A Primeval Magellanic Stream and Others

The Magellanic Stream might have grown out of tidal interactions at high redshift, when the young galaxies were close together, rather than from later interactions among the Magellanic Clouds and Milky Way. This is illustrated in solutions for the orbits of Local Group galaxies under the cosmological condition of growing peculiar velocities at high redshift. Massless test particles initially near and moving with the Large Magellanic Cloud in these solutions end up with distributions in angular position and redshift similar to the Magellanic Stream, though with the usual overly prominent leading component that the Milky Way corona might have suppressed. Another possible example of the effect of conditions at high redshift is a model primeval stream around the Local Group galaxy NGC 6822. Depending on the solution for Local Group dynamics this primeval stream can end up with position angle similar to the HI around this galaxy, and a redshift gradient in the observed direction. The gradient is much smaller than observed, but might have been increased by dissipative contraction. Presented also is an even more speculative illustration of the possible effect of initial conditions, primeval stellar streams around M31.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure

Constraints on the Massive Supernova Progenitors

Generally accepted scheme distinguishes two main classes of supernovae (SNe): Ia resulting from the old stellar population (deflagration of a white dwarf in close binary systems), and SNe of type II and Ib/c whose ancestors are young massive stars (died in a core-collapse explosion). Concerning the latter, there are suggestions that the SNe II are connected to early B stars, and SNe Ib/c to isolated O or Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars. However, little or no effort was made to further separate SNe Ib from Ic. We have used assumed SN rates for different SN types in spiral galaxies in an attempt to perform this task. If isolated progenitor hypothesis is correct, our analysis indicates that SNe Ib result from stars of main-sequence mass $23 \mathcal{M}_{\odot} \lesssim \mathcal{M} \lesssim 30 \mathcal{M}_{\odot}$, while the progenitors of SNe Ic are more massive stars with $\mathcal{M} \gtrsim 30 \mathcal{M}_{\odot}$. Alternatively, if the majority of SNe Ib/c appear in close binary systems (CBs) then they would result from the same progenitor population as most of the SNe II, i.e. early B stars with initial masses of order $\mathcal{M} \sim 10 \mathcal{M}_{\odot}$. Future observations of SNe at high-redshift ($z$) and their rate will provide us with unique information on SN progenitors and star-formation history of galaxies. At higher-$z$ (deeper in the cosmic past) we expect to see the lack of type Ia events, i.e. the dominance of core-collapse SNe. Better understanding of the stripped-envelope SNe (Ib/c), and their potential use as distance indicators at high-$z$, would therefore be of great practical importance.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in IJMP

Joint Tenancy in Real Property—The Title Insurer\u27s Viewpoint

Initiative Measure No. 2081 is necessarily brief and does little more than authorize in Washington a form of co-ownership of property, real and personal, known as joint tenancy. In view of the prior history of joint tenancy with right of survivorship in Washington, so far as real property is concerned, practically the entire existing local law on the subject is provided by the initiative measure. This engrafts a new system of real property ownership onto the existing body of Washington real property law which has been in the process of development for over a century. This article must therefore deal primarily with opinion, or evaluation of alternatives, rather than with authoritative conclusions. Moreover, even the most general treatment of a subject as broad as joint tenancy in real property is far beyond the permissible scope of this article and it must follow that the discussion will be limited to a few specific problems which would appear to be of general and basic interest