85 research outputs found
Evolution of stellar-gaseous disks in cosmological haloes
We explore the growth and the evolution of the bar instability in stellar-gaseous disks embedded in a suitable dark matter halo evolving in a fully consistent cosmological framework. The aim of this paper is to point out the impact of different gas fractions on the bar formation, inside disks of different disk-to-halo mass ratio, and the role of the cosmological framework. We perform cosmological simulations with the same disk-to-halo mass ratios as in a previous work where the gas was not taken into account. We compare results of the new simulations with the previous ones to investigate the effect of the gas by analysing the morphology of the stellar and gaseous components, the stellar bar strength and the behaviour of its pattern speed. In our cosmological simulations, inside dark-matter dominated disks, a stellar bar, lasting 10 Gyr, is still living at z=0 even if the gaseous fraction exceeds half of the disk mass. However, in the most massive disks we find a threshold value (0.2) of the gas fraction able to destroy the bar. The stellar bar strength is enhanced by the gas and in the more massive disks higher gas fractions increase the bar pattern speed
The radial metallicity gradients in the Milky Way thick disk as fossil signatures of a primordial chemical distribution
In this letter we examine the evolution of the radial metallicity gradient
induced by secular processes, in the disk of an -body Milky Way-like galaxy.
We assign a [Fe/H] value to each particle of the simulation according to an
initial, cosmologically motivated, radial chemical distribution and let the
disk dynamically evolve for 6 Gyr. This direct approach allows us to take into
account only the effects of dynamical evolution and to gauge how and to what
extent they affect the initial chemical conditions. The initial [Fe/H]
distribution increases with R in the inner disk up to R ~ 10 kpc and decreases
for larger R. We find that the initial chemical profile does not undergo major
transformations after 6 Gyr of dynamical evolution. The final radial chemical
gradients predicted by the model in the solar neighborhood are positive and of
the same order of those recently observed in the Milky Way thick disk.
We conclude that: 1) the spatial chemical imprint at the time of disk
formation is not washed out by secular dynamical processes, and 2) the observed
radial gradient may be the dynamical relic of a thick disk originated from a
stellar population showing a positive chemical radial gradient in the inner
regions.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication on Astrophysical
Journal Letter
Star formation and bar instability in cosmological haloes
This is the third of a series of papers presenting the first attempt to
analyze the growth of the bar instability in a consistent cosmological
scenario. In the previous two articles we explored the role of the cosmology on
stellar disks, and the impact of the gaseous component on a disk embedded in a
cosmological dark matter halo. The aim of this paper is to point out the impact
of the star formation on the bar instability inside disks having different gas
fractions. We perform cosmological simulations of the same disk-to-halo mass
systems as in the previous works where the star formation was not triggered. We
compare the results of the new simulations with the previous ones to
investigate the effect of the star formation by analysing the morphology of the
stellar components, the bar strength, the behaviour of the pattern speed. We
follow the gas and the central mass concentration during the evolution and
their impact on the bar strength. In all our cosmological simulations a stellar
bar, lasting 10 Gyr, is still living at z=0. The central mass concentration of
gas and of the new stars has a mild action on the ellipticity of the bar but is
not able to destroy it; at z=0 the stellar bar strength is enhanced by the star
formation. The bar pattern speed is decreasing with the disk evolution.Comment: 10 pages, 21 figures, A&A accepte
Bar instability in cosmological halos
Aims: We want to investigate the growth of bar instability in stellar disks
embedded in a suitable dark matter halo evolving in a fully consistent
cosmological framework.
Methods: We perform seven cosmological simulations to emphasise the role of
both the disk-to-halo mass ratio and of the Toomre parameter, Q, on the
evolution of the disk.We also compare our fully cosmological cases with
corresponding isolated simulations where the same halo, is extracted from the
cosmological scenario and evolved in physical coordinates.
Results: A long living bar, lasting about 10 Gyr, appears in all our
simulations. In particular, disks expected to be stable according to classical
criteria, form indeed weak bars. We argue that such a result is due to the
dynamical properties of our cosmological halo which is far from stability and
isotropy, typical of the classical halos used in literature; it is dynamically
active, endowed of substructures and infall.
Conclusions: At least for mild self-gravitating disks, the study of the bar
instability using isolated isotropic halos, in gravitational equilibrium, can
lead to misleading results. Furthermore, the cosmological framework is needed
for quantitatively investigating such an instability.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, accepted, 19 pages, 21 figure
The thick disk rotation-metallicity correlation as a fossil of an "inverse chemical gradient" in the early Galaxy
The thick disk rotation--metallicity correlation, \partial
V_\phi/\partial[Fe/H] =40\div 50 km s^{-1}dex^{-1} represents an important
signature of the formation processes of the galactic disk. We use
nondissipative numerical simulations to follow the evolution of a Milky Way
(MW)-like disk to verify if secular dynamical processes can account for this
correlation in the old thick disk stellar population. We followed the evolution
of an ancient disk population represented by 10 million particles whose
chemical abundances were assigned by assuming a cosmologically plausible radial
metallicity gradient with lower metallicity in the inner regions, as expected
for the 10-Gyr-old MW. Essentially, inner disk stars move towards the outer
regions and populate layers located at higher |z|. A rotation--metallicity
correlation appears, which well resembles the behaviour observed in our Galaxy
at a galactocentric distance between 8 kpc and 10 kpc. In particular,we measure
a correlation of \partial V_\phi/\partial[Fe/H]\simeq 60 km s^{-1}dex^{-1} for
particles at 1.5 kpc < |z| < 2.0 kpc that persists up to 6 Gyr. Our pure N-body
models can account for the V_\phi vs. [Fe/H] correlation observed in the thick
disk of our Galaxy, suggesting that processes internal to the disk such as
heating and radial migration play a role in the formation of this old stellar
component. In this scenario, the positive rotation-metallicity correlation of
the old thick disk population would represent the relic signature of an ancient
"inverse" chemical (radial) gradient in the inner Galaxy, which resulted from
accretion of primordial gas.Comment: Accepted for publication on Astronomy and Astrophysic
Global Star Formation Rates in Disk Galaxies and Circumnuclear Starbursts from Cloud Collisions
We invoke star formation triggered by cloud-cloud collisions to explain
global star formation rates of disk galaxies and circumnuclear starbursts.
