Approximate analysis of thermal convection in a crystal-growth cell for Spacelab 3

The transient and steady thermal convection in microgravity is described. The approach is applicable to many three dimensional flows in containers of various shapes with various thermal gradients imposed. The method employs known analytical solutions to two dimensional thermal flows in simpler geometries, and does not require recourse to numerical calculations by computer

The Fundamental Plane of Radio Galaxies

We collected photometrical and dynamical data for 73 low red-shift (z<0.2) Radio Galaxies (LzRG) in order to study their Fundamental Plane (FP). For 22 sources we also present new velocity dispersion data, that complement the photometric data given in our previous study of LzRG (Govoni et al. 2000a). It is found that the FP of LzRG is similar to the one defined by non-active elliptical galaxies, with LzRG representing the brightest end of the population of early type galaxies. Since the FP mainly reflects the virial equilibrium condition, our result implies that the global properties of early--type galaxies (defining the FP) are not influenced by the presence of gas accretion in the central black hole. This is fully in agreement with the recent results in black hole demography, showing that virtually all luminous spheroidal galaxies host a massive black hole and therefore may potentially become active. We confirm and extend to giant ellipticals the systematic increase of the mass-to-light ratio with galaxy luminosity.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Two scenarios for avalanche dynamics in inclined granular layers

We report experimental measurements of avalanche behavior of thin granular layers on an inclined plane for low volume flow rate. The dynamical properties of avalanches were quantitatively and qualitatively different for smooth glass beads compared to irregular granular materials such as sand. Two scenarios for granular avalanches on an incline are identified and a theoretical explanation for these different scenarios is developed based on a depth-averaged approach that takes into account the differing rheologies of the granular materials.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev. Let

Galaxy Harassment and the Evolution of Clusters of Galaxies

Disturbed spiral galaxies with high rates of star formation pervaded clusters of galaxies just a few billion years ago, but nearby clusters exclude spirals in favor of ellipticals. ``Galaxy harassment" (frequent high speed galaxy encounters) drives the morphological transformation of galaxies in clusters, provides fuel for quasars in subluminous hosts and leaves detectable debris arcs. Simulated images of harassed galaxies are strikingly similar to the distorted spirals in clusters at $z \sim 0.4$ observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.Comment: Submitted to Nature. Latex file, 7 pages, 10 photographs in gif and jpeg format included. 10 compressed postscript figures and text available using anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/pub/hpcc/moore/ (mget *) Also available at http://www-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/papers

Dynamics of precipitation pattern formation at geothermal hot springs

We formulate and model the dynamics of spatial patterns arising during the precipitation of calcium carbonate from a supersaturated shallow water flow. The model describes the formation of travertine deposits at geothermal hot springs and rimstone dams of calcite in caves. We find explicit solutions for travertine domes at low flow rates, identify the linear instabilities which generate dam and pond formation on sloped substrates, and present simulations of statistical landscape evolution

Numerical simulation of small perturbation on an accretion disk due to the collision of a star with the disk near the black hole

In this paper, perturbations of an accretion disk by a star orbiting around a black hole are studied. We report on a numerical experiment, which has been carried out by using a parallel-machine code originally developed by D\"{o}nmez (2004). An initially steady state accretion disk near a non-rotating (Schwarzschild) black hole interacts with a "star", modeled as an initially circular region of increased density. Part of the disk is affected by the interaction. In some cases, a gap develops and shock wave propagates through the disk. We follow the evolution for order of one dynamical period and we show how the non-axisymetric density perturbation further evolves and moves downwards where the material of the disk and the star become eventually accreted onto the central body. When the star perturbs the steady state accretion disk, the disk around the black hole is destroyed by the effect of perturbation. The perturbed accretion disk creates a shock wave during the evolution and it loses angular momentum when the gas hits on the shock waves. Colliding gas with the shock wave is the one of the basic mechanism of emitting the $X-$rays in the accretion disk. The series of supernovae occurring in the inner disk could entirely destroy the disk in that region which leaves a more massive black hole behind, at the center of galaxies.Comment: 20pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

GMRT Detection of HI 21 cm-line Absorption from the Peculiar Galaxy in Abell 2125

Using the recently completed Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope, we have detected the HI 21 cm-line absorption from the peculiar galaxy C153 in the galaxy cluster Abell 2125. The HI absorption is at a redshift of 0.2533, with a peak optical depth of 0.36. The full width at half minimum of the absorption line is 100 km/s. The estimated column density of atomic Hydrogen is 0.7e22(Ts/100K) per sq. cm. The HI absorption is redshifted by ~ 400 km/s compared to the [OIII] emission line from this system. We attribute this to an in-falling cold gas, or to an out-flowing ionised gas, or to a combination of both as a consequence of tidal interactions of C153 with either a cluster galaxy or the cluster potential.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, uses jaa.sty (included

GMRT HI observations of the Eridanus group of galaxies

The GMRT HI 21cm-line observations of galaxies in the Eridanus group are presented. The Eridanus group, at a distance of ~23 Mpc, is a loose group of \~200 galaxies. The group extends more than 10 Mpc in projection. The velocity dispersion of the galaxies in the group is ~240 km/s. The galaxies are clustered into different sub-groups. The overall population mix of the group is 30% (E+S0) and 70% (Sp+Irr). The observations of 57 Eridanus galaxies were carried out with the GMRT for ~200 hour. HI emission was detected from 31 galaxies. The channel rms of ~1.0 mJy beam^{-1} was achieved for most of the image-cubes made with 4 hour of data. The corresponding HI column density sensitivity (3-sigma) is ~1x10^{20} cm^{-2} for a velocity-width of ~13.4 km/s. The 3-sigma detection limit of HI mass is ~1.2x10^{7} M_sun for a line-width of 50 km/s. Total HI images, HI velocity fields, global HI line profiles, HI mass surface densities, HI disk parameters and HI rotation curves are presented. The velocity fields are analysed separately for the approaching and the receding sides of the galaxies. This data will be used to study the HI and the radio continuum properties, the Tully-Fisher relations, the dark matter halos, and the kinematical and HI lopsidedness in galaxies.Comment: 75 pages including HI atlas; Accepted for publication in Journal of Astroph. & Astron. March, 200

Environmental effects on the bright end of the galaxy luminosity function in galaxy clusters

The dependence of the luminosity function of cluster galaxies on the evolutionary state of the parent cluster is still an open issue, in particular as concern the formation/evolution of the brightest cluster galaxies. We plan to study the bright part of the LFs of a sample of very unrelaxed clusters ("DARC" clusters showing evidence of major, recent mergers) and compare them to a reference sample of relaxed clusters spanning a comparable mass and redshift range. Our analysis is based on the SDSS DR7 photometric data of ten, massive, and X-ray luminous clusters (0.2<z<0.3), always considering physical radii (R_200 or its fractions). We consider r' band LFs and use the color-magnitude diagrams (r'-i',r') to clean our samples as well to consider separately red and blue galaxies. We find that DARC and relaxed clusters give similar LF parameters and blue fractions. The two samples differ for their content of bright galaxies BGs, M_r<-22.5, since relaxed clusters have fewer BGs, in particular when considering the outer cluster region 0.5R_200<R<R_200 (by a factor two). However, the cumulative light in BGs is similar for relaxed and DARC samples. We conclude that BGs grow in luminosity and decrease in number as the parent clusters grow hierarchically in agreement with the BG formation by merging with other luminous galaxies.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures and 9 table