21,181 research outputs found
Asymptotic iteration method for eigenvalue problems
An asymptotic interation method for solving second-order homogeneous linear
differential equations of the form y'' = lambda(x) y' + s(x) y is introduced,
where lambda(x) \neq 0 and s(x) are C-infinity functions. Applications to
Schroedinger type problems, including some with highly singular potentials, are
presented.Comment: 14 page
Millimeter polarisation of the protoplanetary nebula OH 231.8+4.2: A follow-up study with CARMA
In order to investigate the characteristics and influence of the magnetic
field in evolved stars, we performed a follow-up investigation of our previous
submillimeter analysis of the proto-planetary nebula (PPN) OH 231.8+4.2 (Sabin
et al. 2014), this time at 1.3mm with the CARMA facility in polarisation mode
for the purpose of a multi-scale analysis. OH 231.8+4.2 was observed at ~2.5"
resolution and we detected polarised emission above the 3-sigma threshold (with
a mean polarisation fraction of 3.5 %). The polarisation map indicates an
overall organised magnetic field within the nebula. The main finding in this
paper is the presence of a structure mostly compatible with an ordered toroidal
component that is aligned with the PPN's dark lane. We also present some
alternative magnetic field configuration to explain the structure observed.
These data complete our previous SMA submillimeter data for a better
investigation and understanding of the magnetic field structure in OH
231.8+4.2.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Simulations of galaxy formation in a Î cold dark matter universe : I : dynamical and photometric properties of a simulated disk galaxy.
We present a detailed analysis of the dynamical and photometric properties of a disk galaxy simulated in the cold dark matter (CDM) cosmogony. The galaxy is assembled through a number of high-redshift mergers followed by a period of quiescent accretion after z1 that lead to the formation of two distinct dynamical components: a spheroid of mostly old stars and a rotationally supported disk of younger stars. The surface brightness profile is very well approximated by the superposition of an R1/4 spheroid and an exponential disk. Each photometric component contributes a similar fraction of the total luminosity of the system, although less than a quarter of the stars form after the last merger episode at z1. In the optical bands the surface brightness profile is remarkably similar to that of Sab galaxy UGC 615, but the simulated galaxy rotates significantly faster and has a declining rotation curve dominated by the spheroid near the center. The decline in circular velocity is at odds with observation and results from the high concentration of the dark matter and baryonic components, as well as from the relatively high mass-to-light ratio of the stars in the simulation. The simulated galaxy lies 1 mag off the I-band Tully-Fisher relation of late-type spirals but seems to be in reasonable agreement with Tully-Fisher data on S0 galaxies. In agreement with previous simulation work, the angular momentum of the luminous component is an order of magnitude lower than that of late-type spirals of similar rotation speed. This again reflects the dominance of the slowly rotating, dense spheroidal component, to which most discrepancies with observation may be traced. On its own, the disk component has properties rather similar to those of late-type spirals: its luminosity, its exponential scale length, and its colors are all comparable to those of galaxy disks of similar rotation speed. This suggests that a different form of feedback than adopted here is required to inhibit the efficient collapse and cooling of gas at high redshift that leads to the formation of the spheroid. Reconciling, without fine-tuning, the properties of disk galaxies with the early collapse and high merging rates characteristic of hierarchical scenarios such as CDM remains a challenging, yet so far elusive, proposition
Dark Energy, scalar-curvature couplings and a critical acceleration scale
We study the effects of coupling a cosmologically rolling scalar field to
higher order curvature terms. We show that when the strong coupling scale of
the theory is on the 10^{-3}-10^{-1}eV range, the model passes all experimental
bounds on the existence of fifth forces even if the field has a mass of the
order of the Hubble scale in vacuum and non-suppressed couplings to SM fields.
The reason is that the coupling to certain curvature invariant acts as an
effective mass that grows in regions of large curvature. This prevents the
field from rolling down its potential near sources and makes its effects on
fifth-force search experiments performed in the laboratory to be observable
only at the sub-mm scale. We obtain the static spherically symmetric solutions
of the theory and show that a long-range force appears but it is turned on only
below a fixed Newtonian acceleration scale of the order of the Hubble constant.
We comment on the possibility of using this feature of the model to alleviate
the CDM small scale crisis and on its possible relation to MOND.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
Explaining the entropy excess in clusters and groups of galaxies without additional heating
The X-ray luminosity and temperature of clusters and groups of galaxies do
not scale in a self-similar manner. This has often been interpreted as a sign
that the intracluster medium has been substantially heated by non-gravitational
sources. In this paper, we propose a simple model which, instead, uses the
properties of galaxy formation to explain the observations. Drawing on
available observations, we show that there is evidence that the efficiency of
galaxy formation was higher in groups than in clusters. If confirmed, this
would deplete the low-entropy gas in groups, increase their central entropy and
decrease their X-ray luminosity. A simple, empirical, hydrostatic model appears
to match both the luminosity-temperature relation of clusters and properties of
their internal structure as well.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted in ApJL; added one reference, otherwise
unchange
Tidal tails in CDM cosmologies
We study the formation of tidal tails in pairs of merging disk galaxies with
structural properties motivated by current theories of cold dark matter (CDM)
cosmologies. In a recent study, Dubinski, Mihos & Hernquist (1996) showed that
the formation of prominent tidal tails can be strongly suppressed by massive
and extended dark haloes. For the large halo-to-disk mass ratio expected in CDM
cosmologies their sequence of models failed to produce strong tails like those
observed in many well-known pairs of interacting galaxies. In order to test
whether this effect can constrain the viability of CDM cosmologies, we
construct N-body models of disk galaxies with structural properties derived in
analogy to the analytical work of Mo, Mao & White (1998). With a series of
self-consistent collisionless simulations of galaxy-galaxy mergers we
demonstrate that even the disks of very massive dark haloes have no problems
developing long tidal tails, provided the halo spin parameter is large enough.
