61 research outputs found
The Large Magellanic Cloud: A power spectral analysis of Spitzer images
We present a power spectral analysis of Spitzer images of the Large
Magellanic Cloud. The power spectra of the FIR emission show two different
power laws. At larger scales (kpc) the slope is ~ -1.6, while at smaller ones
(tens to few hundreds of parsecs) the slope is steeper, with a value ~ -2.9.
The break occurs at a scale around 100-200 pc. We interpret this break as the
scale height of the dust disk of the LMC. We perform high resolution
simulations with and without stellar feedback. Our AMR hydrodynamic simulations
of model galaxies using the LMC mass and rotation curve, confirm that they have
similar two-component power-laws for projected density and that the break does
indeed occur at the disk thickness. Power spectral analysis of velocities
betrays a single power law for in-plane components. The vertical component of
the velocity shows a flat behavior for large structures and a power law similar
to the in-plane velocities at small scales. The motions are highly anisotropic
at large scales, with in-plane velocities being much more important than
vertical ones. In contrast, at small scales, the motions become more isotropic.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, talk presented at "Galaxies and their Masks",
celebrating Ken Freeman's 70-th birthday, Sossusvlei, Namibia, April 2010. To
be published by Springer, New York, editors D.L. Block, K.C. Freeman, & I.
Puerar
PROFIT: a new alternative for emission-line PROfile FITting
I briefly describe a simple routine for emission-line profiles fitting by
Gaussian curves or Gauss-Hermite series. The PROFIT (line-PROfile FITting)
routine represent a new alternative for use in fits data cubes, as those from
Integral Field Spectroscopy or Fabry-Perot Interferometry, and may be useful to
better study the emission-line flux distributions and gas kinematics in
distinct astrophysical objects, such as the central regions of galaxies and
star forming regions. The PROFIT routine is written in IDL language and is
available at http://www.ufsm.br/rogemar/software.html.
The PROFIT routine was used to fit the [Fe II]1.257um emission-line profiles
for about 1800 spectra of the inner 350 pc of the Seyfert galaxy Mrk1066
obtained with Gemini NIFS and shows that the line profiles are better
reproduced by Gauss-Hermite series than by the commonly used Gaussian curves.
The two-dimensional map of the h_3 Gauss-Hermite moment shows its highest
absolute values in regions close to the edge of the radio structure. These high
values may be originated in an biconical outflowing gas associated with the
radio jet - previously observed in the optical [O III] emission. The analysis
of this kinematic component indicates that the radio jet leaves the center of
the galaxy with the north-west side slightly oriented towards us and the
south-east side away from us, being partially hidden by the disc of the galaxy.Comment: Accepted for publication Astrophysics & Space Science - 7 pges; 4
Fig
Bailing Out the Milky Way: Variation in the Properties of Massive Dwarfs Among Galaxy-Sized Systems
Recent kinematical constraints on the internal densities of the Milky Way's
dwarf satellites have revealed a discrepancy with the subhalo populations of
simulated Galaxy-scale halos in the standard CDM model of hierarchical
structure formation. This has been dubbed the "too big to fail" problem, with
reference to the improbability of large and invisible companions existing in
the Galactic environment. In this paper, we argue that both the Milky Way
observations and simulated subhalos are consistent with the predictions of the
standard model for structure formation. Specifically, we show that there is
significant variation in the properties of subhalos among distinct host halos
of fixed mass and suggest that this can reasonably account for the deficit of
dense satellites in the Milky Way. We exploit well-tested analytic techniques
to predict the properties in a large sample of distinct host halos with a
variety of masses spanning the range expected of the Galactic halo. The
analytic model produces subhalo populations consistent with both Via Lactea II
and Aquarius, and our results suggest that natural variation in subhalo
properties suffices to explain the discrepancy between Milky Way satellite
kinematics and these numerical simulations. At least ~10% of Milky Way-sized
halos host subhalo populations for which there is no "too big to fail" problem,
even when the host halo mass is as large as M_host = 10^12.2 h^-1 M_sun.
Follow-up studies consisting of high-resolution simulations of a large number
of Milky Way-sized hosts are necessary to confirm our predictions. In the
absence of such efforts, the "too big to fail" problem does not appear to be a
significant challenge to the standard model of hierarchical formation.
[abridged]Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures; accepted by JCAP. Replaced with published
versio
The Initial Conditions to Star Formation: Low Mass Stars at Low Metallicity
We have measured the present accretion rate of roughly 800 low-mass (~1-1.4
Mo) pre-Main Sequence stars in the field of SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic
Cloud. The stars with statistically significant Balmer continuum and Halpha
excesses are measured to have accretion rates larger than about 1.5x10^{-8}
Mo/yr at an age of 12-16 Myrs. For comparison, the time scale for disk
dissipation observed in the Galaxy is of the order of 6 Myrs.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in IMF@50, ed. by E. Corbelli, F. Palla,
H. Zinnecker (Dordrecht: Kluwer
Extrapolating SMBH correlations down the mass scale: the case for IMBHs in globular clusters
Empirical evidence for both stellar mass black holes M_bh<10^2 M_sun) and
supermassive black holes (SMBHs, M_bh>10^5 M_sun) is well established.
