Instability of a gapless color superconductor with respect to inhomogeneous fluctuations

We systematically apply density functional theory to determine the kind of inhomogeneities that spontaneously develop in a homogeneous gapless phase of neutral two-flavor superfluid quark matter. We consider inhomogeneities in the quark and electron densities and in the phases and amplitude of the order parameter. These inhomogeneities are expected to lead the gapless phase to a BCS-normal coexisting phase, a Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) state with phase oscillations alone, and a LOFF state with amplitude oscillations. We find that which of them the homogeneous system tends towards depends sensitively on the chemical potential separation between up and down quarks and the gradient energies.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures; corrected Eq. (36) and changed content associated with d quark clustering instabilit

Disk wind feedback from high-mass protostars

We perform a sequence of 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the outflow-core interaction for a massive protostar forming via collapse of an initial cloud core of $60~{M_\odot}$. This allows us to characterize the properties of disk wind driven outflows from massive protostars, which can allow testing of different massive star formation theories. It also enables us to assess quantitatively the impact of outflow feedback on protostellar core morphology and overall star formation efficiency. We find that the opening angle of the flow increases with increasing protostellar mass, in agreement with a simple semi-analytic model. Once the protostar reaches $\sim24~{M_\odot}$ the outflow's opening angle is so wide that it has blown away most of the envelope, thereby nearly ending its own accretion. We thus find an overall star formation efficiency of $\sim50\%$, similar to that expected from low-mass protostellar cores. Our simulation results therefore indicate that the MHD disk wind outflow is the dominant feedback mechanism for helping to shape the stellar initial mass function from a given prestellar core mass function.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Non-Abelian Stokes Theorem and Quark Confinement in SU(3) Yang-Mills Gauge Theory

We derive a new version of SU(3) non-Abelian Stokes theorem by making use of the coherent state representation on the coset space $SU(3)/(U(1)\times U(1))=F_2$, the flag space. Then we outline a derivation of the area law of the Wilson loop in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory in the maximal Abelian gauge (The detailed exposition will be given in a forthcoming article). This derivation is performed by combining the non-Abelian Stokes theorem with the reformulation of the Yang-Mills theory as a perturbative deformation of a topological field theory recently proposed by one of the authors. Within this framework, we show that the fundamental quark is confined even if $G=SU(3)$ is broken by partial gauge fixing into $H=U(2)$ just as $G$ is broken to $H=U(1) \times U(1)$. An origin of the area law is related to the geometric phase of the Wilczek-Zee holonomy for U(2). Abelian dominance is an immediate byproduct of these results and magnetic monopole plays the dominant role in this derivation.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, no figures, version accepted for publication in Mod. Phys. Lett. A (some comments are added in the final parts

The Impact of Feedback in Massive Star Formation. II. Lower Star Formation Efficiency at Lower Metallicity

We conduct a theoretical study of the formation of massive stars over a wide range of metallicities from 1e-5 to 1Zsun and evaluate the star formation efficiencies (SFEs) from prestellar cloud cores taking into account multiple feedback processes. Unlike for simple spherical accretion, in the case of disk accretion feedback processes do not set upper limits on stellar masses. At solar metallicity, launching of magneto-centrifugally-driven outflows is the dominant feedback process to set SFEs, while radiation pressure, which has been regarded to be pivotal, has only minor contribution even in the formation of over-100Msun stars. Photoevaporation becomes significant in over-20Msun star formation at low metallicities of <1e-2Zsun, where dust absorption of ionizing photons is inefficient. We conclude that if initial prestellar core properties are similar, then massive stars are rarer in extremely metal-poor environments of 1e-5 - 1e-3Zsun. Our results give new insight into the high-mass end of the initial mass function and its potential variation with galactic and cosmological environments.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Outflow-Confined HII regions. II. The Early Break-Out Phase

In this series of papers, we model the formation and evolution of the photoionized region and its observational signatures during massive star formation. Here we focus on the early break out of the photoionized region into the outflow cavity. Using results of 3-D magnetohydrodynamic-outflow simulations and protostellar evolution calculations, we perform post-processing radiative-transfer. The photoionized region first appears at a protostellar mass of 10Msun in our fiducial model, and is confined to within 10-100AU by the dense inner outflow, similar to some observed very small hypercompact HII regions. Since the ionizing luminosity of the massive protostar increases dramatically as Kelvin-Helmholz (KH) contraction proceeds, the photoionized region breaks out to the entire outflow region in <10,000yr. Accordingly, the radio free-free emission brightens significantly in this stage. In our fiducial model, the radio luminosity at 10 GHz changes from 0.1 mJy kpc2 at m=11Msun to 100 mJy kpc2 at 16Msun, while the infrared luminosity increases by less than a factor of two. The radio spectral index also changes in the break-out phase from the optically thick value of 2 to the partially optically thin value of 0.6. Additionally, we demonstrate that short-timescale variation in free-free flux would be induced by an accretion burst. The outflow density is enhanced in the accretion burst phase, which leads to a smaller ionized region and weaker free-free emission. The radio luminosity may decrease by one order of magnitude during such bursts, while the infrared luminosity is much less affected, since internal protostellar luminosity dominates over accretion luminosity after KH contraction starts. Such variability may be observable on timescales as short 10-100 yr, if accretion bursts are driven by disk instabilities.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Conductance of a single molecule anchored by an isocyanide substituent to gold electrodes

