2,486 research outputs found
The Dust Depletion and Extinction of the GRB 020813 Afterglow
The Keck optical spectrum of the GRB 020813 afterglow is the best ever
obtained for GRBs. Its large spectral range and very high S/N ratio allowed for
the first time the detection of a vast variety of absorption lines, associated
with the circumburst medium or interstellar medium of the host. The remarkable
similarity of the relative abundances of 8 elements with the dust depletion
pattern seen in the Galactic ISM suggests the presence of dust. The derived
visual dust extinction A_V=0.40+/-0.06 contradicts the featureless UV spectrum
of the afterglow, very well described by a unreddened power law. The
forthcoming Swift era will open exciting opportunities to explain similar
phenomena in other GRB afterglows.Comment: To be published in "Il Nuovo Cimento", Proceedings of the 4th Rome
Workshop on Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Afterglow Era, eds. L. Piro, L. Amati, S.
Covino, B. Gendr
Bulgeless Galaxies and their Angular Momentum Problem
The specific angular momentum of Cold Dark Matter (CDM) halos in a
CDM universe is investigated. Their dimensionless specific angular
momentum with and
the virial velocity and virial radius, respectively depends strongly
on their merging histories. We investigate a set of CDM simulations
and explore the specific angular momentum content of halos formed through
various merging histories. Halos with a quiet merging history, dominated by
minor mergers and accretion until the present epoch, acquire by tidal torques
on average only 2% to 3% of the angular momentum required for their rotational
support (). This is in conflict with observational data for a
sample of late-type bulgeless galaxies which indicates that those galaxies
reside in dark halos with exceptionally high values of . Minor mergers and accretion preserve or slowly increase the
specific angular momentum of dark halos with time. This mechanism is however
not efficient enough in order to explain the observed spin values for late-type
dwarf galaxies. Energetic feedback processes have been invoked to solve the
problem that gas loses a large fraction of its specific angular momentum during
infall. Under the assumption that dark halos hosting bulgeless galaxies acquire
their mass via quiescent accretion, our results indicate yet another serious
problem: the specific angular momentum gained during the formation of these
objects is not large enough to explain their observed rotational
properties,even if no angular momentum would be lost during gas infall.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. To appear in September 1, 2004, issue of ApJ
Letter
WFPC2 Observations of Star Clusters in the Magellanic Clouds: I. The LMC Globular Cluster Hodge 11
We present our analysis of Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera
2 observations in F555W (broadband V) and F450W (broadband B) of the globular
cluster Hodge 11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. The resulting V vs.
(B-V) color-magnitude diagram reaches 2.4 mag below the main-sequence turnoff
(which is at V_TO = 22.65 +- 0.10 mag or M_V^TO = 4.00 +- 0.16 mag). Comparing
the fiducial sequence of Hodge 11 with that of the Galactic globular cluster
M92, we conclude that, within the accuracy of our photometry, the age of Hodge
11 is identical to that of M92 with a relative age-difference uncertainty
ranging from 10% to 21%. Provided that Hodge 11 has always been a part of the
Large Magellanic Cloud and was not stripped from the halo of the Milky Way or
absorbed from a cannibalized dwarf spheroidal galaxy, then the oldest stars in
the Large Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way appear to have the same age.Comment: 14 pages (LaTeX+aaspp4.sty), 3 tables and 4 figures (Postscript,
gzipped tar file). Postscript version of paper, tables, and full-resolution
figures available at http://www.astro.columbia.edu/~mighell/hodge11.html To
appear in the Astronomical Journa
Star Formation, Metallicity and Dust Properties Derived from the SAPM Galaxy Survey Spectra
We have derived star formation rates (SFRs), gas-phase oxygen abundances and
effective dust absorption optical depths for a sample of galaxies drawn from
the Stromlo-APM redshift survey using the new Charlot and Longhetti (2001;
CL01) models, which provide a physically consistent description of the effects
of stars, gas and dust on the integrated spectra of galaxies. Our sample
consists of 705 galaxies with measurements of the fluxes and equivalent widths
of Halpha, [OII], and one or both of [NII] and [SII]. For a subset of the
galaxies, 60 and 100 micron IRAS fluxes are available. We compare the star
formation rates derived using the models with those derived using standard
estimators based on the Halpha, the [OII] and the far-infrared luminosities of
the galaxies. The CL01 SFR estimates agree well with those derived from the
IRAS fluxes, but are typically a factor of ~3 higher than those derived from
the Halpha or the [OII] fluxes, even after the usual mean attenuation
correction of A_Halpha=1 mag is applied to the data. We show that the reason
for this discrepancy is that the standard Halpha estimator neglects the
absorption of ionizing photons by dust in HII regions and the contamination of
Halpha emission by stellar absorption. We also use our sample to study
variations in star formation and metallicity as a function of galaxy absolute
bJ magnitude. For this sample, the star formation rate per unit bJ luminosity
is independent of magnitude. The gas-phase oxygen abundance does increase with
