6,523 research outputs found
The Nuclear Activity of the Galaxies in the Hickson Compact Groups
In order to investigate the nuclear activity of galaxies residing in compact
groups of galaxies, we present results of our optical spectroscopic program
made at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory. We have performed optical
spectroscopy of 69 galaxies which belong to 31 Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) of
Galaxies. Among them, three galaxies have discordant redshifts. Further,
spectral quality is too poor to classify other three galaxies. Therefore, we
describe our results for the remaining 63 galaxies.
Our main results are summarized below. (1) We have found in our sample; 28
AGN, 16 HII nuclei, and 19 normal galaxies which show no emission line. We used
this HCG sample for statistical analyses. (2) Comparing the frequency
distributions of activity types between the HCGs and the field galaxies whose
data are taken from Ho, Filippenko, & Sargent (382 field galaxies), we find
that the frequency of HII nuclei in the HCGs is significantly less than that in
the field. However, this difference may be due to selection bias that our HCG
sample contains more early-type galaxies than the field, because it is known
that HII nuclei are rarer in early-type galaxies than in later ones. (3)
Applying correction this morphological bias to the HCG sample, we find that
there is no statistically significant difference in the frequency of occurrence
of emission-line galaxies between the HCGs and the field. This implies that the
dense galaxy environment in the HCGs does not affect triggering both the AGN
activity and the nuclear starburst. We discuss some implications on the nuclear
activity in the HCG galaxies.Comment: 33 pages (3 aasms4 LaTeX files), 5 figures (5 Postscript files:
excluded Figure 1), Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa
Boundary effects in the stepwise structure of the Lyapunov spectra for quasi-one-dimensional systems
Boundary effects in the stepwise structure of the Lyapunov spectra and the
corresponding wavelike structure of the Lyapunov vectors are discussed
numerically in quasi-one-dimensional systems consisting of many hard-disks.
Four kinds of boundary conditions constructed by combinations of periodic
boundary conditions and hard-wall boundary conditions are considered, and lead
to different stepwise structures of the Lyapunov spectra in each case. We show
that a spatial wavelike structure with a time-oscillation appears in the
spatial part of the Lyapunov vectors divided by momenta in some steps of the
Lyapunov spectra, while a rather stationary wavelike structure appears in the
purely spatial part of the Lyapunov vectors corresponding to the other steps.
Using these two kinds of wavelike structure we categorize the sequence and the
kinds of steps of the Lyapunov spectra in the four different boundary condition
cases.Comment: 33 pages, 25 figures including 10 color figures. Manuscript including
the figures of better quality is available from
http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/~gary/step.pd
What Controls the Star Formation in Luminous Starburst Mergers ?
In order to understand what controls the star formation process in luminous
starburst mergers (e.g., NGC 6240, Arp 220, and so on), we investigate
observational properties of two samples of high-luminosity starburst galaxies
mapped in CO(=1--0) independently using both the Owens Valley Radio
Observatory (Scoville et al. 1991) and the IRAM interferometer (Downes &
Solomon 1998). We find that the surface density of far-infrared luminosity,
(FIR), is proportional linearly to the H surface mass density,
(H), for the two samples; (FIR) (H) with a correlation coefficient of 0.96. It is
often considered that (FIR) provides a good measure of the star
formation rate per unit area, (SFR). It is also known that molecular
gas is dominated in circumnuclear regions in the luminous starburst mergers;
i.e., (gas) (H). Therefore, the above relationship
suggests a star formation law; (SFR) (gas). We suggest
that this star formation law favors the gravitational instability scenario
rather than the cloud-cloud collision one.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures. The Astrophysical Journal (Letters), in pres
Possible explanation for star-crushing effect in binary neutron star simulations
A possible explanation is suggested for the controversial star-crushing
effect seen in numerical simulations of inspiraling neutron star binaries by
Wilson, Mathews and Marronetti (WMM). An apparently incorrect definition of
momentum density in the momentum constraint equation used by WMM gives rise to
a post-1-Newtonian error in the approximation scheme. We show by means of an
analytic, post-1-Newtonian calculation that this error causes an increase of
the stars' central densities which is of the order of several percent when the
stars are separated by a few stellar radii, in agreement with what is seen in
the simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, uses revetx macros, minor revision
Stochastic Interactions of Two Brownian Hard Spheres in the Presence of Depletants
A quantitative analysis is presented for the stochastic interactions of a
pair of Brownian hard spheres in non-adsorbing polymer solutions. The hard
spheres are hypothetically trapped by optical tweezers and allowed for random
motion near the trapped positions. The investigation focuses on the long-time
correlated Brownian motion. The mobility tensor altered by the polymer
depletion effect is computed by the boundary integral method, and the
corresponding random displacement is determined by the fluctuation-dissipation
theorem. From our computations it follows that the presence of depletion layers
around the hard spheres has a significant effect on the hydrodynamic
interactions and particle dynamics as compared to pure solvent and pure polymer
solution (no depletion) cases. The probability distribution functions of random
walks of the two interacting hard spheres that are trapped clearly shifts due
to the polymer depletion effect. The results show that the reduction of the
viscosity in the depletion layers around the spheres and the entropic force due
to the overlapping of depletion zones have a significant influence on the
correlated Brownian interactions.Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, 1 appendix, 40 formulas inside the text, 5
formulas in appendi
The Role of the Dust in Primeval Galaxies: A Simple Physical Model for Lyman Break Galaxies and Lyman Alpha Emitters
We explore the onset of star formation in the early Universe, exploiting the
observations of high-redshift Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) and Lyman alpha
emitters (LAEs), in the framework of the galaxy formation scenario elaborated
by Granato et al. (2004) already successfully tested against the wealth of data
on later evolutionary stages. Complementing the model with a simple, physically
plausible, recipe for the evolution of dust attenuation in metal poor galaxies
we reproduce the luminosity functions (LFs) of LBGs and of LAEs at different
redshifts. This recipe yields a much faster increase with galactic age of
attenuation in more massive galaxies, endowed with higher star formation rates.
