1,808 research outputs found
Clues to the nature of dark matter from first galaxies
We use thirty-eight high-resolution simulations of galaxy formation between
redshift 10 and 5 to study the impact of a 3 keV warm dark matter (WDM)
candidate on the high-redshift Universe. We focus our attention on the stellar
mass function and the global star formation rate and consider the consequences
for reionization, namely the neutral hydrogen fraction evolution and the
electron scattering optical depth. We find that three different effects
contribute to differentiate warm and cold dark matter (CDM) predictions: WDM
suppresses the number of haloes with mass less than few M; at
a fixed halo mass, WDM produces fewer stars than CDM; and finally at halo
masses below M, WDM has a larger fraction of dark haloes than
CDM post-reionization. These three effects combine to produce a lower stellar
mass function in WDM for galaxies with stellar masses at and below
M. For , the global star formation density is lower by a
factor of two in the WDM scenario, and for a fixed escape fraction, the
fraction of neutral hydrogen is higher by 0.3 at . This latter
quantity can be partially reconciled with CDM and observations only by
increasing the escape fraction from 23 per cent to 34 per cent. Overall, our
study shows that galaxy formation simulations at high redshift are a key tool
to differentiate between dark matter candidates given a model for baryonic
physics.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, submitted to MNRA
NIHAO XX: The impact of the star formation threshold on the cusp-core transformation of cold dark matter haloes
We use cosmological hydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations from the
NIHAO project to investigate the impact of the threshold for star formation on
the response of the dark matter (DM) halo to baryonic processes. The fiducial
NIHAO threshold, , results in strong expansion of the DM
halo in galaxies with stellar masses in the range . We find that lower thresholds such as (as employed
by the EAGLE/APOSTLE and Illustris/AURIGA projects) do not result in
significant halo expansion at any mass scale. Halo expansion driven by
supernova feedback requires significant fluctuations in the local gas fraction
on sub-dynamical times (i.e., < 50 Myr at galaxy half-light radii), which are
themselves caused by variability in the star formation rate. At one per cent of
the virial radius, simulations with have gas fractions of
and variations of , while simulations have order of
magnitude lower gas fractions and hence do not expand the halo. The observed DM
circular velocities of nearby dwarf galaxies are inconsistent with CDM
simulations with and , but in reasonable agreement with .
Star formation rates are more variable for higher , lower galaxy masses, and
when star formation is measured on shorter time scales. For example,
simulations with have up to 0.4 dex higher scatter in specific star
formation rates than simulations with . Thus observationally
constraining the sub-grid model for star formation, and hence the nature of DM,
should be possible in the near future.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, accepted to MNRA
The edge of galaxy formation III: The effects of warm dark matter on Milky Way satellites and field dwarfs
In this third paper of the series, we investigate the effects of warm dark
matter with a particle mass of on the smallest
galaxies in our Universe. We present a sample of 21 hydrodynamical cosmological
simulations of dwarf galaxies and 20 simulations of satellite-host galaxy
interaction that we performed both in a Cold Dark Matter (CDM) and Warm Dark
Matter (WDM) scenario. In the WDM simulations, we observe a higher critical
mass for the onset of star formation. Structure growth is delayed in WDM, as a
result WDM haloes have a stellar population on average two Gyrs younger than
their CDM counterparts. Nevertheless, despite this delayed star formation, CDM
and WDM galaxies are both able to reproduce the observed scaling relations for
velocity dispersion, stellar mass, size, and metallicity at . WDM
satellite haloes in a Milky Way mass host are more susceptible to tidal
stripping due to their lower concentrations, but their galaxies can even
survive longer than the CDM counterparts if they live in a dark matter halo
with a steeper central slope. In agreement with our previous CDM satellite
study we observe a steepening of the WDM satellites' central dark matter
density slope due to stripping. The difference in the average stellar age for
satellite galaxies, between CDM and WDM, could be used in the future for
disentangling these two models.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication on MNRA
Dominant ferromagnetism in the spin-1/2 half-twist ladder 334 compounds, Ba3Cu3In4O12 and Ba3Cu3Sc4O12
The magnetic properties of polycrystalline samples of Ba3Cu3In4O12 (In-334)
and Ba3Cu3Sc4O12 (Sc-334) are reported. Both 334 phases have a structure
derived from perovskite, with CuO4 squares interconnected to form half-twist
ladders along the c-axis. The Cu-O-Cu angles, ~ 90o, and the positive Weiss
temperatures indicate the presence of significant ferromagnetic (FM)
interactions along the Cu ladders. At low temperatures, T < 20 K, sharp
transitions in the magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity measurements
indicate three-dimensional (3D) antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering at TN. TN is
suppressed on application of a field and a complex magnetic phase diagram with
three distinct magnetic regimes below the upper critical field can be inferred
from our measurements. The magnetic interactions are discussed in relation to a
modified spin-1/2 FM-AFM model and the 334 half-twist ladder is compared to
other 2-rung ladder spin-1/2 systems.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure
Formation of shock waves in a Bose-Einstein condensate
We consider propagation of density wave packets in a Bose-Einstein
condensate. We show that the shape of initially broad, laser-induced, density
perturbation changes in the course of free time evolution so that a shock wave
front finally forms. Our results are well beyond predictions of commonly used
zero-amplitude approach, so they can be useful in extraction of a speed of
sound from experimental data. We discuss a simple experimental setup for shock
propagation and point out possible limitations of the mean-field approach for
description of shock phenomena in a BEC.Comment: 8 pages & 6 figures, minor changes, more references, to appear in
Phys. Rev.
Galaxy Masses
Galaxy masses play a fundamental role in our understanding of structure
formation models. This review addresses the variety and reliability of mass
estimators that pertain to stars, gas, and dark matter. The different sections
on masses from stellar populations, dynamical masses of gas-rich and gas-poor
galaxies, with some attention paid to our Milky Way, and masses from weak and
strong lensing methods, all provide review material on galaxy masses in a
self-consistent manner.Comment: 145 pages, 28 figures, to appear in Reviews of Modern Physics. Figure
22 is missing here, and Figs. 15, 26-28 are at low resolution. This version
has a slightly different title and some typos fixed in Chapter 5. For the
full review with figures, please consult:
http://www.astro.queensu.ca/~courteau/GalaxyMasses_28apr2014.pd
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