255 research outputs found
Chandra Observations and the Nature of the Anomalous Arms of NGC 4258 (M 106)
This paper presents high resolution X-ray observations with Chandra of NGC
4258 and infers the nature of the so called ``anomalous arms'' in this galaxy.
The anomalous arms dominate the X-ray image; diffuse X-ray emission from the
``plateaux'' regions, seen in radio and H imaging, is also found. X-ray
spectra have been obtained at various locations along the anomalous arms and
are well described by thermal (mekal) models with kT in the range 0.37 - 0.6
keV. The previously known kpc-scale radio jets are surrounded by cocoons of hot
X-ray emitting gas for the first 350 pc of their length. The radio jets, seen
in previous VLBA and VLA observations, propagate perpendicular to the compact
nuclear gas disk (imaged in water vapor maser emission). The angle between the
jets and the rotation axis of the galactic disk is 60. The jets shock
the normal interstellar gas along the first 350 pc of their length, causing the
hot, X-ray emitting cocoons noted above. At a height of z = 175 pc from the
disk plane, the jets exit the normal gas disk and then propagate though the low
density halo until they reach ``hot spots'' (at 870 pc and 1.7 kpc from the
nucleus), which are seen in radio, optical line and X-ray emission. These jets
must drive mass motions into the low density halo gas. This high velocity halo
gas impacts on the dense galactic gas disk and shock heats it along and around
a ``line of damage'', which is the projection of the jets onto the galactic gas
disk as viewed down the galaxy disk rotation axis. However, because NGC 4258 is
highly inclined ( = 64), the ``line of damage'' projects on the
sky in a different direction to the jets themselves. We calculate the expected
p.a. of the ``line of damage'' on the sky and find that it coincides with the
anomalous arms to within 2. (Abstract truncated).Comment: 12 pages plus 9 figures, to be published in the Astrophysical
Journal, v560, nr 1, pt 1 (Oct 10, 2001 issue
GRAIL, an omni-directional gravitational wave detector
A cryogenic spherical and omni-directional resonant-mass detector proposed by
the GRAIL collaboration is described.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figs., contribution to proceedings GW Data Analysis
Workshop, Paris, nov. 199
The internal structure and formation of early-type galaxies: the gravitational--lens system MG2016+112 at z=1.004
[Abridged] We combine our measurements of the velocity dispersion and the
surface brightness profile of the lens galaxy D in the system MG2016+112
(z=1.004) with constraints from gravitational lensing to study its internal
mass distribution. We find that: (i) dark matter accounts for >50% of the total
mass within the Einstein radius (99% CL), excluding at the 8-sigma level that
mass follows light inside the Einstein radius with a constant mass-to-light
ratio (M/L). (ii) the total mass distribution inside the Einstein radius is
well-described by a density profile ~r^-gamma' with an effective slope
gamma'=2.0+-0.1+-0.1, including random and systematic uncertainties. (iii) The
offset of galaxy D from the local Fundamental Plane independently constrains
the stellar M/L, and matches the range derived from our models, leading to a
more stringent lower limit of >60% on the fraction of dark matter within the
Einstein radius (99%CL).
Under the assumption of adiabatic contraction, the inner slope of the dark
matter halo before the baryons collapsed is gamma_i<1.4 (68 CL), marginally
consistent with the highest-resolution cold dark matter simulations that
indicate gamma_i~1.5. This might indicate that either adiabatic contraction is
a poor description of E/S0 formation or that additional processes play a role
as well. Indeed, the apparently isothermal density distribution inside the
Einstein radius, is not a natural outcome of adiabatic contraction models,
where it appears to be a mere coincidence. By contrast, we argue that
isothermality might be the result of a stronger coupling between luminous and
dark-matter, possibly the result of (incomplete) violent relaxation processes.
Hence, we conclude that galaxy D appears already relaxed 8 Gyr ago.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, ApJ, in press, minor change
Coherent Umklapp Scattering of Light from Disordered Photonic Crystals
A theoretical study of the coherent light scattering from disordered photonic
crystal is presented. In addition to the conventional enhancement of the
reflected light intensity into the backscattering direction, the so called
coherent backscattering (CBS), the periodic modulation of the dielectric
function in photonic crystals gives rise to a qualitatively new effect:
enhancement of the reflected light intensity in directions different from the
backscattering direction. These additional coherent scattering processes,
dubbed here {\em umklapp scattering} (CUS), result in peaks, which are most
pronounced when the incident light beam enters the sample at an angle close to
the the Bragg angle. Assuming that the dielectric function modulation is weak,
we study the shape of the CUS peaks for different relative lengths of the
modulation-induced Bragg attenuation compared to disorder-induced mean free
path. We show that when the Bragg length increases, then the CBS peak assumes
its conventional shape, whereas the CUS peak rapidly diminishes in amplitude.
