4,664 research outputs found
The Central Region in M100: Observations and Modeling
We present new high-resolution observations of the center of the late-type
spiral M100 (NGC 4321) supplemented by 3D numerical modeling of stellar and gas
dynamics, including star formation (SF). NIR imaging has revealed a stellar
bar, previously inferred from optical and 21 cm observations, and an
ovally-shaped ring-like structure in the plane of the disk. The K isophotes
become progressively elongated and skewed to the position angle of the bar
(outside and inside the `ring') forming an inner bar-like region. The galaxy
exhibits a circumnuclear starburst in the inner part of the K `ring'. Two
maxima of the K emission have been observed to lie symmetrically with respect
to the nucleus and equidistant from it slightly leading the stellar bar. We
interpret the twists in the K isophotes as being indicative of the presence of
a double inner Lindblad resonance (ILR) and test this hypothesis by modeling
the gas flow in a self-consistent gas + stars disk embedded in a halo, with an
overall NGC4321-like mass distribution. We have reproduced the basic morphology
of the region (the bar, the large scale trailing shocks, two symmetric K peaks
corresponding to gas compression maxima which lie at the caustic formed by the
interaction of a pair of trailing and leading shocks in the vicinity of the
inner ILR, both peaks being sites of SF, and two additional zones of SF
corresponding to the gas compression maxima, referred usually as `twin peaks').Comment: 31 pages, postscript, compressed, uuencoded. 21 figures available in
postscript, compressed form by anonymous ftp from
ftp://asta.pa.uky.edu/shlosman/main100 , mget *.ps.Z. To appear in Ap.
The Kinematics of the Ionized and Molecular Hydrogen in the Starburst Galaxy NGC 253
Near-infrared H_2 1-0 S(1) and Br_gamma velocity curves along the major axis
of NGC 253 have revealed a central velocity gradient that is seven times
steeper than that shown by the optical velocity curve. This is interpreted as
an optical depth effect due to dust. Approximately 35 mag of visual extinction
in the center is required to match the SW side of the optical velocity curve.
The spatial variation of the ratio of these lines to the CO (J=1-0) line is
compared among starburst galaxies NGC 253, M82, and NGC 4945 to investigate the
excitation mechanism responsible for the H_2 1-0 S(1) line.Comment: Uuencoded postscript file, 10 pages (4 tables included), 8 figures
available on request to [email protected], Ap.J. (in press
The extinction by dust in the outer parts of spiral galaxies
To investigate the distribution of dust in Sb and Sc galaxies we have
analyzed near-infrared and optical surface photometry for an unbiased sample of
37 galaxies. Since light in the -band is very little affected by extinction
by dust, the colour is a good indicator of the amount of extinction, and
using the colour-inclination relation we can statistically determine the
extinction for an average Sb/Sc galaxy. We find in general a considerable
amount of extinction in spiral galaxies in the central regions, all the way out
to their effective radii. In the outer parts, at D, or at 3 times the
typical exponential scale lengths of the stellar distribution , we find a
maximum optical depth of 0.5 in for a face-on galaxy. If we impose the
condition that the dust is distributed in the same way as the stars, this upper
limit would go down to 0.1.Comment: 4 pages, postscript, gzip-compressed, uuencoded, includes 2 figures.
Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Letter
On the Environmental Dependence of Cluster Galaxy Assembly Timescale
We present estimates of CN and Mg overabundances with respect to Fe for
early-type galaxies in 8 clusters over a range of richness and morphology.
Spectra were taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR1, and from WHT
and CAHA observations. Abundances were derived from absorption lines and single
burst population models, by comparing galaxy spectra with appropriately
broadened synthetic model spectra. We detect correlations between [Mg/CN] and
[CN/Fe] and cluster X-ray luminosity. No correlation is observed for [Mg/Fe].
We also see a clear trend with the richness and morphology of the clusters.
This is interpreted given varying formation timescales for CN, Mg and Fe, and a
varying star formation history in early-type galaxies as a function of their
environment: intermediate-mass early-type galaxies in more massive clusters are
assembled on shorter timescales than in less massive clusters, with an upper
limit of ~1 Gyr.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Structure and Star Formation in NGC 925
We present the results from an optical study of the stellar & star formation
properties of NGC 925 using the WIYN 3.5m telescope. Images in B,V,R, & H-alpha
reveal a galaxy that is fraught with asymmetries. From isophote fits we
discover that the bar center is not coincident with the center of the outer
isophotes nor with the dynamical center (from Pisano et al. 1998). Cuts across
the spiral arms reveal that the northern arms are distinctly different from the
southern arm. The southern arm not only appears more coherent, but the peaks in
stellar and H-alpha emission are found to be coincident with those of the HI
distribution, while no such consistency is present in the northern disk. We
also examine the gas surface density criterion for massive star formation in
NGC 925, and find that its behavior is more consistent with that for irregular
galaxies, than with late-type spirals. In particular, star formation persists
beyond the radius at which the gas surface density falls below the predicted
critical value for star formation for late-type spirals. Such properties are
characteristic of Magellanic spirals, but are present at a less dramatic level
in NGC 925, a late-type spiral.Comment: accepted for publication in the August 2000 Astronomical Journal 12
pages, 3 tables, 14 figure
Semicausal operations are semilocalizable
We prove a conjecture by DiVincenzo, which in the terminology of Preskill et
al. [quant-ph/0102043] states that ``semicausal operations are
semilocalizable''. That is, we show that any operation on the combined system
of Alice and Bob, which does not allow Bob to send messages to Alice, can be
represented as an operation by Alice, transmitting a quantum particle to Bob,
and a local operation by Bob. The proof is based on the uniqueness of the
Stinespring representation for a completely positive map. We sketch some of the
problems in transferring these concepts to the context of relativistic quantum
field theory.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, revte
- …