1,202 research outputs found
Estimate of blow-up and relaxation time for self-gravitating Brownian particles and bacterial populations
We determine an asymptotic expression of the blow-up time t_coll for
self-gravitating Brownian particles or bacterial populations (chemotaxis) close
to the critical point. We show that t_coll=t_{*}(eta-eta_c)^{-1/2} with
t_{*}=0.91767702..., where eta represents the inverse temperature (for Brownian
particles) or the mass (for bacterial colonies), and eta_c is the critical
value of eta above which the system blows up. This result is in perfect
agreement with the numerical solution of the Smoluchowski-Poisson system. We
also determine the asymptotic expression of the relaxation time close but above
the critical temperature and derive a large time asymptotic expansion for the
density profile exactly at the critical point
Unstable Disk Galaxies. I. Modal Properties
I utilize the Petrov-Galerkin formulation and develop a new method for
solving the unsteady collisionless Boltzmann equation in both the linear and
nonlinear regimes. In the first order approximation, the method reduces to a
linear eigenvalue problem which is solved using standard numerical methods. I
apply the method to the dynamics of a model stellar disk which is embedded in
the field of a soft-centered logarithmic potential. The outcome is the full
spectrum of eigenfrequencies and their conjugate normal modes for prescribed
azimuthal wavenumbers. The results show that the fundamental bar mode is
isolated in the frequency space while spiral modes belong to discrete families
that bifurcate from the continuous family of van Kampen modes. The population
of spiral modes in the bifurcating family increases by cooling the disk and
declines by increasing the fraction of dark to luminous matter. It is shown
that the variety of unstable modes is controlled by the shape of the dark
matter density profile.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
Clustering in gravitating N-body systems
We study gravitational clustering of mass points in three dimensions with
random initial positions and periodic boundary conditions (no expansion) by
numerical simulations. Correlation properties are well defined in the system
and a sort of thermodynamic limit can be defined for the transient regime of
cluste ring. Structure formation proceeds along two paths: (i) fluid-like
evolution of density perturbations at large scales and (ii) shift of the
granular (non fluid) properties from small to large scales. The latter
mechanism finally dominates at all scales and it is responsible for the
self-similar characteristics of the clustering.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Europhys. Let
A rigorous implementation of the Jeans--Landau--Teller approximation
Rigorous bounds on the rate of energy exchanges between vibrational and
translational degrees of freedom are established in simple classical models of
diatomic molecules. The results are in agreement with an elementary
approximation introduced by Landau and Teller. The method is perturbative
theory ``beyond all orders'', with diagrammatic techniques (tree expansions) to
organize and manipulate terms, and look for compensations, like in recent
studies on KAM theorem homoclinic splitting.Comment: 23 pages, postscrip
Morphology of Galactic Open Clusters
We analyzed the shapes of Galactic open clusters by the star counting
technique with the 2MASS star catalog database. Morphological parameters such
as the ellipticity and size have been derived via stellar density distribution,
weighed by clustering probability. We find that most star clusters are
elongated, even for the youngest star clusters of a few million years old,
which are located near to the Galactic disk. The shapes of young star clusters
must reflect the conditions in the parental molecular clouds and during the
cluster formation process. As an open cluster ages, stellar dynamics cause the
inner part of the cluster to circularize, but the overall radius gets larger
and the stellar density becomes sparser. We discuss how internal relaxation
process competes with Galactic external perturbation during cluster evolution.Comment: 13 pages; 10 pages; accepted Astronomical Journa
The Formation of the First Stars. I. The Primordial Star Forming Cloud
To constrain the nature of the very first stars, we investigate the collapse
and fragmentation of primordial, metal-free gas clouds. We explore the physics
of primordial star formation by means of three-dimensional simulations of the
dark matter and gas components, using smoothed particle hydrodynamics, under a
wide range of initial conditions, including the initial spin, the total mass of
the halo, the redshift of virialization, the power spectrum of the DM
fluctuations, the presence of HD cooling, and the number of particles employed
in the simulation. We find characteristic values for the temperature, T ~ a few
100 K, and the density, n ~ 10^3-10^4 cm^-3, characterising the gas at the end
of the initial free-fall phase. These values are rather insensitive to the
initial conditions. The corresponding Jeans mass is M_J ~ 10^3 M_sun. The
existence of these characteristic values has a robust explanation in the
microphysics of H2 cooling, connected to the minimum temperature that can be
reached with the H2 coolant, and to the critical density at which the
transition takes place betweeb levels being populated according to NLTE, and
according to LTE.
In all cases, the gas dissipatively settles into an irregular, central
configuration which has a filamentary and knotty appearance. The fluid regions
with the highest densities are the first to undergo runaway collapse due to
gravitational instability, and to form clumps with initial masses ~ 10^3 M_sun,
close to the characteristic Jeans scale. These results suggest that the first
stars might have been quite massive, possibly even very massive with M_star >
100 M_sun.Comment: Minor revisions. 26 pages, including 24 figures and 5 tables. ApJ, in
press. To appear in the Dec. 20, 2001 issue (v563
Singular Isothermal Disks: II. Nonaxisymmetric Bifurcations and Equilibria
We review the difficulties of the classical fission and fragmentation
hypotheses for the formation of binary and multiple stars. A crucial missing
ingredient in previous theoretical studies is the inclusion of dynamically
important levels of magnetic fields. As a minimal model for a candidate
presursor to the formation of binary and multiple stars, we therefore formulate
and solve the problem of the equilibria of isopedically magnetized, singular
isothermal disks, without the assumption of axial symmetry. Considerable
analytical progress can be made if we restrict our attention to models that are
scale-free, i.e., that have surface densities that vary inversely with distance
from the rotation axis of the system. In agreement with earlier analysis by
Syer and Tremaine, we find that lopsided (M=1) configurations exist at any
dimensionless rotation rate, including zero. Multiple-lobed (M = 2, 3, 4, ...)
configurations bifurcate from an underlying axisymmetric sequence at
progressively higher dimensionless rates of rotation, but such nonaxisymmetric
sequences always terminate in shockwaves before they have a chance to fission
into M=2, 3, 4, ... separate bodies. On the basis of our experience in this
paper, and the preceding Paper I, we advance the hypothesis that binary and
multiple star-formation from smooth (i.e., not highly turbulent) starting
states that are supercritical but in unstable mechanical balance requires the
rapid (i.e., dynamical) loss of magnetic flux at some stage of the ensuing
gravitational collapse.Comment: 49 pages, 11 figures, LaTeX, needs aaspp4.sty. The Astrophysical
Journal, in pres
Measurement of the W-pair Production Cross-section and W Branching Ratios at =205 and 207 GeV
The cross-section for the process e+e-->W+W- was measured with the data sample collected by DELPHI at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV and corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of about 209 pb^-1. The branching ratios of the W decay were also measured; from them the value of |Vcs| was extracted. The results are compared with the most recent calculations in the frame of the Standard Model
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