3,419 research outputs found
The effect of early dark matter halos on reionization
The annihilation of dark matter particles releases energy, ionizing some of
the gas in the Universe. We investigate the effect of dark matter halos on
reionization. We show that the effect depends on the assumed density profile,
the particle mass, and the assumed minimum halo mass. For NFW halos and typical
WIMPs, we find the effect to be quite small. However, light dark matter
candidates in the MeV range can contribute significantly to reionization and
can make an important contribution to the measured optical depth. This effect
may be used to constrain light dark matter models. We also study the effect of
varying the halo density profile on reionization.Comment: Minor changes from v2. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Dispersal and population structure at different spatial scales in the subterranean rodent Ctenomys australis
This study was funded by grants from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET, PIP5838), Agencia de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica de la Argentina (PICTO1-423, BID-1728/OC-AR), and the programme ECOS-Sud France/Argentina (A05B01).Background: The population genetic structure of subterranean rodent species is strongly affected by demographic (e.g. rates of dispersal and social structure) and stochastic factors (e.g. random genetic drift among subpopulations and habitat fragmentation). In particular, gene flow estimates at different spatial scales are essential to understand genetic differentiation among populations of a species living in a highly fragmented landscape. Ctenomys australis (the sand dune tuco-tuco) is a territorial subterranean rodent that inhabits a relatively secure, permanently sealed burrow system, occurring in sand dune habitats on the coastal landscape in the south-east of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Currently, this habitat is threatened by urban development and forestry and, therefore, the survival of this endemic species is at risk. Here, we assess population genetic structure and patterns of dispersal among individuals of this species at different spatial scales using 8 polymorphic microsatellite loci. Furthermore, we evaluate the relative importance of sex and habitat configuration in modulating the dispersal patterns at these geographical scales. Results: Our results show that dispersal in C. australis is not restricted at regional spatial scales (similar to 4 km). Assignment tests revealed significant population substructure within the study area, providing support for the presence of two subpopulations from three original sampling sites. Finally, male-biased dispersal was found in the Western side of our study area, but in the Eastern side no apparent philopatric pattern was found, suggesting that in a more continuous habitat males might move longer distances than females. Conclusions: Overall, the assignment-based approaches were able to detect population substructure at fine geographical scales. Additionally, the maintenance of a significant genetic structure at regional (similar to 4 km) and small (less than 1 km) spatial scales despite apparently moderate to high levels of gene flow between local sampling sites could not be explained simply by the linear distance among them. On the whole, our results support the hypothesis that males disperse more frequently than females; however they do not provide support for strict philopatry within females.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Lopsided galaxies: the case of NGC 891
It has been known for a long time that a large fraction of disc galaxies are
lopsided. We simulate three different mechanisms that can induce lopsidedness:
flyby interactions, gas accretion from cosmological filaments and ram pressure
from the intergalactic medium. Comparing the morphologies, HI spectrum,
kinematics and m=1 Fourier components, we find that all of these mechanisms can
induce lopsidedness in galaxies, although in different degrees and with
observable consequences. The timescale over which lopsidedness persists
suggests that flybys can contribute to ~20 per cent of lopsided galaxies. We
focus our detailed comparison on the case of NGC 891, a lopsided, edge-on
galaxy with a nearby companion (UGC 1807). We find that the main properties of
NGC 891 (morphology, HI spectrum, rotation curve, existence of a gaseous
filament pointing towards UGC 1807) favour a flyby event for the origin of
lopsidedness in this galaxy.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, MNRAS, accepte
Probing the presence of a single or binary black hole in the globular cluster NGC 6752 with pulsar dynamics
The five millisecond pulsars that inhabit NGC 6752 display locations or
accelerations that are quite unusual compared to all other pulsars known in
globular clusters. In particular PSR-A, a binary pulsar, lives in the cluster
halo, while PSR-B and PSR-E, located in the core, show remarkably high negative
spin derivatives. This is suggestive that some uncommon dynamical process is at
play in the cluster core that we attribute to the presence of a massive
perturber. We here investigate whether a single intermediate-mass black hole,
lying on the extrapolation of the Mass versus Sigma relation observed in galaxy
spheroids, or a less massive binary consisting of two black holes could play
the requested role. To this purpose we simulated binary-binary encounters
involving PSR-A, its companion star, and the black hole(s). Various scenarios
are discussed in detail. In our close 4-body encounters, a black hole-black
hole binary may attract on a long-term stable orbit a millisecond pulsar.
Timing measurements on the captured satellite-pulsar, member of a hierarchical
triplet, could unambiguously unveil the presence of a black hole(s) in the core
of a globular cluster.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Lopsided galaxies: the case of NGC 891
It has been known for a long time that a large fraction of disc galaxies are lopsided. We simulate three different mechanisms that can induce lopsidedness: flyby interactions, gas accretion from cosmological filaments and ram pressure from the intergalactic medium. Comparing the morphologies, H i spectrum, kinematics and m= 1 Fourier components, we find that all of these mechanisms can induce lopsidedness in galaxies, although in different degrees and with observable consequences. The time-scale over which lopsidedness persists suggests that flybys can contribute to ∼20 per cent of lopsided galaxies. We focus our detailed comparison on the case of NGC 891, a lopsided, edge-on galaxy with a nearby companion (UGC 1807). We find that the main properties of NGC 891 (morphology, H i spectrum, rotation curve, existence of a gaseous filament pointing towards UGC 1807) favour a flyby event for the origin of lopsidedness in this galax
Evaporative CO2 cooling using microchannels etched in silicon for the future LHCb vertex detector
The extreme radiation dose received by vertex detectors at the Large Hadron
Collider dictates stringent requirements on their cooling systems. To be robust
against radiation damage, sensors should be maintained below -20 degree C and
at the same time, the considerable heat load generated in the readout chips and
the sensors must be removed. Evaporative CO2 cooling using microchannels etched
in a silicon plane in thermal contact with the readout chips is an attractive
option. In this paper, we present the first results of microchannel prototypes
with circulating, two-phase CO2 and compare them to simulations. We also
discuss a practical design of upgraded VELO detector for the LHCb experiment
employing this approach.Comment: 12 page
The ACS LCID project VII: the blue stragglers population in the isolated dSph galaxies Cetus and Tucana
We present the first investigation of the Blue Straggler star (BSS)
population in two isolated dwarf spheroidal galaxies of the Local Group, Cetus
and Tucana. Deep HST/ACS photometry allowed us to identify samples of 940 and
1214 candidates, respectively. The analysis of the star formation histories of
the two galaxies suggests that both host a population of BSSs. Specifically, if
the BSS candidates are interpreted as young main sequence stars, they do not
conform to their galaxy's age-metallicity relationship. The analysis of the
luminosity function and the radial distributions support this conclusion, and
suggest a non-collisional mechanism for the BSS formation, from the evolution
of primordial binaries. This scenario is also supported by the results of new
dynamical simulations presented here. Both galaxies coincide with the
relationship between the BSS frequency and the absolute visual magnitude Mv
found by Momany et al (2007). If this relationship is confirmed by larger
sample, then it could be a valuable tool to discriminate between the presence
of BSSs and galaxies hosting truly young populations.Comment: Accepted for publication on ApJ. 15 pages, 3 tables, 13 figures. A
version with high resolution figure can be downloaded from
http://rialto.ll.iac.es/proyecto/LCID/?p=publication
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