24,418 research outputs found
Dynamic and Stagnating Plasma Flow Leading to Magnetic Flux Tube Collimation
Highly collimated, plasma-filled magnetic flux tubes are frequently observed
on galactic, stellar and laboratory scales. We propose that a single, universal
magnetohydrodynamic pumping process explains why such collimated, plasma-filled
magnetic flux tubes are ubiquitous. Experimental evidence from carefully
diagnosed laboratory simulations of astrophysical jets confirms this assertion
and is reported here. The magnetohydrodynamic process pumps plasma into a
magnetic flux tube and the stagnation of the resulting flow causes this flux
tube to become collimated.Comment: to be published in PRL; color figures on electronic versio
Imaging of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies in the Near-UV
We present the first ground-based U' (3410 angstroms) images of Ultraluminous
Infrared Galaxies (ULIGs). Strong U' emission (median total M_U' = -20.8) is
seen in all systems and in some cases the extended tidal features (both the
smooth stellar distribution and compact star-forming features) contribute up to
60-80% of the total flux. The star-forming regions in both samples are found to
have ages based on spectral synthesis models in the range 10-100 Myrs, and most
differences in color between them can be attributed to the effects of dust
reddening. Additionally, it is found that star-formation in compact knots in
the tidal tails is most prominent in those ULIGs which have double nuclei,
suggesting that the star-formation rate in the tails peaks prior to the actual
coalescence of the galaxy nuclei and diminishes quickly thereafter. Similar to
results at other wavelengths, the observed star formation at U' can only
account for a small fraction of the known bolometric luminosity of the ULIGs.
Azimuthally averaged radial light profiles at U' are characterized by a sersic
law with index n=2, which is intermediate between an exponential disk and an
r^(-1/4) law and closely resembles the latter at large radii. The implications
of this near-ultraviolet imaging for optical/near-infrared observations of high
redshift counterparts of ULIGs are discussed.Comment: 30 pages, 4 tables, and 9 figures, 2 of which are JPEGs. To appear in
the August, 2000 edition of the Astronomical Journa
Location of the Multicritical Point for the Ising Spin Glass on the Triangular and Hexagonal Lattices
A conjecture is given for the exact location of the multicritical point in
the phase diagram of the +/- J Ising model on the triangular lattice. The
result p_c=0.8358058 agrees well with a recent numerical estimate. From this
value, it is possible to derive a comparable conjecture for the exact location
of the multicritical point for the hexagonal lattice, p_c=0.9327041, again in
excellent agreement with a numerical study. The method is a variant of duality
transformation to relate the triangular lattice directly with its dual
triangular lattice without recourse to the hexagonal lattice, in conjunction
with the replica method.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure; Minor corrections in notatio
Three-dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Buoyant Bubbles in Galaxy Clusters
We report results of 3D MHD simulations of the dynamics of buoyant bubbles in
magnetized galaxy cluster media. The simulations are three dimensional
extensions of two dimensional calculations reported by Jones & De Young (2005).
Initially spherical bubbles and briefly inflated spherical bubbles all with
radii a few times smaller than the intracluster medium (ICM) scale height were
followed as they rose through several ICM scale heights. Such bubbles quickly
evolve into a toroidal form that, in the absence of magnetic influences, is
stable against fragmentation in our simulations. This ring formation results
from (commonly used) initial conditions that cause ICM material below the
bubbles to drive upwards through the bubble, creating a vortex ring; that is,
hydrostatic bubbles develop into "smoke rings", if they are initially not very
much smaller or very much larger than the ICM scale height. Even modest ICM
magnetic fields with beta = P_gas/P_mag ~ 10^3 can influence the dynamics of
the bubbles, provided the fields are not tangled on scales comparable to or
smaller than the size of the bubbles. Quasi-uniform, horizontal fields with
initial beta ~ 10^2 bifurcated our bubbles before they rose more than about a
scale height of the ICM, and substantially weaker fields produced clear
distortions. On the other hand, tangled magnetic fields with similar, modest
strengths are generally less easily amplified by the bubble motions and are
thus less influential in bubble evolution. Inclusion of a comparably strong,
tangled magnetic field inside the initial bubbles had little effect on our
bubble evolution, since those fields were quickly diminished through expansion
of the bubble and reconnection of the initial field.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Free Energies of Isolated 5- and 7-fold Disclinations in Hexatic Membranes
We examine the shapes and energies of 5- and 7-fold disclinations in
low-temperature hexatic membranes. These defects buckle at different values of
the ratio of the bending rigidity, , to the hexatic stiffness constant,
, suggesting {\em two} distinct Kosterlitz-Thouless defect proliferation
temperatures. Seven-fold disclinations are studied in detail numerically for
arbitrary . We argue that thermal fluctuations always drive
into an ``unbuckled'' regime at long wavelengths, so that
disclinations should, in fact, proliferate at the {\em same} critical
temperature. We show analytically that both types of defects have power law
shapes with continuously variable exponents in the ``unbuckled'' regime.
