14,094 research outputs found
An 8.4-GHz dual-maser front-end system for Parkes reimplementation
An 8.4-GHz front-end system consisting of a feedhorn, a waveguide feed assembly, dual masers, and downconverters was reimplemented at Parkes as part of the Parkes Canberra Telemetry Array for the Voyager Neptune encounter. The front-end system was originally assembled by the European Space Agency and installed on the Parkes antenna for the Giotto project. It was also used on a time-sharing basis by the Deep Space Network as part of the Parkes Canberra Telemetry Array to enhance the data return from the Voyager Uranus encounter. At the conclusion of these projects in 1986, part of the system was then shipped to JPL on loan for reimplementation at Parkes for the Voyager Neptune encounter. New design and implementation required to make the system operable at Parkes included new microwave front-end control cabinets, closed-cycle refrigeration monitor system, noise-adding radiometer system, front-end controller assembly, X81 local oscillator multiplier, and refurbishment of the original dual 8.4-GHz traveling-wave masers and waveguide feed system. The front-end system met all requirements during the encounter and was disassembled in October 1989 and returned to JPL
Orbital Decay of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Clumpy Multiphase Merger Remnants
We simulate an equal-mass merger of two Milky Way-size galaxy discs with
moderate gas fractions at parsec-scale resolution including a new model for
radiative cooling and heating in a multi-phase medium, as well as star
formation and feedback from supernovae. The two discs initially have a
supermassive black hole (SMBH) embedded in
their centers. As the merger completes and the two galactic cores merge, the
SMBHs form a a pair with a separation of a few hundred pc that gradually
decays. Due to the stochastic nature of the system immediately following the
merger, the orbital plane of the binary is significantly perturbed.
Furthermore, owing to the strong starburst the gas from the central region is
completely evacuated, requiring ~Myr for a nuclear disc to rebuild.
Most importantly, the clumpy nature of the interstellar medium has a major
impact on the the dynamical evolution of the SMBH pair, which undergo
gravitational encounters with massive gas clouds and stochastic torquing by
both clouds and spiral modes in the disk. These effects combine to greatly
delay the decay of the two SMBHs to separations of a few parsecs by nearly two
orders of magnitude, yr, compared to previous work. In mergers of
more gas-rich, clumpier galaxies at high redshift stochastic torques will be
even more pronounced and potentially lead to stronger modulation of the orbital
decay. This suggests that SMBH pairs at separations of several tens of parsecs
should be relatively common at any redshift.Comment: submitted to MNRAS; Comments very welcom
Uncovering CDM halo substructure with tidal streams
Models for the formation and growth of structure in a cold dark matter
dominated universe predict that galaxy halos should contain significant
substructure. Studies of the Milky Way, however, have yet to identify the
expected few hundred sub-halos with masses greater than about 10^6 Msun. Here
we propose a test for the presence of sub-halos in the halos of galaxies. We
show that the structure of the tidal tails of ancient globular clusters is very
sensitive to heating by repeated close encounters with the massive dark
sub-halos. We discuss the detection of such an effect in the context of the
next generation of astrometric missions, and conclude that it should be easily
detectable with the GAIA dataset. The finding of a single extended cold stellar
stream from a globular cluster would support alternative theories, such as
self-interacting dark matter, that give rise to smoother halos.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRA
Asteroids Observed by The Sloan Digital Sky Survey
We announce the first public release of the SDSS Moving Object Catalog, with
SDSS observations for 58,117 asteroids. The catalog lists astrometric and
photometric data for moving objects observed prior to Dec 15, 2001, and also
includes orbital elements for 10,592 previously known objects. We analyze the
correlation between the orbital parameters and optical colors for the known
objects, and confirm that asteroid dynamical families, defined as clusters in
orbital parameter space, also strongly segregate in color space. Their
distinctive optical colors indicate that the variations in chemical composition
within a family are much smaller than the compositional differences between
families, and strongly support earlier suggestions that asteroids belonging to
