HCN versus HCO+ as dense molecular gas mass tracer in Luminous Infrared Galaxies

It has been recently argued that the HCN J=1--0 line emission may not be an unbiased tracer of dense molecular gas (\rm n\ga 10^4 cm^{-3}) in Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs: $\rm L_{FIR}> 10^{11} L_{\odot}$) and HCO$^+$ J=1--0 may constitute a better tracer instead (Graci\'a-Carpio et al. 2006), casting doubt into earlier claims supporting the former as a good tracer of such gas (Gao & Solomon 2004; Wu et al. 2006). In this paper new sensitive HCN J=4--3 observations of four such galaxies are presented, revealing a surprisingly wide excitation range for their dense gas phase that may render the J=1--0 transition from either species a poor proxy of its mass. Moreover the well-known sensitivity of the HCO$^+$ abundance on the ionization degree of the molecular gas (an important issue omitted from the ongoing discussion about the relative merits of HCN and HCO$^+$ as dense gas tracers) may severely reduce the HCO$^+$ abundance in the star-forming and highly turbulent molecular gas found in LIRGs, while HCN remains abundant. This may result to the decreasing HCO$^+$/HCN J=1--0 line ratio with increasing IR luminosity found in LIRGs, and casts doubts on the HCO$^+$ rather than the HCN as a good dense molecular gas tracer. Multi-transition observations of both molecules are needed to identify the best such tracer, its relation to ongoing star formation, and constrain what may be a considerable range of dense gas properties in such galaxies.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Inverse Square Law of Gravitation in (2+1)-Dimensional Space-Time as a Consequence of Casimir Energy

The gravitational effect of vacuum polarization in space exterior to a particle in (2+1)-dimensional Einstein theory is investigated. In the weak field limit this gravitational field corresponds to an inverse square law of gravitational attraction, even though the gravitational mass of the quantum vacuum is negative. The paradox is resolved by considering a particle of finite extension and taking into account the vacuum polarization in its interior.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, Report: UPR-0540-T, To appear in Physica Script

Kinetic theory for nongeodesic particle motion: Selfinteracting equilibrium states and effective viscous fluid pressures

The particles of a classical relativistic gas are supposed to move under the influence of a quasilinear (in the particle four-momenta), self-interacting force inbetween elastic, binary collisions. This force which is completely fixed by the equilibrium conditions of the gas, gives rise to an effective viscous pressure on the fluid phenomenological level. Earlier results concerning the possibility of accelerated expansion of the universe due to cosmological particle production are reinterpreted. A phenomenon such as power law inflation may be traced back to specific self-interacting forces keeping the particles of a gas universe in states of generalized equilibrium.Comment: 16 pages, latex, uses ioplppt.sty. To appear in Class. Quantum Gra

Cosmic balloons

Cosmic balloons, consisting of relativistic particles trapped inside a spherical domain wall, may be created in the early universe. We calculate the balloon mass $M$ as a function of the radius $R$ and the energy density profile, $\rho (r)$, including the effects of gravity. At the maximum balloon mass $2GM/R\approx 0.52$ for any value of the mass density of the wall.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures in separate file, UPTP-93-1

Reply to "On scaling solutions with a dissipative fluid"

In this paper we show that the claims in [Class. Quantum Grav. 19 (2002) 3067, gr-qc/0203081] related to our analysis in [Phys. Rev. D 62, 063508 (2000), astro-ph/0005070] are wrong.Comment: 4 pages, uses RevTeX. v2: To appear in Class. Quantum Gra

Dynamics of a self-gravitating thin cosmic string

We assume that a self-gravitating thin string can be locally described by what we shall call a smoothed cone. If we impose a specific constraint on the model of the string, then its central line obeys the Nambu-Goto equations. If no constraint is added, then the worldsheet of the central line is a totally geodesic surface.Comment: 20 pages, latex, 1 figure, final versio

CO Emission in Low Luminosity, HI Rich Galaxies

We present 12CO 1-0 observations of eleven low luminosity M_B > -18), HI--rich dwarf galaxies. Only the three most metal-rich galaxies, with 12+log(O/H) ~ 8.2, are detected. Very deep CO spectra of six extremely metal-poor systems (12+log(O/H) < 7.5) yield only low upper limits on the CO surface brightness, I_CO < 0.1 K km/s. Three of these six have never before been observed in a CO line, while the others now have much more stringent upper limits. For the very low metallicity galaxy Leo A, we do not confirm a previously reported detection in CO, and the limits are consistent with another recent nondetection. We combine these new observations with data from the literature to form a sample of dwarf galaxies which all have CO observations and measured oxygen abundances. No known galaxies with 12+log(O/H) < 7.9 (Z < 0.1 solar) have been detected in CO. Most of the star-forming galaxies with higher (12+log(O/H) > 8.1) metallicities are detected at similar or higher I_CO surface brightnesses. The data are consistent with a strong dependence of the I_CO/M_H_2 = X_CO conversion factor on ambient metallicity. The strikingly low upper limits on some metal-poor galaxies lead us to predict that the conversion factor is non-linear, increasing sharply below approximately 1/10 of the solar metallicity (12+log(O/H) < 7.9).Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in AJ Tables replaced -- now formated for landscape orientatio

High Excitation Molecular Gas in the Magellanic Clouds

We present the first survey of submillimeter CO 4-3 emission in the Magellanic Clouds. The survey is comprised of 15 6'x6' maps obtained using the AST/RO telescope toward the molecular peaks of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. We have used these data to constrain the physical conditions in these objects, in particular their molecular gas density and temperature. We find that there are significant amounts of molecular gas associated with most of these molecular peaks, and that high molecular gas temperatures are pervasive throughout our sample. We discuss whether this may be due to the low metallicities and the associated dearth of gas coolants in the Clouds, and conclude that the present sample is insufficient to assert this effect.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables. To appear in Ap

On the dual interpretation of zero-curvature Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models

Two possible interpretations of FRW cosmologies (perfect fluid or dissipative fluid)are considered as consecutive phases of the system. Necessary conditions are found, for the transition from perfect fluid to dissipative regime to occur, bringing out the conspicuous role played by a particular state of the system (the ''critical point '').Comment: 13 pages Latex, to appear in Class.Quantum Gra

The Star Formation History of NGC 6822

Images of five fields in the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822 obtained with the {\it Hubble Space Telescope} in the F555W and F814W filters are presented. Photometry for the stars in these images was extracted using the Point-Spread-Function fitting program HSTPHOT/MULTIPHOT. The resulting color-magnitude diagrams reach down to $V\approx26$, a level well below the red clump, and were used to solve quantitatively for the star formation history of NGC 6822. Assuming that stars began forming in this galaxy from low-metallicity gas and that there is little variation in the metallicity at each age, the distribution of stars along the red giant branch is best fit with star formation beginning in NGC 6822 12-15 Gyr ago. The best-fitting star formation histories for the old and intermediate age stars are similar among the five fields and show a constant or somewhat increasing star formation rate from 15 Gyr ago to the present except for a possible dip in the star formation rate from 3 to 5 Gyr ago. The main differences among the five fields are in the higher overall star formation rate per area in the bar fields as well as in the ratio of the recent star formation rate to the average past rate. These variations in the recent star formation rate imply that stars formed within the past 0.6 Gyr are not spatially very well mixed throughout the galaxy.Comment: 47 pages, 28 Figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa