620 research outputs found
The stellar correlation function from SDSS - A statistical search for wide binary stars
We study the statistical properties of the wide binary population in the
Galaxy field with projected separations larger than 200 AU by constructing the
stellar angular two-point correlation function (2PCF) from a homogeneous sample
of nearly 670'000 main sequence stars. The selected stars lie within a
rectangular region around the Northern Galactic Pole and have apparent r-band
magnitudes between 15 and 20.5 mag and spectral classes later than G5 (g-r >
0.5 mag). The data were taken from the Sixth Data Release of the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey. We model the 2PCF by means of the Wasserman-Weinberg technique
including several assumptions on the distribution of the binaries' orbital
parameters, luminosity function, and density distribution in the Galaxy. In
particular, we assume that the semi-major axis distribution is described by a
single powerlaw. The free model parameters - the local wide binary number
density and the power-law index of the semi-major axis distribution - are
inferred simultaneously by least-square fitting. We find the separation
distribution to follow Oepik's law up to the Galactic tidal limit, without any
break and a local density of 5 wide binaries per 1'000 cubic parsec with both
components having spectral type later than G5. This implies that about 10% of
all stars in the solar neighbourhood are members of such a late-type wide
binary system. With a relative statistical (2 sigma) error of about 10%, our
findings are in general agreement with previous studies of wide binaries. The
data suggest that about 800 very wide pairs with projected separations larger
than 0.1 pc exist in our sample, whereas none are found beyond 0.8 pc.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 7 tables; added reference for section
Orbital ordering, Jahn-Teller distortion, and resonant x-ray scattering in KCuF3
The orbital, lattice, and spin ordering phenomena in KCuF3 are investigated
by means of LDA+U calculations, based on ab-initio pseudopotentials.We examine
the Cu-3d orbital ordering and the associated Jahn-Teller distortion in several
different spin-ordered structures of KCuF3. The ground state is correctly
predicted to be an A-type antiferromagnetic structure, and the calculated
Jahn-Teller distortion agrees also well with experiment. Concerning the orbital
ordering, we find that even for a highly ionic compound such as KCuF3, the
orbital-order parameter is significantly reduced with respect to its nominal
value due to Cu(3d)--F(2p) hybridization. We also calculate the Cu K-edge
resonant x-ray scattering spectra for Bragg reflections associated with orbital
order. Consistent with previous studies, we find that the resonant signal is
dominated by the structural anisotropy in the distribution of the F neighbors
of the resonant Cu atom, and that the Cu-3d orbital ordering has only a minor
influence on the spectra. Our LDA+U results, however, also indicate that a
change in the magnetic structure has a small influence on the Jahn-Teller
distortion, and hence on the resonant spectrum, in the conventional
(room-temperature) crystallographic structure of KCuF3. This may indicate that
the large change observed experimentally in the resonant signal near the N\'eel
temperature is related to a low-temperature structural transformation in KCuF3.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Magnetic properties of La(0.67)Sr(0.33)MnO3/BiFeO3(001) heterojunctions: chemically abrupt versus atomic intermixed interface
Using first-principles density-functional calculations, we address the
magnetic properties of the ferromagnet/antiferromagnet
La(0.67)Sr(0.33)MnO3/BiFeO3(001) heterojunctions, and investigate possible
driving mechanisms for a ferromagnetic (FM) interfacial ordering of the Fe
spins recently observed experimentally. We find that the chemically abrupt
defect-free La(0.67)Sr(0.33)MnO3/BiFeO3(001) heterojunction displays, as ground
state, an ordering with compensated Fe spins. Cation Fe/Mn intermixing at the
interface tends to favour, instead, a FM interfacial order of the Fe spins,
coupled antiferromagnetically to the bulk La(0.67)Sr(0.33)MnO3 spins, as
observed experimentally. Such trends are understood based on a model
description of the energetics of the exchange interactions.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Consequences of gravitational radiation recoil
Coalescing binary black holes experience an impulsive kick due to anisotropic
emission of gravitational waves. We discuss the dynamical consequences of the
recoil accompanying massive black hole mergers. Recoil velocities are
sufficient to eject most coalescing black holes from dwarf galaxies and
globular clusters, which may explain the apparent absence of massive black
holes in these systems. Ejection from giant elliptical galaxies would be rare,
but coalescing black holes are displaced from the center and fall back on a
time scale of order the half-mass crossing time. Displacement of the black
holes transfers energy to the stars in the nucleus and can convert a steep
