21,245 research outputs found
Dynamical friction and the evolution of satellites in virialized halos: the theory of linear response
The evolution of a small satellite inside a more massive truncated isothermal
spherical halo is studied using both the Theory of Linear Response for
dynamical friction and N-Body simulations. The analytical approach includes the
effects of the gravitational wake, of the tidal deformation and the shift of
the barycenter of the primary, so unifying the local versus global
interpretation of dynamical friction. Sizes, masses, orbital energies and
eccentricities are chosen as expected in hierarchical clustering models. We
find that in general the drag force in self-gravitating backgrounds is weaker
than in uniform media and that the orbital decay is not accompanied by a
significant circularization. We also show that the dynamical friction time
scale is weakly dependent on the initial circularity. We provide a fitting
formula for the decay time that includes the effect of mass and angular
momentum loss. Live satellites with dense cores can survive disruption up to an
Hubble time within the primary, notwithstanding the initial choice of orbital
parameters. Dwarf spheroidal satellites of the Milky Way, like Sagittarius A
and Fornax, have already suffered mass stripping and, with their present
masses, the sinking times exceed 10 Gyr even if they are on very eccentric
orbits.Comment: 27 pages including 9 figures. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journal. Part 2, issue November 10 1999, Volume 52
Explaining the entropy excess in clusters and groups of galaxies without additional heating
The X-ray luminosity and temperature of clusters and groups of galaxies do
not scale in a self-similar manner. This has often been interpreted as a sign
that the intracluster medium has been substantially heated by non-gravitational
sources. In this paper, we propose a simple model which, instead, uses the
properties of galaxy formation to explain the observations. Drawing on
available observations, we show that there is evidence that the efficiency of
galaxy formation was higher in groups than in clusters. If confirmed, this
would deplete the low-entropy gas in groups, increase their central entropy and
decrease their X-ray luminosity. A simple, empirical, hydrostatic model appears
to match both the luminosity-temperature relation of clusters and properties of
their internal structure as well.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted in ApJL; added one reference, otherwise
unchange
Probing the structure of the cold dark matter halo with ancient mica
Mica can store (for >1 Gy) etchable tracks caused by atoms recoiling from
WIMPs. Ancient mica is a directional detector despite the complex motions it
makes with respect to the WIMP "wind". We can exploit the properties of
directionality and long integration time to probe for structure in the dark
matter halo of our galaxy. We compute a sample of possible signals in mica for
a plausible model of halo structure.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
Accretion of a satellite onto a spherical galaxy. II. Binary evolution and orbital decay
We study the dynamical evolution of a satellite orbiting outside of a
companion spherical galaxy. The satellite is subject to a back-reaction force
resulting from the density fluctuations excited in the primary stellar system.
We evaluate this force using the linear response theory developed in Colpi and
Pallavicini (1997). The force is computed in the reference frame comoving with
the primary galaxy and is expanded in multipoles. To capture the relevant
features of the physical process determining the evolution of the detached
binary, we introduce in the Hamiltonian the harmonic potential as interaction
potential among stars. The dynamics of the satellite is computed
self-consistently. We determine the conditions for tidal capture of a satellite
from an asymptotic free state. If the binary comes to existence as a bound
pair, stability against orbital decay is lost near resonance. The time scale of
binary coalescence is computed as a function of the eccentricity and mass
ratio. In a comparison with Weinberg's perturbative technique we demonstrate
that pinning the center of mass of the galaxy would induce a much larger torque
on the satellite.Comment: 13 pages, Tex,+ 10 .ps figures Submitted to The Astrophysical Journa
Изменения высоты поверхности и баланс массы ледникового купола Академии Наук на Северной Земле
We have determined the surface-elevation change rates of the Academy of Sciences Ice Cap, Severnaya Zemlya, Russian Arctic, for two different periods: 2004–2016 and 2012/2013–2016. The former was calculated from differencing of ICESat and ArcticDEM digital elevation models, while the latter was obtained by differencing two sets of ArcticDEM digital elevation models. From these surface-elevation change rates we obtained the geodetic mass balance, which was nearly identical for both periods, at −1,72±0,67 Gt a−1, equivalent to −0,31±0,12 m w.e. a−1 over the whole ice cap area. Using an independent estimate of frontal ablation for 2016−2017 of −1,93±0,12 Gt a−1 (−0,31±0,12 m w.e. a−1), we get an estimate of the climatic mass balance not significantly different from zero, at 0,21±0,68 Gt a−1 (0,04±0,13 m w.e. a−1), which agrees with the near-zero average balance at a decadal scale observed during the last four decades. Making an observationally-based assumption on accumulation rate, we estimate the current total ablation from the ice cap, and its partitioning between frontal ablation, dominated by calving (~54%) and climatic mass balance, mostly surface ablation (~46%).На основе разновременных ЦМР установлены скорости изменения высоты поверхности ледникового купола Академии Наук на Северной Земле за два периода: 2004−2016 и 2012/2013−2016 гг. и определён геодезический баланс его массы (−1,72±0,67 Гт/год). Сделан расчёт климатического баланса массы (0,21±0,68 Гт/год) и полной абляции (−3,18 Гт/год) ледника, где на отёл приходится ≈54%, а на поверхностную абляцию – ≈46%
Terahertz imaging of sub-wavelength particles with Zenneck surface waves
Impact of sub-wavelength-size dielectric particles on Zenneck surface waves on planar metallic antennas is investigated at terahertz (THz) frequencies with THz near-field probe microscopy. Perturbations of the surface waves show the particle presence, despite its sub-wavelength size. The experimental configuration, which utilizes excitation of surface waves at metallic edges, is suitable for THz imaging of dielectric sub-wavelength size objects. As a proof of concept, the effects of a small strontium titanate rectangular particle and a titanium dioxide sphere on the surface field of a bow-tie antenna are experimentally detected and verified using full-wave simulations
The Effects of a Photoionizing UV Background on the Formation of Disk Galaxies
