7,504 research outputs found
Probing O-enrichment in C-rich dust planetary nebulae
The abundance of O in planetary nebulae (PNe) has been historically used as a
metallicity indicator of the interstellar medium (ISM) where they originated;
e.g., it has been widely used to study metallicity gradients in our Galaxy and
beyond. However, clear observational evidence for O self enrichment in
low-metallicity Galactic PNe with C-rich dust has been recently reported. Here
we report asymptotic giant branch (AGB) nucleosynthesis predictions for the
abundances of the CNO elements and helium in the metallicity range Zsun/4 < Z <
2Zsun. Our AGB models, with diffusive overshooting from all the convective
borders, predict that O is overproduced in low-Z low-mass (~1-3 Msun) AGB stars
and nicely reproduce the recent O overabundances observed in C-rich dust PNe.
This confirms that O is not always a good proxy of the original ISM metallicity
and another chemical elements such as Cl or Ar should be used instead. The
production of oxygen by low-mass stars should be thus considered in
galactic-evolution models.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters (5 pages, 1 figure, and 1
table
Galactic planetary nebulae with precise nebular abundances as a tool to understand the evolution of asymptotic giant branch stars
We present nucleosynthesis predictions (HeCNOCl) from asymptotic giant branch
(AGB) models, with diffusive overshooting from all the convective borders, in
the metallicity range Z/4 < Z < 2Zsun. They are compared to recent precise
nebular abundances in a sample of Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) that is
divided among double-dust chemistry (DC) and oxygen-dust chemistry (OC)
according to the infrared dust features. Unlike the similar subsample of
Galactic carbon-dust chemistry PNe recently analysed by us, here the individual
abundance errors, the higher metallicity spread, and the uncertain dust
types/subtypes in some PNe do not allow a clear determination of the AGB
progenitor masses (and formation epochs) for both PNe samples; the comparison
is thus more focussed on a object-by-object basis. The lowest metallicity OC
PNe evolve from low-mass (~1 Msun) O-rich AGBs, while the higher metallicity
ones (all with uncertain dust classifications) display a chemical pattern
similar to the DC PNe. In agreement with recent literature, the DC PNe mostly
descend from high-mass (M > 3.5 Msun) solar/supersolar metallicity AGBs that
experience hot bottom burning (HBB), but other formation channels in low-mass
AGBs like extra mixing, stellar rotation, binary interaction, or He
pre-enrichment cannot be disregarded until more accurate C/O ratios would be
obtained. Two objects among the DC PNe show the imprint of advanced CNO
processing and deep second dredge-up, suggesting progenitors masses close to
the limit to evolve as core collapse supernovae (above 6 Msun). Their actual
C/O ratio, if confirmed, indicate contamination from the third dredge-up,
rejecting the hypothesis that the chemical composition of such high-metallicity
massive AGBs is modified exclusively by HBB.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (11 pages, 3 figures, and 2 tables
Resonance expansions in quantum mechanics
The goal of this contribution is to discuss various resonance expansions that
have been proposed in the literature.Comment: 10 pages and 1 figure; presented at the Istanbul workshop on
pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian
The Nature of LINERs
We present -band (m) spectroscopy of a sample of nine
galaxies showing some degree of LINER activity (classical LINERs, weak-[O {\sc
i}] LINERs and transition objects), together with -band spectroscopy for
some of them. A careful subtraction of the stellar continuum allows us to
obtain reliable [Fe {\sc ii}]m/Pa line ratios. We conclude
that different types of LINERs (i.e., photoionized by a stellar continuum or by
an AGN) cannot be easily distinguished based solely on the [Fe {\sc ii}]m/Pa line ratio.
The emission line properties of many LINERs can be explained in terms of an
aging starburst. The optical line ratios of these LINERs are reproduced by a
model with a metal-rich H {\sc ii} region component photoionized with a single
stellar temperature K, plus a supernova remnant (SNR) component.
The [Fe {\sc ii}] line is predominantly excited by shocks produced by SNRs in
starbursts and starburst-dominated LINERs, while Pa tracks H {\sc ii}
regions ionized by massive young stars. The contribution from SNRs to the
overall emission line spectrum is constrained by the [Fe {\sc ii}]m/Pa line ratio. Although our models for aging starbursts are
constrained only by these infrared lines, they consistently explain the optical
spectra of the galaxies also.
