13,867 research outputs found
Thermal and Fragmentation Properties of Star-forming Clouds in Low-metallicity Environments
The thermal and chemical evolution of star-forming clouds is studied for
different gas metallicities, Z, using the model of Omukai (2000), updated to
include deuterium chemistry and the effects of cosmic microwave background
(CMB) radiation. HD-line cooling dominates the thermal balance of clouds when Z
\~ 10^{-5}-10^{-3} Z_sun and density ~10^{5} cm^{-3}. Early on, CMB radiation
prevents the gas temperature to fall below T_CMB, although this hardly alters
the cloud thermal evolution in low-metallicity gas. From the derived
temperature evolution, we assess cloud/core fragmentation as a function of
metallicity from linear perturbation theory, which requires that the core
elongation E := (b-a)/a > E_NL ~ 1, where a (b) is the short (long) core axis
length. The fragment mass is given by the thermal Jeans mass at E = E_NL. Given
these assumptions and the initial (gaussian) distribution of E we compute the
fragment mass distribution as a function of metallicity. We find that: (i) For
Z=0, all fragments are very massive, > 10^{3}M_sun, consistently with previous
studies; (ii) for Z>10^{-6} Z_sun a few clumps go through an additional high
density (> 10^{10} cm^{-3}) fragmentation phase driven by dust-cooling, leading
to low-mass fragments; (iii) The mass fraction in low-mass fragments is
initially very small, but at Z ~ 10^{-5}Z_sun it becomes dominant and continues
to grow as Z is increased; (iv) as a result of the two fragmentation modes, a
bimodal mass distribution emerges in 0.01 0.1Z_sun,
the two peaks merge into a singly-peaked mass function which might be regarded
as the precursor of the ordinary Salpeter-like IMF.Comment: 38 pages, 16 figures, ApJ in pres
Quiescent Cores and the Efficiency of Turbulence-Accelerated, Magnetically Regulated Star Formation
The efficiency of star formation, defined as the ratio of the stellar to
total (gas and stellar) mass, is observed to vary from a few percent in regions
of dispersed star formation to about a third in cluster-forming cores. This
difference may reflect the relative importance of magnetic fields and
turbulence in controlling star formation. We investigate the interplay between
supersonic turbulence and magnetic fields using numerical simulations, in a
sheet-like geometry. We demonstrate that star formation with an efficiency of a
few percent can occur over several gravitational collapse times in moderately
magnetically subcritical clouds that are supersonically turbulent. The
turbulence accelerates star formation by reducing the time for dense core
formation. The dense cores produced are predominantly quiescent, with subsonic
internal motions. These cores tend to be moderately supercritical. They have
lifetimes long compared with their local gravitational collapse time. Some of
the cores collapse to form stars, while others disperse away without star
formation. In turbulent clouds that are marginally magnetically supercritical,
the star formation efficiency is higher, but can still be consistent with the
values inferred for nearby embedded clusters. If not regulated by magnetic
fields at all, star formation in a multi-Jeans mass cloud endowed with a strong
initial turbulence proceeds rapidly, with the majority of cloud mass converted
into stars in a gravitational collapse time. The efficiency is formally higher
than the values inferred for nearby cluster-forming cores, indicating that
magnetic fields are dynamically important even for cluster formation.Comment: submitted to Ap
DISTANCE EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS: AN ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT ACCEPTANCE AND PERFORMANCE.
This paper reports an analysis of student evaluation of and performance in three agricultural economics classes offered at distance by audio-visual connection in real time. Multiple regression analyses of student questionnaire data are used to examine the relationship between student attributes and their evaluation of and performance in the distance-offered course.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,
Development of a coaxial plasma gun for space propulsion final report
Current sheet accelerators and pulsed plasma thrustors for spacecraft propulsio
Nonaxisymmetric Evolution of Magnetically Subcritical Clouds: Bar Growth, Core Elongation, and Binary Formation
We have begun a systematic numerical study of the nonlinear growth of
nonaxisymmetric perturbations during the ambipolar diffusion-driven evolution
of initially magnetically subcritical molecular clouds, with an eye on the
formation of binaries, multiple stellar systems and small clusters. In this
initial study, we focus on the (or bar) mode, which is shown to be
unstable during the dynamic collapse phase of cloud evolution after the central
region has become magnetically supercritical. We find that, despite the
presence of a strong magnetic field, the bar can grow fast enough that for a
modest initial perturbation (at 5% level) a large aspect ratio is obtained
during the isothermal phase of cloud collapse. The highly elongated bar is
expected to fragment into small pieces during the subsequent adiabatic phase.
