The Rafita asteroid family

The Rafita asteroid family is an S-type group located in the middle main belt, on the right side of the 3J:-1A mean-motion resonance. The proximity of this resonance to the family left side in semi-major axis caused many former family members to be lost. As a consequence, the family shape in the $(a,1/D)$ domain is quite asymmetrical, with a preponderance of objects on the right side of the distribution. The Rafita family is also characterized by a leptokurtic distribution in inclination, which allows the use of methods of family age estimation recently introduced for other leptokurtic families such as Astrid, Hansa, Gallia, and Barcelona. In this work we propose a new method based on the behavior of an asymmetry coefficient function of the distribution in the $(a,1/D)$ plane to date incomplete asteroid families such as Rafita. By monitoring the time behavior of this coefficient for asteroids simulating the initial conditions at the time of the family formation, we were able to estimate that the Rafita family should have an age of $490\pm200$ Myr, in good agreement with results from independent methods such as Monte Carlo simulations of Yarkovsky and Yorp dynamical induced evolution and the time behaviour of the kurtosis of the $\sin{(i)}$ distribution. Asteroids from the Rafita family can reach orbits similar to 8\% of the currently known near Earth objects. $\simeq$1\% of the simulated objects are present in NEO-space during the final 10 Myr of the simulation, and thus would be comparable to objects in the present-day NEO population.Comment: Accepted 2017 January 19. Received 2017 January 17; in original form 2016 September

The Milky Way halo as a QSO absorption-line system. New results from an HST/STIS absorption-line catalogue of Galactic high-velocity clouds

We use archival UV absorption-line data from HST/STIS to statistically analyse the absorption characteristics of the high-velocity clouds (HVCs) in the Galactic halo towards more than 40 extragalactic background sources. We determine absorption covering fractions of low- and intermediate ions (OI, CII, SiIII, MgII, FeII, SiIII, CIV, and SiIV) in the range fc = 0.20 - 0.70. For detailed analysis we concentrate on SiII absorption components in HVCs, for which we investigate the distribution of column densities, b-values, and radial velocities. Combining information for SiII and MgII, and using a geometrical HVC model we investigate the contribution of HVCs to the absorption cross section of strong MgII absorbers in the local Universe. We estimate that the Galactic HVCs would contribute on average ~52 % to the total strong MgII cross section of the Milky Way, if our Galaxy were to be observed from an exterior vantage point. We further estimate that the mean projected covering fraction of strong MgII absorption in the Milky Way halo and disc from an exterior vantage point is fc(sMgII) = 0.31 for a halo radius of R = 61 kpc. These numbers, together with the observed number density of strong MgII absorbers at low redshift, indicate that the contribution of infalling gas clouds (i.e., HVC analogues) in the halos of Milky Way-type galaxies to the cross section of strong MgII absorbers is <34 %. These findings are in line with the idea that outflowing gas (e.g., produced by galactic winds) in the halos of more actively star-forming galaxies dominate the absorption-cross section of strong MgII absorbers in the local Universe

A Survey of Analogs to Weak MgII Absorbers in the Present

We present the results of a survey of the analogs of weak MgII absorbers (rest frame equivalent width W(2796) < 0.3 A) at 0 < z < 0.3. Our sample consisted of 25 HST/STIS echelle quasar spectra (R = 45,000) which covered SiII 1260 and CII 1335 over this redshift range. Using those similar transitions as tracers of MgII facilitates a much larger survey, covering a redshift pathlength of g(z) = 5.3 for an equivalent width limit of MgII corresponding to W(2796) > 0.02 A, with 30% completeness for the weakest lines. We find the number of weak MgII absorber analogs with 0.02 < W(2796) < 0.3 to be dN/dz = 1.00 +/- 0.20 for 0 < z < 0.3. This value is consistent with cosmological evolution of the population. We consider the expected effect on observability of weak MgII absorbers of the decreasing intensity of the extragalactic background radiation eld from z~1 to z~0. Assuming that all the objects that produce absorption at z~1 are stable on a cosmological timescale, and that no new objects are created, we would expect dN/dz of 2-3 at z~0. About 30-50% of this z~0 population would be decendants of the parsec-scale structures that produce single-cloud, weak MgII absorbers at z~1. The other 50-70% would be lower density, kiloparsec-scale structures that produce CIV absorption, but not detectable low ionization absorption, at z~1. We conclude that at least one, and perhaps some fraction of both, of these populations has evolved away since z~1, in order to match the z~0 dN/dz measured in our survey. This would follow naturally for a population of transient structures whose generation is related to star-forming processes, whose rate has decreased since z~1.Comment: 45 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables ApJ accepte

