On the formation of dwarf galaxies and stellar halos

Using analytic arguments and a suite of very high resolution (10^3 Msun per particle) cosmological hydro-dynamical simulations, we argue that high redshift, z ~ 10, M ~ 10^8 Msun halos, form the smallest `baryonic building block' (BBB) for galaxy formation. These halos are just massive enough to efficiently form stars through atomic line cooling and to hold onto their gas in the presence of supernovae winds and reionisation. These combined effects, in particular that of the supernovae feedback, create a sharp transition: over the mass range 3-10x10^7 Msun, the BBBs drop two orders ofmagnitude in stellar mass. Below ~2x10^7 Msun, galaxies will be dark with almost no stars and no gas. Above this scale is the smallest unit of galaxy formation: the BBB. A small fraction (~100) of these gas rich BBBs fall in to a galaxy the size of the Milky Way. Ten percent of these survive to become the observed LG dwarf galaxies at the present epoch. Those in-falling halos on benign orbits which keep them far away from the Milky Way or Andromeda manage to retain their gas and slowly form stars - these become the smallest dwarf irregular galax ies; those on more severe orbits lose their gas faster than they can form stars and become the dwarf spheroidals. The remaining 90% of the BBBs will be accreted. We show that this gives a metallicity and total stellar mass consistent with the Milky Way old stellar halo (abridged).Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, one figure added to match accepted version. Some typos fixed. MNRAS in pres

The effect of neutrinos on the matter distribution as probed by the Intergalactic Medium

We present a suite of full hydrodynamical cosmological simulations that quantitatively address the impact of neutrinos on the (mildly non-linear) spatial distribution of matter and in particular on the neutral hydrogen distribution in the Intergalactic Medium (IGM), which is responsible for the intervening Lyman-alpha absorption in quasar spectra. The free-streaming of neutrinos results in a (non-linear) scale-dependent suppression of power spectrum of the total matter distribution at scales probed by Lyman-alpha forest data which is larger than the linear theory prediction by about 25% and strongly redshift dependent. By extracting a set of realistic mock quasar spectra, we quantify the effect of neutrinos on the flux probability distribution function and flux power spectrum. The differences in the matter power spectra translate into a ~2.5% (5%) difference in the flux power spectrum for neutrino masses with Sigma m_{\nu} = 0.3 eV (0.6 eV). This rather small effect is difficult to detect from present Lyman-alpha forest data and nearly perfectly degenerate with the overall amplitude of the matter power spectrum as characterised by sigma_8. If the results of the numerical simulations are normalized to have the same sigma_8 in the initial conditions, then neutrinos produce a smaller suppression in the flux power of about 3% (5%) for Sigma m_{\nu} = 0.6$eV (1.2 eV) when compared to a simulation without neutrinos. We present constraints on neutrino masses using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey flux power spectrum alone and find an upper limit of Sigma m_{\nu} < 0.9$ eV (2 sigma C.L.), comparable to constraints obtained from the cosmic microwave background data or other large scale structure probes.Comment: 38 pages, 21 figures. One section and references added. JCAP in pres

On the formation of dwarf galaxies and stellar haloes

Using analytic arguments and a suite of very high resolution (∼103 M⊙ per particle) cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, we argue that high-redshift, z∼ 10, M∼ 108 M⊙ haloes, form the smallest ‘baryonic building block' (BBB) for galaxy formation. These haloes are just massive enough to efficiently form stars through atomic line cooling and to hold on to their gas in the presence of supernova (SN) winds and reionization. These combined effects, in particular that of the SN feedback, create a sharp transition: over the mass range 3-10 × 107 M⊙, the BBBs drop two orders of magnitude in stellar mass. Below ∼2 × 107 M⊙, galaxies will be dark with almost no stars and no gas. Above this scale is the smallest unit of galaxy formation: the BBB. We show that the BBBs have stellar distributions which are spheroidal, of low rotational velocity, old and metal poor: they resemble the dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) of the Local Group (LG). Unlike the LG dSphs, however, they contain significant gas fractions. We connect these high-redshift BBBs to the smallest dwarf galaxies observed at z= 0 using linear theory. A small fraction (∼100) of these gas-rich BBBs at high redshift fall in to a galaxy the size of the Milky Way (MW). We suggest that 10 per cent of these survive to become the observed LG dwarf galaxies at the present epoch. This is consistent with recent numerical estimates. Those infalling haloes on benign orbits which keep them far away from the MW or Andromeda manage to retain their gas and slowly form stars - these become the smallest dwarf irregular galaxies; those on more severe orbits lose their gas faster than they can form stars and become the dwarf spheroidals. The remaining 90 per cent of the BBBs will be accreted. We show that this gives a metallicity and total stellar mass consistent with the MW old stellar hal

