726 research outputs found
A high-order nonconservative approach for hyperbolic equations in fluid dynamics
It is well known, thanks to Lax-Wendroff theorem, that the local conservation
of a numerical scheme for a conservative hyperbolic system is a simple and
systematic way to guarantee that, if stable, a scheme will provide a sequence
of solutions that will converge to a weak solution of the continuous problem.
In [1], it is shown that a nonconservative scheme will not provide a good
solution. The question of using, nevertheless, a nonconservative formulation of
the system and getting the correct solution has been a long-standing debate. In
this paper, we show how get a relevant weak solution from a pressure-based
formulation of the Euler equations of fluid mechanics. This is useful when
dealing with nonlinear equations of state because it is easier to compute the
internal energy from the pressure than the opposite. This makes it possible to
get oscillation free solutions, contrarily to classical conservative methods.
An extension to multiphase flows is also discussed, as well as a
multidimensional extension
Interstellar H2 toward HD 37903
We present an analysis of interstellar H2 toward HD 37903, which is a hot, B
1.5 V star located in the NGC 2023 reflection nebula. Meyer et al. (2001) have
used a rich spectrum of vibrationally excited H2 observed by the HST to
calculate a model of the interstellar cloud toward HD 37903. We extend Mayer's
analysis by including the v"=0 vibrational level observed by the FUSE
satellite.
The T01 temperature should not be interpreted as a rotational temperature,
but rather as a temperature of thermal equilibrium between the ortho and para
H2. The ortho to para H2 ratio is lower for collisionally populated levels than
for the levels populated by fluorescence.
The PDR model of the cloud located in front of HD 37903 points to a gas
temperature Tkin=110-377 K, hydrogen density nH=1874-544 cm^-3 and the
star-cloud distance of 0.45 pc
A FUSE survey of high-latitude Galactic molecular hydrogen
Measurements of molecular hydrogen (H_2) column densities are presented for
the first six rotational levels (J=0 to 5) for 73 extragalactic targets
observed with FUSE. All of these have a final signal-to-noise ratio larger than
\snlimit, and are located at galactic latitude |b|>20 deg. The individual
observations were calibrated with the FUSE calibration pipeline CalFUSE version
2.1 or higher, and then carefully aligned in velocity. The final velocity
shifts for all the FUSE segments are listed. H_2 column densities or limits are
determined for the 6 lowest rotational (J) levels for each HI component in the
line of sight, using a curve-of-growth approach at low column densities ~16.5),
and Voigt-profile fitting at higher column densities. Detections include 73
measurements of low-velocity H_2 in the Galactic Disk and lower Halo. Eight
sightlines yield non-detections for Galactic H_2. The measured column densities
range from log N(H_2)=14 to log N(H_2)=20. Strong correlations are found
between log N(H_2) and T_01, the excitation temperature of the H_2, as well as
between log N(H_2) and the level population ratios (log (N(J')/N(J))). The
average fraction of nuclei in molecular hydrogen (f(H_2)) in each sightline is
calculated; however, because there are many HI clouds in each sightline, the
physics of the transition from HI to H_2 can not be studied. Detections also
include H2 in 16 intermediate-velocity clouds in the Galactic Halo (out of 35
IVCs). Molecular hydrogen is seen in one high-velocity cloud (the Leading Arm
of the Magellanic Stream), although 19 high-velocity clouds are intersected;
this strongly suggests that dust is rare or absent in these objects. Finally,
there are five detections of H_2 in external galaxies.Comment: Accepted for ApJ Supplement. Note: figs 7 and 8 not included because
astro-ph rejects them as too bi
Low Redshift Intergalactic Absorption Lines in the Spectrum of HE0226-4110
We present an analysis of the FUSE and STIS E140M spectra of HE0226-4110
(z=0.495). We detect 56 Lyman absorbers and 5 O VI absorbers. The number of
intervening O VI systems per unit redshift with W>50 m\AA is dN(O VI)/dz~ 11.