Our calculations suggest that the strong magnetic fields observed in some
star-forming clouds and envisioned in the standard picture of single star
formation do not necessarily suppress bar growth and fragmentation; on the
contrary, they may actually promote these processes, by allowing the clouds to
have more than one (thermal) Jeans mass to begin with without collapsing
promptly. Nonlinear growth of the bar mode in a direction perpendicular to the
magnetic field, coupled with flattening along field lines, leads to the
formation of supercritical cores that are triaxial in general. It removes a
longstanding objection to the standard scenario of isolated star formation
involving subcritical magnetic field and ambipolar diffusion based on the
likely prolate shape inferred for dense cores. Continuted growth of the bar
mode in already elongated starless cores, such as L1544, may lead to future
binary and multiple star formation.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ
Dark cloud cores and gravitational decoupling from turbulent flows
We test the hypothesis that the starless cores may be gravitationally bound
clouds supported largely by thermal pressure by comparing observed molecular
line spectra to theoretical spectra produced by a simulation that includes
hydrodynamics, radiative cooling, variable molecular abundance, and radiative
transfer in a simple one-dimensional model. The results suggest that the
starless cores can be divided into two categories: stable starless cores that
are in approximate equilibrium and will not evolve to form protostars, and
unstable pre-stellar cores that are proceeding toward gravitational collapse
and the formation of protostars. The starless cores might be formed from the
interstellar medium as objects at the lower end of the inertial cascade of
interstellar turbulence. Additionally, we identify a thermal instability in the
starless cores. Under par ticular conditions of density and mass, a core may be
unstable to expansion if the density is just above the critical density for the
collisional coupling of the gas and dust so that as the core expands the
gas-dust coupling that cools the gas is reduced and the gas warms, further
driving the expansion.Comment: Submitted to Ap
Terpenoid-Induced Feeding Deterrence and Antennal Response of Honey Bees
Multiple interacting stressors negatively affect the survival and productivity of managed honey bee colonies. Pesticides remain a primary concern for beekeepers, as even sublethal exposures can reduce bee immunocompetence, impair navigation, and reduce social communication. Pollinator protection focuses on pesticide application guidelines; however, a more active protection strategy is needed. One possible approach is the use of feeding deterrents that can be delivered as an additive during pesticide application. The goal of this study was to validate a laboratory assay designed to rapidly screen compounds for behavioral changes related to feeding or feeding deterrence. The results of this investigation demonstrated that the synthetic Nasonov pheromone and its terpenoid constituents citral, nerol, and geraniol could alter feeding behavior in a laboratory assay. Additionally, electroantennogram assays revealed that these terpenoids elicited some response in the antennae; however, only a synthetic Nasonov pheromone, citral, and geraniol elicited responses that differed significantly from control and vehicle detections
High-pressure study of substrate material ScAlMgO4
We report on the structural properties of ScAlMgO4 studied under
quasi-hydrostatic pressure using synchrotron high-pressure x-ray diffraction up
to 40 GPa. We also report on single-crystal studies of ScAlMgO4 performed at
300 K and 100 K. We found that the low-pressure phase remains stable up to 24
GPa. At 28 GPa, we detected a reversible phase transformation. The
high-pressure phase is assigned to a monoclinic distortion of the low-pressure
phase. No additional phase transition is observed up to 40 GPa. In addition,
the equation of state, compressibility tensor, and thermal expansion
coefficients of ScAlMgO4 are determined. The bulk modulus of ScAlMgO4 is found
to be 143(8) GPa, with a strong compressibility anisotropy. For the trigonal
low-pressure phase, the compressibility along the c-axis is twice than
perpendicular one. A perfect lattice match with ZnO is retained under pressure
in the pressure range of stability of wurtzite ZnO.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, 24 reference
Contribution of brown dwarfs and white dwarfs to recent microlensing observations and to the halo mass budget
We examine the recent results of the MACHO collaboration towards the Large
Magellanic Cloud (Alcock et al. 1996) in terms of a halo brown dwarf or white
dwarf population. The possibility for most of the microlensing events to be due
to brown dwarfs is totally excluded by large-scale kinematic properties. The
white dwarf scenario is examined in details in the context of the most recent
white dwarf cooling theory (Segretain et al. 1994) which includes explicitely
the extra source of energy due to carbon-oxygen differentiation at
crystallization, and the subsequent Debye cooling. We show that the
observational constraints arising from the luminosity function of high-velocity
white dwarfs in the solar neighborhood and from the recent HST deep field
counts are consistent with a white dwarf contribution to the halo missing mass
as large as 50 %, provided i) an IMF strongly peaked around 1.7 Msol and ii) a
halo age older than 18 Gyr.Comment: 14 pages, 2 Postscript figures, to be published in Astrophysical
Journal Letters, minor revision in tex
Ambipolar Drift Heating in Turbulent Molecular Clouds
Although thermal pressure is unimportant dynamically in most molecular gas,
the temperature is an important diagnostic of dynamical processes and physical
conditions. This is the first of two papers on thermal equilibrium in molecular
clouds. We present calculations of frictional heating by ion-neutral (or
ambipolar) drift in three-dimensional simulations of turbulent, magnetized
molecular clouds.
We show that ambipolar drift heating is a strong function of position in a
turbulent cloud, and its average value can be significantly larger than the
average cosmic ray heating rate. The volume averaged heating rate per unit
volume due to ambipolar drift, H_AD ~ |JxB|^2 ~ B^4/L_B^2, is found to depend
on the rms Alfvenic Mach number, M_A, and on the average field strength, as
H_AD ~ M_A^2^4. This implies that the typical scale of variation of the
magnetic field, L_B, is inversely proportional to M_A, which we also
demonstrate.Comment: 37 pages, 9 figures include
- …