Possible evidence for an inverted temperature-density relation in the intergalactic medium from the flux distribution of the Lyman-alpha forest

We compare the improved measurement of the Lya forest flux probability distribution at 1.7<z<3.2 presented by Kim et al. (2007) to a large set of hydrodynamical simulations of the Lya forest with different cosmological parameters and thermal histories. The simulations are in good agreement with the observational data if the temperature-density relation for the low density intergalactic medium (IGM), T=T_0 Delta^{gamma-1}, is either close to isothermal or inverted (gamma<1). Our results suggest that the voids in the IGM may be significantly hotter and the thermal state of the low density IGM may be substantially more complex than is usually assumed at these redshifts. We discuss radiative transfer effects which alter the spectral shape of ionising radiation during the epoch of HeII reionisation as a possible physical mechanism for achieving an inverted temperature-density relation at z~3.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS following minor revision. The accepted version includes an expanded discussion of the flux power spectru

Diferenciação de rochas vulcânicas da formação serra geral utilizando gamaespectrometria terrestre na região vitivinícola Serra Gaúcha, RS - Brasil.

A Região Vitivinícola Serra Gaúcha (RVSG) possui fatores naturais e culturais aliados à geodiversidade da região que implica na formação de solos e relevos diferenciados. Essa particularidade, por sua vez, acarreta em respostas agronômicas específicas da videira e possibilita a valorização da produção de vinhos com distintas qualidades que caracterizam, consequentemente, diferentes terroírs. A área de estudo se situa no contexto de áreas de indicações geográficas para vinhos finos (Vale do Rio das Antas), no limite das unidades geomorfológicas Serra Geral e Planalto dos Campos Gerais, esculpidas sobre rochas da Formação Serra Geral. Na área ocorrem as Fácies Gramado e Caxias. Na primeira, têm-se basaltos de 132 milhões de anos, granulares finos a médios, melanocráticos; na segunda têm-se rochas intermediárias a ácidas (riodacíticas) de 131 milhões de anos, mesocráticas, granulares finas a microfaneríticas. Os horizontes superiores apresentam disjunção tabular bem desenvolvida e as partes centrais dos derrames são maciças, podendo apresentar estruturas de fluxo laminar e dobras. O relevo foi originado na era mesozóica por intenso vulcanismo fissural, havendo platôs com escarpas íngremes e o arcabouço estrutural mostra fraturas e falhas que condicionam a padrões de drenagem angulares e o entalhe das vertentes retilíneas. As áreas cultivadas com vinhedos na RVSG situam-se sobre zonas de maior altitude e menor declividade, relativas aos topos dos platôs, onde predominam rochas ácidas a intermediárias (Fácies Caxias), contendo argissolos, cambissolos e nitossolos. Nas áreas íngremes sobre rochas básicas (Fácies Gramado), ocorrem alissolos e chernossolos situados nos patamares inferiores. O objetivo deste trabalho foi testar um método rápido de distinção de rochas ácidas e básicas, por meio de gamaespectrometria terrestre. As medições foram adquiridas em uma área de 800 Km2 com orientação NE-SW, num perfil transversal da RVSG. O método utilizado empregou o amaespectrometro portátil da marca Radiation Solutíons, modelo super Spec RS-125 de 1024 canais espectrais, cedido pela UNISINOS/NEAP e GPS Garmin Montana 650, sendo o trabalho de campo apoiado pela Embrapa Uva e Vinho. Foram analisadas 83 medidas de rochas, sendo 59 da Fácies Caxias e 24 da Fácies Gramado, em sua maioria de rochas sãs. A classificação dessas rochas foi realizada utilizando critérios descritivos de campo. As medidas de K, eU e eTh foram comparadas na forma de gráficos, relativamente aos valores encontrados na literatura para esses tipos de rochas. Os resultados demonstraram que o método é eficaz na discriminação entre as rochas vulcânicas ácidas e básicas da Formação Serra Geral. Para a Fácies Caxias as concentrações médias foram de 3,7%, 5,5 ppm e 17,4 ppm, para K, eU e eTh, respectivamente. Já para a Fácies Gramado os valores médios de K foram de 2%, de eU foram de 2 ppm e de eTh de 9,2 ppm. O estudo também ratificou que as concentrações de K e eU são mais sensíveis ao grau de intemperismo das rochas do que as concentrações de eTh. Os dados estão organizados em um SIG e, na próxima etapa, o estudo buscará agregar dados de sensoriamento remoto hiperespectral para integrar com os dados gamaespectrométrico e geológicos

