945 research outputs found
An evaluation of the relative fire hazards of jet A and jet B for commercial flight
The relative fire hazards of Jet A and Jet B aircraft fuels are evaluated. The evaluation is based on a consideration of the presence of and/or the generation of flammable mixtures in fuel systems, the ignition characteristics, and the flame propagation rates for the two fuel types. Three distinct aircraft operating regimes where fuel type may be a factor in fire hazards are considered. These are: (1) ground handling and refueling, (2) flight, and (3) crash. The evaluation indicates that the overall fire hazards for Jet A are less than for Jet B fuel
Dependence of the Fundamental Plane Scatter on Galaxy Age
The fundamental plane (FP) has an intrinsic scatter that can not be explained
purely by observational errors. Using recently available age estimates for
nearby early type galaxies, we show that a galaxy's position relative to the FP
depends on its age. In particular, the mean FP corresponds to ellipticals with
an age of ~10 Gyr. Younger galaxies are systematically brighter with higher
surface brightness relative to the mean relation. Old ellipticals form an
`upper envelope' to the FP. For our sample of mostly non-cluster galaxies, age
can account for almost half of the scatter in the B band FP. Distance
determinations based on the FP may have a systematic bias, if the mean age of
the sample varies with redshift.
We also show that fundamental plane residuals, B-V colors and Mg_2 line
strength are consistent with an ageing central burst superposed on an old
stellar population. This reinforces the view that these age estimates are
tracing the last major episode of star formation induced by a gaseous merger
event. We briefly discuss the empirical `evolutionary tracks' of
merger-remnants and young ellipticals in terms of their key observational
parameters.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ Letter
The Cold and Hot Gas Content of Fine-Structure E and S0 Galaxies
We investigate trends of the cold and hot gas content of early-type galaxies
with the presence of optical morphological peculiarities, as measured by the
fine-structure index (Sigma). HI mapping observations from the literature are
used to track the cold-gas content, and archival ROSAT PSPC data are used to
quantify the hot-gas content. We find that E and S0 galaxies with a high
incidence of optical peculiarities are exclusively X-ray underluminous and,
therefore, deficient in hot gas. In contrast, more relaxed galaxies with little
or no signs of optical peculiarities span a wide range of X-ray luminosities.
That is, the X-ray excess anticorrelates with Sigma. There appears to be no
similar trend of cold-gas content with either fine-structure index or X-ray
content. The fact that only apparently relaxed E and S0 galaxies are strong
X-ray emitters is consistent with the hypothesis that after strong disturbances
such as a merger hot-gas halos build up over a time scale of several gigayears.
This is consistent with the expected mass loss from stars.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in A
How Dry Are Red Mergers?
The focus of current research in galaxy evolution has increasingly turned to
understanding the effect that mergers have on the evolution of systems on the
red sequence. For those interactions purported to occur dissipationlessly (so
called "dry mergers"), it would appear that the role of gas is minimal.
However, if these mergers are not completely dry, then even low levels of gas
may be detectable. The purpose of our study is to test whether early type
galaxies with HI in or around them, or "wet" ellipticals, would have been
selected as dry mergers by the criteria in van Dokkum (2005, AJ, 130, 2647). To
that end, we examine a sample of 20 early types from the HI Rogues Gallery with
neutral hydrogen in their immediate environs. Of these, the 15 brightest and
reddest galaxies match the optical dry merger criteria, but in each case, the
presence of HI means that they are not truly dry.Comment: 8 pages plus 1 table and 5 figures; accepted for publication in A
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