547 research outputs found
The polarized electron target as a new solar-neutrino detector
In this paper, we analyze the scattering of solar neutrinos on the polarized
electron target, and predict how the effect of parity violation in weak
interactions may help to distinguish neutrino signal from detector background.
We indicate that the knowledge of the Sun motion across the sky is sufficient
to predict the day/night asymmetry in the scattering on the
polarized electron target. To make this detection feasible, the polarized
electron target for solar neutrinos needs to be build from magnetic materials,
e.g. from ferromagnetic iron foils, paramagnetic scintillator crystals or
scintillating ferrofluids.Comment: 3 pages, 2 eps figures, revte
M31 Transverse Velocity and Local Group Mass from Satellite Kinematics
We present several different statistical methods to determine the transverse
velocity vector of M31. The underlying assumptions are that the M31 satellites
on average follow the motion of M31 through space, and that the galaxies in the
outer parts of the Local Group on average follow the motion of the Local Group
barycenter through space. We apply the methods to the line-of-sight velocities
of 17 M31 satellites, to the proper motions of the 2 satellites M33 and IC 10,
and to the line-of-sight velocities of 5 galaxies near the Local Group turn
around radius, respectively. This yields 4 independent but mutually consistent
determinations of the heliocentric M31 transverse velocities in the West and
North directions, with weighted averages = -78+/-41 km/s and =
-38+/-34 km/s. The Galactocentric tangential velocity of M31 is 42 km/s, with
1-sigma confidence interval V_tan <= 56 km/s. The implied M31-Milky Way orbit
is bound if the total Local Group mass M exceeds 1.72^{+0.26}_{-0.25}x10^{12}
solar masses. If indeed bound, then the timing argument combined with the known
age of the Universe implies that M = 5.58^{+0.85}_{-0.72}x10^{12} solar masses.
This is on the high end of the allowed mass range suggested by cosmologically
motivated models for the individual structure and dynamics of M31 and the Milky
Way, respectively. It is therefore possible that the timing mass is an
overestimate of the true mass, especially if one takes into account recent
results from the Millennium Simulation that show that there is also a
theoretical uncertainty of 41 percent (Gaussian dispersion) in timing mass
estimates. The M31 transverse velocity implies that M33 is in a tightly bound
orbit around M31. This may have led to some tidal deformation of M33. It will
be worthwhile to search for observational evidence of this.Comment: ApJ in press, 14 pages, including 3 figures (has minor revisions with
respect to previously posted version to address referee comments
Space Motions of the Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies Draco and Sculptor based on HST Proper Motions with ~10-year Time Baseline
We present new proper motion (PM) measurements of the dwarf spheroidal
galaxies (dSphs) Draco and Sculptor using multi-epoch images obtained with the
Hubble Space Telescope ACS/WFC. Our PM results have uncertainties far lower
than previous measurements, even made with the same instrument. The PM results
for Draco and Sculptor are (mu_W,mu_N)_Dra =
(-0.0562+/-0.0099,-0.1765+/-0.0100) mas/yr and (mu_W,mu_N)_Scl =
(-0.0296+/-0.0209,-0.1358 +/-0.0214) mas/yr. The implied Galactocentric
velocity vectors for Draco and Sculptor have radial and tangential components:
(V_rad,V_tan)_Dra = (-88.6,161.4) +/- (4.4,5.6) km/s; and (V_rad,V_tan)_Scl =
(72.6,200.2) +/- (1.3,10.8) km/s. We study the detailed orbital history of both
Draco and Sculptor via numerical orbit integrations. Orbital periods of Draco
and Sculptor are found to be 1-2 and 2-5 Gyrs, respectively, accounting for
uncertainties in the MW mass. We also study the influence of the Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC) on the orbits of Draco and Sculptor. Overall, the
inclusion of the LMC increases the scatter in the orbital results. Based on our
calculations, Draco shows a rather wide range of orbital parameters depending
on the MW mass and inclusion/exclusion of the LMC, but Sculptor's orbit is very
well constrained with its most recent pericentric approach to the MW being
0.3-0.4 Gyr ago. Our new PMs imply that the orbital trajectories of both Draco
and Sculptor are confined within the Disk of Satellites (DoS), better so than
implied by earlier PM measurements, and likely rule out the possibility that
these two galaxies were accreted together as part of a tightly bound group.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in Ap
The black hole mass distribution in early-type galaxies: cusps in HST photometry interpreted through adiabatic black hole growth
The surface brightness profiles of early-type galaxies have central cusps.
Two characteristic profile types are observed with HST: `core' profiles have a
break at a resolved radius and logarithmic cusp slope gamma < 0.3 inside that
radius; `power-law' profiles have no clear break and gamma > 0.3. With few
exceptions, galaxies with M_V
-20.5 have power-law profiles. Both profile types occur in galaxies with -22 <
M_V < -20.5. We show that these results are consistent with the hypothesis
that: (i) all early-type galaxies have black holes (BHs) that grew
adiabatically in homogeneous isothermal cores; and (ii) these `progenitor'
cores followed scaling relations similar to those of the fundamental plane.
The models studied here are the ones first proposed by Young. Models with BH
masses and progenitor cores that obey established scaling relations predict (at
Virgo) that galaxies with M_V < -21.2 have core profiles and galaxies with M_V
> -21.2 have power-law profiles. This reproduces both the sense and the
absolute magnitude of the observed transition. Intrinsic scatter in BH and
galaxy properties can explain why both types of galaxies are observed around
the transition magnitude. The observed bimodality in cusp slopes may be due to
a bimodality in M_bh/L, with rapidly rotating disky galaxies having larger
M_bh/L than slowly rotating boxy galaxies.
