regime for all self-couplings $\lambda \lesssim 1$.
The giant radio galaxy M 87 is located at a distance of 16.7 Mpc and harbors a super-massive black hole (6 billion solar masses) in its center. M 87 is one of just three radio galaxies known to emit TeV gamma-rays. The structure of its relativistic plasma jet, which is not pointing towards our line of sight, is spatially resolved in X-ray (Chandra), optical and radio (VLA/VLBA) observations. The mechanism and location of the TeV emitting region is one of the least understood aspects of AGN. In spring 2008 and 2010, the three TeV observatories VERITAS, MAGIC and H.E.S.S. detected two major TeV flares in coordinated observations. Simultaneous high-resolution observations at other wavelengths - radio (2008) and X-rays (2008/2010) - gave evidence that one of the TeV flares was related to an event in the core region; however, no common/repeated patterns could be identified so far. VERITAS continued to monitor M 87 in 2011/2012. The results of these observations are presented.
Models of natural supersymmetry seek to solve the little hierarchy problem by positing a spectrum of light higgsinos \lesssim 200 GeV and light top squarks \lesssim 500 GeV along with very heavy squarks and TeV-scale gluinos. Such models have low electroweak finetuning and are safe from LHC searches. However, in the context of the MSSM, they predict too low a value of m(h) and the relic density of thermally produced higgsino-like WIMPs falls well below dark matter (DM) measurements. Allowing for high scale soft SUSY breaking Higgs mass m_{H_u}> m_0 leads to natural cancellations during RG running, and to radiatively induced low finetuning at the electroweak scale. This model of radiative natural SUSY (RNS), with large mixing in the top squark sector, allows for finetuning at the 5-10% level with TeV-scale top squarks and a 125 GeV light Higgs scalar h. If the strong CP problem is solved via the PQ mechanism, then we expect an axion-higgsino admixture of dark matter, where either or both the DM particles might be directly detected.
Reverberation lags have recently been discovered in a handful of nearby, variable AGN. Here, we analyze a ~100 ksec archival XMM-Newton observation of the highly variable AGN, ESO 113-G010 in order to search for lags between hard (1.5 - 4.5 keV) and soft (0.3 - 0.9 keV) energy bands. At the lowest frequencies available in the lightcurve, we find hard lags where the power-law dominated hard band lags the soft band where the reflection fraction is high. However, at higher frequencies in the range 2E-4 - 3E-4 Hz we find a soft lag of 325 +/- 89 seconds at greater than the 3.5-sigma level. The general evolution from hard to soft lags as the frequency increases is similar to other AGN where soft lags have been detected. We interpret this soft lag as due to reverberation, with the reflection component responding to variability in the power-law. For a black hole mass of 7E6 M_solar this corresponds to a light-crossing time of ~9 GM/c^3, however, dilution effects mean that the intrinsic lag is likely longer than this. Based on recent black hole mass-scaling for lag properties, the lag amplitude and frequency are more consistent with a black hole a few times more massive than the best estimates, though flux-dependent effects could easily add scatter this large.
The Polarbear Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization experiment is currently observing from the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. It will characterize the expected B-mode polarization due to gravitational lensing of the CMB, and search for the possible B-mode signature of inflationary gravitational waves. Its 250 mK focal plane detector array consists of 1,274 polarization-sensitive antenna-coupled bolometers, each with an associated lithographed band-defining filter. Each detector's planar antenna structure is coupled to the telescope's optical system through a contacting dielectric lenslet, an architecture unique in current CMB experiments. We present the initial characterization of this focal plane.
The possibility to divide GRBs in different subclasses allow to understand better the physics underlying their emission mechanisms and progenitors. The induced gravitational collapse (IGC) scenario proposes a binary progenitor to explain the time-sequence of the GRB-SN events. We show the existence of a common behavior of the late decay of the X-ray afterglow emission of this subclass of GRBs, pointing to a common physical mechanism of this late GRB emission, consistent with the IGC picture.
We present cosmological solutions for (1+3+n)-dimensional steady state universe in dilaton gravity with an arbitrary dilaton coupling constant w and exponential dilaton self-interaction potentials in the string frame. We focus particularly on the class in which the 3-space expands with a time varying deceleration parameter. We discuss the number of the internal dimensions and the value of the dilaton coupling constant to determine the cases that are consistent with the observed universe and the primordial nucleosynthesis. The 3-space starts with a decelerated expansion rate and evolves into accelerated expansion phase subject to the values of w and n, but ends with a Big Rip in all cases. We discuss the cosmological evolution in further detail for the cases w=1 and w=1/2 that permit exact solutions. We also comment on how the universe would be conceived by an observer in four dimensions who is unaware of the internal dimensions and thinks that the conventional general relativity is valid at cosmological scales.
