16 research outputs found
JWST/NIRSpec Observations of the Planetary Mass Companion TWA 27B
We present 1-5um spectroscopy of the young planetary mass companion TWA 27B
(2M1207B) performed with NIRSpec on board the James Webb Space Telescope. In
these data, the fundamental band of CH_4 is absent and the fundamental band of
CO is weak. The nondetection of CH_4 reinforces a previously observed trend of
weaker CH_4 with younger ages among L dwarfs, which has been attributed to
enhanced non-equilibrium chemistry among young objects. The weakness of CO may
reflect an additional atmospheric property that varies with age, such as the
temperature gradient or cloud thickness. We are able to reproduce the broad
shape of the spectrum with an ATMO cloudless model that has T=1300 K,
non-equilibrium chemistry, and a temperature gradient reduction caused by
fingering convection. However, the fundamental bands of CH_4 and CO are
somewhat stronger in the model. In addition, the model temperature of 1300 K is
higher than expected from evolutionary models given the luminosity and age of
TWA 27B (T=1200 K). Previous models of young L-type objects suggest that the
inclusion of clouds could potentially resolve these issues; it remains to be
seen whether cloudy models can provide a good fit to the 1-5um data from
NIRSpec. TWA 27B exhibits emission in Paschen transitions and the He I triplet
at 1.083um, which are signatures of accretion that provide the first evidence
of a circumstellar disk. We have used the NIRSpec data to estimate the
bolometric luminosity of TWA 27B (log L/L_sun=-4.466+/-0.014), which implies a
mass of 5-6 MJup according to evolutionary models.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres
Dark matter and dark energy accretion onto intermediate-mass black holes
In this work we investigate the accretion of cosmological fluids onto an
intermediate-mass black hole at the centre of a globular cluster, focusing on
the influence of the parent stellar system on the accretion flow. We show that
the accretion of cosmic background radiation and the so-called dark energy onto
an intermediate-mass black hole is negligible. On the other hand, if cold dark
matter has a nonvanishing pressure, the accretion of dark matter is large
enough to increase the black hole mass well beyond the present observed upper
limits. We conclude that either intermediate-mass black holes do not exist, or
dark matter does not exist, or it is not strictly collisionless. In the latter
case, we set a lower limit for the parameter of the cold dark matter equation
of state.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Published in MNRA
A Deep View into the Nucleus of the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy with MUSE. II. Kinematic Characterization of the Stellar Populations
The Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy is in an advanced stage of disruption but still hosts its nuclear star cluster (NSC), M54, at its center. In this paper, we present a detailed kinematic characterization of the three stellar populations present in M54: young metal-rich (YMR); intermediate-age metal-rich (IMR); and old metal-poor (OMP), based on the spectra of ~6500 individual M54 member stars extracted from a large Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE)/Very Large Telescope data set. We find that the OMP population is slightly flattened with a low amount of rotation (~0.8 km sâ1) and with a velocity dispersion that follows a Plummer profile. The YMR population displays a high amount of rotation (~5 km sâ1) and a high degree of flattening, with a lower and flat velocity dispersion profile. The IMR population shows a high but flat velocity dispersion profile, with some degree of rotation (~2 km sâ1). We complement our MUSE data with information from Gaia DR2 and confirm that the stars from the OMP and YMR populations are comoving in 3D space, suggesting that they are dynamically bound. While dynamical evolutionary effects (e.g., energy equipartition) are able to explain the differences in velocity dispersion between the stellar populations, the strong differences in rotation indicate different formation paths for the populations, as supported by an N-body simulation tailored to emulate the YMRâOMP system. This study provides additional evidence for the M54 formation scenario proposed in our previous work, where this NSC formed via GC accretion (OMP) and in situ formation from gas accretion in a rotationally supported disk (YMR)
First results from the JWST Early Release Science Program Q3D: Ionization cone, clumpy star formation and shocks in a extremely red quasar host
Massive galaxies formed most actively at redshifts during the period
known as `cosmic noon.' Here we present an emission-line study of an extremely
red quasar SDSSJ165202.64+172852.3 host galaxy at , based on
observations with the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) integral field unit
(IFU) on board JWST. We use standard emission-line diagnostic ratios to map the
sources of gas ionization across the host and a swarm of companion galaxies.
The quasar dominates the photoionization, but we also discover shock-excited
regions orthogonal to the ionization cone and the quasar-driven outflow. These
shocks could be merger-induced or -- more likely, given the presence of a
powerful galactic-scale quasar outflow -- these are signatures of wide-angle
outflows that can reach parts of the galaxy that are not directly illuminated
by the quasar. Finally, the kinematically narrow emission associated with the
host galaxy presents as a collection of 1 kpc-scale clumps forming stars at a
rate of at least 200 yr. The ISM within these clumps shows
high electron densities, reaching up to 3,000 cm with metallicities
ranging from half to a third solar with a positive metallicity gradient and V
band extinctions up to 3 magnitudes. The star formation conditions are far more
extreme in these regions than in local star-forming galaxies but consistent
with that of massive galaxies at cosmic noon. JWST observations reveal an
archetypical rapidly forming massive galaxy undergoing a merger, a clumpy
starburst, an episode of obscured near-Eddington quasar activity, and an
extremely powerful quasar outflow simultaneously.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
First results from the JWST Early Release Science Program Q3D: The Warm Ionized Gas Outflow in z ~ 1.6 Quasar XID 2028 and its Impact on the Host Galaxy
Quasar feedback may regulate the growth of supermassive black holes, quench
coeval star formation, and impact galaxy morphology and the circumgalactic
medium. However, direct evidence for quasar feedback in action at the epoch of
peak black hole accretion at z ~ 2 remains elusive. A good case in point is the
z = 1.6 quasar WISEA J100211.29+013706.7 (XID 2028) where past analyses of the
same ground-based data have come to different conclusions. Here we revisit this
object with the integral field unit of the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec)
on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as part of Early Release Science
program Q3D. The excellent angular resolution and sensitivity of the JWST data
reveal new morphological and kinematic sub-structures in the outflowing gas
plume. An analysis of the emission line ratios indicates that photoionization
by the central quasar dominates the ionization state of the gas with no obvious
sign for a major contribution from hot young stars anywhere in the host galaxy.
