20,298 research outputs found
The X-ray Evolution of Merging Galaxies
We present here the first study of the X-ray properties of an evolutionary
sample of merging galaxies. Both ROSAT PSPC and HRI data are presented for a
sample of eight interacting galaxy systems, each believed to involve a similar
encounter between two spiral discs of approximately equal size. The mergers
span a large range in age, from completely detached to fully merged systems. A
great deal of interesting X-ray structure is seen, and the X-ray properties of
each individual system are discussed in detail. Along the merging sequence,
several trends are evident: in the case of several of the infrared bright
systems, the diffuse emission is very extended, and appears to arise from
material ejected from the galaxies. The onset of this process seems to occur
very soon after the galaxies first encounter one another, and these ejections
soon evolve into distorted flows. More massive extensions (perhaps involving up
to 1e10 solar masses of hot gas) are seen at the `ultraluminous' peak of the
interaction, as the galactic nuclei coalesce. The amplitude of the evolution of
the X-ray emission through a merger is markedly different from that of the
infrared and radio emission however, and this, we believe, may well be linked
with the large extensions of hot gas observed. The late, relaxed remnants,
appear relatively devoid of gas, and possess an X-ray halo very different from
that of typical ellipticals, a problem for the `merger hypothesis', whereby the
merger of two disc galaxies results in an elliptical galaxy. However, these
systems are still relatively young in terms of total merger lifetime, and they
may still have a few Gyr of evolution to go through, before they resemble
typical elliptical galaxies.Comment: 30 pages, 15 figures, accepted by MNRA
The X-ray Evolution of Merging Galaxies
From a Chandra survey of nine interacting galaxy systems the evolution of
X-ray emission during the merger process has been investigated. From comparing
Lx/Lk and Lfir/Lb it is found that the X-ray luminosity peaks around 300 Myr
before nuclear coalescence, even though we know that rapid and increasing star
formation is still taking place at this time. It is likely that this drop in
X-ray luminosity is a consequence of outflows breaking out of the galactic
discs of these systems. At a time around 1 Gyr after coalescence, the
merger-remnants in our sample are X-ray dim when compared to typical X-ray
luminosities of mature elliptical galaxies. However, we do see evidence that
these systems will start to resemble typical elliptical galaxies at a greater
dynamical age, given the properties of the 3 Gyr system within our sample,
indicating that halo regeneration will take place within low Lx
merger-remnants.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the Proceedings of the IAU Symposium
No. 23
Development of a nickel cadmium storage cell immune to damage from overdischarge and overcharge
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Dark matter cores all the way down
We use high resolution simulations of isolated dwarf galaxies to study the
physics of dark matter cusp-core transformations at the edge of galaxy
formation: M200 = 10^7 - 10^9 Msun. We work at a resolution (~4 pc minimum cell
size; ~250 Msun per particle) at which the impact from individual supernovae
explosions can be resolved, becoming insensitive to even large changes in our
numerical 'sub-grid' parameters. We find that our dwarf galaxies give a
remarkable match to the stellar light profile; star formation history;
metallicity distribution function; and star/gas kinematics of isolated dwarf
irregular galaxies. Our key result is that dark matter cores of size comparable
to the stellar half mass radius (r_1/2) always form if star formation proceeds
for long enough. Cores fully form in less than 4 Gyrs for the M200 = 10^8 Msun
and 14 Gyrs for the 10^9 Msun dwarf. We provide a convenient two parameter
'coreNFW' fitting function that captures this dark matter core growth as a
function of star formation time and the projected stellar half mass radius.
Our results have several implications: (i) we make a strong prediction that
if LCDM is correct, then 'pristine' dark matter cusps will be found either in
systems that have truncated star formation and/or at radii r > r_1/2; (ii)
complete core formation lowers the projected velocity dispersion at r_1/2 by a
factor ~2, which is sufficient to fully explain the 'too big to fail problem';
and (iii) cored dwarfs will be much more susceptible to tides, leading to a
dramatic scouring of the subhalo mass function inside galaxies and groups.Comment: 20 pages; 9 figures; final version to appear in MNRAS including typos
corrected in proo
The case for a cold dark matter cusp in Draco
We use a new mass modelling method, GravSphere, to measure the central dark
matter density profile of the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Draco's star
formation shut down long ago, making it a prime candidate for hosting a
'pristine' dark matter cusp, unaffected by stellar feedback during galaxy
formation. We first test GravSphere on a suite of tidally stripped mock
'Draco'-like dwarfs. We show that we are able to correctly infer the dark
matter density profile of both cusped and cored mocks within our 95% confidence
intervals. While we obtain only a weak inference on the logarithmic slope of
these density profiles, we are able to obtain a robust inference of the
amplitude of the inner dark matter density at 150pc, . We show that, combined with constraints on the density profile at larger
radii, this is sufficient to distinguish a Cold Dark Matter
(CDM) cusp that has from alternative dark matter models
that have lower inner densities. We then apply GravSphere to the real Draco
data. We find that Draco has an inner dark matter density of , consistent with a CDM cusp. Using a velocity independent
