26,042 research outputs found
A Compound model for the origin of Earth's water
One of the most important subjects of debate in the formation of the solar
system is the origin of Earth's water. Comets have long been considered as the
most likely source of the delivery of water to Earth. However, elemental and
isotopic arguments suggest a very small contribution from these objects. Other
sources have also been proposed, among which, local adsorption of water vapor
onto dust grains in the primordial nebula and delivery through planetesimals
and planetary embryos have become more prominent. However, no sole source of
water provides a satisfactory explanation for Earth's water as a whole. In view
of that, using numerical simulations, we have developed a compound model
incorporating both the principal endogenous and exogenous theories, and
investigating their implications for terrestrial planet formation and
water-delivery. Comets are also considered in the final analysis, as it is
likely that at least some of Earth's water has cometary origin. We analyze our
results comparing two different water distribution models, and complement our
study using D/H ratio, finding possible relative contributions from each
source, focusing on planets formed in the habitable zone. We find that the
compound model play an important role by showing more advantage in the amount
and time of water-delivery in Earth-like planets.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
SACY - a Search for Associations Containing Young stars
The scientific goal of the SACY (Search for Associations Containing
Young-stars) was to identify possible associations of stars younger than the
Pleiades Association among optical counterparts of the ROSAT X-ray bright
sources. High-resolution spectra for possible optical counterparts later than
G0 belonging to HIPPARCOS and/or TYCHO-2 catalogs were obtained in order to
assess both the youth and the spatial motion of each target. More than 1000
ROSAT sources were observed, covering a large area in the Southern Hemisphere.
The newly identified young stars present a patchy distribution in UVW and XYZ,
revealing the existence of huge nearby young associations. Here we present the
associations identified in this survey.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of Open Issues in
Local Formation and Early Stellar Evolution, Ouro Preto, Brazi
GHASP: an H{\alpha} kinematic survey of spiral and irregular galaxies -- IX. The NIR, stellar and baryonic Tully-Fisher relations
We studied, for the first time, the near infrared, stellar and baryonic
Tully-Fisher relations for a sample of field galaxies taken from an homogeneous
Fabry-Perot sample of galaxies (the GHASP survey). The main advantage of GHASP
over other samples is that maximum rotational velocities were estimated from 2D
velocity fields, avoiding assumptions about the inclination and position angle
of the galaxies. By combining these data with 2MASS photometry, optical colors,
HI masses and different mass-to-light ratio estimators, we found a slope of
4.48\pm0.38 and 3.64\pm0.28 for the stellar and baryonic Tully-Fisher relation,
respectively. We found that these values do not change significantly when
different mass-to-light ratios recipes were used. We also point out, for the
first time, that rising rotation curves as well as asymmetric rotation curves
show a larger dispersion in the Tully-Fisher relation than flat ones or than
symmetric ones. Using the baryonic mass and the optical radius of galaxies, we
found that the surface baryonic mass density is almost constant for all the
galaxies of this sample. In this study we also emphasize the presence of a
break in the NIR Tully-Fisher relation at M(H,K)\sim-20 and we confirm that
late-type galaxies present higher total-to-baryonic mass ratios than early-type
spirals, suggesting that supernova feedback is actually an important issue in
late-type spirals. Due to the well defined sample selection criteria and the
homogeneity of the data analysis, the Tully-Fisher relation for GHASP galaxies
can be used as a reference for the study of this relation in other environments
and at higher redshifts.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
NGC 2782: a merger remnant with young stars in its gaseous tidal tail
We have searched for young star-forming regions around the merger remnant NGC
2782. By using GALEX FUV and NUV imaging and HI data we found seven UV sources,
located at distances greater than 26 kpc from the center of NGC 2782, and
coinciding with its western HI tidal tail. These regions were resolved in
several smaller systems when Gemini/GMOS r-band images were used. We compared
the observed colors to stellar population synthesis models and we found that
these objects have ages of ~1 to 11 Myr and masses ranging from 10^3.9 to
10^4.6 Msun. By using Gemini/GMOS spectroscopic data we confirm memberships and
derive high metallicities for three of the young regions in the tail
(12+log(O/H)=8.74\pm0.20, 8.81\pm0.20 and 8.78\pm0.20). These metallicities are
similar to the value presented by the nuclear region of NGC 2782 and also
similar to the value presented for an object located close to the main body of
NGC 2782. The high metallicities measured for the star-forming regions in the
gaseous tidal tail of NGC 2782 could be explained if they were formed out of
highly enriched gas which was once expelled from the center of the merging
galaxies when the system collided. An additional possibility is that the tail
has been a nursery of a few generations of young stellar systems which
ultimately polluted this medium with metals, further enriching the already
pre-enriched gas ejected to the tail when the galaxies collided.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Star formation in low density HI gas around the Elliptical Galaxy NGC2865
Interacting galaxies surrounded by HI tidal debris are ideal sites for the
study of young clusters and tidal galaxy formation. The process that triggers
star formation in the low-density environments outside galaxies is still an
open question. New clusters and galaxies of tidal origin are expected to have
high metallicities for their luminosities. Spectroscopy of such objects is,
however, at the limit of what can be done with existing 8-10m class telescopes,
which has prevented statistical studies of these objects. NGC2865 is an
UV-bright merging elliptical galaxy with shells and extended HI tails. The
regions observed in this work were previously detected using multi-slit imaging
spectroscopy. We obtain new multislit spectroscopy of six young star-forming
regions around NGC2865, to determine their redshifts and metallicities. The six
emission-line regions are located 16-40 kpc from NGC2865 and they have similar
redshifts. They have ages of ~10Myears and an average metallicity of
12+log(O/H) ~ 8.6, suggesting a tidal origin for the regions. It is noted that
they coincide with an extended HI tail, which has projected density of N
< 10 cm, and displays a low surface brightness counterpart. These
regions may represent the youngest of the three populations of star clusters
already identified in NGC2865. The high, nearly-solar, oxygen abundances found
for the six regions in the vicinity of NGC2865 suggest that they were formed by
pre-enriched material from the parent galaxy, from gas removed during the last
major merger. Given the mass and the location of the HII regions, we can
speculate that these young star-forming regions are potential precursors of
globular clusters that will be part of the halo of NGC2865 in the future. Our
result supports the use of the multi-slit imaging spectroscopy as a useful tool
for finding nearly-formed stellar systems around galaxies.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures accepted in A&
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