29 research outputs found
Molecular Tracers of Embedded Star Formation in Ophiuchus
In this paper we analyze nine SCUBA cores in Ophiuchus using the
second-lowest rotational transitions of four molecular species (12CO, 13CO,
C18O, and C17O) to search for clues to the evolutionary state and
star-formation activity within each core. Specifically, we look for evidence of
outflows, infall, and CO depletion. The line wings in the CO spectra are used
to detect outflows, spectral asymmetries in 13CO are used to determine infall
characteristics, and a comparison of the dust emission (from SCUBA
observations) and gas emission (from C18O) is used to determine the fractional
CO freeze-out.
Through comparison with Spitzer observations of protostellar sources in
Ophiuchus, we discuss the usefulness of CO and its isotopologues as the sole
indicators of the evolutionary state of each core. This study is an important
pilot project for the JCMT Legacy Survey of the Gould Belt (GBS) and the
Galactic Plane (JPS), which intend to complement the SCUBA-2 dust continuum
observations with HARP observations of 12CO, 13CO, C18O, and C17O J = 3 - 2 in
order to determine whether or not the cold dust clumps detected by SCUBA-2 are
protostellar or starless objects.
Our classification of the evolutionary state of the cores (based on molecular
line maps and SCUBA observations) is in agreement with the Spitzer designation
for six or seven of the nine SCUBA cores. However, several important caveats
exist in the interpretation of these results, many of which large mapping
surveys like the GBS may be able to overcome to provide a clearer picture of
activity in crowded fields.Comment: 43 pages including 19 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in
the PAS
Kinematic Control of the Inertiality of the System of Tycho-2 and UCAC2 Stellar Proper Motions
Based on the Ogorodnikov-Milne model, we analyze the proper motions of
Tycho-2 and UCAC2 stars. We have established that the model component that
describes the rotation of all stars under consideration around the Galactic y
axis differs significantly from zero at various magnitudes. We interpret this
rotation found using the most distant stars as a residual rotation of the
ICRS/Tycho-2 system relative to the inertial reference frame. For the most
distant ( pc) Tycho-2 and UCAC2 stars, the mean rotation around
the Galactic y axis has been found to be mas yr.
The proper motions of UCAC2 stars with magnitudes in the range are
shown to be distorted appreciably by the magnitude equation in
, which has the strongest effect for northern-sky stars
with a coefficient of mas yr mag. We have detected
no significant effect of the magnitude equation in the proper motions of UCAC2
stars brighter than .Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure
Systematics of RR Lyrae Statistical Parallax III: Apparent Magnitudes and Extinctions
We sing the praises of the central limit theorem. Having previously removed
all other possible causes of significant systematic error in the statistical
parallax determination of RR Lyrae absolute magnitudes, we investigate
systematic errors from two final sources of input data: apparent magnitudes and
extinctions. We find corrections due to each of ~0.05 mag, i.e., ~1/2 the
statistical error. However, these are of opposite sign and so roughly cancel.
The apparent magnitude system that we previously adopted from Layden et al. was
calibrated to the photometry of Clube & Dawe. Using Hipparcos photometry we
show that the Clube & Dawe system is ~0.06 mag too bright. Extinctions were
previously pinned to the HI-based map of Burstein & Heiles. We argue that A_V
should rather be based on new COBE/IRAS dust-emission map of Schlegel,
Finkbeiner & Davis. This change increases the mean A_V by ~0.05 mag. We find
M_V=0.77 +/- 0.13 at [Fe/H]=-1.60 for a pure sample of 147 halo RR Lyraes, or
M_V=0.80 +/- 0.11 at [Fe/H]=-1.71 if we incorporate kinematic information from
716 non-kinematically selected non-RR Lyrae stars from Beers & Sommer-Larsen.
These are 2 and 3 sigma fainter than recent determinations of M_V from main
sequence fitting of clusters using Hipparcos measurements of subdwarfs by Reid
and Gratton et al. Since statistical parallax is being cleared of systematic
errors and since the chance of a >2 sigma statistical fluctuation is <1/20, we
conclude that these brighter determinations may be in error. In the course of
three papers, we have corrected 6 systematic errors whose absolute values total
0.20 mag. Had these, contrary to the expectation of the central limit theorem,
all lined up one way, they could have resolved the conflict in favor of the
brighter determinations. In fact, the net change was only 0.06 mag.Comment: submitted to ApJ, 21 pages, 2 tables, 4 figure
Kinematics of Tycho-2 Red Giant Clump Stars
Based on the Ogorodnikov-Milne model, we analyze the proper motions of 95 633
red giant clump (RGC) stars from the Tycho-2 Catalogue. The following Oort
constants have been found: A = 15.9+-0.2 km/s/kpc and B = -12.0+-0.2 km/s/kpc.
