1,823 research outputs found
Calcium-Rich Gap Transients: Tidal Detonations of White Dwarfs?
We hypothesize that at least some of the recently discovered class of
calcium-rich gap transients are tidal detonation events of white dwarfs (WDs)
by black holes (BHs) or possibly neutron stars. We show that the properties of
the calcium-rich gap transients agree well with the predictions of the tidal
detonation model. Under the predictions of this model, we use a follow-up X-ray
observation of one of these transients, SN 2012hn, to place weak upper limits
on the detonator mass of this system that include all intermediate-mass BHs
(IMBHs). As these transients are preferentially in the stellar haloes of
galaxies, we discuss the possibility that these transients are tidal
detonations of WDs caused by random flyby encounters with IMBHs in dwarf
galaxies or globular clusters. This possibility has been already suggested in
the literature but without connection to the calcium-rich gap transients. In
order for the random flyby cross-section to be high enough, these events would
have to be occurring inside these dense stellar associations. However, there is
a lack of evidence for IMBHs in these systems, and recent observations have
ruled out all but the very faintest dwarf galaxies and globular clusters for a
few of these transients. Another possibility is that these are tidal
detonations caused by three-body interactions, where a WD is perturbed toward
the detonator in isolated multiple star systems. We highlight a number of ways
this could occur, even in lower-mass systems with stellar-mass BHs or neutron
stars. Finally, we outline several new observational tests of this scenario,
which are feasible with current instrumentation.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in MNRA
Galaxies Probing Galaxies at High Resolution: Co-Rotating Gas Associated with a Milky Way Analog at z=0.4
We present results on gas flows in the halo of a Milky Way-like galaxy at
z=0.413 based on high-resolution spectroscopy of a background galaxy. This is
the first study of circumgalactic gas at high spectral resolution towards an
extended background source (i.e., a galaxy rather than a quasar). Using
longslit spectroscopy of the foreground galaxy, we observe spatially extended H
alpha emission with circular rotation velocity v=270 km/s. Using echelle
spectroscopy of the background galaxy, we detect Mg II and Fe II absorption
lines at impact parameter rho=27 kpc that are blueshifted from systemic in the
sense of the foreground galaxy's rotation. The strongest absorber EW(2796) =
0.90 A has an estimated column density (N_H>10^19 cm-2) and line-of-sight
velocity dispersion (sigma=17 km/s) that are consistent with the observed
properties of extended H I disks in the local universe. Our analysis of the
rotation curve also suggests that this r=30 kpc gaseous disk is warped with
respect to the stellar disk. In addition, we detect two weak Mg II absorbers in
the halo with small velocity dispersions (sigma<10 km/s). While the exact
geometry is unclear, one component is consistent with an extraplanar gas cloud
near the disk-halo interface that is co-rotating with the disk, and the other
is consistent with a tidal feature similar to the Magellanic Stream. We can
place lower limits on the cloud sizes (l>0.4 kpc) for these absorbers given the
extended nature of the background source. We discuss the implications of these
results for models of the geometry and kinematics of gas in the circumgalactic
medium.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, submitted to ApJ, comments welcom
Massive Compact Galaxies with High-Velocity Outflows: Morphological Analysis and Constraints on AGN Activity
We investigate the process of rapid star formation quenching in a sample of 12 massive galaxies at intermediate redshift (z~0.6) that host high-velocity ionized gas outflows (v\u3e1000 km/s). We conclude that these fast outflows are most likely driven by feedback from star formation rather than active galactic nuclei (AGN). We use multiwavelength survey and targeted observations of the galaxies to assess their star formation, AGN activity, and morphology. Common attributes include diffuse tidal features indicative of recent mergers accompanied by bright, unresolved cores with effective radii less than a few hundred parsecs. The galaxies are extraordinarily compact for their stellar mass, even when compared with galaxies at z~2-3. For 9/12 galaxies, we rule out an AGN contribution to the nuclear light and hypothesize that the unresolved core comes from a compact central starburst triggered by the dissipative collapse of very gas-rich progenitor merging disks. We find evidence of AGN activity in half the sample but we argue that it accounts for only a small fraction (\u3c10%) of the total bolometric luminosity. We find no correlation between AGN activity and outflow velocity and we conclude that the fast outflows in our galaxies are not powered by on-going AGN activity, but rather by recent, extremely compact starbursts
Ultrahigh Bandwidth Spin Noise Spectroscopy: Detection of Large g-Factor Fluctuations in Highly n-Doped GaAs
We advance all optical spin noise spectroscopy (SNS) in semiconductors to
detection bandwidths of several hundred gigahertz by employing an ingenious
scheme of pulse trains from ultrafast laser oscillators as an optical probe.
