317 research outputs found
Alfv\'en wave-driven wind from RGB and AGB stars
We develop a magnetohydrodynamical model of Alfv\'en wave-driven wind in open
magnetic flux tubes piercing the stellar surface of Red Giant Branch (RGB) and
Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars, and investigate the physical properties of
the winds. The model simulations are carried out along the evolutionary tracks
of stars with initial mass in the range of 1.5 to 3.0 and initial
metallicity =0.02. The surface magnetic field strength being set
to be 1G, we find that the wind during the evolution of star can be classified
into the following four types; the first is the wind with the velocity higher
than 80 km s in the RGB and early AGB (E-AGB) phases; the second is the
wind with outflow velocity less than 10 km s seen around the tip of RGB
or in the E-AGB phase; the third is the unstable wind in the E-AGB and
thermally pulsing AGB (TP-AGB) phases; the fourth is the stable massive and
slow wind with the mass-loss rate higher than 10 yr and
the outflow velocity lower than 20 km s in the TP-AGB phase. The
mass-loss rates in the first and second types of wind are two or three orders
of magnitude lower than the values evaluated by an empirical formula. The
presence of massive and slow wind of the fourth type suggests the possibility
that the massive outflow observed in TP-AGB stars could be attributed to the
Alfv\'en wave-driven wind.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
A model for the infrared dust emission from forming galaxies
In the early epoch of galaxy evolution, dust is only supplied by supernovae
(SNe). With the aid of a new physical model of dust production by SNe developed
by Nozawa et al. (2003) (N03), we constructed a model of dust emission from
forming galaxies on the basis of the theoretical framework of Takeuchi et al.
(2003) (T03). N03 showed that the produced dust species depends strongly on the
mixing within SNe. We treated both unmixed and mixed cases and calculated the
infrared (IR) spectral energy distribution (SED) of forming galaxies for both
cases. Our model SED is less luminous than the SED of T03 model by a factor of
2-3. The difference is due to our improved treatment of UV photon absorption
cross section, as well as different grain size and species newly adopted in
this work. The SED for the unmixed case is found to have an enhanced near to
mid-IR (N-MIR) continuum radiation in its early phase of the evolution (age <
10^{7.25} yr) compared with that for the mixed case. The strong N--MIR
continuum is due to the emission from Si grains, which only exist in the
species of the unmixed dust production. We also calculated the IR extinction
curves for forming galaxies. Then we calculated the SED of a local starbursting
dwarf galaxy SBS 0335-052. Our present model SED naturally reproduced the
strong N--MIR continuum and the lack of cold FIR emission of SBS 0335-052. We
found that only the SED of unmixed case can reproduce the NIR continuum of this
galaxy. We then made a prediction for the SED of another typical star-forming
dwarf, I Zw 18. We also presented the evolution of the SED of LBGs. Finally, we
discussed the possibility of observing forming galaxies at z > 5.Comment: MNRAS, in press. 18 pages, 15 figures. Abstract abridge
Modeling Porous Dust Grains with Ballistic Aggregates. II. Light Scattering Properties
We study the light scattering properties of random ballistic aggregates
constructed in Shen et al. (Paper I). Using the discrete-dipole-approximation,
we compute the scattering phase function and linear polarization for random
aggregates with various sizes and porosities, and with two different
compositions: 100% silicate and 50% silicate-50% graphite. We investigate the
dependence of light scattering properties on wavelength, cluster size and
porosity using these aggregate models. We find that while the shape of the
phase function depends mainly on the size parameter of the aggregates, the
linear polarization depends on both the size parameter and the porosity of the
aggregates, with increasing degree of polarization as the porosity increases.