Application to individual galaxies with HST photometry yields a roughly
linear correlation between BH mass and V-band galaxy luminosity, log M_bh =
-1.83 + log L (solar units). This agrees with the average relation for nearby
galaxies with kinematically determined BH masses, and also with predictions
from quasar statistics (shortened abstract).Comment: 41 pages, LaTeX, with 11 PostScript figures. Submitted to the
Astronomical Journal. Postscript version also available from
http://sol.stsci.edu/~marel/abstracts/abs_R23.htm
Dynamical Models of Elliptical Galaxies in z=0.5 Clusters: II. Mass-to-Light Ratio Evolution without Fundamental Plane Assumptions
We study M/L evolution of early-type galaxies using dynamical modeling of
resolved internal kinematics. This makes fewer assumptions than Fundamental
Plane (FP) studies and provides a powerful new approach for studying galaxy
evolution. We focus on the sample of 25 galaxies in clusters at z=0.5 modeled
in Paper I. For comparison we compile and homogenize M/L literature data for 60
nearby galaxies that were modeled in comparable detail. The nearby sample obeys
log(M/L)_B = Z + S log(sigma_eff/[200 km/s]), with Z = 0.896 +/- 0.010, S =
0.992 +/- 0.054, and sigma_eff the effective velocity dispersion. The z=0.5
sample follows a similar relation but with lower zeropoint. The implied M/L
evolution is Delta log(M/L) / Delta z = -0.457 +/- 0.046(random) +/-
0.078(systematic), consistent with passive evolution following high-redshift
formation. This agrees with the FP results for this sample by van Dokkum & van
der Marel. This confirms that FP evolution tracks M/L evolution, which is an
important verification of the assumptions that underly FP studies. However,
while we find more FP evolution for galaxies of low sigma_eff (or low mass),
the dynamical M/L evolution instead shows little trend with sigma_eff. We argue
that this difference can be plausibly attributed to a combination of two
effects: (a) evolution in structural galaxy properties other than M/L; and (b)
the neglect of rotational support in studies of FP evolution. The results leave
the question open whether the low-mass galaxies in the sample have younger
population ages than the high-mass galaxies. This highlights the general
importance in the study of population ages for complementing dynamical
measurements with broad-band colors or spectroscopic population diagnostics.Comment: ApJ, submitted; 17 pages formatted with emulateap
Hubble Space Telescope Observations of NGC 6240: a Case Study of an Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxy with Obscured Activity
We present results from an HST study of the morphology and kinematics of NGC
6240. This merging galaxy with a double nucleus is one of the nearest and
best-studied ultraluminous infrared galaxies. HST resolves both nuclei into
seperate components. The distance between the northern and southern
optical/near-infrared components is greater than that observed in radio and
X-ray studies, arguing that even in K-band we may not be seeing all the way
through the dust to the true nuclei. The ionized gas does not display rotation
around either of the nuclei, or equilibrium motion in general. There is a
strong velocity gradient between the nuclei, similar to what is seen in CO
data. There is no such gradient in our stellar kinematics. The velocity
dispersion of the gas is larger than expected for a cold disk. We also map and
model the emission-line velocity field at an off-nuclear position where a steep
velocity gradient was previously detected in ground-based data. Overall, the
data indicate that line-of-sight projection effects, dust absorption,
non-equilibrium merger dynamics, and the possible influence of a wind may be
playing an important role in the observed kinematics. Chandra observations of
hard X-rays have shown that both of the nuclei contain an Active Galactic
Nucleus (AGN). The HST data show no clear sign of the two AGNs: neither
continuum nor narrow-band imaging shows evidence for unresolved components in
the nuclei, and there are no increased emission line widths or rapid rotation
near the nuclei. This underscores the importance of X-ray data for identifying
AGNs in highly dust-enshrouded environments.Comment: LaTeX, 32 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in The
Astronomical Journal (Jan 2004). Paper with high-resolution (non-compressed)
color figures in gzipped postscript format available at
http://www.stsci.edu/~marel/psgzdir/ngc6240v11.ps.g
HST/STIS Spectra of Nuclear Star Clusters in Spiral Galaxies: Dependence of Age and Mass On Hubble Type
(Abridged) We study the nuclear star clusters in spiral galaxies of various
Hubble types using spectra obtained with STIS on-board HST. We observed the
nuclear clusters in 40 galaxies, selected from two previous HST/WFPC2 imaging
surveys. The spectra provide a better separation of cluster light from
underlying galaxy light than is possible with ground-based spectra. To infer
the star formation history, metallicity and dust extinction, we fit weighted
superpositions of single-age stellar population templates to the spectra. The
luminosity-weighted age ranges from 10 Myrs to 10 Gyrs. The stellar populations
of NCs are generally best fit as a mixture of populations of different ages.
This indicates that NCs did not form in a single event, but instead they had
additional star formation long after the oldest stars formed. On average, the
sample clusters in late-type spirals have a younger luminosity-weighted mean
age than those in early-type spirals (log(age/yr) = 8.37+/-0.25 vs.
9.23+/-0.21). The average cluster masses are smaller in late-type spirals than
in early-type spirals (log(M/Msun) = 6.25+/-0.21 vs. 7.63+/-0.24), and exceed
the masses typical of globular clusters. The cluster mass correlates strongly
with both the Hubble type of the host galaxy and the luminosity of its bulge.
The latter correlation has the same slope as the well-known correlation between
supermassive black hole mass and bulge luminosity. The properties of both
nuclear clusters and black holes are therefore intimately connected to the
properties of the host galaxy.Comment: AJ submitted (original submission Nov 30, 2005, present version
includes changes based on referee recommendations). 69 pages, 16 figures, 7
table
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