Using 3632 RGC stars with known proper motions, radial velocities, and
photometric distances, we show that, apart from the star centroid velocity
components relative to the Sun, only the model parameters that describe the
stellar motions in the XY plane differ significantly from zero. We have studied
the contraction (a negative K-effect) of the system of RGC stars as a function
of their heliocentric distance and elevation above the Galactic plane. For a
sample of distant (500--1000 pc) RGC stars located near the Galactic plane
(|Z|<200 pc) with an average distance of d=0.7 kpc, the contraction velocity is
shown to be Kd= -3.5+-0.9 km/s; a noticeable vertex deviation, lxy = 9.1+-0.5
degrees, is also observed for them. For stars located well above the Galactic
plane (|Z|>=200 pc), these effects are less pronounced, Kd = -1.7+-0.5 km/s and
lxy = 4.9+-0.6 degrees. Using RGC stars, we have found a rotation around the
Galactic X axis directed toward the Galactic center with an angular velocity of
-2.5+-0.3 km/s/kpc, which we associate with the warp of the Galactic
stellar-gaseous disk.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, 4 table
The OSACA Database and a Kinematic Analysis of Stars in the Solar Neighborhood
We transformed radial velocities compiled from more than 1400 published
sources, including the Geneva--Copenhagen survey of the solar neighborhood
(CORAVEL-CfA), into a uniform system based on the radial velocities of 854
standard stars in our list. This enabled us to calculate the average weighted
radial velocities for more than 25~000 HIPPARCOS stars located in the local
Galactic spiral arm (Orion arm) with a median error of +-1 km/s. We use these
radial velocities together with the stars' coordinates, parallaxes, and proper
motions to determine their Galactic coordinates and space velocities. These
quantities, along with other parameters of the stars, are available from the
continuously updated Orion Spiral Arm CAtalogue (OSACA) and the associated
database. We perform a kinematic analysis of the stars by applying an
Ogorodnikov-Milne model to the OSACA data. The kinematics of the nearest single
and multiple main-sequence stars differ substantially. We used distant
(r\approx 0.2 kpc) stars of mixed spectral composition to estimate the angular
velocity of the Galactic rotation -25.7+-1.2 km/s/kpc, and the vertex
deviation,l=13+-2 degrees, and detect a negative K effect. This negative K
effect is most conspicuous in the motion of A0-A5 giants, and is equal to
K=-13.1+-2.0 km/s/kpc.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
Kinematic Control of the Inertiality of ICRS Catalogs
We perform a kinematic analysis of the Hipparcos and TRC proper motions of
stars by using a linear Ogorodnikov-Milne model. All of the distant (r more
than 0.2 kpc) stars of the Hipparcos catalog have been found to rotate around
the Galactic y axis with an angular velocity of -0.36 +/- 0.09 mas/year. One of
the causes of this rotation may be an uncertainty in the lunisolar precession
constant adopted when constructing the ICRS. In this case? the correction to
the IAU (1976) lunisolar precession constant in longitude is shown to be -3.26
+/- 0.10 mas/yr. Based on the TRC catalog, we have determined the main Oort
constants: A = 14.9 +/- 1.0 and B = -10.8 +/- 0.3 km/s/kpc. The component of
the model that describes the rotation of all TRC stars around the Galactic y
axis is nonzero for all magnitudes, My= -0.86 +/- 0.11 mas/yr.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Impact cratering and the Oort cloud
We calculate the expected flux profile of comets into the planetary system
from the Oort cloud arising from Galactic tides and encounters with molecular
clouds. We find that both periodic and sporadic bombardment episodes, with
amplitudes an order of magnitude above background, occur on characteristic
timescales ~25-35 Myr.
Bombardment episodes occurring preferentially during spiral arm crossings may
be responsible both for mass extinctions of life and the transfer of viable
microorganisms from the bombarded Earth into the disturbing nebulae. Good
agreement is found between the theoretical expectations and the age
distribution of large, well-dated terrestrial impact craters of the past 250
million years.
A weak periodicity of ~36 Myr in the cratering record is consistent with the
Sun's recent passage through the Galactic plane, and implies a central plane
density ~0.15 M_Sun pc^(-3). This leaves little room for a significant dark
matter component in the disc
Kinematic Peculiarities of Gould Belt Stars
We analyzed the space velocities of Gould Belt stars younger than 125 Myr
located at heliocentric distances <650 pc. We determined the rotation and
expansion parameters of the Gould Belt by assuming the existence of a single
kinematic center whose direction was found to be the following:
and pc. The linear velocities reach their
maximum at a distance of pc from the center and are -6 km s
for the rotation (whose direction coincides with the Galactic rotation) and +4
km s for the expansion. The stellar rotation model used here is shown to
give a more faithful description of the observed velocity field than the linear
model based on the Oort constants and . We present evidence that the
young clusters Pic, Tuc/HorA, and TWA belong to the Gould Belt
structure.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
Theoretical Models for Classical Cepheids: II. Period-Luminosity, Period-Color and Period-Luminosity-Color Relations
We present and discuss theoretical pulsational predictions concerning the
properties of Classical Cepheids. The computations have been performed for
three different chemical compositions taken as representative of Cepheids in
the Magellanic Clouds and in the Galaxy. The resulting PL relations are
significantly dependent on metallicity, with the amplitude of the metallicity
effect decreasing at the longer wavelength. At variance with several empirical
suggestions appeared in the literature, we find that at fixed period the
metal-rich pulsators should be fainter than the metal-poor ones. Tight
Period-Luminosity-Color relations are derived for both visual and near-infrared
photometric bands. We present a preliminary use of our relations to evaluate
the distance modulus of the Magellanic Clouds.Comment: 33 pages, 23 postscript figures, accepted for publication on the
Astrophysical Journa
Astrobiological Complexity with Probabilistic Cellular Automata
Search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence constitutes one of the
major endeavors in science, but has yet been quantitatively modeled only rarely
and in a cursory and superficial fashion. We argue that probabilistic cellular
automata (PCA) represent the best quantitative framework for modeling
astrobiological history of the Milky Way and its Galactic Habitable Zone. The
relevant astrobiological parameters are to be modeled as the elements of the
input probability matrix for the PCA kernel. With the underlying simplicity of
the cellular automata constructs, this approach enables a quick analysis of
large and ambiguous input parameters' space. We perform a simple clustering
analysis of typical astrobiological histories and discuss the relevant boundary
conditions of practical importance for planning and guiding actual empirical
astrobiological and SETI projects. In addition to showing how the present
framework is adaptable to more complex situations and updated observational
databases from current and near-future space missions, we demonstrate how
numerical results could offer a cautious rationale for continuation of
practical SETI searches.Comment: 37 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables; added journal reference belo