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We present the first public data release of the CALIFA survey. It consists of science-grade optical datacubes for the first 100 of eventually 600 nearby (0.005<z<0.03) galaxies, obtained with the integral-field spectrograph PMAS/PPak mounted on the 3.5m telescope at the Calar Alto observatory. The galaxies in DR1 already cover a wide range of properties in color-magnitude space, morphological type, stellar mass, and gas ionization conditions. This offers the potential to tackle a variety of open questions in galaxy evolution using spatially resolved spectroscopy. Two different spectral setups are available for each galaxy, (i) a low-resolution V500 setup covering the nominal wavelength range 3745-7500A with a spectral resolution of 6.0A (FWHM), and (ii) a medium-resolution V1200 setup covering the nominal wavelength range 3650-4840A with a spectral resolution of 2.3A (FWHM). We present the characteristics and data structure of the CALIFA datasets that should be taken into account for scientific exploitation of the data, in particular the effects of vignetting, bad pixels and spatially correlated noise. The data quality test for all 100 galaxies showed that we reach a median limiting continuum sensitivity of 1.0x10^-18erg/s/cm^2/A/arcsec^2 at 5635A and 2.2x10^-18erg/s/cm^2/A/arcsec^2 at 4500A for the V500 and V1200 setup respectively, which corresponds to limiting r and g band surface brightnesses of 23.6mag/arcsec^2 and 23.4mag/arcsec^2, or an unresolved emission-line flux detection limit of roughly 1x10^-17erg/s/cm^2/arcsec^2 and 0.6x10^-17erg/s/cm^2/arcsec^2, respectively. The median spatial resolution is 3.7", and the absolute spectrophotometric calibration is better than 15% (1sigma). We also describe the available interfaces and tools that allow easy access to this first public CALIFA data.
We present data products from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing
Survey (CFHTLenS). CFHTLenS is based on the Wide component of the
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). It encompasses 154 deg^2
of deep, optical, high-quality, sub-arcsecond imaging data in the five optical
filters u^*g'r'i'z'. The article presents our data processing of the complete
CFHTLenS data set. We were able to obtain a data set with very good image
quality and high-quality astrometric and photometric calibration. Our external
astrometric accuracy is between 60-70 mas with respect to SDSS data and the
internal alignment in all filters is around 30 mas. Our average photometric
calibration shows a dispersion on the order of 0.01 to 0.03 mag for g'r'i'z'
and about 0.04 mag for u^* with respect to SDSS sources down to i <= 21.
In the spirit of the CFHTLS all our data products are released to the
astronomical community via the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre. We give a
description and how-to manuals of the public products which include image pixel
data, source catalogues with photometric redshift estimates and all relevant
quantities to perform weak lensing studies.
[Abridged] We analyse the morphological structures in galaxies of the ATLAS3D sample by fitting a single Sersic profile and decomposing all non-barred objects (180 of 260 objects) in two components parameterised by an exponential and a general Sersic function. The aim of this analysis is to look for signatures of discs in light distributions of nearby early-type galaxies and compare them to kinematic properties. Using Sersic index from single component fits for a distinction between slow and fast rotators, or even late- and early-type galaxies, is not recommended. Assuming that objects with n>3 are slow rotators (or ellipticals), there is only a 22 per cent probability to correctly classify objects as slow rotators (or 37 per cent of previously classified as ellipticals). We show that exponential sub-components, as well as light profiles fitted with only a single component of a low Sersic index, can be linked with the kinematic evidence for discs in early-type galaxies. The median disk-to-total light ratio for fast and slow rotators is 0.41 and 0.0, respectively. Similarly, the median Sersic indices of the bulge (general Sersic component) are 1.7 and 4.8 for fast and slow rotators, respectively. Overall, discs or disc-like structures, are present in 83 per cent of early-type galaxies which do not have bars, and they show a full range of disk-to-total light ratios. Discs in early-type galaxies contribute with about 40 per cent to the total mass of the analysed (non-barred) objects. The decomposition into discs and bulges can be used as a rough approximation for the separation between fast and slow rotators, but it is not a substitute, as there is only a 59 per cent probability to correctly recognise slow rotators. Kinematics (i.e. projected angular momentum) remains the best approach to mitigate the influence of the inclination effects.
Elliptical galaxies are systems where dark matter is usually less necessary to explain observed dynamics than in the case of spiral galaxies, however there are some instances where Newtonian gravity and the observable mass are insufficient to explain their observed structure and kinematics. Such is the case of NGC 4649, a massive elliptical galaxy in the Virgo cluster for which recent studies report a high fraction of dark matter, 0.78 at $4R_e$. However this galaxy has been studied within the MOND hypothesis, where a good agreement with the observed values of velocity dispersion is found. In a similar way, we have constructed a self-consistent gravitational equilibrium dynamical model for this galaxy assuming a modified gravity force law, which is equivalent to MOND for $a<a_{0}$ and recovers the Newtonian values for $a>a_{0}$. The modified gravity regime will be characterised by centrifugal equilibrium or dispersion velocities which become independent of distance, and which scale with the fourth root of the total baryonic mass, $V^{4}\propto(M G a_{0})$. We find that the recent detailed observations of the surface brightness profile and the velocity dispersion profile for this galaxy are consistent with the phenomenology expected in MONDian theories of modified gravity, without the need of invoking the presence of any hypothetical dark matter.
A likelihood-based method for measuring weak gravitational lensing shear in deep galaxy surveys is described and applied to the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS). CFHTLenS comprises 154 sq deg of multicolour optical data from the CFHT Legacy Survey, with lensing measurements being made in the i' band to a depth i'(AB)<24.7, for galaxies with signal-to-noise ratio greater than about 10. The method is based on the lensfit algorithm described in earlier papers, but here we describe a full analysis pipeline that takes into account the properties of real surveys. The method creates pixel-based models of the varying point spread function (PSF) in individual image exposures. It fits PSF-convolved two-component (disk plus bulge) models, to measure the ellipticity of each galaxy, with bayesian marginalisation over model nuisance parameters of galaxy position, size, brightness and bulge fraction. The method allows optimal joint measurement of multiple, dithered image exposures, taking into account imaging distortion and the alignment of the multiple measurements. We discuss the effects of noise bias on the likelihood distribution of galaxy ellipticity. Two sets of image simulations that mirror the observed properties of CFHTLenS have been created, to establish the method's accuracy and to derive an empirical correction for the effects of noise bias.
