591 research outputs found
The Dark Matter Contribution to Galactic Diffuse Gamma Ray Emission
Observations of diffuse Galactic gamma ray emission (DGE) by the Fermi Large
Area Telescope (LAT) allow a detailed study of cosmic rays and the interstellar
medium. However, diffuse emission models of the inner Galaxy underpredict the
Fermi-LAT data at energies above a few GeV and hint at possible
non-astrophysical sources including dark matter (DM) annihilations or decays.
We present a study of the possible emission components from DM using the
high-resolution Via Lactea II N-body simulation of a Milky Way-sized DM halo.
We generate full-sky maps of DM annihilation and decay signals that include
modeling of the adiabatic contraction of the host density profile, Sommerfeld
enhanced DM annihilations, -wave annihilations, and decaying DM. We compare
our results with the DGE models produced by the Fermi-LAT team over different
sky regions, including the Galactic center, high Galactic latitudes, and the
Galactic anti-center. This work provides possible templates to fit the
observational data that includes the contribution of the subhalo population to
DM gamma-ray emission, with the significance depending on the
annihilation/decay channels and the Galactic regions being considered.Comment: Published by PR
On Measuring the Infrared Luminosity of Distant Galaxies with the Space Infrared Telescope Facility
The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) will revolutionize the study of
dust-obscured star formation in distant galaxies. Although deep images from the
Multiband Imaging Photometer for SIRTF (MIPS) will provide coverage at 24, 70,
and 160 micron, the bulk of MIPS-detected objects may only have accurate
photometry in the shorter wavelength bands due to the confusion noise.
Therefore, we have explored the potential for constraining the total infrared
(IR) fluxes of distant galaxies with solely the 24 micron flux density, and for
the combination of 24 micron and 70 micron data. We also discuss the inherent
systematic uncertainties in making these transitions. Under the assumption that
distant star-forming galaxies have IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) that
are represented somewhere in the local Universe, the 24 micron data (plus
optical and X-ray data to allow redshift estimation and AGN rejection)
constrains the total IR luminosity to within a factor of 2.5 for galaxies with
0.4 < z < 1.6. Incorporating the 70 micron data substantially improves this
constraint by a factor < 6. Lastly, we argue that if the shape of the IR SED is
known (or well constrained; e.g., because of high IR luminosity, or low
ultraviolet/IR flux ratio), then the IR luminosity can be estimated with more
certainty.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (2 in color). Accepted for Publication in the
Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2002 Nov
Low-frequency gravitational radiation from coalescing massive black hole binaries in hierarchical cosmologies
We compute the expected gravitational wave signal from coalescing massive
black hole (MBH) binaries at the center of galaxies in a hierarchical structure
formation scenario in which seed holes of intermediate mass form far up in the
dark halo merger tree. The merger history of DM halos and MBHs is followed from
z=20 to the present in a LCDM cosmology. MBHs get incorporated through halo
mergers into larger and larger structures, sink to the center owing to
dynamical friction against the DM background, accrete cold material in the
merger remnant, and form MBH binary systems. Stellar dynamical interactions
cause the hardening of the binary at large separations, while gravitational
wave emission takes over at small radii and leads to the final coalescence of
the pair. The integrated emission from inspiraling MBH binaries results in a
gravitational wave background (GWB). The characteristic strain spectrum has the
standard h_c(f)\propto f^{-2/3} behavior only in the range 1E-9<f<1E-6 Hz. At
lower frequencies the orbital decay of MBH binaries is driven by the ejection
of background stars, and h_c(f) \propto f. At higher frequencies, f>1E-6 Hz,
the strain amplitude is shaped by the convolution of last stable circular orbit
emission. We discuss the observability of inspiraling MBH binaries by the
planned LISA. Over a 3-year observing period LISA should resolve this GWB into
discrete sources, detecting ~60 (~250) individual events above a S/N=5 (S/N=1)
confidence level. (Abridged)Comment: 11 pages, 8 figues. Revised version accepted to be published in ApJ
Discussion on number counts corrected and expande
Expected Number and Flux Distribution of Gamma-Ray-Burst Afterglows with High Redshifts
If Gamma-Ray-Bursts (GRBs) occur at high redshifts, then their bright
afterglow emission can be used to probe the ionization and metal enrichment
histories of the intervening intergalactic medium during the epoch of
reionization. In contrast to other sources, such as galaxies or quasars, which
fade rapidly with increasing redshift, the observed infrared flux from a GRB
afterglow at a fixed observed age is only a weak function of its redshift. This
results from a combination of the spectral slope of GRB afterglows and the
time-stretching of their evolution in the observer's frame. Assuming that the
GRB rate is proportional to the star formation rate and that the characteristic
energy output of GRBs is ~10^{52} ergs, we predict that there are always ~15
GRBs from redshifts z>5 across the sky which are brighter than ~100 nJy at an
observed wavelength of ~2 \mu m. The infrared spectrum of these sources could
be taken with the future Next Generation Space Telescope, as a follow-up on
their early X-ray localization with the Swift satellite.Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures; submitted to Ap
Connecting Galaxy Evolution, Star Formation and the X-ray Background
As a result of deep hard X-ray observations by Chandra and XMM-Newton a
significant fraction of the cosmic X-ray background (CXRB) has been resolved
into individual sources. These objects are almost all active galactic nuclei
