2,523 research outputs found
Introduction to Library Trends 23 (3) Winter 1975: Music and Fine Arts in the General Library
published or submitted for publicatio
The influence of initial mass segregation on the runaway merging of stars
We have investigated the effect of initial mass segregation on the runaway
merging of stars. The evolution of multi-mass, dense star clusters was followed
by means of direct N-body simulations of up to 131.072 stars. All clusters
started from King models with dimensionless central potentials of 3.0 <= W_0 <=
9.0. Initial mass segregation was realized by varying the minimum mass of a
certain fraction of stars whose either (1) distances were closest to the
cluster center or (2) total energies were lowest. The second case is more
favorable to promote the runaway merging of stars by creating a high-mass core
of massive, low-energy stars. Initial mass segregation could decrease the
central relaxation time and thus help the formation of a high-mass core.
However, we found that initial mass segregation does not help the runaway
stellar merger to happen if the overall mass density profile is kept constant.
This is due to the fact that the collision rate of stars is not increased due
to initial mass segregation. Our simulations show that initial mass segregation
is not sufficient to allow runaway merging of stars to occur in clusters with
central densities typical for star clusters in the Milky Way.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Ap
Initial Populations of Black Holes in Star Clusters
Using an updated population synthesis code we study the formation and
evolution of black holes (BHs) in young star clusters following a massive
starburst. This study continues and improves on the initial work described by
Belczynski, Sadowski & Rasio (2004). In our new calculations we account for the
possible ejections of BHs and their progenitors from clusters because of natal
kicks imparted by supernovae and recoil following binary disruptions. The
results indicate that the properties of both retained BHs in clusters and
ejected BHs (forming a field population) depend sensitively on the depth of the
cluster potential. In particular, most BHs ejected from binaries are also
ejected from clusters with central escape speeds Vesc < 100 km/s. Conversely,
most BHs remaining in binaries are retained by clusters with Vesc > 50 km/s.
BHs from single star evolution are also affected significantly: about half of
the BHs originating from primordial single stars are ejected from clusters with
Vesc < 50 km/s. Our results lay a foundation for theoretical studies of the
formation of BH X-ray binaries in and around star clusters, including possible
ultra-luminous sources, as well as merging BH--BH binaries detectable with
future gravitational-wave observatories.Comment: 35 pages, 8 tables, 17 figures; resubmitted to ApJ (revised version
On Convergence of the Inexact Rayleigh Quotient Iteration with the Lanczos Method Used for Solving Linear Systems
For the Hermitian inexact Rayleigh quotient iteration (RQI), the author has
established new local general convergence results, independent of iterative
solvers for inner linear systems. The theory shows that the method locally
converges quadratically under a new condition, called the uniform positiveness
condition. In this paper we first consider the local convergence of the inexact
RQI with the unpreconditioned Lanczos method for the linear systems. Some
attractive properties are derived for the residuals, whose norms are
's, of the linear systems obtained by the Lanczos method. Based on
them and the new general convergence results, we make a refined analysis and
establish new local convergence results. It is proved that the inexact RQI with
Lanczos converges quadratically provided that with a
constant . The method is guaranteed to converge linearly provided
that is bounded by a small multiple of the reciprocal of the
residual norm of the current approximate eigenpair. The results are
fundamentally different from the existing convergence results that always
require , and they have a strong impact on effective
implementations of the method. We extend the new theory to the inexact RQI with
a tuned preconditioned Lanczos for the linear systems. Based on the new theory,
we can design practical criteria to control to achieve quadratic
convergence and implement the method more effectively than ever before.