The LINER-starburst connection is tested by predicting the time dependence of
the ratio of the ionizing luminosity () to the supernova rate
(SNr), /(SNr). We predict the relative number of starbursts to
starburst-dominated LINERs (aging starbursts) and show that it is in
approximate agreement with survey findings for nearby galaxies.Comment: Accepted in ApJ (19 pages, 8 figures, uses emulateapj.sty
Distribution and Kinematics of the Circum-nuclear Molecular Gas in the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 3227
We present new interferometric observations of the 12CO(1-0), 12CO(2-1) and
HCN (1-0) molecular line emission in NGC 3227 obtained with the IRAM Plateau de
Bure interferometer (PdBI). We achieved an unprecedented angular resolution in
the 12CO(2-1) line of about 0.6'' corresponding to only about 80pc at a
distance of 17.3Mpc. The mapped 12CO emission is concentrated in the inner 8''
and accounts for 20% of the total 30m CO line flux. The 12CO emission is
resolved into an asymmetric nuclear ring with a diameter of about 3''. The HCN
line emission is mostly unresolved at our resolution of ~2.4'' and contains all
of the single dish flux. We have decomposed the observed molecular gas motions
into a circular and non-circular component revealing that about 80% of the gas
in the circum-nuclear region exhibits pure circular rotation. We find evidence
for bar streaming onto the nuclear ring and a redshifted emission knot on the
ring perimeter.
In the central arcsecond the gas shows apparent counter rotation. This
behavior can be best explained by a warping of the inner molecular gas disk
rather than gas motion in a nuclear bar potential. We detected molecular gas at
a distance from the nucleus of only ~13pc with a velocity of about 75 km/s with
respect to the systemic velocity and find that within the central arcsecond the
rotation curve is rising again. This is the first time that millimetric CO-line
emission has been detected interferometrically at such small distances to the
nucleus of a Seyfert galaxy. These measurements indicate a lower limit on the
enclosed mass of about 2x10^7 M_solar in the inner 15pc.Comment: accepted for Ap.J. April issue, 54 pages, 22 figure
Synthetic spectra of H Balmer and HeI absorption lines. II: Evolutionary synthesis models for starburst and post-starburst galaxies
We present evolutionary stellar population synthesis models to predict the
spectrum of a single-metallicity stellar population, with a spectral sampling
of 0.3 A in five spectral regions between 3700 and 5000 A. The models, which
are optimized for galaxies with active star formation, synthesize the profiles
of the hydrogen Balmer series (Hb, Hg, Hd, H8, H9, H10, H11, H12 and H13) and
the neutral helium absorption lines (HeI 4922, HeI 4471, HeI 4388, HeI 4144,
HeI 4121, HeI 4026, HeI 4009 and HeI 3819) for a burst with an age ranging from
1 to 1000 Myr, and different assumptions about the stellar initial mass
function. Continuous star formation models lasting for 1 Gyr are also
presented. The input stellar library includes NLTE absorption profiles for
stars hotter than 25000 K and LTE profiles for lower temperatures. The
temperature and gravity coverage is 4000 K <Teff< 50000 K and 0.0< log g$< 5.0,
respectively.
The models can be used to date starburst and post-starburst galaxies until 1
Gyr. They have been tested on data for clusters in the LMC, the super-star
cluster B in the starburst galaxy NGC 1569, the nucleus of the dwarf elliptical
NGC 205 and a luminous "E+A" galaxy. The full data set is available for
retrieval at http://www.iaa.es/ae/e2.html and at
http://www.stsci.edu/science/starburst/, or on request from the authors at
[email protected]: To be published in ApJS. 48 pages and 20 figure
A New Way to Detect Massive Black Holes in Galaxies: The Stellar Remnants of Tidal Disruption
We point out that the tidal disruption of a giant may leave a luminous
(10^35-10^39 ergs/s), hot (10-100 eV) stellar core. The ``supersoft'' source
detected by Chandra at the center of M31 may be such a core; whether or not it
is, the observations have shown that such a core is detectable, even in the
center of a galaxy. We therefore explore the range of expected observational
signatures and how they may be used to (1) test the hypothesis that the M31
source is a remnant of tidal stripping and (2) discover evidence of black holes
and disruption events in other galaxies.Comment: Four pages with 1 figure. Appeared in ApJL (2001, 551, L37
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