We use high resolution N-body/gasdynamical simulations to investigate the
effects of a photoionizing UV background on the assembly of disk galaxies in
hierarchically clustering universes. We focus on the mass and rotational
properties of gas that can cool to form centrifugally supported disks in dark
matter halos of different mass. Photoheating can significantly reduce the
amount of gas that can cool in galactic halos. Depending on the strength of the
UV background field, the amount of cooled gas can be reduced by up to in
systems with circular speeds in the range - \kms. The magnitude of the
effect, however, is not enough to solve the ``overcooling'' problem that
plagues hierarchical models of galaxy formation if the UV background is chosen
to be consistent with estimates based on recent observations of QSO absorption
systems. Photoionization has little effect on the collapse of gas at high
redshift and affects preferentially gas that is accreted at late times. Since
disks form inside-out, accreting higher angular momentum gas at later times,
disks formed in the presence of a UV background have spins that are even
smaller than those formed in simulations that do not include the effects of
photoionization. This exacerbates the angular momentum problem that afflicts
hierarchical models of disk formation. We conclude that photoionization cannot
provide the heating mechanism required to reconcile hierarchically clustering
models with observations. Energy feedback and enrichment processes from the
formation and evolution of stars must therefore be indispensable ingredients
for any successful model of the formation of disk galaxies.Comment: 36 pages, w/ embedded figures, submitted to ApJ. Also available at
http://penedes.as.arizona.edu/~jfn/preprints/dskform.ps.g
The non-Gaussian tail of cosmic-shear statistics
Due to gravitational instability, an initially Gaussian density field
develops non-Gaussian features as the Universe evolves. The most prominent
non-Gaussian features are massive haloes, visible as clusters of galaxies. The
distortion of high-redshift galaxy images due to the tidal gravitational field
of the large-scale matter distribution, called cosmic shear, can be used to
investigate the statistical properties of the LSS. In particular, non-Gaussian
properties of the LSS will lead to a non-Gaussian distribution of cosmic-shear
statistics. The aperture mass () statistics, recently introduced as
a measure for cosmic shear, is particularly well suited for measuring these
non-Gaussian properties. In this paper we calculate the highly non-Gaussian
tail of the aperture mass probability distribution, assuming Press-Schechter
theory for the halo abundance and the `universal' density profile of haloes as
obtained from numerical simulations. We find that for values of
much larger than its dispersion, this probability distribution is closely
approximated by an exponential, rather than a Gaussian. We determine the
amplitude and shape of this exponential for various cosmological models and
aperture sizes, and show that wide-field imaging surveys can be used to
distinguish between some of the currently most popular cosmogonies. Our study
here is complementary to earlier cosmic-shear investigations which focussed
more on two-point statistical properties.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to MNRA
Environmental effects on galaxy evolution. II: quantifying the tidal features in NIR-images of the cluster Abell 85
This work is part of a series of papers devoted to investigate the evolution
of cluster galaxies during their infall. In the present article we imaged in
NIR a selected sample of galaxies through- out the massive cluster Abell 85 (z
= 0.055). We obtained (JHK) photometry for 68 objects, reaching 1 mag/arcsec^2
deeper than 2MASS. We use these images to unveil asymmetries in the outskirts
of a sample of bright galaxies and develop a new asymmetry index, alpha_An,
which allows to quantify the degree of disruption by the relative area occupied
by the tidal features on the plane of the sky. We measure the asymmetries for a
subsample of 41 large area objects finding clear asymmetries in ten galaxies,
most of them being in groups and pairs projected at different clustercentric
distances, some of them located beyond R500 . Combining information on the
Hi-gas content of blue galaxies and the distribution of sub-structures across
Abell 85, with the present NIR asymmetry analysis, we obtain a very powerful
tool to confirm that tidal mechanisms are indeed present and are currently
affecting a fraction of galaxies in Abell 85. However, when comparing our deep
NIR images with UV-blue images of two very disrupted (jellyfish) galaxies in
this cluster, we discard the presence of tidal 1 interactions down to our
detection limit. Our results suggest that ram-pressure stripping is at the
origin of such spectacular disruptions. We conclude that across a complex
cluster like Abell 85, environment mechanisms, both gravitational and
hydrodynamical, are playing an active role in driving galaxy evolution.Comment: 30 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for Publication in A
Two-Temperature Intracluster Medium in Merging Clusters of Galaxies
We investigate the evolution of intracluster medium during a cluster merger,
explicitly considering the relaxation process between the ions and electrons by
N-body and hydrodynamical simulations. When two subclusters collide each other,
a bow shock is formed between the centers of two substructures and propagate in
both directions along the collision axis. The shock primarily heats the ions
because the kinetic energy of an ion entering the shock is larger than that of
an electron by the ratio of masses. In the post-shock region the energy is
transported from the ions to electrons via Coulomb coupling. However, since the
energy exchange timescale depends both on the gas density and temperature,
distribution of electron temperature becomes more complex than that of the
plasma mean temperature, especially in the expanding phase. After the collision
of two subclusters, gas outflow occurs not only along the collision axis but
also in its perpendicular direction. The gas which is originally located in the
central part of the subclusters moves both in the parallel and perpendicular
directions. Since the equilibrium timescale of the gas along these directions
is relatively short, temperature difference between ions and electrons is
larger in the directions tilted by the angles of with respect to
the collision axis. The electron temperature could be significantly lower that
the plasma mean temperature by at most. The significance of our
results in the interpretation of X-ray observations is briefly discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
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