Previous theories based on the growth rate of gravitational perturbations
ignore the dynamically important presence of magnetic fields. Theories based on
triggering by spiral density waves fail to explain star formation in systems
without such waves. Furthermore, observations suggest gas and stellar disk
instabilities are decoupled. Following Gammie, Ostriker & Jog (1991), the cloud
collision rate is set by the shear velocity of encounters with initial impact
parameters of a few tidal radii, due to differential rotation in the disk.
This, together with the effective confinement of cloud orbits to a two
dimensional plane, enhances the collision rate above that for particles in a
three dimensional box. We predict Sigma_{SFR}(R) proportional to Sigma_{gas}
Omega (1-0.7 beta). For constant circular velocity (beta = 0), this is in
agreement with recent observations (Kennicutt 1998). We predict a B-band
Tully-Fisher relation: L_{B} proportional to v_{circ}^{7/3}, also consistent
with observations. As additional tests, we predict enhanced star formation in
regions with relatively high shear rates, and lower star formation efficiencies
in clouds of higher mass.Comment: 27 pages including 3 figures and 2 tables. Accepted to ApJ. Expanded
statistical analysis of cloud SF efficiency test. Stylistic changes. Data for
figures available electronically at
http://astro.berkeley.edu/~jt/disksfr.htm
Critical behavior in 2+1 dimensional black holes
The critical behavior and phase transition in the 2+1 dimensional Ba\~nados,
Teitelboim, and Zanelli (BTZ) black holes are discussed. By calculating the
equilibrium thermodynamic fluctuations in the microcanonical ensemble,
canonical ensemble, and grand canonical ensemble, respectively, we find that
the extremal spinning BTZ black hole is a critical point, some critical
exponents satisfy the scaling laws of the ``first kind'', and the scaling laws
related to the correlation length suggest that the effective spatial dimension
of extremal black holes is one, which is in agreement with the argument that
the extremal black holes are the Bogomol'nyi saturated string states. In
addition, we find that the massless BTZ black hole is a critical point of
spinless BTZ black holes.Comment: RevTex, 9 pages, nofigur
Frequency and properties of bars in cluster and field galaxies at intermediate redshifts
We present a study of large-scale bars in field and cluster environments out
to redshifts of ~0.8 using a final sample of 945 moderately inclined disk
galaxies drawn from the EDisCS project. We characterize bars and their host
galaxies and look for relations between the presence of a bar and the
properties of the underlying disk. We investigate whether the fraction and
properties of bars in clusters are different from their counterparts in the
field. The total optical bar fraction in the redshift range z=0.4-0.8 (median
z=0.60), averaged over the entire sample, is 25% (20% for strong bars). For the
cluster and field subsamples, we measure bar fractions of 24% and 29%,
respectively. We find that bars in clusters are on average longer than in the
field and preferentially found close to the cluster center, where the bar
fraction is somewhat higher (~31%) than at larger distances (~18%). These
findings however rely on a relatively small subsample and might be affected by
small number statistics. In agreement with local studies, we find that
disk-dominated galaxies have a higher optical bar fraction (~45%) than
bulge-dominated galaxies (~15%). This result is based on Hubble types and
effective radii and does not change with redshift. The latter finding implies
that bar formation or dissolution is strongly connected to the emergence of the
morphological structure of a disk and is typically accompanied by a transition
in the Hubble type. (abridged)Comment: 17 pages, accepted for publication in A&
Effects of phenolic compounds on adventitious root formation and oxidative decarboxylation of applied indoleacetic acid in Malus âJork 9â
Dynamics of Disks and Warps
This chapter reviews theoretical work on the stellar dynamics of galaxy
disks. All the known collective global instabilities are identified, and their
mechanisms described in terms of local wave mechanics. A detailed discussion of
warps and other bending waves is also given. The structure of bars in galaxies,
and their effect on galaxy evolution, is now reasonably well understood, but
there is still no convincing explanation for their origin and frequency. Spiral
patterns have long presented a special challenge, and ideas and recent
developments are reviewed. Other topics include scattering of disk stars and
the survival of thin disks.Comment: Chapter accepted to appear in Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems, vol
5, ed G. Gilmore. 32 pages, 17 figures. Includes minor corrections made in
proofs. Uses emulateapj.st
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