18,340 research outputs found
Massive Star cluster formation under the microscope at z=6
We report on a superdense star-forming region with an effective radius (R_e)
smaller than 13 pc identified at z=6.143 and showing a star-formation rate
density \Sigma_SFR~1000 Msun/yr/kpc2 (or conservatively >300 Msun/yr/kpc2).
Such a dense region is detected with S/N>40 hosted by a dwarf extending over
440 pc, dubbed D1 (Vanzella et al. 2017b). D1 is magnified by a factor
17.4+/-5.0 behind the Hubble Frontier Field galaxy cluster MACS~J0416 and
elongated tangentially by a factor 13.2+/-4.0 (including the systematic
errors). The lens model accurately reproduces the positions of the confirmed
multiple images with a r.m.s. of 0.35", and the tangential stretch is well
depicted by a giant multiply-imaged Lya arc. D1 is part of an interacting
star-forming complex extending over 800 pc. The SED-fitting, the very blue
ultraviolet slope (\beta ~ -2.5, F(\lambda) ~ \lambda^\beta) and the prominent
Lya emission of the stellar complex imply that very young (< 10-100 Myr),
moderately dust-attenuated (E(B-V)<0.15) stellar populations are present and
organised in dense subcomponents. We argue that D1 (with a stellar mass of 2 x
10^7 Msun) might contain a young massive star cluster of M < 10^6 Msun and
Muv~-15.6 (or m_uv=31.1), confined within a region of 13 pc, and not dissimilar
from some local super star clusters (SSCs). The ultraviolet appearance of D1 is
also consistent with a simulated local dwarf hosting a SSC placed at z=6 and
lensed back to the observer. This compact system fits into some popular
globular cluster formation scenarios. We show that future high spatial
resolution imaging (e.g., E-ELT/MAORY-MICADO and VLT/MAVIS) will allow us to
spatially resolve light profiles of 2-8 pc.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, 1 table, MNRAS accepte
A 33 GHz Survey of Local Major Mergers: Estimating the Sizes of the Energetically Dominant Regions from High Resolution Measurements of the Radio Continuum
We present Very Large Array observations of the 33 GHz radio continuum
emission from 22 local ultraluminous and luminous infrared (IR) galaxies
(U/LIRGs). These observations have spatial (angular) resolutions of 30--720 pc
(0.07"-0.67") in a part of the spectrum that is likely to be optically thin.
This allows us to estimate the size of the energetically dominant regions. We
find half-light radii from 30 pc to 1.7 kpc. The 33 GHz flux density correlates
well with the IR emission, and we take these sizes as indicative of the size of
the region that produces most of the energy. Combining our 33 GHz sizes with
unresolved measurements, we estimate the IR luminosity and star formation rate
per area, and the molecular gas surface and volume densities. These quantities
span a wide range (4 dex) and include some of the highest values measured for
any galaxy (e.g., ). At least sources appear Compton thick (). Consistent with previous work, contrasting these data
with observations of normal disk galaxies suggests a nonlinear and likely
multi-valued relation between SFR and molecular gas surface density, though
this result depends on the adopted CO-to-H conversion factor and the
assumption that our 33 GHz sizes apply to the gas. 11 sources appear to exceed
the luminosity surface density predicted for starbursts supported by radiation
pressure and supernovae feedback, however we note the need for more detailed
observations of the inner disk structure. U/LIRGs with higher surface
brightness exhibit stronger [{\sc Cii}] 158m deficits, consistent with the
suggestion that high energy densities drive this phenomenon.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in Ap
Improving Fiber Alignment in HARDI by Combining Contextual PDE Flow with Constrained Spherical Deconvolution
We propose two strategies to improve the quality of tractography results
computed from diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) data. Both
methods are based on the same PDE framework, defined in the coupled space of
positions and orientations, associated with a stochastic process describing the
enhancement of elongated structures while preserving crossing structures. In
the first method we use the enhancement PDE for contextual regularization of a
fiber orientation distribution (FOD) that is obtained on individual voxels from
high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) data via constrained
spherical deconvolution (CSD). Thereby we improve the FOD as input for
subsequent tractography. Secondly, we introduce the fiber to bundle coherence
(FBC), a measure for quantification of fiber alignment. The FBC is computed
from a tractography result using the same PDE framework and provides a
criterion for removing the spurious fibers. We validate the proposed
combination of CSD and enhancement on phantom data and on human data, acquired
with different scanning protocols. On the phantom data we find that PDE
enhancements improve both local metrics and global metrics of tractography
results, compared to CSD without enhancements. On the human data we show that
the enhancements allow for a better reconstruction of crossing fiber bundles
and they reduce the variability of the tractography output with respect to the
acquisition parameters. Finally, we show that both the enhancement of the FODs
and the use of the FBC measure on the tractography improve the stability with
respect to different stochastic realizations of probabilistic tractography.
This is shown in a clinical application: the reconstruction of the optic
radiation for epilepsy surgery planning
Gaps, Rings, and Non-Axisymmetric Structures in Protoplanetary Disks - From Simulations to ALMA Observations
Recent observations by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
(ALMA) of disks around young stars revealed distinct asymmetries in the dust
continuum emission. In this work we want to study axisymmetric and
non-axisymmetric structures, evocated by the magneto-rotational instability in
the outer regions of protoplanetary disks. We combine the results of
state-of-the-art numerical simulations with post-processing radiative transfer
(RT) to generate synthetic maps and predictions for ALMA. We performed
non-ideal global 3D MHD stratified simulations of the dead-zone outer edge
using the FARGO MHD code PLUTO. The stellar and disk parameters are taken from
a parameterized disk model applied for fitting high-angular resolution
multi-wavelength observations of circumstellar disks. The 2D temperature and
density profiles are calculated consistently from a given surface density
profile and Monte-Carlo radiative transfer. The 2D Ohmic resistivity profile is
calculated using a dust chemistry model. The magnetic field is a vertical net
flux field. The resulting dust reemission provides the basis for the simulation
of observations with ALMA. The fiducial model develops a large gap followed by
a jump in surface density located at the dead-zone outer edge. The jump in
density and pressure is strong enough to stop the radial drift of particles. In
addition, we observe the generation of vortices by the Rossby wave instability
(RWI) at the jumps location close to 60 AU. The vortices are steadily generated
and destroyed at a cycle of 40 local orbits. The RT results and simulated ALMA
observations predict the feasibility to observe such large scale structures
appearing in magnetized disks without having a planet.Comment: Language update, added comments, added citations, in press. (A&A
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