Wide area cosmological surveys enable investigation of whether dark energy properties are the same in different directions on the sky. Cosmic microwave background observations strongly restrict any dynamical effects from anisotropy, in an integrated sense. For more local constraints we compute limits from simulated distance measurements for various distributions of survey fields in a Bianchi I anisotropic universe. We then consider the effects of fitting for line of sight properties where isotropic dynamics is assumed (testing the accuracy through simulations) and compare sensitivities of observational probes for anisotropies, from astrophysical systematics as well as dark energy. We also point out some interesting features of anisotropic expansion in Bianchi I cosmology that can mimic a cosmological constant.
Some low surface brightness galaxies are known to have extremely thin stellar disks with the vertical to planar axes ratio 0.1 or less, often referred to as superthin disks. Although their existence is known for over three decades, the physical origin for the thin distribution is not understood. We model the stellar thickness for a two-component (gravitationally coupled stars and gas) disk embedded in a dark matter halo, for a superthin galaxy UGC 7321 which has a dense, compact halo, and compare with a typical dwarf galaxy HoII which has a non-compact halo. We show that while the presence of gas does constrain the disk thickness, it is the compact dark matter halo which plays the decisive role in determining the superthin disk distribution in low-mass disks. Thus the compact dark matter halo significantly affects the disk structure and this could be important for the early evolution of galaxies.
We have derived fourth-order perturbative equations in Lagrangian perturbation theory for a cosmological dust fluid. These equations are derived under the supposition of Newtonian cosmology in the Friedmann-Lema\^{i}tre-Robertson-Walker Universe model. Even if we consider the longitudinal mode in the first-order perturbation, the transverse mode appears in the third-order perturbation. Furthermore, in this case, six longitudinal-mode equations and four transverse-mode equations appear in the fourth-order perturbation. The application of the fourth-order perturbation leads to a precise prediction of the large-scale structure.
We present a wide (8.5x6.7 degree, 1050x825 kpc), deep (sigma(N_HI)=10^(16.8-17.5) cm^-2) neutral hydrogen (HI) map of the M101 galaxy group. We identify two new HI sources in the group environment, one an extremely low surface brightness (and hitherto unknown) dwarf galaxy, and the other a starless HI cloud, possibly primordial in origin. Our data show that M101's extended HI envelope (Huchtmeier & Witzel 1979) takes the form of a ~100 kpc long tidal loop or plume of HI extending to the southwest of the galaxy. The plume has an HI mass ~ 10^8 Msun and a peak column density of N_HI=5x10^17 cm^-2, and while it rotates with the main body of M101, it shows kinematic peculiarities suggestive of a warp or flaring out of the rotation plane of the galaxy. We also find two new HI clouds near the plume with masses ~ 10^7 Msun, similar to HI clouds seen in the M81/M82 group, and likely also tidal in nature. Comparing to deep optical imaging of the M101 group, neither the plume nor the clouds have any extended optical counterparts down to a limiting surface brightness of mu_B = 29.5. We also trace HI at intermediate velocities between M101 and NGC 5474, strengthening the case for a recent interaction between the two galaxies. The kinematically complex HI structure in the M101 group, coupled with the optical morphology of M101 and its companions, suggests that the group is in a dynamically active state that is likely common for galaxies in group environments.
We study the possible magnetization of cosmic voids by void galaxies. Recently, observations revealed isolated starforming galaxies within the voids. Furthermore, a major fraction of a voids volume is expected to be filled with magnetic fields of a minimum strength of about $10^{-15}$ G on Mpc scales. We estimate the transport of magnetic energy by cosmic rays (CR) from the void galaxies into the voids. We assume that CRs and winds are able to leave small isolated void galaxies shortly after they assembled, and then propagate within the voids. For a typical void, we estimate the magnetic field strength and volume filling factor depending on its void galaxy population and possible contributions of strong active galactic nuclei (AGN) which border the voids. We argue that the lower limit on the void magnetic field can be recovered, if a small fraction of the magnetic energy contained in the void galaxies or void bordering AGNs is distributed within the voids.
In the local Universe, galaxies in groups and clusters contain less gas and are less likely to be forming stars than their field counterparts. This effect is not limited to the central group/cluster regions, but is shown by recent observations to persist out to several virial radii. To gain insight into the extent and cause of this large-scale environmental influence, we use a suite of high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations to analyse galaxies around simulated groups and clusters of a wide range of mass (log M/M_sun = [13.0, 15.2]). In qualitative agreement with the observations, we find a systematic depletion of both hot and cold gas and a decline in the star forming fraction of galaxies as far out as ~ 5 r200 from the host centre. While a substantial fraction of these galaxies are on highly elliptical orbits and are not infalling for the first time (~ 50 per cent at 2 r200, independent of host mass) or are affected by `pre-processing' (~ 20 per cent of galaxies around groups, increasing to ~ 50 per cent around a massive cluster), even a combination of these indirect mechanisms does not fully account for the environmental influence, particularly in the case of the hot gas content. Direct interaction with an extended gas `halo' surrounding groups and clusters is shown to be sufficiently strong to strip the hot gas atmospheres of infalling galaxies out to ~ 5 r200. We show that this influence is highly anisotropic, with ram pressure along filaments enhanced by up to a factor of 100 despite significant co-flow of gas and galaxies.
