1,557 research outputs found
GRBs and fundamental physics
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are short and intense flashes at the cosmological
distances, which are the most luminous explosions in the Universe. The high
luminosities of GRBs make them detectable out to the edge of the visible
universe. So, they are unique tools to probe the properties of high-redshift
universe: including the cosmic expansion and dark energy, star formation rate,
the reionization epoch and the metal evolution of the Universe. First, they can
be used to constrain the history of cosmic acceleration and the evolution of
dark energy in a redshift range hardly achievable by other cosmological probes.
Second, long GRBs are believed to be formed by collapse of massive stars. So
they can be used to derive the high-redshift star formation rate, which can not
be probed by current observations. Moreover, the use of GRBs as cosmological
tools could unveil the reionization history and metal evolution of the
Universe, the intergalactic medium (IGM) properties and the nature of first
stars in the early universe. But beyond that, the GRB high-energy photons can
be applied to constrain Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) and to test
Einstein's Equivalence Principle (EEP). In this paper, we review the progress
on the GRB cosmology and fundamental physics probed by GRBs.Comment: 38 pages, 18 figures, Review based on ISSI workshop "Gamma-Ray
Bursts: a Tool to Explore the Young Universe" (2015, Beijing, China),
accepted for publication in Space Science Review
Temperature and Kinematics of CIV Absorption Systems
We use Keck HIRES spectra of three intermediate redshift QSOs to study the
physical state and kinematics of the individual components of CIV selected
heavy element absorption systems. Fewer than 8 % of all CIV lines with column
densities greater than 10^{12.5} cm^{-2} have Doppler parameters b < 6 km/s. A
formal decomposition into thermal and non-thermal motion using the simultaneous
presence of SiIV gives a mean thermal Doppler parameter b_{therm}(CIV) = 7.2
km/s, corresponding to a temperature of 38,000 K although temperatures possibly
in excess of 300,000 K occur occasionally. We also find tentative evidence for
a mild increase of temperature with HI column density. Non-thermal motions
within components are typically small (< 10 km/s) for most systems, indicative
of a quiescent environment. The two-point correlation function (TPCF) of CIV
systems on scales up to 500 km/s suggests that there is more than one source of
velocity dispersion. The shape of the TPCF can be understood if the CIV systems
are caused by ensembles of objects with the kinematics of dwarf galaxies on a
small scale, while following the Hubble flow on a larger scale. Individual high
redshift CIV components may be the building blocks of future normal galaxies in
a hierarchical structure formation scenario.Comment: submitted to the ApJ Letters, March 16, 1996 (in press); (13 Latex
pages, 4 Postscript figures, and psfig.sty included
Testing Cosmological Models With A \lya Forest Statistic: The High End Of The Optical Depth Distribution
We pay particular attention to the high end of the \lya optical depth
distribution of a quasar spectrum. Based on the flux distribution
(Miralda-Escud\'e et al 1996), a simple yet seemingly cosmological model
-differentiating statistic, -- the cumulative probability of
a quasar spectrum with \lya optical depth greater than a high value
-- is emphasized. It is shown that two different models -- the cold dark matter
model with a cosmological constant and the mixed hot and cold dark matter
model, both normalized to COBE and local galaxy cluster abundance -- yield
quite different values of : 0.13 of the former versus 0.058 of
the latter for at . Moreover, it is argued that
may be fairly robust to compute theoretically because it does
not seem to depend sensitively on small variations of simulations parameters
such as radiation field, cooling, feedback process, radiative transfer,
resolution and simulation volume within the plausible ranges of the concerned
quantities. Furthermore, it is illustrated that can be
obtained sufficiently accurately from currently available observed quasar
spectra for , when observational noise is properly taken
into account. We anticipate that analyses of observations of quasar \lya
absorption spectra over a range of redshift may be able to constrain the
redshift evolution of the amplitude of the density fluctuations on
small-to-intermediate scales, therefore providing an independent constraint on
, and .Comment: ApJ Letters, in press, substantial changes have been made from the
last versio
Chemical Enrichment at High Redshifts
We have tried to understand the recent observations related to metallicity in
Ly forest clouds in the framework of the two component model suggested
by Chiba & Nath (1997). We find that even if the mini-halos were chemically
enriched by an earlier generation of stars, to have [C/H] -2.5, the
number of C IV lines with column density , contributed by the
mini-halos, at the redshift of 3, would be only about 10% of the total number
of lines, for a chemical enrichment rate of in the galaxies.