density cusp into a core. Radiation recoil calls into question models that grow
supermassive black holes from hierarchical mergers of stellar-mass precursors.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, emulateapj style; minor changes made; accepted to
ApJ Letter
Virgo cluster early-type dwarf galaxies with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. IV. The color-magnitude relation
We present an analysis of the optical colors of 413 Virgo cluster early-type
dwarf galaxies (dEs), based on Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging data. Our study
comprises (1) a comparison of the color-magnitude relation (CMR) of the
different dE subclasses that we identified in Paper III of this series, (2) a
comparison of the shape of the CMR in low and high-density regions, (3) an
analysis of the scatter of the CMR, and (4) an interpretation of the observed
colors with ages and metallicities from population synthesis models. We find
that the CMRs of nucleated (dE(N)) and non-nucleated dEs (dE(nN)) are
significantly different from each other, with similar colors at fainter
magnitudes (r > 17 mag), but increasingly redder colors of the dE(N)s at
brighter magnitudes. We interpret this with older ages and/or higher
metallicities of the brighter dE(N)s. The dEs with disk features have similar
colors as the dE(N)s and seem to be only slightly younger and/or less
metal-rich on average. Furthermore, we find a small but significant dependence
of the CMR on local projected galaxy number density, consistently seen in all
of u-r, g-r, and g-i, and weakly i-z. We deduce that a significant intrinsic
color scatter of the CMR is present, even when allowing for a distance spread
of our galaxies. No increase of the CMR scatter at fainter magnitudes is
observed down to r = 17 mag (Mr = -14 mag). The color residuals, i.e., the
offsets of the data points from the linear fit to the CMR, are clearly
correlated with each other in all colors for the dE(N)s and for the full dE
sample. We conclude that there must be at least two different formation
channels for early-type dwarfs in order to explain the heterogeneity of this
class of galaxy. (Abridged)Comment: 17 pages + 12 figures. Accepted for publication in A
On the unification of dwarf and giant elliptical galaxies
The near orthogonal distributions of dwarf elliptical (dE) and giant
elliptical (E) galaxies in the mu_e-Mag and mu_e-log(R_e) diagrams have been
interpreted as evidence for two distinct galaxy formation processes. However,
continuous, linear relationships across the alleged dE/E boundary at M_B = -18
mag - such as those between central surface brightness (mu_0) and (i) galaxy
magnitude and (ii) light-profile shape (n) - suggest a similar, governing
formation mechanism. Here we explain how these latter two linear trends
necessitate a different behavior for dE and E galaxies, exactly as observed, in
diagrams involving mu_e (and also _e). A natural consequence is that the
distribution of dEs and Es in Fundamental Plane type analyses that use the
associated intensity I_e, or _e, are expected to appear different. Together
with other linear trends across the alleged dE/E boundary, such as those
between luminosity and color, metallicity, and velocity dispersion, it appears
that the dEs form a continuous extension to the E galaxies. The presence of
partially depleted cores in luminous (M_B < -20.5 mag) Es does however signify
the action of a different physical process at the centers (< ~300 pc) of these
galaxies.Comment: 5 pages from the proceedings of the 2004 conference "Penetrating bars
through masks of cosmic dust: the Hubble tuning fork strikes a new note".
Edited by D. L. Block, I. Puerari, K. C. Freeman, R. Groess, and E. K. Bloc
Mn L edge resonant x-ray scattering in manganites: Influence of the magnetic state
We present an analysis of the dependence of the resonant orbital order and
magnetic scattering spectra on the spin configuration. We consider an arbitrary
spin direction with respect to the local crystal field axis, thus lowering
significantly the local symmetry. To evaluate the atomic scattering in this
case, we generalized the Hannon-Trammel formula and implemented it inside the
framework of atomic multiplet calculations in a crystal field. For an
illustration, we calculate the magnetic and orbital scattering in the CE phase
of \lsmo in the cases when the spins are aligned with the crystal lattice
vector (or equivalently ) and when they are rotated in the
-plane by 45 with respect to this axis. Magnetic spectra differ
for the two cases. For the orbital scattering, we show that for the former
configuration there is a non negligible ()
scattering component, which vanishes in the 45 case, while the () components are similar in the two cases. From the
consideration of two 90 spin canted structures, we conclude there is a
significant dependence of the orbital scattering spectra on the spin
arrangement. Recent experiments detected a sudden decrease of the orbital
scattering intensity upon increasing the temperature above the N\' eel
temperature in \lsmo. We discuss this behavior considering the effect of
different types of misorientations of the spins on the orbital scattering
