4,260 research outputs found
Detection of Ne VIII in the Low-Redshift Warm-Hot IGM
High resolution FUSE and STIS observations of the bright QSO HE 0226-4110
(zem = 0.495) reveal the presence of a multi-phase absorption line system at
zabs(O VI) = 0.20701 containing absorption from H I (Ly alpha to Ly theta), C
III, O III, O IV, O VI, N III, Ne VIII, Si III, S VI and possibly S V. Single
component fits to the Ne VIII and O VI absorption doublets yield logN(Ne VIII)
= 13.89+/-0.11 and logN(O VI) = 14.37+/-0.03. The Ne VIII and O VI doublets are
detected at 3.9 sigma and 16 sigma significance levels, respectively. This
represents the first detection of intergalactic Ne VIII, a diagnostic of gas
with temperature in the range from 5x10(5) to 1x10(6) K. The O VI and Ne VIII
are not likely created in a low density medium photoionized solely by the
extragalactic background at z = 0.2 since the required path length of ~11 Mpc
implies the Hubble flow absorption line broadening would be ~10 times greater
than the observed line widths. A collisional ionization origin is therefore
more likely. Assuming [Ne/H] and [O/H] = -0.5, the value N(Ne VIII)/N(O VI) =
0.33+/-0.10 is consistent with gas in collisional ionization equilibrium near
T=5.4x10(5) K with logN(H)= 19.9 and N(H)/N(H I) = 1.7x10(6). The observations
support the basic idea that a substantial fraction of the baryonic matter at
low redshift exists in hot very highly ionized gaseous structures.Comment: 32 pages text and 9 pages of figures. Accepted by the Astrophysical
Journa
Spherically symmetric scalar field collapse in any dimension
We describe a formalism and numerical approach for studying spherically
symmetric scalar field collapse for arbitrary spacetime dimension d and
cosmological constant Lambda. The presciption uses a double null formalism, and
is based on field redefinitions first used to simplify the field equations in
generic two-dimensional dilaton gravity. The formalism is used to construct
code in which d and Lambda are input parameters. The code reproduces known
results in d = 4 and d = 6 with Lambda = 0. We present new results for d = 5
with zero and negative Lambda.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, typos corrected, presentational changes, PRD in
pres
The discrete energy method in numerical relativity: Towards long-term stability
The energy method can be used to identify well-posed initial boundary value
problems for quasi-linear, symmetric hyperbolic partial differential equations
with maximally dissipative boundary conditions. A similar analysis of the
discrete system can be used to construct stable finite difference equations for
these problems at the linear level. In this paper we apply these techniques to
some test problems commonly used in numerical relativity and observe that while
we obtain convergent schemes, fast growing modes, or ``artificial
instabilities,'' contaminate the solution. We find that these growing modes can
partially arise from the lack of a Leibnitz rule for discrete derivatives and
discuss ways to limit this spurious growth.Comment: 18 pages, 22 figure
Head-on collisions of boson stars
We study head-on collisions of boson stars in three dimensions. We consider
evolutions of two boson stars which may differ in their phase or have opposite
frequencies but are otherwise identical. Our studies show that these phase
differences result in different late time behavior and gravitational wave
output
Numerical stability of a new conformal-traceless 3+1 formulation of the Einstein equation
There is strong evidence indicating that the particular form used to recast
the Einstein equation as a 3+1 set of evolution equations has a fundamental
impact on the stability properties of numerical evolutions involving black
holes and/or neutron stars. Presently, the longest lived evolutions have been
obtained using a parametrized hyperbolic system developed by Kidder, Scheel and
Teukolsky or a conformal-traceless system introduced by Baumgarte, Shapiro,
Shibata and Nakamura. We present a new conformal-traceless system. While this
new system has some elements in common with the
Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura system, it differs in both the type of
conformal transformations and how the non-linear terms involving the extrinsic
curvature are handled. We show results from 3D numerical evolutions of a
single, non-rotating black hole in which we demonstrate that this new system
yields a significant improvement in the life-time of the simulations.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
Boosting jet power in black hole spacetimes
The extraction of rotational energy from a spinning black hole via the
Blandford-Znajek mechanism has long been understood as an important component
in models to explain energetic jets from compact astrophysical sources. Here we
show more generally that the kinetic energy of the black hole, both rotational
and translational, can be tapped, thereby producing even more luminous jets
powered by the interaction of the black hole with its surrounding plasma. We
study the resulting Poynting jet that arises from single boosted black holes
and binary black hole systems. In the latter case, we find that increasing the
orbital angular momenta of the system and/or the spins of the individual black
holes results in an enhanced Poynting flux.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Low Redshift Intergalactic Absorption Lines in the Spectrum of HE0226-4110
We present an analysis of the FUSE and STIS E140M spectra of HE0226-4110
(z=0.495). We detect 56 Lyman absorbers and 5 O VI absorbers. The number of
intervening O VI systems per unit redshift with W>50 m\AA is dN(O VI)/dz~ 11.
The O VI systems unambiguously trace hot gas only in one case. For the 4 other
O VI systems, photoionization and collisional ionization models are viable
options to explain the observed column densities of the O VI and the other
ions. If the O VI systems are mostly photoionized, only a fraction of the
observed O VI will contribute to the baryonic density of the warm-hot ionized
medium (WHIM) along this line of sight. Combining our results with previous
ones, we show that there is a general increase of N(O VI) with increasing b(O
VI). Cooling flow models can reproduce the N-b distribution but fail to
reproduce the observed ionic ratios. A comparison of the number of O I, O II, O
III, O IV, and O VI systems per unit redshift show that the low-z IGM is more
highly ionized than weakly ionized. We confirm that photoionized O VI systems
show a decreasing ionization parameter with increasing H I column density. O VI
absorbers with collisional ionization/photoionization degeneracy follow this
relation, possibly suggesting that they are principally photoionized. We find
that the photoionized O VI systems in the low redshift IGM have a median
abundance of 0.3 solar. We do not find additional Ne VIII systems other than
the one found by Savage et al., although our sensitivity should have allowed
the detection of Ne VIII in O VI systems at T~(0.6-1.3)x10^6 K (if CIE
applies). Since the bulk of the WHIM is believed to be at temperatures T>10^6
K, the hot part of the WHIM remains to be discovered with FUV--EUV metal-line
transitions.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJS. Full resolution figures
available at
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ApJ/journal/preprints/ApJS63975.preprint.pd
The DRIFT Project: Searching for WIMPS with a Directional Detector
A low pressure time projection chamber for the detection of WIMPs is
discussed. Discrimination against Compton electron background in such a device
should be very good, and directional information about the recoil atoms would
be obtainable. If a full 3-D reconstruction of the recoil tracks can be
achieved, Monte Carlo studies indicate that a WIMP signal could be identified
with high confidence from as few as 30 detected WIMP-nucleus scattering events.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Presented at Dark 98, Heidelberg, July 1998, and
to appear in conference proceeding
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