Numerical experiments confirm our theory.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:0906.223
Sowing the seeds of massive black holes in small galaxies: Young clusters as the building blocks of Ultra-Compact-Dwarf Galaxies
Interacting galaxies often have complexes of hundreds of young stellar
clusters of individual masses in regions that are a few
hundred parsecs across. These cluster complexes interact dynamically, and their
coalescence is a candidate for the origin of some ultracompact dwarf galaxies
(UCDs). Individual clusters with short relaxation times are candidates for the
production of intermediate-mass black holes of a few hundred solar masses, via
runaway stellar collisions prior to the first supernovae in a cluster. It is
therefore possible that a cluster complex hosts multiple intermediate-mass
black holes that may be ejected from their individual clusters due to mergers
or binary processes, but bound to the complex as a whole. Here we explore the
dynamical interaction between initially free-flying massive black holes and
clusters in an evolving cluster complex. We find that, after hitting some
clusters, it is plausible that the massive black hole will be captured in an
ultracompact dwarf forming near the center of the complex. In the process, the
hole typically triggers electromagnetic flares via stellar disruptions, and is
also likely to be a prominent source of gravitational radiation for the
advanced ground-based detectors LIGO and VIRGO. We also discuss other
implications of this scenario, notably that the central black hole could be
considerably larger than expected in other formation scenarios for ultracompact
dwarfs.Comment: 15 pages, published in ApJ; for movies, please visit
http://members.aei.mpg.de/amaro-seoane/ultra-compact-dwarf-galaxie
Rates and Characteristics of Intermediate Mass Ratio Inspirals Detectable by Advanced LIGO
Gravitational waves (GWs) from the inspiral of a neutron star (NS) or
stellar-mass black hole (BH) into an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) with
mass between ~50 and ~350 solar masses may be detectable by the planned
advanced generation of ground-based GW interferometers. Such intermediate mass
ratio inspirals (IMRIs) are most likely to be found in globular clusters. We
analyze four possible IMRI formation mechanisms: (1) hardening of an NS-IMBH or
BH-IMBH binary via three-body interactions, (2) hardening via Kozai resonance
in a hierarchical triple system, (3) direct capture, and (4) inspiral of a
compact object from a tidally captured main-sequence star; we also discuss
tidal effects when the inspiraling object is an NS. For each mechanism we
predict the typical eccentricities of the resulting IMRIs. We find that IMRIs
will have largely circularized by the time they enter the sensitivity band of
ground-based detectors. Hardening of a binary via three-body interactions,
which is likely to be the dominant mechanism for IMRI formation, yields
eccentricities under 10^-4 when the GW frequency reaches 10 Hz. Even among
IMRIs formed via direct captures, which can have the highest eccentricities,
around 90% will circularize to eccentricities under 0.1 before the GW frequency
reaches 10 Hz. We estimate the rate of IMRI coalescences in globular clusters
and the sensitivity of a network of three Advanced LIGO detectors to the
resulting GWs. We show that this detector network may see up to tens of IMRIs
per year, although rates of one to a few per year may be more plausible. We
also estimate the loss in signal-to-noise ratio that will result from using
circular IMRI templates for data analysis and find that, for the eccentricities
we expect, this loss is negligible.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; revised version reflects changes
made to the article during the acceptance proces
Dynamical Interactions and the Black Hole Merger Rate of the Universe
Binary black holes can form efficiently in dense young stellar clusters, such
as the progenitors of globular clusters, via a combination of gravitational
segregation and cluster evaporation. We use simple analytic arguments supported
by detailed N-body simulations to determine how frequently black holes born in
a single stellar cluster should form binaries, be ejected from the cluster, and
merge through the emission of gravitational radiation. We then convolve this
``transfer function'' relating cluster formation to black hole mergers with (i)
the distribution of observed cluster masses and (ii) the star formation history
of the universe, assuming that a significant fraction gcl of star formation
occurs in clusters and that a significant fraction gcand of clusters undergo
this segregation and evaporation process. We predict future ground--based
gravitational wave (GW) detectors could observe ~500 (gcl/0.5) (gcand/0.1)
double black hole mergers per year, and the presently operating LIGO
interferometer would have a chance (50%) at detecting a merger during its first
full year of science data. More realistically, advanced LIGO and similar
next-generation gravitational wave observatories provide unique opportunities
to constrain otherwise inaccessible properties of clusters formed in the early
universe.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in PRD Rapid Communication
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