Alignment and morphology of elliptical galaxies: the influence of the cluster tidal field

We investigate two possible effects of the tidal field induced by a spherical cluster on its elliptical galaxy members: the modification of the ellipticity of a spherical galaxy and the isophotal alignment in the cluster radial direction of a misaligned prolate galaxy. Numerical N-body simulations have been performed for radial and circular galactic orbits. The properties of the stars' zero--velocity surfaces in the perturbed galaxies are explored briefly, and the adiabaticity of the galaxy to the external field is discussed. For a choice of parameters characteristic of rich clusters we find that the induced ellipticity on a spherical galaxy is below or close to the detectability level. But we find that the tidal torque can result in significant isophotal alignment of the galaxies' major axis with the cluster radial direction if the galaxy is outside the cluster core radius. The time required for the alignment is very short compared with the Hubble time. A significant increase in the ellipticity of the outer isophotes of the prolate model is also found, but with no observable isophotal twisting. Our main prediction is an alignment segregation of the elliptical galaxy population according to whether their orbits lie mostly outside or inside the cluster core radius. These results also suggest that galactic alignment in rich clusters is not incompatible with a bottom-up galaxy formation scenario.Comment: 20 pages, uuencoded compressed tarred postscrip

Effect of external electric field on the charge density waves in one dimensional Hubbard superlattices

We have studied the ground state of the one dimensional Hubbard superlattice structures with different unit cell sizes in the presence of electric field. Self consistent Hartree-Fock approximation calculation is done in the weak to intermediate interaction regime. Studying the charge gap at the Fermi level and the charge density structure factor, we get an idea how the charge modulation on the superlattice is governed by the competition between the electronic correlation and the external electric field.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures. accepted in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte

Investigation of Shallow Sedimentary Structure of the Anchorage Basin, Alaska, Using Simulated Annealing Inversion of Site Response

This study deals with shallow sedimentary structure of the Anchorage basin in Alaska. For this purpose, inversion of site response [SR(f)] data in the frequency range 0.5-11.0 Hz from various sites of the basin has been performed using the simulated annealing method to compute subsurface layer thickness, shear-wave velocity (beta), density, and shear-wave quality factor. The one-dimensional (1D) models for the aforementioned parameters were obtained with preset bounds on the basis of available geological information such that the L-2 norm error between the observed and computed site response attained a global minimum. Next, the spatial distribution of the important parameter beta was obtained by interpolating values yielded by the 1D models. The results indicate the presence of three distinct velocity zones as the source of spatial variation of SR(f) in the Anchorage basin. In the uppermost part of the basin, the beta values of fine-grain Quaternary sediments mainly lie in the range of 180-500 m/sec with thickness varying from 15 to 50 m. This formation overlies relatively thick (80-200 m) coarse-grain Quaternary sediments with beta values in the range of 600-900 m/sec. These two Quaternary units are, in turn, overlain on Tertiary sediments with beta > 1000 m/sec located at depths of 100 and 250 m, respectively, in the central and western side along the Knik Arm parts of the basin. The important implication of the result is that the sources of spatial variation of SR(f) in the Anchorage basin for the frequency band 0.5-11 Hz, besides in the uppermost 30 m, are found to be deeper than this depth. Thus, use of commonly considered geological formations in the depth intervals from 0 to 30 m for the ground-motion interpretation will likely yield erroneous results in the Anchorage basin.GIEnvironment and Natural Resources InstituteSchool of Engineering of the University of Alaska, AnchorageGeological Science

Operator splitting for the Benjamin-Ono equation

In this paper we analyze operator splitting for the Benjamin-Ono equation, u_t = uu_x + Hu_xx, where H denotes the Hilbert transform. If the initial data are sufficiently regular, we show the convergence of both Godunov and Strang splitting.Comment: 18 Page

Leptoquark explanation of HERA anomaly in the context of gauge unification

We examine the consequences of leptoquark explanation of HERA anomaly in the context of R parity conserving supersymmetric gauge unified theory with the gauge unification scale at $\sim 10^{16}$ GeV. We pointed out the difficulty of constructing a grandunified theory. However gauge unification is still possible at $\sim 10^{16}$ GeV when additional multiplets are introduced. We determine the mass spectrum of these additional fields (fermions and scalars) in gauge mediated and supergravity scenarios. Unique signatures and mass bounds are discussed.Comment: 19 pages(Latex), 1 PS Figur

Lepton Electric Dipole Moments, Supersymmetric Seesaw and Leptogenesis Phase

We calculate the lepton electric dipole moments in a class of supersymmetric seesaw models and explore the possibility that they may provide a way to probe some of the CP violating phases responsible for the origin of matter via leptogenesis. We show that in models where the right handed neutrino masses, $M_R$ arise from the breaking of local B-L symmetry by a Higgs field with B-L=2, some of the leptogenesis phases can lead to enhancement of the lepton dipole moments compared to the prediction of models where $M_R$ is either directly put in by hand or is a consequence of a higher dimensional operator.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, one reference added and monor typos correcte

Turbulence in the Harassed Galaxy NGC 4254

Galaxy harassment is an important mechanism for the morphological evolution of galaxies in clusters. The spiral galaxy NGC 4254 in the Virgo cluster is believed to be a harassed galaxy. We have analyzed the power spectrum of HI emission fluctuations from NGC 4254 to investigate whether it carries any imprint of galaxy harassment. The power spectrum, as determined using the 16 central channels which contain most of the HI emission, is found to be well fitted by a power law $P(U)=AU^{\alpha}$ with $\alpha\ =-\ 1.7\pm 0.2$ at length-scales $1.7 \, {\rm k pc}$ to $8.4 \, {\rm kpc}$. This is similar to other normal spiral galaxies which have a slope of $\sim -1.5$ and is interpreted as arising from two dimensional turbulence at length-scales larger than the galaxy's scale-height. NGC 4254 is hence yet another example of a spiral galaxy that exhibits scale-invariant density fluctuations out to length-scales comparable to the diameter of the HI disk. While a large variety of possible energy sources like proto-stellar winds, supernovae, shocks, etc. have been proposed to produce turbulence, it is still to be seen whether these are effective on length-scales comparable to that of the entire HI disk. On separately analyzing the HI power spectrum in different parts of NGC 4254, we find that the outer parts have a different slope ($\alpha = -2.0\pm0.3$) compared to the central part of the galaxy ($\alpha = -1.5\pm0.2$). Such a change in slope is not seen in other, undisturbed galaxies. We suggest that, in addition to changing the overall morphology, galaxy harassment also effects the fine scale structure of the ISM, causing the power spectrum to have a steeper slope in the outer parts.Comment: 6 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS letter