The ultrafast SNS technique avoids the need for optical pumping and enables
nearly perturbation free measurements of extremely short spin dephasing times.
We employ the technique to highly n-doped bulk GaAs where magnetic field
dependent measurements show unexpected large g-factor fluctuations.
Calculations suggest that such large g-factor fluctuations do not necessarily
result from extrinsic sample variations but are intrinsically present in every
doped semiconductor due to the stochastic nature of the dopant distribution.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Stellar feedback as the origin of an extended molecular outflow in a starburst galaxy
Recent observations have revealed that starburst galaxies can drive molecular gas outflows through stellar radiation pressure. Molecular gas is the phase of the interstellar medium from which stars form, so these outflows curtail stellar mass growth in galaxies. Previously known outflows, however, involve small fractions of the total molecular gas content and have typical scales of less than a kiloparsec. In at least some cases, input from active galactic nuclei is dynamically important, so pure stellar feedback (the momentum return into the interstellar medium) has been considered incapable of rapidly terminating star formation on galactic scales. Molecular gas has been detected outside the galactic plane of the archetypal starburst galaxy M82 (refs 4 and 5), but so far there has been no evidence that starbursts can propel substantial quantities of cold molecular gas to the same galactocentric radius (about 10 kiloparsecs) as the warmer gas that has been traced by metal ion absorbers in the circumgalactic medium. Here we report observations of molecular gas in a compact (effective radius 100 parsecs) massive starburst galaxy at redshift 0.7, which is known to drive a fast outflow of ionized gas. We find that 35 per cent of the total molecular gas extends approximately 10 kiloparsecs, and one-third of this extended gas has a velocity of up to 1,000 kilometres per second. The kinetic energy associated with this high-velocity component is consistent with the momentum flux available from stellar radiation pressure. This demonstrates that nuclear bursts of star formation are capable of ejecting large amounts of cold gas from the central regions of galaxies, thereby strongly affecting their evolution by truncating star formation and redistributing matter.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
Kick stability in groups and dynamical systems
We consider a general construction of ``kicked systems''. Let G be a group of
measure preserving transformations of a probability space. Given its
one-parameter/cyclic subgroup (the flow), and any sequence of elements (the
kicks) we define the kicked dynamics on the space by alternately flowing with
given period, then applying a kick. Our main finding is the following stability
phenomenon: the kicked system often inherits recurrence properties of the
original flow. We present three main examples. 1) G is the torus. We show that
for generic linear flows, and any sequence of kicks, the trajectories of the
kicked system are uniformly distributed for almost all periods. 2) G is a
discrete subgroup of PSL(2,R) acting on the unit tangent bundle of a Riemann
surface. The flow is generated by a single element of G, and we take any
bounded sequence of elements of G as our kicks. We prove that the kicked system
is mixing for all sufficiently large periods if and only if the generator is of
infinite order and is not conjugate to its inverse in G. 3) G is the group of
Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms of a closed symplectic manifold. We assume that the
flow is rapidly growing in the sense of Hofer's norm, and the kicks are
bounded. We prove that for a positive proportion of the periods the kicked
system inherits a kind of energy conservation law and is thus superrecurrent.
We use tools of geometric group theory and symplectic topology.Comment: Latex, 40 pages, revised versio
Anomalous diffusion in polymers: long-time behaviour
We study the Dirichlet boundary value problem for viscoelastic diffusion in
polymers. We show that its weak solutions generate a dissipative semiflow. We
construct the minimal trajectory attractor and the global attractor for this
problem.Comment: 13 page
Spin relaxation of conduction electrons in bulk III-V semiconductors
Spin relaxation time of conduction electrons through the Elliot-Yafet,
D'yakonov-Perel and Bir-Aronov-Pikus mechanisms is calculated theoretically for
bulk GaAs, GaSb, InAs and InSb of both - and -type. Relative importance
of each spin relaxation mechanism is compared and the diagrams showing the
dominant mechanism are constructed as a function of temperature and impurity
concentrations. Our approach is based upon theoretical calculation of the
momentum relaxation rate and allows understanding of the interplay between
various factors affecting the spin relaxation over a broad range of temperature
and impurity concentration.Comment: an error in earlier version correcte
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