Recently reported absence of heavy element lines associated with most of the Ly
lines with H I column density between and by Lu et al (1998), if correct, gives an upper limit on [C/H]=-3.7,
not only in the mini-halos, but also in the outer parts of galactic halos. This
is consistent with the results of numerical simulations, according to which,
the chemical elements associated with the Ly clouds are formed in situ
in clouds, rather than in an earlier generation of stars. However, the mean
value of for the column density ratio of C IV and H I,
determined by Cowie and Songaila (1998) for low Lyman alpha optical depths,
implies an abundance of [C/H] =-2.5 in mini-halos as well as in most of the
region in galactic halos, presumably enriched by an earlier generation of
stars. The redshift and column density distribution of C IV has been shown to
be in reasonable agreement with the observations.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, To appear in Astrophysical Journa
The mass-metallicity relation for high-redshift damped Ly-alpha galaxies
We used our database of ESO VLT-UVES spectra of quasars to build up a sample
of 67 Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems with redshifts 1.7<zabs<3.7. For each
system, we measured average metallicities relative to Solar, [X/H] (with either
X=Zn, S or Si), and the velocity widths of low-ionization line profiles, W1. We
find that there is a tight correlation between the two quantities, detected at
the 5sigma significance level. The existence of such a correlation, over more
than two orders of magnitude spread in metallicity, is likely to be the
consequence of an underlying mass-metallicity relation for the galaxies
responsible for DLA absorption lines. The best-fit linear relation is
[X/H]=1.35(\pm 0.11)\log W1 -3.69(\pm 0.18)$ with W1 expressed in km/s. While
the slope of this velocity-metallicity relation is the same within
uncertainties between the higher and the lower redshift bins of our sample,
there is a hint of an increase of the intercept point of the relation with
decreasing redshift. This suggests that galaxy halos of a given mass tend to
become more metal-rich with time. Moreover, the slope of this relation is
consistent with that of the luminosity-metallicity relation for local galaxies.
The DLA systems having the lowest metallicities among the DLA population would
therefore, on average, correspond to the galaxies having the lowest masses. In
turn, these galaxies should have the lowest luminosities among the DLA galaxy
population. This may explain the recent result that the few DLA systems with
detected Ly-alpha emission have higher than average metallicities.Comment: proceedings of IAU Colloquium No. 199, 2005, ``Probing Galaxies
through Quasar Absorption Lines'', P.R. Williams, C. Shu, B. Menard, ed
Multiphase Plasma in Sub-Damped Lyman Alpha Systems: A Hidden Metal Reservoir
We present a VLT/UVES spectrum of a proximate sub-damped Lyman-alpha
(sub-DLA) system at z=2.65618 toward the quasar Q0331-4505
(z_qso=2.6785+/-0.0030). Absorption lines of O I, Si II, Si III, Si IV, C II, C
III, C IV, Fe II, Al II, and O VI are seen in the sub-DLA, which has a neutral
hydrogen column density log N(H I)=19.82+/-0.05. The absorber is at a velocity
of 1820+/-250 km/s from the quasar; however, its low metallicity
[O/H]=-1.64+/-0.07, lack of partial coverage, lack of temporal variations
between observations taken in 2003 and 2006, and non-detection of N V imply the
absorber is not a genuine intrinsic system. By measuring the O VI column
density and assuming equal metallicities in the neutral and ionized gas, we
determine the column density of hot ionized hydrogen in this sub-DLA, and in
two other sub-DLAs with O VI drawn from the literature. Coupling this with
determinations of the typical amount of warm ionized hydrogen in sub-DLAs, we
confirm that sub-DLAs are a more important metal reservoir than DLAs, in total