Contrary to previous studies, we argue that monomer size has negligible effects
on the light scattering properties of ballistic aggregates, as long as the
constituent monomer is smaller than the incident wavelength up to
2*pi*a_0/lambda\sim 1.6 where a_0 is the monomer radius. Previous claims for
such monomer size effects are in fact the combined effects of size parameter
and porosity. Finally, we present aggregate models that can reproduce the phase
function and polarization of scattered light from the AU Mic debris disk and
from cometary dust, including the negative polarization observed for comets at
scattering angles 160<theta<180 deg. These aggregates have moderate porosities,
P\sim 0.6, and are of sub-micron-size for the debris disk case, or micron-size
for the comet case.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. Scattering properties can be downloaded at
http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~draine/SDJ2009.html Target geometries are at
http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~draine/agglom.htm
Freshly Formed Dust in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant as Revealed by the Spitzer Space Telescope
We performed Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph mapping observations covering
nearly the entire extent of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant (SNR), producing
mid-infrared (5.5-35 micron) spectra every 5-10". Gas lines of Ar, Ne, O, Si, S
and Fe, and dust continua were strong for most positions. We identify three
distinct ejecta dust populations based on their continuum shapes. The dominant
dust continuum shape exhibits a strong peak at 21 micron. A line-free map of 21
micron-peak dust made from the 19-23 micron range closely resembles the [Ar
II], [O IV], and [Ne II] ejecta-line maps implying that dust is freshly formed
in the ejecta. Spectral fitting implies the presence of SiO2, Mg
protosilicates, and FeO grains in these regions. The second dust type exhibits
a rising continuum up to 21 micron and then flattens thereafter. This ``weak 21
micron'' dust is likely composed of Al2O3 and C grains. The third dust
continuum shape is featureless with a gently rising spectrum and is likely
composed of MgSiO3 and either Al2O3 or Fe grains. Using the least massive
composition for each of the three dust classes yields a total mass of 0.02
Msun. Using the most-massive composition yields a total mass of 0.054 Msun. The
primary uncertainty in the total dust mass stems from the selection of the dust
composition necessary for fitting the featureless dust as well as 70 micron
flux. The freshly formed dust mass derived from Cas A is sufficient from SNe to
explain the lower limit on the dust masses in high redshift galaxies.Comment: 8 figures: Accepted for the publication in Ap
Extinction curves flattened by reverse shocks in supernovae
We investigate the extinction curves of young galaxies in which dust is
supplied from Type II supernovae (SNe II) and/or pair instability supernovae
(PISNe). Since at high redshift (z>5), low-mass stars cannot be dominant
sources for dust grains, SNe II and PISNe, whose progenitors are massive stars
with short lifetimes, should govern the dust production. Here, we theoretically
investigate the extinction curves of dust produced by SNe II and PISNe, taking
into account reverse shock destruction induced by collision with ambient
interstellar medium. We find that the extinction curve is sensitive to the
ambient gas density around a SN, since the efficiency of reverse shock
destruction strongly depends on it. The destruction is particularly efficient
for small-sized grains, leading to a flat extinction curve in the optical and
ultraviolet wavelengths. Such a large ambient density as n_H > 1 cm^{-3}
produces too flat an extinction curve to be consistent with the observed
extinction curve for SDSS J104845.05+463718.3 at z=6.2. Although the extinction
curve is highly sensitive to the ambient density, the hypothesis that the dust
is predominantly formed by SNe at z~6 is still allowed by the current
observational constraints. For further quantification, the ambient density
should be obtained by some other methods. Finally we also discuss the
importance of our results for observations of high-z galaxies, stressing a
possibility of flat extinction curves.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA
Supernova dust for the extinction law in a young infrared galaxy at z = 1
We apply the supernova(SN) extinction curves to reproduce the observed
properties of SST J1604+4304 which is a young infrared (IR) galaxy at z = 1.
The SN extinction curves used in this work were obtained from models of unmixed
ejecta of type II supernovae(SNe II) for the Salpeter initial mass function
(IMF) with a mass range from 8 to 30 M_sun or 8 to 40 M_sun.
The effect of dust distributions on the attenuation of starlight is
investigated by performing the chi-square fitting method against various dust
distributions. These are the commonly used uniform dust screen, the clumpy dust
screen, and the internal dust geometry. We add to these geometries three
scattering properties, namely, no-scattering, isotropic scattering, and
forward-only scattering. Judging from the chi-square values, we find that the
uniform screen models with any scattering property provide good approximations
to the real dust geometry. Internal dust is inefficient to attenuate starlight
and thus cannot be the dominant source of the extinction.
We show that the SN extinction curves reproduce the data of SST J1604+4304
comparable to or better than the Calzetti extinction curve. The Milky Way
extinction curve is not in satisfactory agreement with the data unless several
dusty clumps are in the line of sight. This trend may be explained by the
abundance of SN-origin dust in these galaxies; SN dust is the most abundant in
the young IR galaxy at z = 1, abundant in local starbursts, and less abundant
in the Galaxy. If dust in SST J1604+4304 is dominated by SN dust, the dust
production rate is about 0.1 M_sun per SN.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl
The Three-Dimensional Structure of Interior Ejecta in Cassiopeia A at High Spectral Resolution
We used the Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Spectrograph to create a high
resolution spectral map of the central region of the Cassiopeia A supernova
remnant, allowing us to make a Doppler reconstruction of its 3D structure. The
ejecta responsible for this emission have not yet encountered the remnant's
reverse shock or the circumstellar medium, making it an ideal laboratory for
exploring the dynamics of the supernova explosion itself. We observe that the
O, Si, and S ejecta can form both sheet-like structures as well as filaments.
