1,890 research outputs found
SAURON's Challenge for the Major Merger Scenario of Elliptical Galaxy Formation
The intrinsic anisotropy delta and flattening epsilon of simulated merger
remnants is compared with elliptical galaxies that have been observed by the
SAURON collaboration, and that were analysed using axisymmetric Schwarzschild
models. Collisionless binary mergers of stellar disks and disk mergers with an
additional isothermal gas component, neglecting star formation cannot reproduce
the observed trend delta = 0.55 epsilon (SAURON relationship). An excellent fit
of the SAURON relationship for flattened ellipticals with epsilon >= 0.25 is
however found for merger simulations of disks with gas fractions >= 20%,
including star formation and stellar energy feedback. Massive black hole
feedback does not strongly affect this result. Subsequent dry merging of merger
remnants however does not generate the slowly-rotating SAURON ellipticals which
are characterized by low ellipticities epsilon < 0.25 and low anisotropies.
This indicates that at least some ellipticals on the red galaxy sequence did
not form by binary mergers of disks or early-type galaxies. We show that
stellar spheroids resulting from multiple, hierarchical mergers of
star-bursting subunits in a cosmological context are in excellent agreement
with the low ellipticities and anisotropies of the slowly rotating SAURON
ellipticals and their observed trend of delta with epsilon. The numerical
simulations indicate that the SAURON relation might be a result of strong
violent relaxation and phase mixing of multiple, kinematically cold stellar
subunits with the angular momentum of the system determining its location on
the relation.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Ap
How galaxies lose their angular momentum
The processes are investigated by which gas loses its angular momentum during
the protogalactic collapse phase, leading to disk galaxies that are too compact
with respect to the observations. High-resolution N-body/SPH simulations in a
cosmological context are presented including cold gas and dark matter. A halo
with quiet merging activity since z~3.8 and with a high spin parameter is
analysed that should be an ideal candidate for the formation of an extended
galactic disk. We show that the gas and the dark matter have similar specific
angular momenta until a merger event occurs at z~2 with a mass ratio of 5:1.
All the gas involved in the merger loses a substantial fraction of its specific
angular momentum due to tidal torques and falls quickly into the center.
Dynamical friction plays a minor role,in contrast to previous claims. In fact,
after this event a new extended disk begins to form from gas that was not
involved in the 5:1 merger event and that falls in subsequently. We argue that
the angular momentum problem of disk galaxy formation is a merger problem: in
cold dark matter cosmology substantial mergers with mass ratios of 1:1 to 6:1
are expected to occur in almost all galaxies. We suggest that energetic
feedback processes could in principle solve this problem, however only if the
heating occurs at the time or shortly before the last substantial merger event.
Good candidates for such a coordinated feedback would be a merger-triggered
star burst or central black hole heating. If a large fraction of the low
angular momentum gas would be ejected as a result of these processes, late-type
galaxies could form with a dominant extended disk component, resulting from
late infall, a small bulge-to-disk ratio and a low baryon fraction, in
agreement with observations.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to MNRAS. Request for high resolution
figures to the author
Monte Carlo simulations of the halo white dwarf population
The interpretation of microlensing results towards the Large Magellanic Cloud
(LMC) still remains controversial. Whereas white dwarfs have been proposed to
explain these results and, hence, to contribute significantly to the mass
budget of our Galaxy, there are as well several constraints on the role played
by white dwarfs. In this paper we analyze self-consistently and simultaneously
four different results, namely, the local halo white dwarf luminosity function,
the microlensing results reported by the MACHO team towards the LMC, the
results of Hubble Deep Field (HDF) and the results of the EROS experiment, for
several initial mass functions and halo ages. We find that the proposed
log-normal initial mass functions do not contribute to solve the problem posed
by the observed microlensing events and, moreover, they overproduce white
dwarfs when compared to the results of the HDF and of the EROS survey. We also
find that the contribution of hydrogen-rich white dwarfs to the dynamical mass
of the halo of the Galaxy cannot be more than .Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Have Pentaquark States Been seen?
The status of the search for pentaquark baryons is reviewed in light of new
results from the first two dedicated experiments from CLAS at Jefferson Lab and
of new analyses from several laboratories on the . Evidence for
and against two heavier pentaquark states is also discussed.Comment: Added some references, corrected typo
Cloud Dispersal in Turbulent Flows
Cold clouds embedded in warm media are very common objects in astrophysics.
Their disruption timescale depends strongly on the dynamical configuration. We
discuss the evolution of an initially homogeneous cold cloud embedded in warm
turbulent gas. Within a couple of dynamical timescales, the filling factor of
the cold gas within the original cloud radius drops below 50%. Turbulent
diffusivities estimated from the time evolution of radial filling factor
profiles are not constant with time. Cold and warm gas are bodily transported
by turbulence and mixed. This is only mildly indicated by column density maps.
The radiation field within the cloud, however, increases by several orders of
magnitudes due to the mixing, with possible consequences for cloud chemistry
and evolution within a few dynamical timescales.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, accepted by MNRA
A light-front description of electromagnetic form factors for hadrons
A review of the hadron electromagnetic form factors obtained in a light-front
constituent quark model, based on the eigenfunctions of a mass operator, is
presented. The relevance of different components in the q-q interaction for the
description of hadron experimental form factors is analysed.Comment: 6 pages, Latex, 3 Postscript figures included. Proceedings of
"Nucleon 99", Frascati, June 1999. To appear in Nucl. Phys.
Comment on The Evidence for a Pentaquark and Kinematic Reflections
The Regge exchange model used by Dzierba et al. is shown to be questionable,
since the pion pole term is not allowed. Hence the Regge amplitudes in their
calculation are exaggerated. The amount of kinematic reflection in the mass
spectrum of the (nK+) system, which is one decay channel of a possible
pentaquark, is not well justified in the fitting procedure used by Dzierba et
al., as shown by comparison with the (K+K-) invariant mass spectrum, which is
one decay channel of the a_2 and f_2 tensor mesons. While kinematic reflections
are still a concern in some papers that have presented evidence for the
pentaquark, better quantitative calculations are needed to demonstrate the
significance of this effect.Comment: Comment submitted to Phys. Rev. D (no figures
Magnetized Non-linear Thin Shell Instability: Numerical Studies in 2D
We revisit the analysis of the Non-linear Thin Shell Instability (NTSI)
numerically, including magnetic fields. The magnetic tension force is expected
to work against the main driver of the NTSI -- namely transverse momentum
transport. However, depending on the field strength and orientation, the
instability may grow. For fields aligned with the inflow, we find that the NTSI
is suppressed only when the Alfv\'en speed surpasses the (supersonic)
velocities generated along the collision interface. Even for fields
perpendicular to the inflow, which are the most effective at preventing the
NTSI from developing, internal structures form within the expanding slab
interface, probably leading to fragmentation in the presence of self-gravity or
thermal instabilities. High Reynolds numbers result in local turbulence within
the perturbed slab, which in turn triggers reconnection and dissipation of the
excess magnetic flux. We find that when the magnetic field is initially aligned
with the flow, there exists a (weak) correlation between field strength and gas
density. However, for transverse fields, this correlation essentially vanishes.
In light of these results, our general conclusion is that instabilities are
unlikely to be erased unless the magnetic energy in clouds is much larger than
the turbulent energy. Finally, while our study is motivated by the scenario of
molecular cloud formation in colliding flows, our results span a larger range
of applicability, from supernovae shells to colliding stellar winds.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures, some of them at low resolution. Submitted to
ApJ, comments welcom
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