spectrum.Comment: 8 figures. In the revised version, we added a note, a reference, and
a few minor changes in Figure 1 and the text. Accepted in Physical Review
Virgo cluster early-type dwarf galaxies with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. II. Early-type dwarfs with central star formation
Despite the common picture of an early-type dwarf (dE) as a quiescent galaxy
with no star formation and little gas, we identify 23 dEs that have blue
central colors caused by recent or ongoing star formation in our sample of 476
Virgo cluster dEs. In addition, 14 objects that were mostly classified as
(candidate) BCDs have similar properties. Among the certain cluster members,
the dEs with blue centers reach a fraction of more than 15% of the dE
population at brighter (B<=16) magnitudes. A spectral analysis of the centers
of 16 galaxies reveals in all cases an underlying old population that dominates
the mass, with M(old)>=90% for all but one object. Therefore the majority of
these galaxies will appear like ordinary dEs within ~one Gigayear or less after
the last episode of star formation. Their overall gas content is less than that
of dwarf irregular galaxies, but higher than that of ordinary dEs. Their
flattening distribution suggests the shape of a thick disk, similar to what has
been found for dEs with disk features in Paper I of this series. Their
projected spatial distribution shows no central clustering, and their
distribution with projected local density follows that of irregular galaxies,
indicative of an unrelaxed population. This is corroborated by their velocity
distribution, which displays two side peaks characteristic of recent infall. We
discuss possible formation mechanisms (ram-pressure stripping, tidally induced
star formation, harassment) that might be able to explain both the disk shape
and the central star formation of the dEs with blue centers.Comment: 16 pages + 15 figures. Accepted for publication in AJ. We recommend
downloading the full resolution version from
http://www.virgo-cluster.com/lisker2006b.ps.g
The Dwarf Galaxy Population of the Dorado group down to Mv=-11
We present V and I CCD photometry of suspected low-surface brightness dwarf
galaxies detected in a survey covering ~2.4 deg^2 around the central region of
the Dorado group of galaxies. The low-surface brightness galaxies were chosen
based on their sizes and magnitudes at the limiting isophote of 26.0V\mu. The
selected galaxies have magnitudes brighter than V=20 (Mv=-11 for an assumed
distance to the group of 17.2 Mpc), with central surface brightnesses \mu0>22.5
V mag/arcsec^2, scale lengths h>2'', and diameters > 14'' at the limiting
isophote. Using these criteria, we identified 69 dwarf galaxy candidates. Four
of them are large very low-surface brightness galaxies that were detected on a
smoothed image, after masking high surface brightness objects. Monte Carlo
simulations performed to estimate completeness, photometric uncertainties and
to evaluate our ability to detect extended low-surface brightness galaxies show
that the completeness fraction is, on average, > 80% for dwarf galaxies with
and 22.5<\mu0<25.5 V mag/arcsec^2, for the range of sizes
considered by us (D>14''). The V-I colors of the dwarf candidates vary from
-0.3 to 2.3 with a peak on V-I=0.98, suggesting a range of different stellar
populations in these galaxies. The projected surface density of the dwarf
galaxies shows a concentration towards the group center similar in extent to
that found around five X-ray groups and the elliptical galaxy NGC1132 studied
by Mulchaey and Zabludoff (1999), suggesting that the dwarf galaxies in Dorado
are probably physically associated with the overall potential well of the
group.Comment: 32 pages, 16 postscript figures and 3 figures in GIF format, aastex
v5.0. To appear in The Astronomical Journal, January 200
Galaxy threshing and the formation of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies
Recent spectroscopic and morphological observational studies of galaxies
around NGC 1399 in the Fornax Cluster (Drinkwater et al. 2000b) have discovered
several `ultra-compact dwarf' galaxies with intrinsic sizes of 100 pc
and absolute band magnitudes ranging from -13 to -11 mag. In order to
elucidate the origin of these enigmatic objects, we perform numerical
simulations on the dynamical evolution of nucleated dwarf galaxies orbiting NGC
1399 and suffering from its strong tidal gravitational field. Adopting a
plausible scaling relation for dwarf galaxies, we find that the outer stellar
components of a nucleated dwarf are totally removed. This is due to them being
tidally stripped over the course of several passages past the central region of
NGC 1399. The nucleus, however, manages to survive. We also find that the size
and luminosity of the remnant are similar to those observed for ultra-compact
dwarf galaxies, if the simulated precursor nucleated dwarf has a mass of
. These results suggest that ultra-compact dwarf galaxies
could have previously been more luminous dwarf spheroidal or elliptical
galaxies with rather compact nuclei.Comment: 9 pages 4 figures,2001, ApJL, 552, 10
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