We show that the halo-to-disk mass ratio is a poor indicator for the ability to
produce tails. Instead, the relative size of disk and halo, or alternatively,
the ratio of circular velocity to local escape speed at the half mass radius of
the disk are more useful criteria. This result holds in all CDM cosmologies.
The length of tidal tails is thus unlikely to provide useful constraints on
such models.Comment: 17 pages, mn.sty, 13 included eps-figures, submitted to MNRA
Dynamical friction and the evolution of satellites in virialized halos: the theory of linear response
The evolution of a small satellite inside a more massive truncated isothermal
spherical halo is studied using both the Theory of Linear Response for
dynamical friction and N-Body simulations. The analytical approach includes the
effects of the gravitational wake, of the tidal deformation and the shift of
the barycenter of the primary, so unifying the local versus global
interpretation of dynamical friction. Sizes, masses, orbital energies and
eccentricities are chosen as expected in hierarchical clustering models. We
find that in general the drag force in self-gravitating backgrounds is weaker
than in uniform media and that the orbital decay is not accompanied by a
significant circularization. We also show that the dynamical friction time
scale is weakly dependent on the initial circularity. We provide a fitting
formula for the decay time that includes the effect of mass and angular
momentum loss. Live satellites with dense cores can survive disruption up to an
Hubble time within the primary, notwithstanding the initial choice of orbital
parameters. Dwarf spheroidal satellites of the Milky Way, like Sagittarius A
and Fornax, have already suffered mass stripping and, with their present
masses, the sinking times exceed 10 Gyr even if they are on very eccentric
orbits.Comment: 27 pages including 9 figures. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journal. Part 2, issue November 10 1999, Volume 52
Star Formation and Feedback in Dwarf Galaxies
We examine the star formation history and stellar feedback effects of dwarf
galaxies under the influence of extragalactic ultraviolet radiation. We
consider the dynamical evolution of gas in dwarf galaxies using a
one-dimensional, spherically symmetric, Lagrangian numerical scheme to compute
the effects of radiative transfer and photoionization. We include a
physically-motivated star formation recipe and consider the effects of
feedback. Our results indicate that star formation in the severe environment of
dwarf galaxies is a difficult and inefficient process. For intermediate mass
systems, such as the dSphs around the Galaxy, star formation can proceed with
in early cosmic epochs despite the intense background UV flux. Triggering
processes such as merger events, collisions, and tidal disturbance can lead to
density enhancements, reducing the recombination timescale, allowing gas to
cool and star formation to proceed. However, the star formation and gas
retention efficiency may vary widely in galaxies with similar dark matter
potentials, because they depend on many factors, such as the baryonic fraction,
external perturbation, IMF, and background UV intensity. We suggest that the
presence of very old stars in these dwarf galaxies indicates that their initial
baryonic to dark matter content was comparable to the cosmic value. This
constraint suggests that the initial density fluctuation of baryonic matter may
be correlated with that of the dark matter. For the more massive dwarf
elliptical galaxies, the star formation efficiency and gas retention rate is
much higher. Their mass to light ratio is regulated by star formation feedback,
and is expected to be nearly independent of their absolute luminosity. The
results of our theoretical models reproduce the observed correlation.Comment: 35 pages, 13 figure
f(R) actions, cosmic acceleration and local tests of gravity
We study spherically symmetric solutions in f(R) theories and its
compatibility with local tests of gravity. We start by clarifying the range of
validity of the weak field expansion and show that for many models proposed to
address the Dark Energy problem this expansion breaks down in realistic
situations. This invalidates the conclusions of several papers that make
inappropriate use of this expansion. For the stable models that modify gravity
only at small curvatures we find that when the asymptotic background curvature
is large we approximately recover the solutions of Einstein gravity through the
so-called Chameleon mechanism, as a result of the non-linear dynamics of the
extra scalar degree of freedom contained in the metric. In these models one
would observe a transition from Einstein to scalar-tensor gravity as the
Universe expands and the background curvature diminishes. Assuming an adiabatic
evolution we estimate the redshift at which this transition would take place
for a source with given mass and radius. We also show that models of dynamical
Dark Energy claimed to be compatible with tests of gravity because the mass of
the scalar is large in vacuum (e.g. those that also include R^2 corrections in
the action), are not viable.Comment: 26 page
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