Thermal fluctuations then lock in specific power laws at long wavelengths,
which we calculate for 5- and 7-fold defects at low temperatures.Comment: LaTeX format. 17 pages. To appear in Phys. Rev.
"Glassy Dynamics" in Ising Spin Glasses -- Experiment and Simulation
The field-cooled magnetization (FCM) processes of Ising spin glasses under
relatively small fields are investigated by experiment on
Fe_{0.55}Mn_{0.45}TiO_3 and by numerical simulation on the three-dimensional
Edwards-Anderson model. Both results are explained in a unified manner by means
of the droplet picture. In particular, the cusp-like behavior of the FCM is
interpreted as evidence, not for an equilibrium phase transition under a finite
magnetic field, but for a dynamical (`blocking') transition frequently observed
in glassy systems.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure
Feedback-optimized parallel tempering Monte Carlo
We introduce an algorithm to systematically improve the efficiency of
parallel tempering Monte Carlo simulations by optimizing the simulated
temperature set. Our approach is closely related to a recently introduced
adaptive algorithm that optimizes the simulated statistical ensemble in
generalized broad-histogram Monte Carlo simulations. Conventionally, a
temperature set is chosen in such a way that the acceptance rates for replica
swaps between adjacent temperatures are independent of the temperature and
large enough to ensure frequent swaps. In this paper, we show that by choosing
the temperatures with a modified version of the optimized ensemble feedback
method we can minimize the round-trip times between the lowest and highest
temperatures which effectively increases the efficiency of the parallel
tempering algorithm. In particular, the density of temperatures in the
optimized temperature set increases at the "bottlenecks'' of the simulation,
such as phase transitions. In turn, the acceptance rates are now temperature
dependent in the optimized temperature ensemble. We illustrate the
feedback-optimized parallel tempering algorithm by studying the two-dimensional
Ising ferromagnet and the two-dimensional fully-frustrated Ising model, and
briefly discuss possible feedback schemes for systems that require
configurational averages, such as spin glasses.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure
The Unified Model of Active Galactic Nuclei: II. Evolutionary Connection
(Abbreviated) We assemble a sample composed of 243 nearby Seyfert galaxies
with redshifts to test the unification scheme. The sample contains
94 BLS1s, 44 NLS1s, 36 X-ray absorbed HBLR S2s, 42 X-ray absorbed non-HBLR S2s
and 27 X-ray unabsorbed Seyfert 2s (unabsorbed non-HBLR S2s and HBLR S2s). We
find that: 1) NLS1s have less massive black hole masses than BLS1s; 2) HBLRS2s
have the same mass distribution of the black holes with BLS1s; 3) the absorbed
non-HBLR S2s have less massive black holes than HBLR S2s; 4) unabsorbed
non-HBLR S2s have the most massive black holes. We thus have a queue of black
hole masses from small to large: narrow to broad line Seyfert galaxies,
providing new evidence for the evolutionary sequence of Seyfert galaxies. We
find that the opening angles of the torus in NLS1s and absorbed non-HBLR S2s
are significantly smaller than that in BLS1s and HBLR S2s. The growth of the
black holes and increases of the opening angles of the tori determine the
various appearances of Seyfert galaxies. We also find that the unabsorbed
Seyfert 2 galaxies could be caused by low gas-to-dust ratios in the present
sample. This indicates that the star formation histories could be different in
the unabsorbed from in absorbed Seyfert 2 galaxies, showing evidence for
suppressed star formation by black hole activities. We outline a new
unification scheme based on the orientation hypothesis: Seyfert galaxies can be
unified by including growth of black holes, Eddington ratios, changing opening
angles of tori and gas-to-dust ratios in the tori. Seyfert galaxies are tending
to finally evolve to unabsorbed non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies, in which the black
holes are accreting with low accretion rates and both the broad line region and
dusty torus disappear.Comment: ApJ, vol 661 (2007), in pres
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