comprising at least 6-22% of the metal budget at z~2.5.Comment: 5 pages, 3 color figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
The Nature of Associated Absorption and the UV-X-ray Connection in 3C 288.1
We discuss new Hubble Space Telescope spectroscopy of the radio-loud quasar,
3C 288.1. The data cover ~590 A to ~1610 A in the quasar rest frame. They
reveal a wealth of associated absorption lines (AALs) with no accompanying
Lyman-limit absorption. The metallic AALs range in ionization from C III and N
III to Ne VIII and Mg X. We use these data and photoionization models to derive
the following properties of the AAL gas: 1) There are multiple ionization zones
within the AAL region, spanning a factor of at least ~50 in ionization
parameter. 2) The overall ionization is consistent with the ``warm'' X-ray
continuum absorbers measured in Seyfert 1 nuclei and other QSOs. However, 3)
the column densities implied by the AALs in 3C 288.1 are too low to produce
significant bound-free absorption at any UV-X-ray wavelengths. Substantial
X-ray absorption would require yet another zone, having a much higher
ionization or a much lower velocity dispersion than the main AAL region. 4) The
total hydrogen column density in the AAL gas is log N_H (cm-2)= 20.2. 5) The
metallicity is roughly half solar. 6) The AALs have deconvolved widths of ~900
km/s and their centroids are consistent with no shift from the quasar systemic
velocity (conservatively within +/-1000 km/s). 7) There are no direct
indicators of the absorber's location in our data, but the high ionization and
high metallicity both suggest a close physical relationship to the quasar/host
galaxy environment. Finally, the UV continuum shape gives no indication of a
``blue bump'' at higher energies. There is a distinct break of unknown origin
at ~1030 A, and the decline toward higher energies (with spectral index alpha =
-1.73, for f_nu ~ nu^alpha) is even steeper than a single power-law
interpolation from 1030 A to soft X-rays.Comment: 27 pages with figures and tables, in press with Ap
The Origin of C IV Absorption Systems at Redshifts z<1---Discovery of Extended C IV Envelopes Around Galaxies
(Abridged) We report the discovery of extended CIV gaseous envelopes around
galaxies of a wide range of luminosity and morphological type. First, we show
that CIV absorption systems are strongly clustered around galaxies on velocity
scales of v < 250 km/s and impact parameter scales of rho < 100 h^{-1} kpc but
not on larger velocity or impact parameter scales. Next, adopting measurements
of galaxy properties presented in previous papers, we examine how properties of
the CIV absorption systems depend on properties of the galaxies. On the basis
of 14 galaxy and absorber pairs and 36 galaxies that do not produce
corresponding CIV absorption lines to within sensitive upper limits, we find
that: (1) Galaxies of a range of morphological type and luminosity appear to
possess extended CIV gaseous envelopes of radius R ~ 100 h^{-1} kpc, with
abrupt boundaries between the CIV absorbing and non-absorbing regions. (2) The
extent of CIV-absorbing gas around galaxies scales with galaxy B-band
luminosity as R \propto L_B^{0.5 +/- 0.1} but does not depend strongly on
galaxy surface brightness, redshift, or morphological type. And (3) the
covering factor of CIV clouds within ~ 100 h^{-1} kpc of galaxies is nearly
unity, but there is a large scatter in the mean number of clouds encountered
along the line of sight. The most significant implication of the study is that
galaxies of a wide range of luminosity and morphological type are surrounded by
chemically enriched gas that extends for at least ~ 100 h^{-1} kpc. We consider
various scenarios that may have produced metals at large galactic distance and
conclude that accreting satellites are most likely to be responsible for
chemically enriched gas at large galactic distances to regular looking
galaxies.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, to appear in ApJ, July 20 200
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