Moreover, every galaxy with a bulge appears to host a SMBH, whose mass is
correlated with the bulge mass, and even more strongly with the central stellar
velocity dispersion sigma_c, the `M-sigma' relation. On the other hand,
evidence for "intermediate-mass" black holes (IMBHs, with masses in the range
1^2 - 10^5 M_sun) is relatively sparse, with only a few mass measurements
reported in globular clusters (GCs), dwarf galaxies and low-mass AGNs. We
explore the question of whether globular clusters extend the M-sigma
relationship for galaxies to lower black hole masses and find that available
data for globular clusters are consistent with the extrapolation of this
relationship. We use this extrapolated M-sigma relationship to predict the
putative black hole masses of those globular clusters where existence of
central IMBH was proposed. We discuss how globular clusters can be used as a
constraint on theories making specific predictions for the low-mass end of the
M-sigma relation.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and
Space Science; fixed typos and a quote in Sec.
The 3D Structure of N132D in the LMC: A Late-Stage Young Supernova Remnant
We have used the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) on the 2.3m telescope at
Siding Spring Observatory to map the [O III] 5007{\AA} dynamics of the young
oxygen-rich supernova remnant N132D in the Large Magellanic Cloud. From the
resultant data cube, we have been able to reconstruct the full 3D structure of
the system of [O III] filaments. The majority of the ejecta form a ring of
~12pc in diameter inclined at an angle of 25 degrees to the line of sight. We
conclude that SNR N132D is approaching the end of the reverse shock phase
before entering the fully thermalized Sedov phase of evolution. We speculate
that the ring of oxygen-rich material comes from ejecta in the equatorial plane
of a bipolar explosion, and that the overall shape of the SNR is strongly
influenced by the pre-supernova mass loss from the progenitor star. We find
tantalizing evidence of a polar jet associated with a very fast oxygen-rich
knot, and clear evidence that the central star has interacted with one or more
dense clouds in the surrounding ISM.Comment: Accepted for Publication in Astrophysics & Space Science, 18pp, 8
figure
Dynamical modelling of the elliptical galaxy NGC 2974
In this paper we analyse the relations between a previously described oblate
Jaffe model for an ellipsoidal galaxy and the observed quantities for NGC 2974,
and obtain the length and velocity scales for a relevant elliptical galaxy
model. We then derive the finite total mass of the model from these scales, and
finally find a good fit of an isotropic oblate Jaffe model by using the
Gauss-Hermite fit parameters and the observed ellipticity of the galaxy NGC
2974. The model is also used to predict the total luminous mass of NGC 2974,
assuming that the influence of dark matter in this galaxy on the image,
ellipticity and Gauss-Hermite fit parameters of this galaxy is negligible
within the central region, of radius Comment: 7 figure
Numerical Solutions of ideal two-fluid equations very closed to the event horizon of Schwarzschild black hole
The 3+1 formalism of Thorne, Price and Macdonald has been used to derive the
linear two-fluid equations describing transverse and longitudinal waves
propagating in the two-fluid ideal collisionless plasmas surrounding a
Schwarzschild black hole. The plasma is assumed to be falling in radial
direction toward the event horizon. The relativistic two-fluid equations have
been reformulate, in analogy with the special relativistic formulation as
explained in an earlier paper, to take account of relativistic effects due to
the event horizon. Here a WKB approximation is used to derive the local
dispersion relation for these waves and solved numerically for the wave number
k.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:0902.3766, arXiv:0807.459
Space astrometry of the very massive âŒ150 Mâ candidate runaway star VFTS682
How very massive stars form is still an open question in astrophysics. VFTS682 is among the most massive stars known, with an inferred initial mass of âł150Mââ . It is located in 30 Doradus at a projected distance of 29âpc from the central cluster R136. Its apparent isolation led to two hypotheses: either it formed in relative isolation or it was ejected dynamically from the cluster. We investigate the kinematics of VFTS682 as obtained by Gaia and Hubble Space Telescope astrometry. We derive a projected velocity relative to the cluster of 38±17km sâ1 (1Ï confidence interval). Although the error bars are substantial, two independent measures suggest that VFTS682 is a runaway ejected from the central cluster. This hypothesis is further supported by a variety of circumstantial clues. The central cluster is known to harbour other stars more massive than 150Mâ of similar spectral type and recent astrometric studies on VFTS16 and VFTS72 provide direct evidence that the cluster can eject some of its most massive members, in agreement with theoretical predictions. If future data confirm the runaway nature, this would make VFTS682 the most massive runaway star known to date
Quasars and their host galaxies
This review attempts to describe developments in the fields of quasar and
quasar host galaxies in the past five. In this time period, the Sloan and 2dF
quasar surveys have added several tens of thousands of quasars, with Sloan
quasars being found to z>6. Obscured, or partially obscured quasars have begun
to be found in significant numbers. Black hole mass estimates for quasars, and
our confidence in them, have improved significantly, allowing a start on
relating quasar properties such as radio jet power to fundamental parameters of
the quasar such as black hole mass and accretion rate. Quasar host galaxy
studies have allowed us to find and characterize the host galaxies of quasars
to z>2. Despite these developments, many questions remain unresolved, in
particular the origin of the close relationship between black hole mass and
galaxy bulge mass/velocity dispersion seen in local galaxies.Comment: Review article, to appear in Astrophysics Update
- âŠ