These objects have therefore shorter lifetimes in the LAE and LBG phases, and
are more easily detected in the dusty submillimeter bright phase. The short UV
bright lifetimes of massive objects strongly mitigate the effect of the fast
increase of the massive halo density with decreasing redshift, thus accounting
for the weaker evolution of the LBG LF, compared to that of the halo mass
function, and the even weaker evolution between z~6 and z~3 of the LAE LF. LAEs
are on the average expected to be younger, with lower stellar masses, and
associated to less massive halos than LBGs. Finally, we show that the
intergalactic medium can be completely reionized at redshift z~6-7 by massive
stars shining in protogalactic spheroids with halo masses from a few 10^10 to a
few 10^11 M_sun, showing up as faint LBGs with magnitude in the range
-17<M_1350<-20, without resorting to any special stellar initial mass function.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, uses REVTeX 4 + emulateapj.cls and apjfonts.sty.
Title changed and text revised following referee's comments. Accepted by Ap
Localized behavior in the Lyapunov vectors for quasi-one-dimensional many-hard-disk systems
We introduce a definition of a "localization width" whose logarithm is given
by the entropy of the distribution of particle component amplitudes in the
Lyapunov vector. Different types of localization widths are observed, for
example, a minimum localization width where the components of only two
particles are dominant. We can distinguish a delocalization associated with a
random distribution of particle contributions, a delocalization associated with
a uniform distribution and a delocalization associated with a wave-like
structure in the Lyapunov vector. Using the localization width we show that in
quasi-one-dimensional systems of many hard disks there are two kinds of
dependence of the localization width on the Lyapunov exponent index for the
larger exponents: one is exponential, and the other is linear. Differences, due
to these kinds of localizations also appear in the shapes of the localized
peaks of the Lyapunov vectors, the Lyapunov spectra and the angle between the
spatial and momentum parts of the Lyapunov vectors. We show that the Krylov
relation for the largest Lyapunov exponent as a
function of the density is satisfied (apart from a factor) in the same
density region as the linear dependence of the localization widths is observed.
It is also shown that there are asymmetries in the spatial and momentum parts
of the Lyapunov vectors, as well as in their and -components.Comment: 41 pages, 21 figures, Manuscript including the figures of better
quality is available from http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~gary/Research.htm
Tidal Interaction between a Fluid Star and a Kerr Black Hole in Circular Orbit
We present a semi-analytic study of the equilibrium models of close binary
systems containing a fluid star (mass and radius ) and a Kerr black
hole (mass ) in circular orbit. We consider the limit where
spacetime is described by the Kerr metric. The tidally deformed star is
approximated by an ellipsoid, and satisfies the polytropic equation of state.
The models also include fluid motion in the stellar interior, allowing binary
models with nonsynchronized stellar spin (as expected for coalescing neutron
star-black hole binaries) to be constructed. Tidal disruption occurs at orbital
radius , but the dimensionless ratio depends on the spin parameter of
the black hole as well as on the equation of state and the internal rotation of
the star. We find that the general relativistic tidal field disrupts the star
at a larger than the Newtonian tide; the difference is
particularly prominent if the disruption occurs in the vicinity of the black
hole's horizon. In general, is smaller for a (prograde
rotating) Kerr black hole than for a Schwarzschild black hole. We apply our
results to coalescing black hole-neutron star and black hole-white dwarf
binaries. The tidal disruption limit is important for characterizing the
expected gravitational wave signals and is relevant for determining the
energetics of gamma ray bursts which may result from such disruption.Comment: 29 pages including 8 figures. Minor changes and update. To appear in
ApJ, March 20, 2000 (Vol.532, #1
The dependence of the estimated luminosities of ULX on spectral models
Data from {\it Chandra} observations of thirty nearby galaxies were analyzed
and 365 X-ray point sources were chosen whose spectra were not contaminated by
excessive diffuse emission and not affected by photon pile up. The spectra of
these sources were fitted using two spectral models (an absorbed power-law and
a disk blackbody) to ascertain the dependence of estimated parameters on the
spectral model used. It was found that the cumulative luminosity function
depends on the choice of the spectral model, especially for luminosities ergs/s. In accordance with previous results, a large number () of the sources have luminosities ergs/s (Ultra-Luminous X-ray
sources) with indistinguishable average spectral parameters (inner disk
temperature keV and/or photon index ) with those of the
lower luminosities ones. After considering foreground stars and known
background AGN,we identify four sources whose minimum luminosity exceed
ergs/s, and call them Extremely Luminous X-ray sources (ELX). The
spectra of these sources are in general better represented by the disk black
body model than the power-law one. These ELX can be grouped into two distinct
spectral classes. Two of them have an inner disk temperature of keV and
hence are called ``supersoft'' ELX, while the other two have temperatures
keV and are called ``hard'' ELX. The estimated inner disk
temperatures of the supersoft ELX are compatible with the hypothesis that they
harbor intermediate size black holes, which are accreting at times
their Eddington Luminosity. The radiative mechanism for hard ELX, seems to be
Inverse Comptonization, which in contrast to standard black holes systems, is
probably saturated.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal. 9 pages. Complete
long Tables 4 and 5 are given as tab4.tex and tab5.tex separatel
- …