6,097 research outputs found
On the Escape of Ionizing Radiation from Starbursts
Far-ultraviolet spectra obtained with show that the strong
1036 interstellar absorption-line is essentially black in five of
the UV-brightest local starburst galaxies. Since the opacity of the neutral ISM
below the Lyman-edge will be significantly larger than in the line, these
data provide strong constraints on the escape of ionizing radiation from these
starbursts. Interpreted as a a uniform absorbing slab, the implied optical
depth at the Lyman edge is huge (). Alternatively, the areal
covering factor of opaque material is typically 94%. Thus, the fraction
of ionizing stellar photons that escape the ISM of each galaxy is small: our
conservative estimates typically yield . Inclusion of
extinction due to dust will further decrease . An analogous analysis
of the rest-UV spectrum of the star-forming galaxy at =2.7
leads to similar constraints on . These new results agree with the
constraints provided by direct observations below the Lyman edge in a few other
local starbursts. However, they differ from the recently reported properties of
star-forming galaxies at 3. We assess the idea that the strong
galactic winds seen in many powerful starbursts clear channels through their
neutral ISM. We show empirically that such outflows may be a necessary - but
not sufficient - part of the process for creating a relatively porous ISM. We
note that observations will soon document the cosmic evolution in the
contribution of star-forming galaxies to the metagalactic ionizing background,
with important implications for the evolution of the IGM.Comment: 17 pages; ApJ, in pres
Local Starbursts in a Cosmological Context
In this contribution I introduce some of the major issues that motivate the
conference, with an emphasis on how starbursts fit into the ``big picture''. I
begin by defining starbursts in several different ways, and discuss the merits
and limitations of these definitions. I will argue that the most physically
useful definition of a starburst is its ``intensity'' (star formation rate per
unit area). This is the most natural parameter to compare local starbursts with
physically similar galaxies at high redshift, and indeed I will argue that
local starbursts are unique laboratories to study the processes at work in the
early universe. I will describe how NASA's GALEX mission has uncovered a rare
population of close analogs to Lyman Break Galaxies in the local universe. I
will then compare local starbursts to the Lyman-Break and sub-mm galaxies high
redshift populations, and speculate that the multidimensional ``manifold'' of
starbursts near and far can be understood largely in terms of the
Schmidt/Kennicutt law and galaxy mass-metallicity relation. I will briefly
summarize he properties of starburst-driven galactic superwinds and their
possible implications for the evolution of galaxies and the IGM. These complex
multiphase flows are best studied in nearby starbursts, where we can study the
the hot X-ray gas that contains the bulk of the energy and newly produced
metals.Comment: Proceedings of the Conference "Starbursts: Fropm 30 Doradus to Lyman
Break Galaxies
Starbursts and Star Clusters in the Ultraviolet
Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet (UV) images of nine starburst galaxies
reveal them to be highly irregular, even after excluding compact sources
(clusters and resolved stars). Most (7/9) are found to have a similar intrinsic
effective surface brightnesses, suggesting that a negative feedback mechanism
is setting an upper limit to the star formation rate per unit area. All
starbursts in our sample contain UV bright star clusters indicating that
cluster formation is an important mode of star formation in starbursts. On
average about 20% of the UV luminosity comes from these clusters. The brightest
clusters, or super star clusters (SSC), are preferentially found at the very
heart of starbursts. The size of the nearest SSCs are consistent with those of
Galactic globular clusters. The luminosity function of SSCs is well represented
by a power law with a slope alpha ~ -2. There is a strong correlation between
the far infrared excess and the UV spectral slope. The correlation is well
modeled by a geometry where much of their dust is in a foreground screen near
to the starburst, but not by a geometry of well mixed stars and dust.Comment: 47 pages, text only, LaTeX with aaspp.sty (version 3.0), compressed
postscript figures available at
ftp://eta.pha.jhu.edu/RecentPublications/meurer
The Footprint of F-theory at the LHC
Recent work has shown that compactifications of F-theory provide a
potentially attractive phenomenological scenario. The low energy
characteristics of F-theory GUTs consist of a deformation away from a minimal
gauge mediation scenario with a high messenger scale. The soft scalar masses of
the theory are all shifted by a stringy effect which survives to low energies.
This effect can range from 0 GeV up to ~ 500 GeV. In this paper we study
potential collider signatures of F-theory GUTs, focussing in particular on ways
to distinguish this class of models from other theories with an MSSM spectrum.