The recent Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared imaging with the Wide-Field Camera #3 (WFC3) of the GOODS-South field in the CANDELS program covering nearly 100arcmin^2, along with already existing Advanced Camera for Surveys optical data, makes possible the search for bright galaxy candidates at redshift z ~ 7 - 9 using the Lyman-break technique. We present the first analysis of z'-drop z ~ 7 candidate galaxies in this area, finding 19 objects. We also analyse Y-drops at z ~ 8, trebling the number of bright (H_AB < 27 mag) Y-drops from our previous work, and compare our results with those of other groups based on the same data. The bright high redshift galaxy candidates we find serve to better constrain the bright end of the luminosity function at those redshift, and may also be more amenable to spectroscopic confirmation than the fainter ones presented in various previous work on the smaller fields (the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and the WFC 3 Early Release Science observations). We also look at the agreement with previous luminosity functions derived from WFC3 drop-out counts, finding a generally good agreement, except for the luminosity function of Yan et al. (2010) at z ~ 8, which is strongly ruled out.
While ubiquitous in supersymmetric and string theory models, inflationary scenarios near an inflection point in the scalar potential generically require a severe fine-tuning of a priori unrelated supersymmetry breaking effects. We show that this can be significantly alleviated by the inclusion of dissipative effects that damp the inflaton's motion and produce a nearly-thermal radiation bath. We focus on the case where the slow-rolling inflaton directly excites heavy virtual modes that then decay into light degrees of freedom, although our main qualitative results should apply in other regimes. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the minimum amount of dissipation required to keep the temperature of the radiation bath above the Hubble rate during inflation is largely independent of the degree of flatness of the potential, although it depends on the field value at the inflection point. We then discuss the relevance of this result to warm inflation model building.
Higgs inflation is a simple and elegant model in which early-universe inflation is driven by the Higgs sector of the Standard Model. The Higgs sector can support early-universe inflation if it has a large nonminimal coupling to the Ricci spacetime curvature scalar. At energies relevant to such an inflationary epoch, the Goldstone modes of the Higgs sector remain in the spectrum in renormalizable gauges, and hence their effects should be included in the model's dynamics. We analyze the multifield dynamics of Higgs inflation and find that the multifield effects damp out rapidly after the onset of inflation, because of the gauge symmetry among the scalar fields in this model. Predictions from Higgs inflation for observable quantities, such as the spectral index of the power spectrum of primordial perturbations, therefore revert to their familiar single-field form, in excellent agreement with recent measurements. The methods we develop here may be applied to any multifield model with nonminimal couplings in which the ${\cal N}$ fields obey an $SO ({\cal N})$ symmetry in field space.
Late-type low surface brightness galaxies (LSBs) are faint disk galaxies with central maximum stellar surface densities below 100 Msun/pc^2. The currently favored scenario for their origin is that LSBs have formed in fast-rotating halos with large angular momenta. We present the first numerical evidence for this scenario using a suite of self-consistent hydrodynamic simulations of a 2.3e11 Msun galactic halo, in which we investigate the correlations between the disk stellar/gas surface densities and the spin parameter of its host halo. A clear anti-correlation between the surface densities and the halo spin parameter, lambda, is found. That is, as the halo spin parameter increases, the scale radius at which the stellar surface density drops below 0.1 Msun/pc^2 monotonically increases, while the average stellar surface density of the disk within that radius decreases. The ratio of the average stellar surface density for the case of lambda=0.03 to that for the case of lambda=0.14 reaches more than 15. We demonstrate that the result is robust against variations in the baryon fraction, confirming that the angular momentum of the host halo is an important driver for the formation of LSBs.
We analyse 15 XMM-Newton observations of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4051 obtained over 45 days to determine the ultraviolet (UV) light curve variability characteristics and search for correlated UV/X-ray emission. The UV light curve shows variability on all time scales, however with lower fractional rms than the 0.2-10 keV X-rays. On days-weeks timescales the fractional variability of the UV is Fvar ~ 8%, and on short (~ hours) timescales Fvar ~ 2%. The within-observation excess variance in 4 of the 15 UV observations was found be much higher than the remaining 11. This was caused by large systematic uncertainties in the count rate masking the intrinsic source variance. For the four "good" observations we fit an unbroken power-law model to the UV power spectra with slope -2.0 +/- 0.5. We compute the UV/X-ray Cross-correlation function for the "good" observations and find a correlation of ~ 0.5 at time lag of ~ 3 ks, where the UV lags the X-rays. We also compute for the first time the UV/X-ray Cross-spectrum in the range 0-28.5 ks, and find a low coherence and an average time lag of ~ 3 ks. Combining the 15 XMM-Newton and the Swift observations we compute the DCF over +/-40 days but are unable to recover a significant correlation. The magnitude and direction of the lag estimate from the 4 "good" observations indicates a scenario where ~ 25 % of the UV variance is caused by thermal reprocessing of the incident X-ray emission.
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We use data from the Disc Emission via a Bias-free Reconnaissance in the
Infrared/Submillimetre (DEBRIS) survey, taken at 100 um with the Photoconductor
Array Camera and Spectrometer instrument on board the Herschel Space
Observatory, to make a cosmic variance independent measurement of the
extragalactic number counts. These data consist of 323 small-area mapping
observations performed uniformly across the sky, and thus represent a sparse
sampling of the astronomical sky with an effective coverage of ~2.5 deg^2.
We find our cosmic variance independent analysis to be consistent with
previous count measurements made using relatively small area surveys.
