21,114 research outputs found
Luminosity Profiles of Merger Remnants
Using published luminosity and molecular gas profiles of the late-stage
mergers NGC 3921, NGC 7252 and Arp 220, we examine the expected luminosity
profiles of the evolved merger remnants, especially in light of the massive CO
complexes that are observed in their nuclei. For NGC 3921 and NGC 7252 we
predict that the resulting luminosity profiles will be characterized by an
r^{1/4} law. In view of previous optical work on these systems, it seems likely
that they will evolve into normal ellipticals as regards their optical
properties. Due to a much higher central molecular column density, Arp 220
might not evolve such a ``seamless'' light profile. We conclude that
ultraluminous infrared mergers such as Arp 220 either evolve into ellipticals
with anomalous luminosity profiles, or do not produce many low-mass stars out
of their molecular gas complexes.Comment: Final refereed version. Note new title. 4 pages, 2 encapsulated color
figures, uses emulateapj.sty. Accepted to ApJL. Also available at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~jhibbard/Remnants/remnants.htm
Radial Gas Flows in Colliding Galaxies: Connecting Simulations and Observations
(abridged) We investigate the detailed response of gas to the formation of
transient and long-lived dynamical structures induced in the early stages of a
disk-disk collision, and identify observational signatures of radial gas inflow
through a detailed examination of the collision simulation of an equal mass
bulge dominated galaxy. Stars respond to the tidal interaction by forming both
transient arms and long lived m=2 bars, but the gas response is more transient,
flowing directly toward the central regions within about 10^8 years after the
initial collision. The rate of inflow declines when more than half of the total
gas supply reaches the inner few kpc, where the gas forms a dense nuclear ring
inside the stellar bar. The average gas inflow rate to the central 1.8 kpc is
\~7 Msun/yr with a peak rate of 17 Msun/yr. The evolution of gas in a bulgeless
progenitor galaxy is also discussed, and a possible link to the ``chain
galaxy'' population observed at high redshifts is inferred. The evolution of
the structural parameters (the asymmetry and concentration) of both stars and
gas are studied in detail. Further, a new structural parameter (the compactness
parameter K) that traces the evolution of the size scale of the gas relative to
the stellar disk is introduced. Non-circular gas kinematics driven by the
perturbation of the non-axisymmetric structure can produce distinct emission
features in the "forbidden velocity quadrants'' of the position-velocity
diagram (PVD). The dynamical mass calculated using the rotation curve derived
from fitting the emission envelope of the PVD can determine the true mass to
within 20% to 40%. The evolution of the molecular fraction $M_H2/M_(H2 + HI)
and the compactness (K) are potential tracers to quantitatively assign the age
of the interaction.Comment: 52 pages, 20 figures (9 jpgs), accepted for publication in ApJ
Version with all figures at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~diono/ms.ps.g
The Neutral Hydrogen Distribution in Merging Galaxies: Differences between Stellar and Gaseous Tidal Morphologies
We have mapped the neutral atomic gas (HI) in the three disk-disk merger
systems NGC 520, Arp 220, and Arp 299. These systems differ from the majority
of the mergers mapped in HI, in that their stellar and gaseous tidal features
do not coincide. In particular, they exhibit large stellar tidal features with
little if any accompanying neutral gas and large gas-rich tidal features with
little if any accompanying starlight. On smaller scales, there are striking
anti-correlations where the gaseous and stellar tidal features appear to cross.
We explore several possible causes for these differences, including dust
obscuration, ram pressure stripping, and ionization effects. No single
explanation can account for all of the observed differences. The fact that each
of these systems shows evidence for a starburst driven superwind expanding in
the direction of the most striking anti-correlations leads us to suggest that
the superwind is primarily responsible for the observed differences, either by
sweeping the features clear of gas via ram pressure, or by excavating a clear
sightline towards the starburst and allowing UV photons to ionize regions of
the tails.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, uses emulateapj.sty. To appear in the March 2000
issue of AJ. Version with full resolution figures is available via
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~jhibbard/HIdisp/HIdisp.htm
On a Conjecture of Givental
These brief notes record our puzzles and findings surrounding Givental's
recent conjecture which expresses higher genus Gromov-Witten invariants in
terms of the genus-0 data. We limit our considerations to the case of a
projective line, whose Gromov-Witten invariants are well-known and easy to
compute. We make some simple checks supporting his conjecture.Comment: 13 pages, no figures; v.2: new title, minor change
Not a galaxy: IRAS 04186+5143, a new young stellar cluster in the outer Galaxy
We report the discovery of a new young stellar cluster in the outer Galaxy
located at the position of an IRAS PSC source that has been previously
mis-identified as an external galaxy. The cluster is seen in our near-infrared
imaging towards IRAS 04186+5143 and in archive Spitzer images confirming the
young stellar nature of the sources detected. There is also evidence of
sub-clustering seen in the spatial distributions of young stars and of gas and
dust.
Near- and mid-infrared photometry indicates that the stars exhibit colours
compatible with reddening by interstellar and circumstellar dust and are likely
to be low- and intermediate-mass YSOs with a large proportion of Class I YSOs.
Ammonia and CO lines were detected, with the CO emission well centred near
the position of the richest part of the cluster. The velocity of the CO and
NH lines indicates that the gas is Galactic and located at a distance of
about 5.5 kpc, in the outer Galaxy.
Herschel data of this region characterise the dust environment of this
molecular cloud core where the young cluster is embedded. We derive masses,
luminosities and temperatures of the molecular clumps where the young stars
reside and discuss their evolutionary stages.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figure
Chaos at the border of criticality
The present paper points out to a novel scenario for formation of chaotic
attractors in a class of models of excitable cell membranes near an
Andronov-Hopf bifurcation (AHB). The mechanism underlying chaotic dynamics
admits a simple and visual description in terms of the families of
one-dimensional first-return maps, which are constructed using the combination
of asymptotic and numerical techniques. The bifurcation structure of the
continuous system (specifically, the proximity to a degenerate AHB) endows the
Poincare map with distinct qualitative features such as unimodality and the
presence of the boundary layer, where the map is strongly expanding. This
structure of the map in turn explains the bifurcation scenarios in the
continuous system including chaotic mixed-mode oscillations near the border
between the regions of sub- and supercritical AHB. The proposed mechanism
yields the statistical properties of the mixed-mode oscillations in this
regime. The statistics predicted by the analysis of the Poincare map and those
observed in the numerical experiments of the continuous system show a very good
agreement.Comment: Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science
(tentatively, Sept 2008
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