bJ luminosity, although the scatter in metallicity at fixed magnitude is large.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Orbital Decay and Tidal Disruption of a Star Cluster: Analytical Calculation
The orbital decay and tidal disruption of a star cluster in a galaxy is
studied in an analytical manner. Owing to dynamical friction, the star cluster
spirals in toward the center of the galaxy. Simultaneously, the galactic tidal
field strips stars from the outskirts of the star cluster. Under an assumption
that the star cluster undergoes a self-similar evolution, we obtain the
condition and timescale for the star cluster to reach the galaxy center before
its disruption. The result is used to discuss the fate of so-called
intermediate-mass black holes with >10^3 M(sun) found recently in young star
clusters of starburst galaxies and also the mass function of globular clusters
in galaxies.Comment: 12 pages, 1 PS file for 2 figures, to appear in The Astrophysical
Journa
The Angular Momentum Distribution of Gas and Dark Matter in Galactic Halos
(Abridged) We report results of a series of non radiative N-body/SPH
simulations in a LCDM cosmology. We find that the spin of the baryonic
component is on average larger than that of the dark matter (DM) component and
we find this effect to be more pronounced at lower redshifts. A significant
fraction f of gas has negative angular momentum and this fraction is found to
increase with redshift. We describe a toy model in which the tangential
velocities of particles are smeared by Gaussian random motions. This model is
successful in explaining some of the angular momentum properties. We compare
and contrast various techniques to determine the angular momentum distributions
(AMDs). We show that broadening of velocity dispersions is unsuitable for
making comparisons between gas and DM. We smooth the angular momentum of the
particles over a fixed number of neighbors. We find that an analytical function
based on gamma distribution can be used to describe a wide variety of profiles,
with just one parameter \alpha. The distribution of the shape parameter
for both gas and DM follows roughly a log-normal distribution. The
mean and standard deviation of log(\alpha) for gas is -0.04 and 0.11
respectively. About 90-95% of halos have \alpha<1.3, while exponential disks in
NFW halos would require 1.3<\alpha<1.6. This implies that a typical halo in
simulations has an excess of low angular momentum material as compared to that
of observed exponential disks, a result which is consistent with the findings
of earlier works. \alpha for gas is correlated with that of DM but they have a
significant scatter =1.09 \pm 0.2. \alpha_Gas is also
biased towards slightly higher values compared to \alpha_DM.Comment: 19 pages, 32 figures (replaced to correct a typo in the authors field
in the above line, paper unchanged
Angular Momentum Profiles of Warm Dark Matter Halos
We compare the specific angular momentum profiles of virialized dark halos in
cold dark matter (CDM) and warm dark matter (WDM) models using high-resolution
dissipationless simulations. The simulations were initialized using the same
set of modes, except on small scales, where the power was suppressed in WDM
below the filtering length. Remarkably, WDM as well as CDM halos are
well-described by the two-parameter angular momentum profile of Bullock et al.
(2001), even though the halo masses are below the filtering scale of the WDM.
Although the best-fit shape parameters change quantitatively for individual
halos in the two simulations, we find no systematic variation in profile shapes
as a function of the dark matter type. The scatter in shape parameters is
significantly smaller for the WDM halos, suggesting that substructure and/or
merging history plays a role producing scatter about the mean angular momentum
distribution, but that the average angular momentum profiles of halos originate
from larger-scale phenomena or a mechanism associated with the virialization
process. The known mismatch between the angular momentum distributions of dark
halos and disk galaxies is therefore present in WDM as well as CDM models. Our
WDM halos tend to have a less coherent (more misaligned) angular momentum
structure and smaller spin parameters than do their CDM counterparts, although
we caution that this result is based on a small number of halos.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, Submitted to ApJ
Potential formation sites of super star clusters in ultra-luminous infrared galaxies
Recent observational results on high spatial resolution images of
ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs) have revealed very luminous, young,
compact, and heavily obscured super star clusters in their central regions,
suggested to be formed by gas-rich major mergers. By using stellar and gaseous
numerical simulations of galaxy mergers, we firstly demonstrate that the
central regions of ULIGs are the most promising formation sites of super star
clusters owing to the rather high gaseous pressure of the interstellar medium.
Based on simple analytical arguments, we secondly discuss the possibility that
super star clusters in an ULIG can be efficiently transferred into the nuclear
region owing to dynamical friction and consequently merge with one another to
form a single compact stellar nucleus with a seed massive black hole. We thus
suggest that multiple merging between super star clusters formed by nuclear
starbursts in the central regions of ULIGs can result in the formation of
massive black holes.Comment: 12 pages 4 figures, 2001, accepted by ApJ
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