The O VI systems unambiguously trace hot gas only in one case. For the 4 other
O VI systems, photoionization and collisional ionization models are viable
options to explain the observed column densities of the O VI and the other
ions. If the O VI systems are mostly photoionized, only a fraction of the
observed O VI will contribute to the baryonic density of the warm-hot ionized
medium (WHIM) along this line of sight. Combining our results with previous
ones, we show that there is a general increase of N(O VI) with increasing b(O
VI). Cooling flow models can reproduce the N-b distribution but fail to
reproduce the observed ionic ratios. A comparison of the number of O I, O II, O
III, O IV, and O VI systems per unit redshift show that the low-z IGM is more
highly ionized than weakly ionized. We confirm that photoionized O VI systems
show a decreasing ionization parameter with increasing H I column density. O VI
absorbers with collisional ionization/photoionization degeneracy follow this
relation, possibly suggesting that they are principally photoionized. We find
that the photoionized O VI systems in the low redshift IGM have a median
abundance of 0.3 solar. We do not find additional Ne VIII systems other than
the one found by Savage et al., although our sensitivity should have allowed
the detection of Ne VIII in O VI systems at T~(0.6-1.3)x10^6 K (if CIE
applies). Since the bulk of the WHIM is believed to be at temperatures T>10^6
K, the hot part of the WHIM remains to be discovered with FUV--EUV metal-line
transitions.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJS. Full resolution figures
available at
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ApJ/journal/preprints/ApJS63975.preprint.pd
Physical Properties and Baryonic Content of Low-Redshift Intergalactic Ly-alpha and O VI Absorption Systems: The PG1116+215 Sight Line
We present HST and FUSE observations of the intergalactic absorption toward
PG1116+215 in the 900-3000 A spectral region. We detect 25 Ly-alpha absorbers
at rest-frame equivalent widths W_r > 30 mA, yielding (dN/dz)_Ly-alpha =
154+/-18 over an unblocked redshift path of 0.162. Two additional weak Ly-alpha
absorbers with W_r ~ 15-20 mA are also present. Eight of the Ly-alpha absorbers
have large line widths (b > 40 km/sec). The detection of narrow OVI in the
broad Ly-alpha absorber at z=0.06244 supports the idea that the Ly-alpha
profile is thermally broadened in gas with T > 10^5 K. We find dN/dz ~ 50 for
broad Ly-alpha absorbers with W_r > 30 mA and b > 40 km/sec. If the broad
Ly-alpha lines are dominated by thermal broadening in hot gas, the amount of
baryonic material in these absorbers is enormous, perhaps as much as half the
baryonic mass in the low-redshift universe. We detect OVI absorption in several
of the Ly-alpha clouds along the sight line. Two detections at z=0.13847 and
z=0.16548 are confirmed by the presence of other ions at these redshifts, while
the detections at z=0.04125, 0.05895, 0.05928, and 0.06244 are based upon the
Ly-alpha and OVI detections alone. The information available for 13
low-redshift OVI absorbers with W_r > 50 mA along 5 sight lines yields
(dN/dz)_OVI ~ 14 and Omega_b(OVI) > 0.0027/h_75, assuming a metallicity of 0.1
solar and an OVI ionization fraction < 0.2. The properties and prevalence of
low-redshift OVI absorbers suggest that they too may be a substantial baryon
repository, perhaps containing as much mass as stars and gas inside galaxies.
The redshifts of the OVI absorbers are highly correlated with the redshifts of
galaxies along the sight line, though few of the absorbers lie closer than
600/h_75 kpc to any single galaxy. [abbreviated]Comment: 99 pages, 30 figures, aastex format, ApJS in pres
The Radiative Feedback of the First Cosmological Objects
In hierarchical models of structure formation, an early cosmic UV background
(UVB) is produced by the small (T_vir < 10^4 K) halos that collapse before
reionization. The UVB at energies below 13.6eV suppresses the formation of
stars or black holes inside small halos, by photo-dissociating their only
cooling agent, molecular H2. We self-consistently compute the buildup of the
early UVB in Press-Schechter models, coupled with H2 photo-dissociation both in
the intergalactic medium (IGM), and inside virialized halos. We find that the
intergalactic H2 has a negligible effect on the UVB, both because its initial
optical depth is small (tau<0.1), and because it is photo-dissociated at an
early stage. If the UV sources in the first collapsed halos are stars, then
their UV flux suppresses further star-formation inside small halos. This
results in a pause in the buildup of the UVB, and reionization is delayed until
larger halos (T_vir> 10^4 K) collapse. If the small halos host mini-quasars
with hard spectra extending to approximately 1 keV, then their X-rays balance
the effects of the UVB, the negative feedback does not occur, and reionization
