88 research outputs found
Interaction of Supernova Ejecta with Nearby Protoplanetary Disks
The early Solar System contained short-lived radionuclides such as 60Fe (t1/2
= 1.5 Myr) whose most likely source was a nearby supernova. Previous models of
Solar System formation considered a supernova shock that triggered the collapse
of the Sun's nascent molecular cloud. We advocate an alternative hypothesis,
that the Solar System's protoplanetary disk had already formed when a very
close (< 1 pc) supernova injected radioactive material directly into the disk.
We conduct the first numerical simulations designed to answer two questions
related to this hypothesis: will the disk be destroyed by such a close
supernova; and will any of the ejecta be mixed into the disk? Our simulations
demonstrate that the disk does not absorb enough momentum from the shock to
escape the protostar to which it is bound. Only low amounts (< 1%) of mass loss
occur, due to stripping by Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities across the top of the
disk, which also mix into the disk about 1% of the intercepted ejecta. These
low efficiencies of destruction and injectation are due to the fact that the
high disk pressures prevent the ejecta from penetrating far into the disk
before stalling. Injection of gas-phase ejecta is too inefficient to be
consistent with the abundances of radionuclides inferred from meteorites. On
the other hand, the radionuclides found in meteorites would have condensed into
dust grains in the supernova ejecta, and we argue that such grains will be
injected directly into the disk with nearly 100% efficiency. The meteoritic
abundances of the short-lived radionuclides such as 60Fe therefore are
consistent with injection of grains condensed from the ejecta of a nearby (< 1
pc) supernova, into an already-formed protoplanetary disk.Comment: 57 pages, 16 figure
Singular Laplacian Growth
The general equations of motion for two dimensional Laplacian growth are
derived using the conformal mapping method. In the singular case, all
singularities of the conformal map are on the unit circle, and the map is a
degenerate Schwarz-Christoffel map. The equations of motion describe the
motions of these singularities. Despite the typical fractal-like outcomes of
Laplacian growth processes, the equations of motion are shown to be not
particularly sensitive to initial conditions. It is argued that the sensitivity
of this system derives from a novel cause, the non-uniqueness of solutions to
the differential system. By a mechanism of singularity creation, every solution
can become more complex, even in the absence of noise, without violating the
growth law. These processes are permitted, but are not required, meaning the
equation of motion does not determine the motion, even in the small.Comment: 8 pages, Latex, 4 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Model Simulations of a Shock-Cloud Interaction in the Cygnus Loop
We present optical observations and 2D hydrodynamic modeling of an isolated
shocked ISM cloud. H images taken in 1992.6 and 2003.7 of a small
optical emission cloud along the southwestern limb of the Cygnus Loop were used
to measure positional displacements of 0 \farcs 1 yr for
surrounding Balmer dominated emission filaments and 0\farcs025 - \farcs055
yr for internal cloud emission features. These measurements imply
transverse velocities of 250 km s and 80 -- 140 km
s for ambient ISM and internal cloud shocks respectively. The complex
shock structure visible within the cloud indicates that the cloud's internal
density distribution is two phased: a smoothly varying background density which
is populated by higher density clumps. We present model results for a shock
interacting with a non-uniform ISM cloud. We find that this cloud can be well
modeled by a smoothly varying power law core surrounded by a low density
envelope with a Lorentzian profile. The lack of sharp density gradients in such
a model inhibits the growth of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, consistent with
the cloud's appearance. Our model results also suggest that cloud clumps have
densities 10 times the ambient ISM density and account for 30% of
the total cloud volume. Moreover, the observed spacing of internal cloud shocks
and model simulations indicate that the distance between clumps is 4
clump radii.Comment: To be published in Ap
Chandra View of the Dynamically Young Cluster of Galaxies A1367 I. Small-Scale Structures
The 40 ks \emph{Chandra} ACIS-S observation of A1367 provides new insights
into small-scale structures and point sources in this dynamically young
cluster. Here we concentrate on small-scale extended structures. A ridge-like
structure around the center (``the ridge'') is significant in the \chandra\
image. The ridge, with a projected length of 8 arcmin (or 300
h kpc), is elongated from northwest (NW) to southeast (SE), as is
the X-ray surface brightness distribution on much larger scales ( 2
h Mpc). The ridge is cooler than its western and southern
surroundings while the differences from its eastern and northern surroundings
are small. We also searched for small-scale structures with sizes
arcmin. Nine extended features, with sizes from 0.5 to 1.5, were
detected at significance levels above 4 . Five of the nine features are
located in the ridge and form local crests. The nine extended features can be
divided into two types. Those associated with galaxies (NGC 3860B, NGC 3860 and
UGC 6697) are significantly cooler than their surroundings (0.3 - 0.9 keV vs. 3
- 4.5 keV). The masses of their host galaxies are sufficient to bind the
extended gas. These extended features are probably related to thermal halos or
galactic superwinds of their host galaxies. The existence of these relatively