Si and O, which come from different nucleosynthetic layers of the star, are
observed to be coincident in velocity space in some regions, and separated by
500 km/s or more in others. Ejecta traveling toward us are, on average, ~900
km/s slower than the material traveling away from us. We compare our
observations to recent supernova explosion models and find that no single model
can simultaneously reproduce all the observed features. However, models of
different supernova explosions can collectively produce the observed geometries
and structures of the interior emission. We use the results from the models to
address the conditions during the supernova explosion, concentrating on
asymmetries in the shock structure. We also predict that the back surface of
Cassiopeia A will begin brightening in ~30 years, and the front surface in ~100
years.Comment: 35 pages, 16 figures, accepted to Ap
Non-LTE dust nucleation in sub-saturated vapors
We use the kinetic theory of nucleation to explore the properties of dust
nucleation in sub-saturated vapors. Due to radiation losses, the sub-critical
clusters have a smaller temperature compared to their vapor. This alters the
dynamical balance between attachment and detachment of monomers, allowing for
stable nucleation of grains in vapors that are sub-saturated for their
temperature. We find this effect particularly important at low densities and in
the absence of a strong background radiation field. We find new conditions for
stable nucleation in the n-T phase diagram. The nucleation in the non-LTE
regions is likely to be at much slower rate than in the super-saturated vapors.
We evaluate the nucleation rate, warning the reader that it does depend on
poorly substantiated properties of the macro-molecules assumed in the
computation. On the other hand, the conditions for nucleation depend only on
the properties of the large stable grains and are more robust. We finally point
out that this mechanism may be relevant in the early universe as an initial
dust pollution mechanism, since once the interstellar medium is polluted with
dust, mantle growth is likely to be dominant over non-LTE nucleation in the
diffuse medium.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The Detection of Cold Dust in Cas A: Evidence for the Formation of Metallic Needles in the Ejecta
Recently, Dunne et al. (2003) obtained 450 and 850 micron SCUBA images of
CasA, and reported the detection of 2-4 M_sun of cold, 18K, dust in the
remnant. Here we show that their interpretation of the observations faces
serious difficulties. Their inferred dust mass is larger than the mass of
refractory material in the ejecta of a 10 to 30 M_sun star. The cold dust model
faces even more difficulties if the 170 micron observations of the remnant are
included in the analysis, decreasing the cold dust temperature to ~ 8K, and
increasing its mass to > 20 M_sun. We offer here a more plausible
interpretation of their observation, in which the cold dust emission is
generated by conducting needles with properties that are completely determined
by the combined submillimeter and X-ray observations of the remnant. The
needles consist of metallic whiskers with <1% of embedded impurities that may
have condensed out of blobs of material that were expelled at high velocities
from the inner metal-rich layers of the star in an asymmetric explosion. The
needles are collisionally heated by the shocked gas to a temperature of 8K.
Taking the destruction of needles into account, a dust mass of only 1E-4 to
1E-3M_sun is needed to account for the observed SCUBA emission. Aligned in the
magnetic field, needles may give rise to observable polarized emission. The
detection of submillimeter polarization will therefore offer definitive proof
for a needle origin for the cold dust emission. Supernovae may still be proven
to be important sources of interstellar dust, but the evidence is still
inconclusive.Comment: 18 pages including 4 figures. Accepted for publication in the ApJ.
Missing reference adde
Molecular architecture of Gαo and the structural basis for RGS16-mediated deactivation
Heterotrimeric G proteins relay extracellular cues from heptahelical transmembrane receptors to downstream effector molecules. Composed of an α subunit with intrinsic GTPase activity and a βγ heterodimer, the trimeric complex dissociates upon receptor-mediated nucleotide exchange on the α subunit, enabling each component to engage downstream effector targets for either activation or inhibition as dictated in a particular pathway. To mitigate excessive effector engagement and concomitant signal transmission, the Gα subunit's intrinsic activation timer (the rate of GTP hydrolysis) is regulated spatially and temporally by a class of GTPase accelerating proteins (GAPs) known as the regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) family. The array of G protein-coupled receptors, Gα subunits, RGS proteins and downstream effectors in mammalian systems is vast. Understanding the molecular determinants of specificity is critical for a comprehensive mapping of the G protein system. Here, we present the 2.9 Å crystal structure of the enigmatic, neuronal G protein Gαo in the GTP hydrolytic transition state, complexed with RGS16. Comparison with the 1.89 Å structure of apo-RGS16, also presented here, reveals plasticity upon Gαo binding, the determinants for GAP activity, and the structurally unique features of Gαo that likely distinguish it physiologically from other members of the larger Gαi family, affording insight to receptor, GAP and effector specificity
- …