Rest-frame near-ultraviolet emission aligned along the wide-angle cone of
outflowing gas is interpreted as a scattering cone. The outflow has cleared a
channel in the dusty host galaxy through which some of the quasar ionizing
radiation is able to escape and heat the surrounding interstellar and
circumgalactic media. The warm ionized outflow is not powerful enough to impact
the host galaxy via mechanical feedback, but radiative feedback by the AGN,
aided by the outflow, may help explain the unusually small molecular gas mass
fraction in the galaxy host.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope: IV. Capabilities and predicted performance for exoplanet characterization
The Near-Inrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope
(JWST) is a very versatile instrument, offering multiobject and integral field
spectroscopy with varying spectral resolution (30 to 3000) over a
wide wavelength range from 0.6 to 5.3 micron, enabling scientists to study many
science themes ranging from the first galaxies to bodies in our own Solar
System. In addition to its integral field unit and support for multiobject
spectroscopy, NIRSpec features several fixed slits and a wide aperture
specifically designed to enable high precision time-series and transit as well
as eclipse observations of exoplanets. In this paper we present its
capabilities regarding time-series observations, in general, and transit and
eclipse spectroscopy of exoplanets in particular. Due to JWST's large
collecting area and NIRSpec's excellent throughput, spectral coverage, and
detector performance, this mode will allow scientists to characterize the
atmosphere of exoplanets with unprecedented sensitivity
How to break bad news: State-of-the-art of letting go
Seven observations point towards the existence of primordial black holes (PBH), constituting the whole or an important fraction of the dark matter in the Universe: the mass and spin of black holes detected by Advanced LIGO/VIRGO, the detection of micro-lensing events of distant quasars and stars in M31, the non-detection of ultra-faint dwarf satellite galaxies with radius below 15 parsecs, evidences for core galactic dark matter profiles, the correlation between X-ray and infrared cosmic backgrounds, and the existence of super-massive black holes very early in the Universe's history. Some of these hints are newly identified and they are all intriguingly compatible with the re-constructed broad PBH mass distribution from LIGO events, peaking on PBH mass [Formula presented] and passing all other constraints on PBH abundances. PBH dark matter also provides a new mechanism to explain the mass-to-light ratios of dwarf galaxies, including the recent detection of a diffuse galaxy not dominated by dark matter. Finally we conjecture that between 0.1% and 1% of the events detected by LIGO will involve a PBH with a mass below the Chandrasekhar mass, which would unambiguously prove the existence of PBH.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
Relativistic Binaries in Globular Clusters
Galactic globular clusters are old, dense star systems typically containing
10\super{4}--10\super{7} stars. As an old population of stars, globular
clusters contain many collapsed and degenerate objects. As a dense population
of stars, globular clusters are the scene of many interesting close dynamical
interactions between stars. These dynamical interactions can alter the
evolution of individual stars and can produce tight binary systems containing
one or two compact objects. In this review, we discuss theoretical models of
globular cluster evolution and binary evolution, techniques for simulating this
evolution that leads to relativistic binaries, and current and possible future
observational evidence for this population. Our discussion of globular cluster
evolution will focus on the processes that boost the production of hard binary
systems and the subsequent interaction of these binaries that can alter the
properties of both bodies and can lead to exotic objects. Direct {\it N}-body
integrations and Fokker--Planck simulations of the evolution of globular
clusters that incorporate tidal interactions and lead to predictions of
relativistic binary populations are also discussed. We discuss the current
observational evidence for cataclysmic variables, millisecond pulsars, and
low-mass X-ray binaries as well as possible future detection of relativistic
binaries with gravitational radiation.Comment: 88 pages, 13 figures. Submitted update of Living Reviews articl
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Mâą â ÏRelation For Intermediate-Mass Black Holes In Globular Clusters
Context. For galaxies hosting supermassive black holes (SMBHs), it has been observed that the mass of the central black hole (M center dot) tightly correlates with the effective or central velocity dispersion (s) of the host galaxy. The origin of this M center dot - sigma scaling relation is assumed to lie in the merging history of the galaxies, but many open questions about its origin and the behavior in different mass ranges still need to be addressed. Aims. The goal of this work is to study the black-hole scaling relations for low black-hole masses, where the regime of intermediatemass black holes (IMBHs) in globular clusters (GCs) is entered. Methods. We collected all existing reports of dynamical black-hole measurements in GCs, providing black-hole masses or upper limits for 14 candidates. We plotted the black-hole masses versus different cluster parameters including total mass, velocity dispersion, concentration, and half-mass radius. We searched for trends and tested the correlations to quantify their significance using a set of different statistical approaches. For correlations with a high significance we performed a linear fit, accounting for uncertainties and upper limits. Results. We find a clear correlation between the mass of the IMBH and the velocity dispersion of the GC. As expected, the total mass of the GC then also correlates with the mass of the IMBH. While the slope of the M center dot - sigma correlation differs strongly from the one observed for SMBHs, the other scaling relations M center dot - M-tot, and M center dot - L are similar to the correlations in galaxies. Significant correlations of black-hole mass with other cluster properties were not found in the present sample.DFG cluster of excellence OriginStructure of the UniverseAustralian Research Council through Future Fellowship grant FT0991052Astronom