Furthermore, we find no statistically significant cosmic variance on any scale
within the errors of our data. Finally, we interpret these results to estimate
the probability of galaxy source confusion in the study of debris discs.
Contrary to recent claims in the literature, Newtonian N-body simulations of collisionless Dark Matter in a LambdaCDM background are compatible with general relativity and are not invalidated by general relativistic effects at the linear level. This verdict is based on four facts. (1) The system of linearized Einstein equations and conservation laws is well-posed in the gauge invariant formulation and physically meaningful. (2) Comparing general relativity with its Newtonian approximation at a given order in perturbation theory is only meaningful at the level of observables. (3) The dynamics of observables describing a dust fluid in general relativity and its Newtonian approximation agree at the linear level. Any disagreement for observables on the lightcone are well-known, of which the most dominant is gravitational lensing. (4) Large fluctuations in the Hubble parameter contribute significantly only to gravitational lensing effects. Therefore, these fluctuations are not in conflict with Newtonian N-body simulations beyond what has already been carefully taken into account using ray tracing technology.
It is well established that supermassive black holes in nearby elliptical galaxies correlate tightly with the kinematic property ($\mbhsigma$ correlation) and stellar mass ($\mbhhost$ correlation) of their host spheroids. However, it is not clear what the relations would be at the low-mass end, and how they evolve. Here, we investigate these relations in low-mass systems ($\MBH \sim \rm{10^{6}- 10^{8}}\, \Msun$) using the Aquila Simulation, a high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulation which follows the formation and evolution of stars and black holes in a Milky Way-size galaxy and its substructures. We find a number of interesting results on the origin and evolution of the scaling relations in these systems: (1) there is a strong redshift evolution in the $\mbhsigma$ relation, but a much weaker one in the $\mbhhost$ relation; (2) there is a close link between the $\mbhsigma$ relation and the dynamical state of the system -- the galaxies that fall on the observed correlation appear to have reached virial equilibrium. (3) the star formation and black hole growth are self-regulated in galaxies -- the ratio between black hole accretion rate and star formation rate remains nearly constant in a wide redshift span $z = 0-6$. These findings suggest that the observed correlations have different origins: the $\mbhsigma$ relation may be the result of virial equilibrium, while the $\mbhhost$ relation may the result of self-regulated star formation and black hole growth in galaxies.
The Lya emission has played an important role in detecting high-redshift galaxies, including currently the most distant one at redshift z=8.6. It may also contain important information on the origin of these galaxies. Here, we investigate the formation of a typical L* galaxy and its observational signatures at the earliest stage, by combining a cosmological hydrodynamic simulation with three-dimensional radiative transfer calculations using the newly improved ART^2 code. Our cosmological simulation uses the Aquila initial condition which zooms in onto a Milky Way-like halo with high resolutions, and our radiative transfer couples multi-wavelength continuum, Lya line, and ionization of hydrogen. We find that the modeled galaxy starts to form at redshift z ~ 24 through efficient accretion of cold gas, which produces a strong Lya line with a luminosity of L(Lya) ~ 10^42 erg/s as early as z ~ 14. The Lya emission appears to trace the cold, dense gas. The lines exhibit asymmetric, single-peak profiles, and are shifted to the blue wing, a characteristic feature of gas inflow. Moreover, the contribution to the total Lya luminosity by excitation cooling increases with redshift, and it becomes dominant at z >= 6. We predict that L* galaxies such as the modeled one may be detected at z <= 8 by JWST and ALMA with a reasonable integration time. Beyond redshift 12, however, only Lya line may be observable by narrow band surveys. Our results suggest that Lya line is one of the most powerful tools to detect the first generation of galaxies, and to decipher their formation mechanism.
In order to investigate the growth of super-massive black holes (SMBHs), we construct the black hole mass function (BHMF) and Eddington ratio distribution function (ERDF) of X-ray-selected broad-line AGNs at z~1.4 in the Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Survey field. In this redshift range, a significant part of the accretion growth of SMBHs is thought to be taking place. Black hole masses of X-ray-selected broad-line AGNs are estimated using the width of the broad MgII line and the 3000A monochromatic luminosity. We supplement the MgII FWHM values with the Ha FWHM obtained from our NIR spectroscopic survey. Using the black hole masses of broad-line AGNs at redshifts between 1.18 and 1.68, the binned broad-line AGN BHMF and ERDF are calculated using the Vmax method. To properly account for selection effects that impact the binned estimates, we derive the corrected broad-line AGN BHMF and ERDF by applying the Maximum Likelihood method, assuming that the ERDF is constant regardless of the black hole mass. We do not correct for the non-negligible uncertainties in virial BH mass estimates. If we compare the corrected broad-line AGN BHMF with that in the local Universe, the corrected BHMF at z~1.4 has a higher number density above 10^8 Msolar but a lower number density below that mass range. The evolution may be indicative of a down-sizing trend of accretion activity among the SMBH population. The evolution of broad-line AGN ERDF from z=1.4 to 0 indicates that the fraction of broad-line AGNs with accretion rate close to the Eddington-limit is higher at higher redshifts.