To accomplish this, we have adapted the general footprint method developed
recently for distinguishing broad classes of string vacua to the specific case
of F-theory GUTs. We show that with only 5 fb^(-1) of simulated LHC data, it is
possible to distinguish many mSUGRA models and low messenger scale gauge
mediation models from F-theory GUTs. Moreover, we find that at 5 fb^(-1), the
stringy deformation away from minimal gauge mediation produces observable
consequences which can also be detected to a level of order ~ +/- 80 GeV. In
this way, it is possible to distinguish between models with a large and small
stringy deformation. At 50 fb^(-1), this improves to ~ +/- 10 GeV.Comment: 85 pages, 37 figure
T-Branes and Monodromy
We introduce T-branes, or "triangular branes," which are novel non-abelian
bound states of branes characterized by the condition that on some loci, their
matrix of normal deformations, or Higgs field, is upper triangular. These
configurations refine the notion of monodromic branes which have recently
played a key role in F-theory phenomenology. We show how localized matter
living on complex codimension one subspaces emerge, and explain how to compute
their Yukawa couplings, which are localized in complex codimension two. Not
only do T-branes clarify what is meant by brane monodromy, they also open up a
vast array of new possibilities both for phenomenological constructions and for
purely theoretical applications. We show that for a general T-brane, the
eigenvalues of the Higgs field can fail to capture the spectrum of localized
modes. In particular, this provides a method for evading some constraints on
F-theory GUTs which have assumed that the spectral equation for the Higgs field
completely determines a local model.Comment: 110 pages, 5 figure
Matter wave functions and Yukawa couplings in F-theory Grand Unification
We study the local structure of zero mode wave functions of chiral matter
fields in F-theory unification. We solve the differential equations for the
zero modes derived from local Higgsing in the 8-dimensional parent action of
F-theory 7-branes. The solutions are found as expansions both in powers and
derivatives of the magnetic fluxes. Yukawa couplings are given by an overlap
integral of the three wave functions involved in the interaction and can be
calculated analytically. We provide explicit expressions for these Yukawas to
second order both in the flux and derivative expansions and discuss the effect
of higher order terms. We explicitly describe the dependence of the couplings
on the U(1) charges of the relevant fields, appropriately taking into account
their normalization. A hierarchical Yukawa structure is naturally obtained. The
application of our results to the understanding of the observed hierarchies of
quarks and leptons is discussed.Comment: Latex, 51 pages, 4 figures, typos corrected, note adde
Geometrically Induced Phase Transitions at Large N
Utilizing the large N dual description of a metastable system of branes and
anti-branes wrapping rigid homologous S^2's in a non-compact Calabi-Yau
threefold, we study phase transitions induced by changing the positions of the
S^2's. At leading order in 1/N the effective potential for this system is
computed by the planar limit of an auxiliary matrix model. Beginning at the two
loop correction, the degenerate vacuum energy density of the discrete confining
vacua split, and a potential is generated for the axion. Changing the relative
positions of the S^2's causes discrete jumps in the energetically preferred
confining vacuum and can also obstruct direct brane/anti-brane annihilation
processes. The branes must hop to nearby S^2's before annihilating, thus
significantly increasing the lifetime of the corresponding non-supersymmetric
vacua. We also speculate that misaligned metastable glueball phases may
generate a repulsive inter-brane force which stabilizes the radial mode present
in compact Calabi-Yau threefolds.Comment: 47 pages, 7 figure
Supersymmetry Breaking Vacua from M Theory Fivebranes
We consider intersecting brane configurations realizing N=2 supersymmetric
gauge theories broken to N=1 by multitrace superpotentials, and softly to N=0.
We analyze, in the framework of M5-brane wrapping a curve, the supersymmetric
vacua and the analogs of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking and soft
supersymmetry breaking in gauge theories. We show that the M5-brane does not
exhibit the analog of metastable spontaneous supersymmetry breaking, and does
not have non-holomorphic minimal volume curves with holomorphic boundary
conditions. However, we find that any point in the N=2 moduli space can be
rotated to a non-holomorphic minimal volume curve, whose boundary conditions
break supersymmetry. We interpret these as the analogs of soft supersymmetry
breaking vacua in the gauge theory.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures, harvmac; v2: corrections in eq. 3.6 and in
section 6, reference adde
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