We also study the suppression of the CUS peak upon the departure of the
incident beam from Bragg resonance: we found that the diminishing of the CUS
intensity is accompanied by substantial broadening. In addition, the peak
becomes asymmetric.Comment: LaTeX, 8 two-column pages, 6 figures include
Bars and Dark Matter Halo Cores
Self-consistent bars that form in galaxies embedded within cuspy halos are
unable to flatten the cusp. Short bars form in models with quasi-flat rotation
curves. They lose angular momentum to the halo through dynamical friction, but
the continuous concentration of mass within the disk as the bar grows actually
compresses the halo further, overwhelming any density reduction due to the
modest angular momentum transfer to the halo. Thus the Weinberg-Katz proposed
solution to the non-existence of the predicted cuspy halos from CDM simulations
would seem to be unworkable. I also find that the concerns over the performance
of N-body codes raised by these authors do not apply to the methods used here.Comment: Latex 11 pages (uses emulateapj.sty), 8 figures, revised version to
appear ApJ, very minor change
Warped Galaxies From Misaligned Angular Momenta
A galaxy disk embedded in a rotating halo experiences a dynamical friction
force which causes it to warp when the angular momentum axes of the disk and
halo are misaligned. Our fully self-consistent simulations of this process
induce long-lived warps in the disk which mimic Briggs's rules of warp
behavior. They also demonstrate that random motion within the disk adds
significantly to its stiffness. Moreover, warps generated in this way have no
winding problem and are more pronounced in the extended \h1 disk. As emphasized
by Binney and his co-workers, angular momentum misalignments, which are
expected in hierarchical models of galaxy formation, can account for the high
fraction of warped galaxies. Our simulations exemplify the role of misaligned
spins in warp formation even when the halo density is not significantly
flattened.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap.J.
Open Questions in Classical Gravity
We discuss some outstanding open questions regarding the validity and
uniqueness of the standard second order Newton-Einstein classical gravitational
theory. On the observational side we discuss the degree to which the realm of
validity of Newton's Law of Gravity can actually be extended to distances much
larger than the solar system distance scales on which the law was originally
established. On the theoretical side we identify some commonly accepted but
actually still open to question assumptions which go into the formulating of
the standard second order Einstein theory in the first place. In particular, we
show that while the familiar second order Poisson gravitational equation (and
accordingly its second order covariant Einstein generalization) may be
sufficient to yield Newton's Law of Gravity they are not in fact necessary. The
standard theory thus still awaits the identification of some principle which
would then make it necessary too. We show that current observational
information does not exclusively mandate the standard theory, and that the
conformal invariant fourth order theory of gravity considered recently by
Mannheim and Kazanas is also able to meet the constraints of data, and in fact
to do so without the need for any so far unobserved non-luminous or dark
matter.Comment: UCONN-93-1, plain TeX format, 22 pages (plus 7 figures - send
requests to [email protected]). To appear in a special issue of
Foundations of Physics honoring Professor Fritz Rohrlich on the occasion of
his retirement, L. P. Horwitz and A. van der Merwe Editors, Plenum Publishing
Company, N.Y., Fall 199
Radial orbit instability: review and perspectives
This paper presents elements about the radial orbit instability, which occurs
in spherical self-gravitating systems with a strong anisotropy in the radial
velocity direction. It contains an overview on the history of radial orbit
instability. We also present the symplectic method we use to explore stability
of equilibrium states, directly related to the dissipation induced instability
mechanism well known in theoretical mechanics and plasma physics.Comment: 10 pages, submitted to Transport Theory and Statistical Physics,
proceedings of Vlasovia 2009 International Conference. Corrected for typos,
redaction, and references adde
Correlations in Transmission of Light through a Disordered Amplifying Medium
The angular and frequency correlation functions of the transmission
coefficient for light propagation through a strongly scattering amplifying
medium are considered. It is found that just as in the case of an elastic
scattering medium the correlation function consists of three terms. However,
the structure of the terms is rather different. Angular correlation has a
power-law decay and exhibits oscillations. There is no "memory effect" as in
the case of an elastic medium. Interaction between diffusion modes is strongly
enhanced near the lasing threshold. Frequency correlation scale decreases close
to the lasing threshold.
We also consider time correlations of the transmission in the case of
nonstationary inhomogeneities. We find short- and long-range time correlations.
The scale of the short-range correlation decreases, while the long-range
correlation scale becomes infinite near the threshold.Comment: 16 pages, 7 postscript figure
Large Faraday rotation of resonant light in a cold atomic cloud
We experimentally studied the Faraday rotation of resonant light in an
optically-thick cloud of laser-cooled rubidium atoms. Measurements yield a
large Verdet constant in the range of 200 000 degrees/T/mm and a maximal
polarization rotation of 150 degrees. A complete analysis of the polarization
state of the transmitted light was necessary to account for the role of the
probe laser's spectrum
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