Context: Clumpy disk galaxies in the distant universe, at redshift of z>1, have been observed to host several giant clumps in their disks. They are thought to correspond to early formative stages of disk galaxies. On the other hand, halo objects, such as old globular clusters and halo stars, are likely to consist of the oldest stars in a galaxy (age>10 Gyr), therefore the clumpy disk formation can be presumed to take place in a pre-existing halo system. Aims: Giant clumps are orbiting in the same direction in a premature disk and so massive that they may be expected to interact gravitationally with halo objects and exercise influence on kinematic state of the halo. Accordingly, I scrutinize the possibility that the clumps leave a kinematic imprint of the clumpy disk formation on a halo system. Methods: I perform a restricted N-body calculation with a toy-model to study the kinematic influence on a halo by orbital motions of clumps, examine dependence of the results on masses (mass-loss), number and orbital radii of the clumps. Results: I will show that halo objects can catch clump motions and acquire disky rotation in a dynamical friction time-scale of the clumps, ~0.5 Gyr. The influence of clumps is limited within a region around the disk, the halo system shows vertical gradients of net rotation velocity and orbital eccentricity. The significance of the kinematic influence strongly depends on the clump masses, the lower limit of postulated clump mass would be 5x10^8 solar masses. The result depends also on whether the clumps are subjected to rapid mass-loss or not, which is an open question under debate in recent studies. The existence of such massive clumps is not unrealistic, I therefore suggest that there could remain the imprints of past clumpy disk formation in current galactic halos.
Ultra slow-roll inflation has recently been used to challenge the non-Gaussianity consistency relation. We show that this inflationary scenario belongs to a one parameter class of models and we study its properties and observational predictions. We demonstrate that the power spectrum remains scale-invariant and that the bi-spectrum is of the local type with fnl=5(3-ns)/4 which, indeed, represents a modification of the consistency relation. However, we also show that the system is unstable and suffers from many physical problems among which is the difficulty to correctly WMAP normalize the model. We conclude that ultra slow-roll inflation remains a very peculiar case, the physical relevance of which is probably not sufficient to call into question the validity of the consistency relation.
Recent observations show that a large number of Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) at high redshift z >= 3 have unusually high Lya equivalent widths (EW > 400 angstrom). However, the origin of these high EWs is an open question. Here, we investigate the impacts of photon trapping on the Lya EW and other properties by tracking the Lya radiative transfer in spherical galactic clouds. We find that the delayed escape of the Lya photons can change the Lya properties significantly. During the transition phase from optically thick to optically thin where the Lya photons can escape simultaneously, the EW can be boosted to ~ 1000 angstrom, the Lya luminosity can be increased by a factor of a few, and the line profile can be significantly broadened. The boost factor appears to depend on the galaxy properties such as mass and star formation rate and timescale, therefore future investigation combing 3D Lya RT calculations with cosmological simulations of galaxy formation and evolution is needed to fully understand the Lya properties of early star-forming galaxies.
[abridged] We study the resolved stellar populations and derive the SFH of the SDIG, a gas-rich dwarf galaxy member of the NGC7793 subgroup in the Sculptor group. We construct a CMD using archival HST observations and examine its stellar content. We derive its SFH using a maximum-likelihood fit to the CMD. The CMD shows that SDIG contains stars from 10Myr to several Gyr old, as revealed from the MS, BL, luminous AGB, and RGB stars. The young stars with ages less than ~250Myr show a spatial distribution confined to its central regions, and additionally the young MS stars exhibit an off-center density peak. The intermediate-age and older stars are more spatially extended. SDIG is dominated by intermediate-age stars with an average age of 6.4Gyr. The average metallicity inferred is [M/H]\approx -1.5dex. Its SFH is consistent with a constant SFR, except for ages younger than ~200Myr. The lifetime average SFR is 1.3x10^{-3} Mo/yr. More recently than 100Myr, there has been a burst of SF at a rate ~2-3 times higher than the average SFR. The inferred recent SFR from CMD modelling is higher than inferred from the Ha flux of the galaxy; we interpret this to mean that the upper end of the IMF is not being fully sampled due to the low SFR. Additionally, an observed lack of bright blue stars in the CMD could indicate a downturn in SFR on 10^7-yr timescales. A previous SF enhancement appears to have occurred between 600-1100Myr ago, with amplitude similar to the most recent 100Myr. Older bursts of similar peak SFR and duration would not be resolvable with these data. The observed enhancements in SF suggest that SDIG is able to sustain a complex SFH without the effect of interactions with its nearest massive galaxy. Integrating the SFR over the entire history of SDIG yields a total stellar mass 1.77x10^{7}Mo, and a current V-band stellar mass-to-light ratio 3.2Mo/Lo.
With an aim to argue for the truly collisionless nature of cold dark matter between epochs of equality and recombination, we assume a model, wherein strongly coupled baryon-radiation plasma ejects out of small regions of concentrated cold dark matter without losing its equilibrium. We use the Meschersky equation to describe the dynamics of cold dark matter in the presence of varying mass of strongly coupled baryon-radiation plasma. Based on this model, we discuss the growth of perturbations in cold dark matter both in the Jeans theory and in the expanding universe using Newton's theory. We see the effect of the perturbations in the cold dark matter potential on the cosmic microwave background anisotropy that originated at redshifts between equality and recombination i.e. $1100 < z < z_{eq}$. Also we obtain an expression for the Sachs-Wolfe effect, i.e. the CMB temperature anisotropy at decoupling in terms of the perturbations in cold dark matter potential. We obtain similar solutions both in the static and in the expanding universe, for epochs of recombination. From this, we infer about the time scale when the dark energy starts to dominate.
