How to Detect the Signatures of Self-Gravitating Circumstellar Discs with the Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array

In this paper we present simulated Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) observations of self-gravitating circumstellar discs with different properties in size, mass and inclination, located in four of the most extensively studied and surveyed star-forming regions. Starting from a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulation and representative dust opacities, we have initially constructed maps of the expected emission at sub-mm wavelengths of a large sample of discs with different properties. We have then simulated realistic observations of discs as they may appear with ALMA using the Common Astronomy Software Application ALMA simulator. We find that, with a proper combination of antenna configuration and integration time, the spiral structure characteristic of self-gravitating discs is readily detectable by ALMA over a wide range of wavelengths at distances comparable to TW Hydrae ($\sim 50 \,$pc), Taurus - Auriga and Ophiucus ($\sim 140 \,$pc) star-forming regions. However, for discs located in Orion complex ($\sim 400 \,$pc) only the largest discs in our sample (outer radius of 100 au) show a spatially resolved structure while the smaller ones (outer radius of 25 au) are characterized by a spiral structure that is not conclusively detectable with ALMA.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure

Integral field unit spectroscopy of 10 early type galactic nuclei: I - Principal component analysis Tomography and nuclear activity

Most massive galaxies show emission lines that can be characterized as LINERs. To what extent this emission is related to AGNs or to stellar processes is still an open question. In this paper, we analysed a sample of such galaxies to study the central region in terms of nuclear and circumnuclear emission lines, as well as the stellar component properties. For this reason, we selected 10 massive ($\sigma$ > 200 km/s) nearby (d < 31 Mpc) galaxies and observed them with the IFU/GMOS (integral field unit/Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph) spectrograph on the Gemini South Telescope. The data were analysed with principal component analysis (PCA) Tomography to assess the main properties of the objects. Two spectral regions were analysed: a yellow region (5100-5800 A), adequate to show the properties of the stellar component, and a red region (6250-6800 A), adequate to analyse the gaseous component. We found that all objects previously known to present emission lines have a central AGN-type emitting source. They also show gaseous and stellar kinematics typical of discs. Such discs may be co-aligned (NGC 1380 and ESO 208 G-21), in counter-rotation (IC 1459 and NGC 7097) or misaligned (IC 5181 and NGC 4546). We also found one object with a gaseous disc but no stellar disc (NGC 2663), one with a stellar disc but no gaseous disc (NGC 1404), one with neither stellar nor gaseous disc (NGC 1399) and one with probably ionization cones (NGC 3136). PCA Tomography is an efficient method for detecting both the central AGN and gaseous and stellar discs. In the two cases (NGC 1399 and NGC 1404) in which no lines were previously reported, we found no evidence of either nuclear or circumnuclear emission, using PCA Tomography only.Comment: 26 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Basic properties of toroidal structures in Kerr--de Sitter backgrounds

Perfect fluid tori with uniform distribution of the specific angular momentum orbiting the Kerr-de Sitter black holes or naked singularities are studied. Closed equipotential surfaces corresponding to stationary toroidal discs are allowed only in the spacetimes admitting stable circular geodesics. The last closed surface crosses itself in the cusp(s) enabling outflow(s) of matter from the torus due to the violation of hydrostatic equilibrium. The repulsive cosmological constant, $\Lambda >0$, implies the existence of the outer cusp (with a stabilizing effect on the tori because of "excretion", i.e., outflow of matter from the torus into the outer space) and the strong collimation of open equipotential surfaces along the rotational axis. Both the effects take place nearby the so-called static radius where the gravitational attraction is just balanced by the cosmic repulsion. The plus-family discs (which are always corotating in the black-hole backgrounds but can be counterrotating, even with negative energy of the fluid elements, in some naked singularity backgrounds) are thicker and more extended than the minus-family ones (which are always counterrotating in all backgrounds). If the parameters of naked-singularity spacetimes are very close to the parameters of extreme black-hole spacetimes, the family of possible disc-like configurations includes members with two isolated discs where the inner one is always a counterrotating accretion disc. Mass estimates for tori with nonrelativistic adiabatic equation of state give limits on their central mass-density, for which the approximation of test fluid is adequate.Comment: Updated version of the Section talk at Albert Einstein Century International Conference at Palais de l'Unesco, Paris, France, 18-23 July, 2005; to appear in the Proceedings; AIP style files included; 8 page

Optical effects related to Keplerian discs orbiting Kehagias-Sfetsos naked singularities

We demonstrate possible optical signatures of the Kehagias-Sfetsos naked singularity spacetimes representing spherically symmetric vacuum solution of the modified Ho\v{r}ava gravity. In such spacetimes, accretion structures significantly different from those present in the standard black hole spacetimes occur due to the "antigravity" effect causing existence of an internal static sphere surrounded by Keplerian discs. We focus our attention on the optical effects related to the Keplerian accretion discs, constructing the optical appearance of the Keplerian discs, the spectral continuum due to their thermal radiation, and spectral profiled lines generated in the innermost parts of such discs. The KS naked singularity signature is strongly encoded in the characteristics of predicted optical effects, especially in the case of the spectral continuum and spectral lines profiled by the strong gravity of the spacetimes, due to the region of the vanishing of the angular velocity gradient influencing the effectivity of the viscosity mechanism. We can conclude that optical signatures of the Kehagias-Sfetsos naked singularities can be well distinguished from the signatures of the standard black holes

The Complete Jamming Landscape of Confined Hard Discs

An exact description of the complete jamming landscape is developed for a system of hard discs of diameter $\sigma$, confined between two lines separated by a distance $1+\sqrt{3/4} < H/\sigma < 2$. By considering all possible local packing arrangements, the generalized ensemble partition function of jammed states is obtained using the transfer matrix method, which allows us to calculate the configurational entropy and the equation of state for the packings. Exploring the relationship between structural order and packing density, we find that the geometric frustration between local packing environments plays an important role in determining the density distribution of jammed states and that structural "randomness" is a non-monotonic function of packing density. Molecular dynamics simulations show that the properties of the equilibrium liquid are closely related to those of the landscape.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 figure