941 research outputs found
A new kind of McKay correspondence from non-Abelian gauge theories
The boundary chiral ring of a 2d gauged linear sigma model on a K\"ahler
manifold classifies the topological D-brane sectors and the massless open
strings between them. While it is determined at small volume by simple group
theory, its continuation to generic volume provides highly non-trivial
information about the -branes on , related to the derived category
. We use this correspondence to elaborate on an extended notion of
McKay correspondence that captures more general than orbifold singularities. As
an illustration, we work out this new notion of McKay correspondence for a
class of non-compact Calabi-Yau singularities related to Grassmannians.Comment: 29 pages, harvmac(b), 2 fig
Abundance patterns in early-type galaxies: is there a 'knee' in the [Fe/H] vs. [alpha/Fe] relation?
Early-type galaxies (ETGs) are known to be enhanced in alpha elements, in
accordance with their old ages and short formation timescales. In this
contribution we aim to resolve the enrichment histories of ETGs. This means we
study the abundance of Fe ([Fe/H]) and the alpha-element groups ([alpha/Fe])
separately for stars older than 9.5 Gyr ([Fe/H]o, [alpha/Fe]o) and for stars
between 1.5 and 9.5 Gyr ([Fe/H]i, [alpha/Fe]i). Through extensive simulation we
show that we can indeed recover the enrichment history per galaxy. We then
analyze a spectroscopic sample of 2286 early-type galaxies from the SDSS
selected to be ETGs. We separate out those galaxies for which the abundance of
iron in stars grows throughout the lifetime of the galaxy, i.e. in which
[Fe/H]o < [Fe/H]i. We confirm earlier work where the [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe]
parameters are correlated with the mass and velocity dispersion of ETGs. We
emphasize that the strongest relation is between [alpha/Fe] and age. This
relation falls into two regimes, one with a steep slope for old galaxies and
one with a shallow slope for younger ETGs. The vast majority of ETGs in our
sample do not show the 'knee' in the plot of [Fe/H] vs. [alpha/Fe] commonly
observed in local group galaxies. This implies that for the vast majority of
ETGs, the stars younger than 9.5 Gyrs are likely to have been accreted or
formed from accreted gas. The properties of the intermediate-age stars in
accretion-dominated ETGs indicate that mass growth through late (minor) mergers
in ETGs is dominated by galaxies with low [Fe/H] and low [alpha/Fe]. The method
of reconstructing the stellar enrichment histories of ETGs introduced in this
paper promises to constrain the star formation and mass assembly histories of
large samples of galaxies in a unique way.Comment: 22 pages, 25 figures, accepted for publication by A&
Open mirror symmetry for Pfaffian Calabi-Yau 3-folds
We investigate the open mirror symmetry of certain non-complete intersection
Calabi- Yau 3-folds, so called pfaffian Calabi-Yau. We perform the prediction
of the number of disk invariants of several examples by using the direct
integration method proposed recently and the open mirror symmetry. We treat
several pfaffian Calabi-Yau 3-folds in and branes with two
discrete vacua. Some models have the two special points in its moduli space,
around both of which we can consider different A-model mirror partners. We
compute disc invariants for both cases. This study is the first application of
the open mirror symmetry to the compact non-complete intersections in toric
variety.Comment: 64 pages; v2: typos corrected, minor changes, references added; v3:
published version, minor corrections and improvement
Polynomial Structure of the (Open) Topological String Partition Function
In this paper we show that the polynomial structure of the topological string
partition function found by Yamaguchi and Yau for the quintic holds for an
arbitrary Calabi-Yau manifold with any number of moduli. Furthermore, we
generalize these results to the open topological string partition function as
discussed recently by Walcher and reproduce his results for the real quintic.Comment: 15 page
An Accreting Black Hole in the Nuclear Star Cluster of the Bulgeless Galaxy NGC 1042
We present spectroscopic evidence for a low-luminosity, low-excitation active
galactic nucleus (AGN) in NGC 1042, powered by an intermediate-mass black hole.
These findings are significant in that the AGN is coincident with a compact
star cluster known to reside in the nucleus, thus providing an example where
the two types of central mass concentration coexist. The existence of a central
black hole is additionally remarkable in that NGC 1042 lacks a stellar bulge.
Objects such as NGC 1042 may have an important role in testing theories for the
genesis of massive black holes in galaxy nuclei, and the extent to which they
are in symbiosis with the larger stellar host.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Differential stellar population models: how to reliably measure [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe] in galaxies
We present differential stellar population models, which allow improved
determinations of the ages, iron and alpha-element abundances of old stellar
populations from spectral fitting. These new models are calibrated at solar
abundances using the predictions from classical, semi-empirical stellar
population models. We then use the predictive power of fully synthetic models
to compute predictions for different [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe]. We show that these
new differential models provide remarkably accurate fits to the integrated
optical spectra of the bulge globular clusters NGC6528 and NGC6553, and that
the inferred [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe] agree with values derived elsewhere from
stellar photometry and spectroscopy. The analysis of a small sample of SDSS
early-type galaxies further confirms that our alpha-enhanced models provide a
better fit to the spectra of massive ellipticals than the solar-scaled ones.
Our approach opens new opportunities for precision measurements of abundance
ratios in galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, MNRAS in pres
Neutron electric form factor at large momentum transfer
Based on the recent, high precision data for elastic electron scattering from
protons and deuterons, at relatively large momentum transfer , we
determine the neutron electric form factor up to GeV. The values
obtained from the data (in the framework of the nonrelativistic impulse
approximation) are larger than commonly assumed and are in good agreement with
the Gari-Kr\"umpelmann parametrization of the nucleon electromagnetic form
factors.Comment: 11 pages 2 figure
Nuclear Star Clusters across the Hubble Sequence
Over the last decade, HST imaging studies have revealed that the centers of
most galaxies are occupied by compact, barely resolved sources. Based on their
structural properties, position in the fundamental plane, and spectra, these
sources clearly have a stellar origin. They are therefore called ``nuclear star
clusters'' (NCs) or ``stellar nuclei''. NCs are found in galaxies of all Hubble
types, suggesting that their formation is intricately linked to galaxy
evolution. In this contribution, I briefly review the results from recent
studies of NCs, touch on some ideas for their formation, and mention some open
issues related to the possible connection between NCs and supermassive black
holes.Comment: 6 page conference proceedings, to appear in "The impact of HST on
European Astronomy" (41st ESLAB Symposium), pdflatex file, uses svmult.cls
(included
Calculations for Mirror Symmetry with D-branes
We study normal functions capturing D-brane superpotentials on several one-
and two-parameter Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces and complete intersections in
weighted projective space. We calculate in the B-model and interpret the
results using mirror symmetry in the large volume regime, albeit without
identifying the precise A-model geometry in all cases. We identify new classes
of extensions of Picard-Fuchs equations, as well as a novel type of topology
changing phase transition involving quantum D-branes. A 4-d domain wall which
is obtained in one region of closed string moduli space from wrapping a
four-chain interpolating between two Lagrangian submanifolds is, for other
values of the parameters, represented by a disk ending on a single Lagrangian.Comment: 42 page
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