(AGN) and optical followup observations find that they are mostly obscured Type
2 AGN, have Seyfert-like X-ray luminosities (i.e., L_X ~ 10^{43-44} ergs
s^{-1}), and peak in redshift at z~0.7. Since this redshift is similar to the
peak in the cosmic star-formation rate, this paper proposes that the obscuring
material required for AGN unification is regulated by star-formation within the
host galaxy. We test this idea by computing CXRB synthesis models with a ratio
of Type 2/Type 1 AGN that is a function of both z and 2-10 keV X-ray
luminosity, L_X. The evolutionary models are constrained by parameterizing the
observed Type 1 AGN fractions from the recent work by Barger et al. The
parameterization which simultaneously best accounts for Barger's data, the CXRB
spectrum and the X-ray number counts has a local, low-L_X Type 2/Type 1 ratio
of 4, and predicts a Type 2 AGN fraction which evolves as (1+z)^{0.3}. Models
with no redshift evolution yielded much poorer fits to the Barger Type 1 AGN
fractions. This particular evolution predicts a Type 2/Type 1 ratio of 1-2 for
log L_X > 44, and thus the deep X-ray surveys are missing about half the
obscured AGN with these luminosities. These objects are likely to be Compton
thick. Overall, these calculations show that the current data strongly supports
a change to the AGN unification scenario where the obscuration is connected
with star formation in the host galaxy rather than a molecular torus alone. The
evolution of the obscuration implies a close relationship between star
formation and AGN fueling, most likely due to minor mergers or interactions.Comment: 36 pages, 8 figures, ApJ in press. Minor changes to match published
versio
Constraining the Cosmic Background Light with four BL Lac TeV spectra
The intrinsic BL Lac spectra above few hundreds GeV can be very different
from the observed ones due to the absorption effects by the diffuse
Extragalactic Background Light (EBL), at present poorly known. With the recent
results, there are now 4 sources with good spectral information: Mkn 421
(z=0.031), Mkn 501 (z=0.034), 1ES 1426+428 (z=0.129) and 1ES 1959+650
(z=0.047). Making simple assumptions on the shape of the intrinsic spectra
(according to the present blazar knowledge), we have considered the effects of
different EBL spectral energy distributions (SED) for the first time on all 4
objects together, deriving constraints for the EBL fluxes. These resulted
significantly lower than many direct estimates.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figures; to appear in the proceedings of the 2nd Veritas
Symposium: "TeV Astrophysics of extragalactic sources". April 2003, Chicag
Does the Number Density of Elliptical Galaxies Change at z<1?
We have performed a detailed V/Vmax test for a sample of the Canada-France
Redshift Survey (CFRS) for the purpose of examining whether the comoving number
density of field galaxies changes significantly at redshifts of z<1. Taking
into account the luminosity evolution of galaxies which depends on their
morphological type through different history of star formation, we obtain
\sim 0.5 in the range of 0.3<z<0.8, where reliable redshifts were
secured by spectroscopy of either absorption or emission lines for the CFRS
sample. This indicates that a picture of mild evolution of field galaxies
without significant mergers is consistent with the CFRS data. Early-type
galaxies, selected by their (V-I)_{AB} color, become unnaturally deficient in
number at z>0.8 due to the selection bias, thereby causing a fictitious
decrease of . We therefore conclude that a reasonable choice of upper
bound of redshift z \sim 0.8 in the V/Vmax test saves the picture of passive
evolution for field ellipticals in the CFRS sample, which was rejected by
Kauffman, Charlot, & White (1996) without confining the redshift range.
However, about 10% of the CFRS sample consists of galaxies having colors much
bluer than predicted for irregular galaxies, and their \avmax is significantly
larger than 0.5. We discuss this population of extremely blue galaxies in terms
of starburst that has just turned on at their observed redshifts.Comment: 11 pages including 3 figures, to appear in ApJ Letter
Synoptic Sky Surveys and the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background: Removing Astrophysical Uncertainties and Revealing Invisible Supernovae
The cumulative (anti)neutrino production from all core-collapse supernovae
within our cosmic horizon gives rise to the diffuse supernova neutrino
background (DSNB), which is on the verge of detectability. The observed flux
depends on supernova physics, but also on the cosmic history of supernova
explosions; currently, the cosmic supernova rate introduces a substantial
(+/-40%) uncertainty, largely through its absolute normalization. However, a
new class of wide-field, repeated-scan (synoptic) optical sky surveys is coming
online, and will map the sky in the time domain with unprecedented depth,
completeness, and dynamic range. We show that these surveys will obtain the
cosmic supernova rate by direct counting, in an unbiased way and with high
statistics, and thus will allow for precise predictions of the DSNB. Upcoming
sky surveys will substantially reduce the uncertainties in the DSNB source
history to an anticipated +/-5% that is dominated by systematics, so that the
observed high-energy flux thus will test supernova neutrino physics. The
portion of the universe (z < 1) accessible to upcoming sky surveys includes the
progenitors of a large fraction (~ 87%) of the expected 10-26 MeV DSNB event
rate. We show that precision determination of the (optically detected) cosmic
supernova history will also make the DSNB into a strong probe of an extra flux
of neutrinos from optically invisible supernovae, which may be unseen either
due to unexpected large dust obscuration in host galaxies, or because some
core-collapse events proceed directly to black hole formation and fail to give
an optical outburst.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
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