Dissipative merging of galaxies

The galaxy merging is investigated with hydrodynamical processes taken into account. For this purpose, the 3D calculations are performed by the use of a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) scheme combined with an N-body scheme. In these calculations, we find a new merging criterion and the dependence of the central phase space density of merger remnants upon the gas fraction in progenitors. It is concluded that ellipticals can be formed just by merging of fairly gas-rich primordial galaxies, not ordinary spiral galaxies

Merger of Multiple Accreting Black Holes Concordant with Gravitational-wave Events

Recently, the advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (aLIGO) has detected black hole (BH) merger events, most of which are sourced by BHs more massive than 30 M-circle dot. Especially, the observation of GW170104 suggests dynamically assembled binaries favoring a distribution of misaligned spins. It has been argued that mergers of unassociated BHs can be engendered through a chance meeting in a multiple BH system under gas-rich environments. In this paper, we consider the merger of unassociated BHs, concordant with the massive BH merger events. To that end, we simulate a multiple BH system with a post-Newtonian N-body code incorporating gas accretion and general relativistic effects. As a result, we find that gas dynamical friction effectively promotes a three-body interaction of BHs in dense gas of n(gas) greater than or similar to 10(6) cm(-3), so that BH mergers can take place within 30 Myr. This scenario predicts an isotropic distribution of spin tilts. In the concordant models with GW150914, the masses of seed BHs are required to be greater than or similar to 25 M-circle dot. The potential sites of such chance meeting BH mergers are active galactic nucleus (AGN) disks and dense interstellar clouds. Assuming the LIGO O1, we roughly estimate the event rates for PopI BHs and PopIII BHs in AGN disks to be similar or equal to 1-2 yr(-1) and similar or equal to 1 yr(-1), respectively. Multiple episodes of AGNs may enhance the rates by roughly an order of magnitude. For massive PopI BHs in dense interstellar clouds the rate is similar or equal to 0.02 yr(-1). Hence, high-density AGN disks are a more plausible site for mergers of chance meeting BHs

START: Smoothed particle hydrodynamics with tree-based accelerated radiative transfer

We present a novel radiation hydrodynamics code, START, which is a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) scheme coupled with accelerated radiative transfer. The basic idea for the acceleration of radiative transfer is parallel to the tree algorithm that is hitherto used to speed up the gravitational force calculation in an N-body system. It is demonstrated that the radiative transfer calculations can be dramatically accelerated, where the computational time is scaled as Np log Ns for Np SPH particles and Ns radiation sources. Such acceleration allows us to readily include not only numerous sources but also scattering photons, even if the total number of radiation sources is comparable to that of SPH particles. Here, a test simulation is presented for a multiple source problem, where the results with START are compared to those with a radiation SPH code without tree-based acceleration. We find that the results agree well with each other if we set the tolerance parameter as < 1.0, and then it demonstrates that START can solve radiative transfer faster without reducing the accuracy. One of important applications with START is to solve the transfer of diffuse ionizing photons, where each SPH particle is regarded as an emitter. To illustrate the competence of START, we simulate the shadowing effect by dense clumps around an ionizing source. As a result, it is found that the erosion of shadows by diffuse recombination photons can be solved. Such an effect is of great significance to reveal the cosmic reionization process.Comment: 14 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The Reionization History and Early Metal Enrichment inferred from the Gamma-Ray Burst Rate

Based on the gamma-ray burst (GRB) event rate at redshifts of $4 \leq z \leq 12$, which is assessed by the spectral peak energy-to-luminosity relation recently found by Yonetoku et al., we observationally derive the star formation rate (SFR) for Pop III stars in a high redshift universe. As a result, we find that Pop III stars could form continuously at $4 \leq z \leq 12$. Using the derived Pop III SFR, we attempt to estimate the ultraviolet (UV) photon emission rate at $7 \leq z \leq 12$ in which redshift range no observational information has been hitherto obtained on ionizing radiation intensity. We find that the UV emissivity at $7 \leq z \leq 12$ can make a noticeable contribution to the early reionization. The maximal emissivity is higher than the level required to keep ionizing the intergalactic matter at $7 \leq z \leq 12$. However, if the escape fraction of ionizing photons from Pop III objects is smaller than 10%, then the IGM can be neutralized at some redshift, which may lead to the double reionization. As for the enrichment, the ejection of all metals synthesized in Pop III objects is marginally consistent with the IGM metallicity, although the confinement of metals in Pop III objects can reduce the enrichment significantly.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, ApJL accepte