We use the new gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) data, combined with the baryon acoustic oscillation(BAO) observation from the spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release, the newly obtained $A$ parameter at $z=0.6$ from the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations from the 7-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP7) results, and the type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) from Union2 set, to constrain a phenomenological model describing possible interactions between dark energy and dark matter, which was proposed to alleviate the coincidence problem of the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. By using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method, we obtain the marginalized $1\sigma$ constraints $\Omega_{m}=0.2886\pm{0.0135}$, $r_m=-0.0047\pm{0.0046}$, and $w_X=-1.0658\pm{0.0564}$. We also consider other combinations of these data for comparison. These results show that: (1) the energy of dark matter is slightly transferring to that of dark energy; (2) even though the GRBs+BAO+CMB data present less stringent constraints than SNe+BAO+CMB data do, the GRBs can help eliminate the degeneracies among parameters.
We review some recent work by Mannheim and O'Brien on the systematics of galactic rotation curves in the conformal gravity theory. In this work the conformal theory was applied to a comprehensive, high quality sample of spiral galaxies whose rotation curves extend well beyond the galactic optical disks. On galactic scales the conformal gravitational theory departs from the standard Newtonian theory in two distinct ways. One is a local way in which local matter sources within galaxies generate not just Newtonian potentials but linear potentials as well. The other is a global way in which two universal global potentials, one linear the other quadratic, are generated by the rest of the matter in the universe. The study involves a broad set of 138 spiral galaxies of differing luminosities and sizes, and is augmented here through the inclusion of an additional three tidal dwarf galaxies. With its linear and quadratic potentials the conformal theory can account for the systematics of an entire 141 galaxy sample without any need for galactic dark matter, doing so with only one free parameter per galaxy, namely the visible galactic mass to light ratio.
We study the cosmology of a quintessence scalar field which is equivalent to a non-barotropic perfect fluid of constant pressure. The coincidence problem is alleviated by such a quintessence equation-of-state that interpolates between plateau of zero at large redshifts and plateau of minus one as the redshift approaches to zero. The quintessence field is neither a unified dark matter nor a mixture of cosmological constant and cold dark matter, because the quintessence density contrasts decay monotonously on sub-horizon scales and the squared sound speeds of quintessence perturbations do not vanish. What a role does the quintessence play is dynamic dark energy. Though the clustering of quintessence decays drastically, it could remarkably impact the growth rate of the density perturbations of non-relativistic matters at early stage.
We consider a bouncing Universe model which explains the flatness of the primordial scalar spectrum via complex scalar field that rolls down its negative quartic potential and dominates in the Universe. We show that in this model, there exists a rapid contraction regime of classical evolution. We calculate the power spectrum of tensor modes in this scenario. We find that it is blue and its amplitude is typically small, leading to mild constraints on the parameters of the model.
Using an approach that treats the Ricci scalar itself as a degree of freedom, we analyze the cosmological evolution within an f(R) model that has been proposed recently (exponential gravity) and that can be viable for explaining the accelerated expansion and other features of the Universe. This approach differs from the usual scalar-tensor method and, among other things, it spares us from dealing with unnecessary discussions about frames. It also leads to a simple system of equations which is particularly suited for a numerical analysis.
We review major progress on the modeling of electric dipole emission from rapidly spinning tiny dust grains, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). We begin by summarizing the original model of spinning dust proposed by Draine and Lazarian and recent theoretical results improving the Draine and Lazarian model. The review is focused on important physical effects that were disregarded in earlier studies for the sake of simplicity and recently accounted for by us, including grain wobbling due to internal relaxation, impulsive excitation by single-ion collisions, the triaxiality of grain shape, charge fluctuations, and the turbulent nature of astrophysical environments. Implications of the spinning dust emission for constraining physical properties of tiny dust grains and environment conditions are discussed. We discuss the alignment of tiny dust grains and possibility of polarized spinning dust emission. Suggestions for constraining the alignment of tiny grains and polarization of spinning dust emission are also discussed.
The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) instrument will measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background at 40, 90, and 150 GHz from Cerro Toco in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. In this paper, we describe the optical design of the 40 GHz telescope system. The telescope is a diffraction limited catadioptric design consisting of a front-end Variable-delay Polarization Modulator (VPM), two ambient temperature mirrors, two cryogenic dielectric lenses, thermal blocking filters, and an array of 36 smooth-wall scalar feedhorn antennas. The feed horns guide the signal to antenna-coupled transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers. Polarization diplexing and bandpass definition are handled on the same microchip as the TES. The feed horn beams are truncated with 10 dB edge taper by a 4 K Lyot-stop to limit detector loading from stray light and control the edge illumination of the front-end VPM. The field-of-view is 19deg x 14deg with a resolution for each beam on the sky of 1.5deg FWHM.
We discuss the effect of superimposing multiple sources of resonant non-Gaussianity, which arise for instance in models of axion inflation. The resulting sum of oscillating shape contributions can be used to "Fourier synthesize" different non-oscillating shapes in the bispectrum. As an example we reproduce an approximately equilateral shape from the superposition of ${\cal O}(10)$ oscillatory contributions with resonant shape. This implies a possible degeneracy between the equilateral-type non-Gaussianity typical of models with non-canonical kinetic terms, such as DBI inflation, and an equilateral-type shape arising from a superposition of resonant-type contributions in theories with canonical kinetic terms. The absence of oscillations in the 2-point function together with the structure of the resonant $N$-point functions, imply that detection of equilateral non-Gaussianity at a level greater than the PLANCK sensitivity of $f_{NL}\sim{\cal O}(5)$ will rule out a resonant origin. We comment on the questions arising from possible embeddings of this idea in a string theory setting.