can be caused by the small halos.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures included, uses emulateapj.sty. Submitted to Ap
A new constraint on cosmological variability of the proton-to-electron mass ratio
Exotic cosmologies predict variability of the fundamental physical constants
over the cosmic time. Using the VLT/UVES high resolution spectra of the quasar
Q0347-3819 and unblended electronic - vibrational - rotational lines of the H2
molecule identified at z = 3.025 we test possible changes in the proton - to -
electron mass ratio mu_0 = m_p/m_e over the period of 11 Gyr. We obtained a new
constraint on the time - averaged variation rate of mu_0 of |d mu /d t /mu_0| <
5 10^{-15} yr^{-1} (1 sigma c.l.). The estimated 1 sigma uncertainty interval
of the |Delta mu/mu_0| ratio of about 0.004% implies that since the time when
the H2 spectrum was formed at z = 3.025, mu_0 has not changed by more than a
few thousands of a percent.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, a revised version accepted by MNRA
Thermal stability of cold clouds in galaxy halos
We consider the thermal properties of cold, dense clouds of molecular
hydrogen and atomic helium. For cloud masses below 10^-1.7 Msun, the internal
pressure is sufficient to permit the existence of particles of solid or liquid
hydrogen at temperatures above the microwave background temperature. Optically
thin thermal continuum emission by these particles can balance cosmic-ray
heating of the cloud, leading to equilibria which are thermally stable even
though the heating rate is independent of cloud temperature. For the Galaxy,
the known heating rate in the disk sets a minimum mass of order 10^-6 Msun
necessary for survival. Clouds of this type may in principle comprise most of
the dark matter in the Galactic halo. However, we caution that the equilibria
do not exist at redshifts z > 1 when the temperature of the microwave
background was substantially larger than its current value; the formation and
survival of such clouds to the present epoch therefore remain open questions.Comment: 5 pp incl 2 figs, LaTeX, emulateapj.sty; ApJ Letters in press.
Significant revisions, results qualitatively unchange
Dynamical Expansion of Ionization and Dissociation Front around a Massive Star. II. On the Generality of Triggered Star Formation
We analyze the dynamical expansion of the HII region, photodissociation
region, and the swept-up shell, solving the UV- and FUV-radiative transfer, the
thermal and chemical processes in the time-dependent hydrodynamics code.
Following our previous paper, we investigate the time evolutions with various
ambient number densities and central stars. Our calculations show that basic
evolution is qualitatively similar among our models with different parameters.
The molecular gas is finally accumulated in the shell, and the gravitational
fragmentation of the shell is generally expected. The quantitative differences
among models are well understood with analytic scaling relations. The detailed
physical and chemical structure of the shell is mainly determined by the
incident FUV flux and the column density of the shell, which also follow the
scaling relations. The time of shell-fragmentation, and the mass of the
gathered molecular gas are sensitive tothe ambient number density. In the case
of the lower number density, the shell-fragmentation occurs over a longer
timescale, and the accumulated molecular gas is more massive. The variations
with different central stars are more moderate. The time of the
shell-fragmentation differs by a factor of several with the various stars of
M_* = 12-101 M_sun. According to our numerical results, we conclude that the
expanding HII region should be an efficient trigger for star formation in
molecular clouds if the mass of the ambient molecular material is large enough.Comment: 49 pages, including 17 figures ; Accepted for publication in Ap
The Deuterium, Oxygen, and Nitrogen Abundance Toward LSE 44
We present measurements of the column densities of interstellar DI, OI, NI,
and H2 made with FUSE, and of HI made with IUE toward the sdO star LSE 44, at a
distance of 554+/-66 pc. This target is among the seven most distant Galactic
sight lines for which these abundance ratios have been measured. The column
densities were estimated by profile fitting and curve of growth analyses. We
find D/H = (2.24 +1.39 -1.32)E-5, D/O = (1.99 +1.30 -0.67)E-2, D/N = (2.75
+1.19 -0.89)E-1, and O/H = (1.13 +0.96 -0.71)E-3 (2 sigma). Of the most distant
Galactic sight lines for which the deuterium abundance has been measured LSE 44
is one of the few with D/H higher than the Local Bubble value, but D/O toward
all these targets is below the Local Bubble value and more uniform than the D/H
distribution. (Abstract abridged.)Comment: 20 pages, including 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
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