57 research outputs found
Young star clusters in M31
In our study of M31's globular cluster system with MMT/Hectospec, we have
obtained high-quality spectra of 85 clusters with ages less than 1 Gyr. With
the exception of Hubble V, the young cluster in NGC 205, we find that these
young clusters have kinematics and spatial distribution consistent with
membership in M31's young disk. Preliminary estimates of the cluster masses and
structural parameters, using spectroscopically derived ages and HST imaging,
confirms earlier suggestions that M31 has clusters similar to the LMC's young
populous clusters.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, contributed talk at "Galaxies in the Local Volume"
conference in Sydney, July 200
Quantum curves for Hitchin fibrations and the Eynard-Orantin theory
We generalize the topological recursion of Eynard-Orantin (2007) to the
family of spectral curves of Hitchin fibrations. A spectral curve in the
topological recursion, which is defined to be a complex plane curve, is
replaced with a generic curve in the cotangent bundle of an arbitrary
smooth base curve . We then prove that these spectral curves are
quantizable, using the new formalism. More precisely, we construct the
canonical generators of the formal -deformation family of -modules
over an arbitrary projective algebraic curve of genus greater than ,
from the geometry of a prescribed family of smooth Hitchin spectral curves
associated with the -character variety of the fundamental
group . We show that the semi-classical limit through the WKB
approximation of these -deformed -modules recovers the initial family
of Hitchin spectral curves.Comment: 34 page
The Initial Conditions to Star Formation: Low Mass Stars at Low Metallicity
We have measured the present accretion rate of roughly 800 low-mass (~1-1.4
Mo) pre-Main Sequence stars in the field of SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic
Cloud. The stars with statistically significant Balmer continuum and Halpha
excesses are measured to have accretion rates larger than about 1.5x10^{-8}
Mo/yr at an age of 12-16 Myrs. For comparison, the time scale for disk
dissipation observed in the Galaxy is of the order of 6 Myrs.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in IMF@50, ed. by E. Corbelli, F. Palla,
H. Zinnecker (Dordrecht: Kluwer
Electronic cigarettes: A position statement from the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand*
The TSANZ develops position statements where insufficient data exist to write formal clinical guidelines. In 2018, the TSANZ addressed the question of potential benefits and health impacts of electronic cigarettes (EC). The working party included groups focused on health impacts, smoking cessation, youth issues and priority populations. The 2018 report on the Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes from the United States NASEM was accepted as reflective of evidence to mid-2017. A search for papers subsequently published in peer-reviewed journals was conducted in August 2018. A small number of robust and important papers published until March 2019 were also identified and included. Groups identified studies that extended, modified or contradicted the NASEM report. A total of 3793 papers were identified and reviewed, with summaries and draft position statements developed and presented to TSANZ membership in April 2019. After feedback from members and external reviewers, a collection of position statements was finalized in December 2019. EC have adverse lung effects and harmful effects of long-term use are unknown. EC are unsuitable consumer products for recreational use, part-substitution for smoking or long-term exclusive use by former smokers. Smokers who require support to quit smoking should be directed towards approved medication in conjunction with behavioural support as having the strongest evidence for efficacy and safety. No specific EC product can be recommended as effective and safe for smoking cessation. Smoking cessation claims in relation to EC should be assessed by established regulators
Cluster Density and the IMF
Observed variations in the IMF are reviewed with an emphasis on environmental
density. The remote field IMF studied in the LMC by several authors is clearly
steeper than most cluster IMFs, which have slopes close to the Salpeter value.
Local field regions of star formation, like Taurus, may have relatively steep
IMFs too. Very dense and massive clusters, like super star clusters, could have
flatter IMFs, or inner-truncated IMFs. We propose that these variations are the
result of three distinct processes during star formation that affect the mass
function in different ways depending on mass range. At solar to intermediate
stellar masses, gas processes involving thermal pressure and supersonic
turbulence determine the basic scale for stellar mass, starting with the
observed pre-stellar condensations, and they define the mass function from
several tenths to several solar masses. Brown dwarfs require extraordinarily
high pressures for fragmentation from the gas, and presumably form inside the
pre-stellar condensations during mutual collisions, secondary fragmentations,
or in disks. High mass stars form in excess of the numbers expected from pure
turbulent fragmentation as pre-stellar condensations coalesce and accrete with
an enhanced gravitational cross section. Variations in the interaction rate,
interaction strength, and accretion rate among the primary fragments formed by
turbulence lead to variations in the relative proportions of brown dwarfs,
solar to intermediate mass stars, and high mass stars.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, to be published in ``IMF@50: A Fest-Colloquium
in honor of Edwin E. Salpeter,'' held at Abbazia di Spineto, Siena, Italy,
May 16-20, 2004. Kluwer Academic Publishers; edited by E. Corbelli, F. Palla,
and H. Zinnecke
Star clusters near and far; tracing star formation across cosmic time
© 2020 Springer-Verlag. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00690-x.Star clusters are fundamental units of stellar feedback and unique tracers of their host galactic properties. In this review, we will first focus on their constituents, i.e.\ detailed insight into their stellar populations and their surrounding ionised, warm, neutral, and molecular gas. We, then, move beyond the Local Group to review star cluster populations at various evolutionary stages, and in diverse galactic environmental conditions accessible in the local Universe. At high redshift, where conditions for cluster formation and evolution are more extreme, we are only able to observe the integrated light of a handful of objects that we believe will become globular clusters. We therefore discuss how numerical and analytical methods, informed by the observed properties of cluster populations in the local Universe, are used to develop sophisticated simulations potentially capable of disentangling the genetic map of galaxy formation and assembly that is carried by globular cluster populations.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
ROSAT HRI observations of the Local Group galaxies IC 10, NGC 147 and NGC 185
We report on pointed X-ray observations of IC 10, NGC 147 and NGC 185 made
with the ROSAT High Resolution Imager (HRI). These are three Local Group
galaxies that have never been previously studied in detail in the X-ray regime.
IC 10 is the closest starburst galaxy to our own Galaxy, and NGC 147 and NGC
185 are companions to M31. We have discovered a variable X-ray source
coincident with IC 10. The source is located near the centre of a large,
non-thermal bubble of radio emission, and it is positionally coincident with an
emission line star in IC 10 which has been classified as a WN type Wolf-Rayet
star. We demonstrate that a confusing foreground or background source is
improbable. The X-ray source is probably an X-ray binary in IC 10, and it may
be a Wolf-Rayet + black hole binary. The source has mean and maximum 0.1--2.5
keV isotropic luminosities of about 2 and 4 times 10^{38} erg/s. We do not
detect any sources in the central regions of NGC 147 or NGC 185. We place upper
limits on their central X-ray emission, and we list all X-ray sources
coincident with their outer extents. We also present the first X-ray detections
of the well-studied Algol-type binary TV Cas and the W UMa-type binary BH Cas,
which were both serendipitously observed during our IC 10 pointing.Comment: 9 pages, uuencoded compressed tar file, MNRAS in press, also
available from http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/niel/papers/papers.htm
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