The line and continuum spectra of the merger galaxy Arp 220 are analysed with the aim of investigating the ionizing and heating sources. We refer to radio, optical, infrared and X-ray spectra. The results show that in agreement with other merger galaxies, the optical lines are emitted from gas photoionised by the AGN and heated by the shocks in the extended NLR. The infrared lines are better explained by the emission from gas close to the starburst. The starburst dominates the infrared emission. [OI] and [CI] lines in the far-infrared are formed in the internal region of extended clouds and are therefore absorbed, while [CII] lines are emitted from the external edges of outflowing clouds. The O/H relative abundances are about solar and N/H are higher than solar by a factor of 1.5, throughout the starburst region, while in the AGN extended NLR the O/H ratio is half solar. A relatively high dust-to-gas ratio is indicated by modelling the dust reprocessed radiation peak consistently with bremsstrahlung emitted from the clouds. The observed radio emission is thermal bremsstrahlung, while synchrotron radiation created by the Fermi mechanism at the shock front is absorbed.
Precision data from cosmology (probing the CMB decoupling epoch) and light-element abundances (probing the BBN epoch) have hinted at the presence of extra relativistic degrees of freedom, the so-called "dark radiation." We present a model independent study to account for the dark radiation by means of the right-handed partners of the three, left-handed, standard model neutrinos. We show that milli-weak interactions of these Dirac states (through their coupling to a TeV-scale Z' gauge boson) may allow the \nu_R's to decouple much earlier, at a higher temperature, than their left-handed counterparts. If the \nu_R's decouple during the quark-hadron crossover transition, they are considerably cooler than the \nu_L's and contribute less than 3 extra "equivalent neutrinos" to the early Universe energy density. For decoupling in this transition region, the 3 \nu_R generate \Delta N_\nu = 3(T_{\nu_R}/T_{\nu_ L})^4 < 3, extra relativistic degrees of freedom at BBN and at the CMB epochs. Consistency with present constraints on dark radiation permits us to identify the allowed region in the parameter space of Z' masses and couplings. Remarkably, the allowed region is within the range of discovery of LHC14.
All stars are born in molecular clouds, and most in giant molecular clouds (GMCs), which thus set the star formation activity of galaxies. We first review their observed properties, including measures of mass surface density, Sigma, and thus mass, M. We discuss cloud dynamics, concluding most GMCs are gravitationally bound. Star formation is highly clustered within GMCs, but overall is very inefficient. We compare properties of star-forming clumps with those of young stellar clusters (YSCs). The high central densities of YSCs may result via dynamical evolution of already-formed stars during and after star cluster formation. We discuss theoretical models of GMC evolution, especially addressing how turbulence is maintained, and emphasizing the importance of GMC collisions. We describe how feedback limits total star formation efficiency, epsilon, in clumps. A turbulent and clumpy medium allows higher epsilon, permitting formation of bound clusters even when escape speeds are less than the ionized gas sound speed.
In prior article of the author, the unimodular bimode gravity/systo-gravity, with the scalar-graviton/systolon dark matter, was worked out. To compile with the anomalous rotation curves of galaxies the scale of the local scale violation in the theory was shown to be about 10^15 GeV. In this letter, to naturally incorporate such a scale the hyper unification framework, merging systo-gravity with grand unification through matter, is constructed. The systolon, as a free propagating compression mode in metric, emerges only below the unification scale, possessing at the same time a modified high-energy behavior to be manifested at the high temperatures.
In this letter, we point out a possible ambiguity of bimetric gravity due to the impossibility of observing directly the matter content of the space that we are not inhabiting. Nevertheless, some conclusions can still be extracted independently of the matter content filling both spaces. In particular, we can conclude the occurrence of some extremality events in one universe if we know that they take place in the other space.
Using the Yunnan evolutionary population synthesis (EPS) models with and
without binary interactions, we present the LHa, L[OII], Li,UV and LFIR for
burst, E, S0, Sa-Sd and Irr galaxies at Z =0.0001, 0.0003, 0.001, 0.004, 0.01,
0.02 and 0.03, present the conversion coefficients between star formation rate
(SFR) and these diagnostics, and discuss the effects of binary interactions and
metallicity on these SFR calibrations.
The inclusion of binary interactions can lower the SFR versus LHa and SFR
versus L[OII] conversion factors (CHa, C[OII]) by 0.1-0.2 dex, C1500 by 0.1 dex
and C2800 by 0.2-0.1 dex, but raise CFIR by 0.05 dex. The differences in the
CHa, C[OII] and C2800 caused by binary interactions are dependent of
metallicity and those in the C1500 and CFIR are independent of metallicity. The
higher is the metallicity, the larger are the differences in the CHa and
C[OII], however, the smaller is the difference in the C2800 .
The ratio of the difference in the conversion factor caused by metallicity to
the [Fe/H] range, Delta_{case,Z}/Delta_{[Fe/H]}, reaches 0.2 for LHa and
L[OII], 0.1 for Li,UV and 0.1-0.2 for LFIR. The dC_{case,Z}/d[Fe/H] is
different within different [Fe/H] ranges and reaches the maximum value near the
solar metallicity. At last, the Li,UV is not suitable to linear calibration of
SFR at low metallicities.
We also obtain the LHa, L[OII], Li,UV and LFIR for burst, E, S0, Sa-Sd and
Irr galaxies by using the EPS models of BC03 (0.0001<Z<0.05), SB99
(0.0004<Z<0.05), PEGASE (0.0001<Z<0.1) and POPSTAR (0.0001<Z<0.05), present the
conversion coefficients between SFR and these diagnostics, discuss the effects
of the initial mass function and metallicity on these conversion coefficients,
and compare the conclusions with those from our models.
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