Retention Fractions for Globular Cluster Neutron Stars

Fokker-Planck models are used to give estimates for the retention fractions for newly-born neutron stars in globular clusters as a function of kick velocity. These can be used to calculate the present day numbers of neutron stars in globular clusters and in addressing questions such as the origin of millisecond pulsars. As an example, the Population I kick velocity distribution of Lyne & Lorimer (1994) is used to estimate the retained fractions of neutron stars originating as single stars and in binary systems. For plausible initial conditions fewer than 4% of single neutron stars are retained. The retention fractions from binary systems can be 2 to 5 times higher. The dominant source of retained neutron stars is found to be through binary systems which remain bound after the first supernova, ie. high-mass X-ray binaries. The retained fraction decreases with an increasing number of progenitors, but the retention fraction decreases more slowly than the number of progenitors increases. On balance, more progenitors give more neutron stars in the cluster.Comment: To appear in MNRAS, 15 pages, LaTeX, requires MN and epsf styles, includes 3 PS Figures, compressed, uuencoded forma

Non-analytic magnetic field dependence of quasi-particle properties of two-dimensional metals

We show that in a weak external magnetic field H the quasi-particle residue and the renormalized electron Lande factor of two-dimensional Fermi liquids exhibit a non-analytic magnetic field dependence proportional to |H| which is due to electron-electron interactions. We explicitly calculate the corresponding prefactors to second order in the interaction and show that they are determined by low-energy scattering processes involving only momenta close to the Fermi surface. Experimentally, these non-analytic terms can be detected from measurements of the magnetic field dependence of the density of states and the magnetoconductivity.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

The outskirts of globular clusters as modified gravity probes

In the context of theories of gravity modified to account for the observed dynamics of galactic systems without the need to invoke the existence of dark matter, a prediction often appears regarding low acceleration systems: wherever $a$ falls below $a_{0}$ one should expect a transition from the classical to the modified gravity regime.This modified gravity regime will be characterised by equilibrium velocities which become independent of distance, and which scale with the fourth root of the total baryonic mass, $V^{4} \propto M$. The two above conditions are the well known flat rotation curves and Tully-Fisher relations of the galactic regime. Recently however, a similar phenomenology has been hinted at, at the outskirts of Galactic globular clusters, precisely in the region where $a<a_{0}$. Radial profiles of the projected velocity dispersion have been observed to stop decreasing along Keplerian expectations, and to level off at constant values beyond the radii where $a<a_{0}$. We have constructed gravitational equilibrium dynamical models for a number of globular clusters for which the above gravitational anomaly has been reported, using a modified Newtonian force law which yields equilibrium velocities equivalent to MOND. We find models can be easily constructed having an inner Newtonian region and an outer modified gravity regime, which reproduce all observational constraints, surface brightness profiles, total masses and line of sight velocity dispersion profiles. Through the use of detailed single stellar population models tuned individually to each of the globular clusters in question, we derive estimates of the total masses for these systems. Interestingly, we find that the asymptotic values of the velocity dispersion profiles are consistent with scaling with the fourth root of the total masses, as expected under modified gravity scenarios.Comment: Accepted in ApJ, 13 pages, 7 figure

Dark Energy and Dark Matter in Galaxy Halos

We consider the possibility that the dark matter is coupled through its mass to a scalar field associated with the dark energy of the Universe. In order for such a field to play a role at the present cosmological distances, it must be effectively massless at galactic length scales. We discuss the effects of the field on the distribution of dark matter in galaxy halos. We show that the profile of the distribution outside the galaxy core remains largely unaffected and the approximately flat rotation curves persist. The dispersion of the dark matter velocity is enhanced by a potentially large factor relative to the case of zero coupling between dark energy and dark matter. The counting rates in terrestrial dark matter detectors are similarly enhanced. Existing bounds on the properties of dark matter candidates can be extended to the coupled case, by taking into account the enhancement factor.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, references added and discussion expande