a particular family have a common origin.Comment: 6 pages, 1 color figure, to be presented at "Astronomical Telescopes
& Instrumentation", SPIE 200
Effects of Extreme Obliquity Variations on the Habitability of Exoplanets
We explore the impact of obliquity variations on planetary habitability in
hypothetical systems with high mutual inclination. We show that large
amplitude, high frequency obliquity oscillations on Earth-like exoplanets can
suppress the ice-albedo feedback, increasing the outer edge of the habitable
zone. We restrict our exploration to hypothetical systems consisting of a
solar-mass star, an Earth-mass planet at 1 AU, and 1 or 2 larger planets. We
verify that these systems are stable for years with N-body simulations,
and calculate the obliquity variations induced by the orbital evolution of the
Earth-mass planet and a torque from the host star. We run a simplified energy
balance model on the terrestrial planet to assess surface temperature and ice
coverage on the planet's surface, and we calculate differences in the outer
edge of the habitable zone for planets with rapid obliquity variations. For
each hypothetical system, we calculate the outer edge of habitability for two
conditions: 1) the full evolution of the planetary spin and orbit, and 2) the
eccentricity and obliquity fixed at their average values. We recover previous
results that higher values of fixed obliquity and eccentricity expand the
habitable zone, but also find that obliquity oscillations further expand
habitable orbits in all cases. Terrestrial planets near the outer edge of the
habitable zone may be more likely to support life in systems that induce rapid
obliquity oscillations as opposed to fixed-spin planets. Such planets may be
the easiest to directly characterize with space-borne telescopes.Comment: 46 pages, 12 Figures, 5 Table
Hierarchical formation of bulgeless galaxies II: Redistribution of angular momentum via galactic fountains
Within a fully cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, we form a galaxy which
rotates at 140 km/s, and is characterised by two loose spiral arms and a bar,
indicative of a Hubble Type SBc/d galaxy. We show that our simulated galaxy has
no classical bulge, with a pure disc profile at z=1, well after the major
merging activity has ended. A long-lived bar subsequently forms, resulting in
the formation of a secularly-formed "pseudo" bulge, with the final
bulge-to-total light ratio B/T=0.21. We show that the majority of gas which
loses angular momentum and falls to the central region of the galaxy during the
merging epoch is blown back into the hot halo, with much of it returning later
to form stars in the disc. We propose that this mechanism of redistribution of
angular momentum via a galactic fountain, when coupled with the results from
our previous study which showed why gas outflows are biased to have low angular
momentum, can solve the angular momentum/bulgeless disc problem of the cold
dark matter paradigm.Comment: 9 Pages, 10 Figures, accepted MNRAS version. Comments welcom
Galaxy Formation with local photoionisation feedback I. Methods
We present a first study of the effect of local photoionising radiation on
gas cooling in smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of galaxy formation.
We explore the combined effect of ionising radiation from young and old stellar
populations. The method computes the effect of multiple radiative sources using
the same tree algorithm used for gravity, so it is computationally efficient
and well resolved. The method foregoes calculating absorption and scattering in
favour of a constant escape fraction for young stars to keep the calculation
efficient enough to simulate the entire evolution of a galaxy in a cosmological
context to the present day. This allows us to quantify the effect of the local
photoionisation feedback through the whole history of a galaxy`s formation. The
simulation of a Milky Way like galaxy using the local photoionisation model
forms ~ 40 % less stars than a simulation that only includes a standard uniform
background UV field. The local photoionisation model decreases star formation
by increasing the cooling time of the gas in the halo and increasing the
equilibrium temperature of dense gas in the disc. Coupling the local radiation
field to gas cooling from the halo provides a preventive feedback mechanism
which keeps the central disc light and produces slowly rising rotation curves
without resorting to extreme feedback mechanisms. These preliminary results
indicate that the effect of local photoionising sources is significant and
should not be ignored in models of galaxy formation.Comment: Accepted for Publication in MNRAS, 13 pages, 13 figure
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