The effect of anchoring group on the electrical conductance of a single molecule bridging two Au electrodes was studied using di-substituted (isocyanide (CN-), thiol (S-) or cyanide (NC-)) benzene. The conductance of a single Au/1,4-diisocyanobenzene/Au junction anchored by isocyanide via a C atom (junction with the Au-CN bond) was $3 \times 10 ^{-3} G_{0}$ ($2e^{2}/h$). The value was comparable to $4 \times 10 ^{-3} G_{0}$ of a single Au/1,4-benzenedithiol/Au junction with the Au-S bond. The Au/1,4-dicyanobenzene/Au molecular junction with the Au-NC bond did not show well-defined conductance values. The metal-molecule bond strength was estimated by the distance over which the molecular junction was stretched before breakdown. The stretched length of the molecular junction with the Au-CN bond was comparable to that of the Au junction, indicating that the Au-CN bond was stronger than the Au-Au bond.Comment: 3 figures, to be appear in Appl. Phys. Let

GMC Collisions as Triggers of Star Formation. V. Observational Signatures

We present calculations of molecular, atomic and ionic line emission from simulations of giant molecular cloud (GMC) collisions. We post-process snapshots of the magneto-hydrodynamical simulations presented in an earlier paper in this series by Wu et al. (2017) of colliding and non-colliding GMCs. Using photodissociation region (PDR) chemistry and radiative transfer we calculate the level populations and emission properties of $^{12}$CO $J=1-0$, [CI] $^3{\rm P}_1\rightarrow{^3{\rm P}}_0$ at $609\,\mu$m, [CII] $158\,\mu$m and [OI] $^3{\rm P}_1\rightarrow{^3{\rm P}}_0$ transition at $63\,\mu$m. From integrated intensity emission maps and position-velocity diagrams, we find that fine-structure lines, particularly the [CII] $158\,\mu$m, can be used as a diagnostic tracer for cloud-cloud collision activity. These results hold even in more evolved systems in which the collision signature in molecular lines has been diminished.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, comments welcom

Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of A Rotating Massive Star Collapsing to A Black Hole

We perform two-dimensional, axisymmetric, magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the collapse of a rotating star of 40 Msun and in the light of the collapsar model of gamma-ray burst. Considering two distributions of angular momentum, up to \sim 10^{17} cm^2/s, and the uniform vertical magnetic field, we investigate the formation of an accretion disk around a black hole and the jet production near the hole. After material reaches to the black hole with the high angular momentum, the disk is formed inside a surface of weak shock. The disk becomes in a quasi-steady state for stars whose magnetic field is less than 10^{10} G before the collapse. We find that the jet can be driven by the magnetic fields even if the central core does not rotate as rapidly as previously assumed and outer layers of the star has sufficiently high angular momentum. The magnetic fields are chiefly amplified inside the disk due to the compression and the wrapping of the field. The fields inside the disk propagate to the polar region along the inner boundary near the black hole through the Alfv{\'e}n wave, and eventually drive the jet. The quasi-steady disk is not an advection-dominated disk but a neutrino cooling-dominated one. Mass accretion rates in the disks are greater than 0.01 Msun/sec with large fluctuations. The disk is transparent for neutrinos. The dense part of the disk, which locates near the hole, emits neutrino efficiently at a constant rate of < 8 \times 10^{51} erg/s. The neutrino luminosity is much smaller than those from supernovae after the neutrino burst.Comment: 42 pages, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. A paper with higher-resolution figures available at http://www.ec.knct.ac.jp/~fujimoto/collapsar/mhd-color.pd

Massive Protostellar Disks as a Hot Laboratory of Silicate Grain Evolution

Typical accretion disks around massive protostars are hot enough for water ice to sublimate. We here propose to utilize the massive protostellar disks for investigating the collisional evolution of silicate grains with no ice mantle, which is an essential process for the formation of rocky planetesimals in protoplanetary disks around lower-mass stars. We for the first time develop a model of massive protostellar disks that includes the coagulation, fragmentation, and radial drift of dust. We show that the maximum grain size in the disks is limited by collisional fragmentation rather than by radial drift. We derive analytic formulas that produce the radial distribution of the maximum grain size and dust surface density in the steady state. Applying the analytic formulas to the massive protostellar disk of GGD27-MM1, where the grain size is constrained from a millimeter polarimetric observation, we infer that the silicate grains in this disk fragment at collision velocities above ~ 10 m/s. The inferred fragmentation threshold velocity is lower than the maximum grain collision velocity in typical protoplanetary disks around low-mass stars, implying that coagulation alone may not lead to the formation of rocky planetesimals in those disks. With future measurements of grain sizes in massive protostellar disks, our model will provide more robust constraints on the sticking property of silicate grains.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures,accepted for publication to The Astrophysical Journa