SIDM model, calibrated on SIDM cosmological simulations, we show that
Draco's high central density gives an upper bound on the SIDM cross section of
at 99% confidence. We conclude that
the inner density of nearby dwarf galaxies like Draco provides a new and
competitive probe of dark matter models.Comment: 19 pages, 11 Figures. Final version accepted for publication in MNRA
Dark matter heats up in dwarf galaxies
Gravitational potential fluctuations driven by bursty star formation can
kinematically 'heat up' dark matter at the centres of dwarf galaxies. A key
prediction of such models is that, at a fixed dark matter halo mass, dwarfs
with a higher stellar mass will have a lower central dark matter density. We
use stellar kinematics and HI gas rotation curves to infer the inner dark
matter densities of eight dwarf spheroidal and eight dwarf irregular galaxies
with a wide range of star formation histories. For all galaxies, we estimate
the dark matter density at a common radius of 150pc, . We find that our sample of dwarfs falls into two
distinct classes. Those that stopped forming stars over 6Gyrs ago favour
central densities , consistent with cold dark matter cusps, while those with more
extended star formation favour , consistent with shallower dark matter cores. Using
abundance matching to infer pre-infall halo masses, , we show that
this dichotomy is in excellent agreement with models in which dark matter is
heated up by bursty star formation. In particular, we find that steadily decreases with increasing stellar mass-to-halo
mass ratio, . Our results suggest that, to leading order, dark
matter is a cold, collisionless, fluid that can be kinematically 'heated up'
and moved around.Comment: 22 pages, 10 Figures. Final version accepted for publication in MNRA
Photoionization of Galactic Halo Gas by Old Supernova Remnants
We present new calculations on the contribution from cooling hot gas to the
photoionization of warm ionized gas in the Galaxy. We show that hot gas in
cooling supernova remnants (SNRs) is an important source of photoionization,
particularly for gas in the halo. We find that in many regions at high latitude
this source is adequate to account for the observed ionization so there is no
need to find ways to transport stellar photons from the disk. The flux from
cooling SNRs sets a floor on the ionization along any line of sight. Our model
flux is also shown to be consistent with the diffuse soft X-ray background and
with soft X-ray observations of external galaxies.
We consider the ionization of the clouds observed towards the halo star HD
93521, for which there are no O stars close to the line of sight. We show that
the observed ionization can be explained successfully by our model EUV/soft
X-ray flux from cooling hot gas. In particular, we can match the H alpha
intensity, the S++/S+ ratio, and the C+* column. From observations of the
ratios of columns of C+* and either S+ or H0, we are able to estimate the
thermal pressure in the clouds. The slow clouds require high (~10^4 cm^-3 K)
thermal pressures to match the N(C+*)/N(S+) ratio. Additional heating sources
are required for the slow clouds to maintain their ~7000 K temperatures at
these pressures, as found by Reynolds, Hausen & Tufte (1999).Comment: AASTeX 5.01; 34 pages, 2 figures; submitted to Astrophysical Journa
On the formation of dwarf galaxies and stellar halos
Using analytic arguments and a suite of very high resolution (10^3 Msun per
particle) cosmological hydro-dynamical simulations, we argue that high
redshift, z ~ 10, M ~ 10^8 Msun halos, form the smallest `baryonic building
block' (BBB) for galaxy formation. These halos are just massive enough to
efficiently form stars through atomic line cooling and to hold onto their gas
in the presence of supernovae winds and reionisation. These combined effects,
in particular that of the supernovae feedback, create a sharp transition: over
the mass range 3-10x10^7 Msun, the BBBs drop two orders ofmagnitude in stellar
mass. Below ~2x10^7 Msun, galaxies will be dark with almost no stars and no
gas. Above this scale is the smallest unit of galaxy formation: the BBB.
A small fraction (~100) of these gas rich BBBs fall in to a galaxy the size
of the Milky Way. Ten percent of these survive to become the observed LG dwarf
galaxies at the present epoch. Those in-falling halos on benign orbits which
keep them far away from the Milky Way or Andromeda manage to retain their gas
and slowly form stars - these become the smallest dwarf irregular galax ies;
those on more severe orbits lose their gas faster than they can form stars and
become the dwarf spheroidals. The remaining 90% of the BBBs will be accreted.
We show that this gives a metallicity and total stellar mass consistent with
the Milky Way old stellar halo (abridged).Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, one figure added to match accepted version. Some
typos fixed. MNRAS in pres
The X-ray properties of the merging galaxy pair NGC 4038/9 - the Antennae
We report the results of an X-ray spectral imaging observation of the
Antennae with the ROSAT PSPC. 55% of the soft X-ray flux from the system is
resolved into discrete sources, including components identified with the
galactic nuclei and large HII regions, whilst the remainder appears to be
predominantly genuinely diffuse emission from gas at a temperature ~4x10^6 K.
The morphology of the emission is unusual, combining a halo which envelopes the
galactic discs, with what appears to be a distorted, but well-collimated
bipolar outflow. We derive physical parameters for the hot gas in both diffuse
components, which are of some interest, given that the Antennae probably
represents an elliptical galaxy in the making.Comment: 15 pages plus 9 figures, uuencoded encapsulated postscript file.
Accepted for publication in MNRA
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