9 research outputs found
Interaction of Close-in Planets with the Magnetosphere of their Host Stars I: Diffusion, Ohmic Dissipation of Time Dependent Field, Planetary Inflation, and Mass Loss
The unanticipated discovery of the first close-in planet around 51 Peg has
rekindled the notion that shortly after their formation outside the snow line,
some planets may have migrated to the proximity of their host stars because of
their tidal interaction with their nascent disks. If these planets indeed
migrated to their present-day location, their survival would require a halting
mechanism in the proximity of their host stars. Most T Tauri stars have strong
magnetic fields which can clear out a cavity in the innermost regions of their
circumstellar disks and impose magnetic induction on the nearby young planets.
Here we consider the possibility that a magnetic coupling between young stars
and planets could quench the planet's orbital evolution. After a brief
discussion of the complexity of the full problem, we focus our discussion on
evaluating the permeation and ohmic dissipation of the time dependent component
of the stellar magnetic field in the planet's interior. Adopting a model first
introduced by C. G. Campbell for interacting binary stars, we determine the
modulation of the planetary response to the tilted magnetic field of a
non-synchronously spinning star. We first compute the conductivity in the young
planets, which indicates that the stellar field can penetrate well into the
planet's envelope in a synodic period. For various orbital configurations, we
show that the energy dissipation rate inside the planet is sufficient to induce
short-period planets to inflate. This process results in mass loss via Roche
lobe overflow and in the halting of the planet's orbital migration.Comment: 47 pages, 12 figure
Roche Lobe Overflow from Dwarf Stellar Systems
We use both analytical analyses and numerical simulations to examine the
evolution of residual gas within tidally-limited dwarf galaxies and globular
clusters. If the gas sound speed exceeds about 10% of the central velocity
dispersion, as is the case for ionized gas within small stellar systems, the
gas shall have significant density at the tidal radius, and the gas may be lost
on timescales as short as a few times the sound crossing time of the system. In
colder systems, the density at the tidal radius is much lower, greatly reducing
the mass loss rate, and the system may retain its gas for a Hubble time. The
tidally removed gas shall follow an orbit close to that of the original host
system, forming an extended stream of ionized, gaseous debris. Tidal mass loss
severely limits the ability of dwarf systems to continuously form stars. The
ordinary gas content in many dwarf galaxies is fully ionized during high
red-shift epochs, possibly preventing star formation in some systems, leading
to the formation of starless, dark-matter concentrations. In either the field
or in the center of galaxy clusters, ionized gas may be retained by dwarf
galaxies, even though its sound speed may be comparable to or even exceed the
velocity dispersion. These processes may help to explain some observed
differences among dwarf galaxy types, as well as observations of the haloes of
massive galaxies.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX, AASTex macro
Star Formation and Feedback in Dwarf Galaxies
We examine the star formation history and stellar feedback effects of dwarf
galaxies under the influence of extragalactic ultraviolet radiation. We
consider the dynamical evolution of gas in dwarf galaxies using a
one-dimensional, spherically symmetric, Lagrangian numerical scheme to compute
the effects of radiative transfer and photoionization. We include a
physically-motivated star formation recipe and consider the effects of
feedback. Our results indicate that star formation in the severe environment of
dwarf galaxies is a difficult and inefficient process. For intermediate mass
systems, such as the dSphs around the Galaxy, star formation can proceed with
in early cosmic epochs despite the intense background UV flux. Triggering
processes such as merger events, collisions, and tidal disturbance can lead to
density enhancements, reducing the recombination timescale, allowing gas to
cool and star formation to proceed. However, the star formation and gas
retention efficiency may vary widely in galaxies with similar dark matter
potentials, because they depend on many factors, such as the baryonic fraction,
external perturbation, IMF, and background UV intensity. We suggest that the
presence of very old stars in these dwarf galaxies indicates that their initial
baryonic to dark matter content was comparable to the cosmic value. This
constraint suggests that the initial density fluctuation of baryonic matter may
be correlated with that of the dark matter. For the more massive dwarf
elliptical galaxies, the star formation efficiency and gas retention rate is
much higher. Their mass to light ratio is regulated by star formation feedback,
and is expected to be nearly independent of their absolute luminosity. The
results of our theoretical models reproduce the observed correlation.Comment: 35 pages, 13 figure
Quantitative analysis of the transcription control mechanism
Gene transcription requires a sequence of promoter state transitions, including chromatin remodeling, assembly of the transcription machinery, and clearance of the promoter by RNA polymerase. The rate-limiting steps in this sequence are regulated by transcriptional activators that bind at specific promoter elements. As the transition kinetics of individual promoters cannot be observed, the identity of the activator-controlled steps has remained a matter of speculation. In this study, we investigated promoter chromatin structure, and the intrinsic noise of expression over a wide range of expression values for the PHO5 gene of yeast. Interpretation of our results with regard to a stochastic model of promoter chromatin remodeling and gene expression suggests that the regulatory architecture of the gene expression process is measurably reflected in its intrinsic noise profile. Our chromatin structure and noise analyses indicate that the activator of PHO5 transcription stimulates the rates of promoter nucleosome disassembly, and assembly of the transcription machinery after nucleosome removal, but no other rates of the expression process