cold halos imply that galaxy coronae can survive in cluster environment (e.g.,
Vikhlinin et al. 2001). Features of the second type are not apparently
associated with galaxies. Their temperatures may not be significantly different
from those of their surroundings. This class of extended features may be
related to the ridge. We consider several possibilities for the ridge and the
second type of extended features. The merging scenario is preferred.Comment: To appear in ApJ, Vol 576, 2002, Sep., a high-resolution version is
in http://cfa160.harvard.edu/~sunm/a1367_a.ps.g
The Crustal Rigidity of a Neutron Star, and Implications for PSR 1828-11 and other Precession Candidates
We calculate the crustal rigidity parameter, b, of a neutron star (NS), and
show that b is a factor 40 smaller than the standard estimate due to Baym &
Pines (1971). For a NS with a relaxed crust, the NS's free-precession frequency
is directly proportional to b. We apply our result for b to PSR 1828-11, a 2.5
Hz pulsar that appears to be precessing with period 511 d. Assuming this 511-d
period is set by crustal rigidity, we show that this NS's crust is not relaxed,
and that its reference spin (roughly, the spin for which the crust is most
relaxed) is 40 Hz, and that the average spindown strain in the crust is 5
\times 10^{-5}. We also briefly describe the implications of our b calculation
for other well-known precession candidates.Comment: 44 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Ap
Tails of the Unexpected: The Interaction of an Isothermal Shell with a Cloud
A new mechanism for the formation of cometary tails behind dense clouds or
globules is discussed. Numerical hydrodynamical models show that when a dense
shell of swept-up matter overruns a cloud, material in the shell is focussed
behind the cloud to form a tail. This mode of tail formation is completely
distinct from other methods, which involve either the removal of material from
the cloud, or shadowing from a strong, nearby source of ionization. This
mechanism is relevant to the cometary tails seen in planetary nebulae and to
the interaction of superbubble shells with dense clouds.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS letter
New Algorithm for Parallel Laplacian Growth by Iterated Conformal Maps
We report a new algorithm to generate Laplacian Growth Patterns using
iterated conformal maps. The difficulty of growing a complete layer with local
width proportional to the gradient of the Laplacian field is overcome. The
resulting growth patterns are compared to those obtained by the best algorithms
of direct numerical solutions. The fractal dimension of the patterns is
discussed.Comment: Sumitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. Further details at
http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~ander
Diffusion-limited aggregation as branched growth
I present a first-principles theory of diffusion-limited aggregation in two
dimensions. A renormalized mean-field approximation gives the form of the
unstable manifold for branch competition, following the method of Halsey and
Leibig [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 46}, 7793 (1992)]. This leads to a result for the
cluster dimensionality, D \approx 1.66, which is close to numerically obtained
values. In addition, the multifractal exponent \tau(3) = D in this theory, in
agreement with a proposed `electrostatic' scaling law.Comment: 13 pages, one figure not included (available by request, by ordinary
mail), Plain Te
Iterated Conformal Dynamics and Laplacian Growth
The method of iterated conformal maps for the study of Diffusion Limited
Aggregates (DLA) is generalized to the study of Laplacian Growth Patterns and
related processes. We emphasize the fundamental difference between these
processes: DLA is grown serially with constant size particles, while Laplacian
patterns are grown by advancing each boundary point in parallel, proportionally
to the gradient of the Laplacian field. We introduce a 2-parameter family of
growth patterns that interpolates between DLA and a discrete version of
Laplacian growth. The ultraviolet putative finite-time singularities are
regularized here by a minimal tip size, equivalently for all the models in this
family. With this we stress that the difference between DLA and Laplacian
growth is NOT in the manner of ultraviolet regularization, but rather in their
deeply different growth rules. The fractal dimensions of the asymptotic
patterns depend continuously on the two parameters of the family, giving rise
to a "phase diagram" in which DLA and discretized Laplacian growth are at the
extreme ends. In particular we show that the fractal dimension of Laplacian
growth patterns is much higher than the fractal dimension of DLA, with the
possibility of dimension 2 for the former not excluded.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
A mean-field kinetic lattice gas model of electrochemical cells
We develop Electrochemical Mean-Field Kinetic Equations (EMFKE) to simulate
electrochemical cells. We start from a microscopic lattice-gas model with
charged particles, and build mean-field kinetic equations following the lines
of earlier work for neutral particles. We include the Poisson equation to
account for the influence of the electric field on ion migration, and
oxido-reduction processes on the electrode surfaces to allow for growth and
dissolution. We confirm the viability of our approach by simulating (i) the
electrochemical equilibrium at flat electrodes, which displays the correct
charged double-layer, (ii) the growth kinetics of one-dimensional
electrochemical cells during growth and dissolution, and (iii) electrochemical
dendrites in two dimensions.Comment: 14 pages twocolumn, 17 figure
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