Thermal Relics in Modified Cosmologies: Bounds on Evolution Histories of the Early Universe and Cosmological Boosts for PAMELA

Alternative cosmologies, based on extensions of General Relativity, predict modified thermal histories in the Early Universe during the pre Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) era, epoch which is not directly constrained by cosmological observations. When the expansion rate is enhanced with respect to the standard case, thermal relics typically decouple with larger relic abundances. The correct value of the relic abundance is therefore obtained for larger annihilation cross--sections, as compared to standard cosmology. A direct consequence is that indirect detection rates are enhanced. Extending previous analyses of ours, we derive updated astrophysical bounds on the dark matter annihilation cross sections and use them to constrain alternative cosmologies in the pre--BBN era. We also determine the characteristics of these alternative cosmologies in order to provide the correct value of relic abundance for a thermal relic for the (large) annihilation cross--section required to explain the PAMELA results on the positron fraction, therefore providing a "cosmological boost" solution to the dark matter interpretation of the PAMELA data.Comment: 19 pages, 27 figures, matches published versio

Probing New Physics through mu-e Universality in K->lnu

The recent NA48/2 improvement on R_K=Gamma(K->e nu_e)/Gamma(K->mu nu_mu) emphasizes the role of K_l2 decays in probing the mu-e universality. Supersymmetric (SUSY) extensions of the Standard Model can exhibit mu-e non-universal contributions. Their origin is twofold: those deriving from lepton flavor conserving couplings are subdominant with respect to those arising from lepton flavor violating (LFV) sources. We show that mu-e non-universality in K_l2 is quite effective in constraining relevant regions of SUSY models with LFV (for instance, supergravities with a see-saw mechanism for neutrino masses). A comparison with analogous bounds coming from tau LFV decays proves the relevance of the measurement of R_K to probe LFV in SUSY.Comment: v2: 5 pages, 1 figure. Comments and 2 references adde

Characterization of Active Main Belt Object P/2012 F5 (Gibbs): A Possible Impacted Asteroid

In this work we characterize the recently discovered active main belt object P/2012 F5 (Gibbs), which was discovered with a dust trail > 7' in length in the outer main belt, 7 months prior to aphelion. We use optical imaging obtained on UT 2012 March 27 to analyze the central condensation and the long trail. We find nuclear B-band and R-band apparent magnitudes of 20.96 and 19.93 mag, respectively, which give an upper limit on the radius of the nucleus of 2.1 km. The geometric cross-section of material in the trail was ~ 4 x 10^8 m^2, corresponding to a dust mass of ~ 5 x 10^7 kg. Analysis of infrared images taken by the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer in September 2010 reveals that the object was below the detection limit, suggesting that it was less active than it was during 2012, or possibly inactive, just 6 months after it passed through perihelion. We set a 1-sigma upper limit on its radius during this time of 2.9 km. P/2012 F5 (Gibbs) is dynamically stable in the outer main belt on timescales of ~ 1 Gyr, pointing towards an asteroidal origin. We find that the morphology of the ejected dust is consistent with it being produced by a single event that occurred on UT 2011 July 7 $\pm$ 20 days, possibly as the result of a collision with a small impactor.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Revising the age for the Baptistina asteroid family using WISE/NEOWISE data

We have used numerical routines to model the evolution of a simulated Baptistina family to constrain its age in light of new measurements of the diameters and albedos of family members from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. We also investigate the effect of varying the assumed physical and orbital parameters on the best-fitting age. We find that the physically allowed range of assumed values for the density and thermal conductivity induces a large uncertainty in the rate of evolution. When realistic uncertainties in the family members' physical parameters are taken into account we find the best-fitting age can fall anywhere in the range of 140-320 Myr. Without more information on the physical properties of the family members it is difficult to place a more firm constraint on Baptistina's age.Comment: 27 pages, 16 figures, accepted to Ap