Constraining Warm Dark Matter candidates including sterile neutrinos and light gravitinos with WMAP and the Lyman-alpha forest

The matter power spectrum at comoving scales of (1-40) h^{-1} Mpc is very sensitive to the presence of Warm Dark Matter (WDM) particles with large free streaming lengths. We present constraints on the mass of WDM particles from a combined analysis of the matter power spectrum inferred from the large samples of high resolution high signal-to-noise Lyman-alpha forest data of Kim et al. (2004) and Croft et al. (2002) and the cosmic microwave background data of WMAP. We obtain a lower limit of m_wdm > 550 eV (2 sigma for early decoupled thermal relics and m_wdm > 2.0 keV (2 sigma) for sterile neutrinos. We also investigate the case where in addition to cold dark matter a light thermal gravitino with fixed effective temperature contributes significantly to the matter density. In that case the gravitino density is proportional to its mass, and we find an upper limit m_{3/2} < 16 eV (2 sigma). This translates into a bound on the scale of supersymmetry breaking, Lambda_{susy} < 260 TeV, for models of supersymmetric gauge mediation in which the gravitino is the lightest supersymmetric particle.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. PRD in pres

Integração de dados em SIG - geológicos e sensoriamento remoto na caracterização da IG Farroupilha para vinhos de qualidade, RS, Brasil.

Este trabalho visou elaborar uma base geológica da IG Farroupilha, a fim de contribuir com a delimitação da mesma, integrando e processando os dados num sistema de informações geográficas

Neutrinos in Non-linear Structure Formation - a Simple SPH Approach

We present a novel method for implementing massive neutrinos in N-body simulations. Instead of sampling the neutrino velocity distribution by individual point particles we take neutrino free-streaming into account by treating it as an effective redshift dependent sound speed in a perfect isothermal fluid, and assume a relation between the sound speed and velocity dispersion of the neutrinos. Although the method fails to accurately model the true neutrino power spectrum, it is able to calculate the total matter power spectrum to the same accuracy as more complex hybrid neutrino methods, except on very small scales. We also present an easy way to update the publicly available Gadget-2 version with this neutrino approximation.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Neutrino Halos in Clusters of Galaxies and their Weak Lensing Signature

We study whether non-linear gravitational effects of relic neutrinos on the development of clustering and large-scale structure may be observable by weak gravitational lensing. We compute the density profile of relic massive neutrinos in a spherical model of a cluster of galaxies, for several neutrino mass schemes and cluster masses. Relic neutrinos add a small perturbation to the mass profile, making it more extended in the outer parts. In principle, this non-linear neutrino perturbation is detectable in an all-sky weak lensing survey such as EUCLID by averaging the shear profile of a large fraction of the visible massive clusters in the universe, or from its signature in the general weak lensing power spectrum or its cross-spectrum with galaxies. However, correctly modeling the distribution of mass in baryons and cold dark matter and suppressing any systematic errors to the accuracy required for detecting this neutrino perturbation is severely challenging.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to JCA

Gamma-ray spectrometry for distinguishing acid and basic rocks of the serra geral formation, in the serra gaúcha wine region, Brazil.

The gamma-ray spectrometric research has allowed for observation of the distribution of radioactive elements such as K, U and Th for recognizing the radioactive signatures of different rock types. The objective of this study was to evaluate the possibility to distinguish between acid and basic rocks of the Serra Geral Formation, in the Serra Gaúcha wine region in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) through gamma-ray spectrometry techniques. This study contributed to geologically... Keywords: geophysical method, wine terroir, volcanic rock. A pesquisa por gamaespectrometria tem permitido observar a distribuição de elementos radioativos, tais como K, U e Th reconhecendo as assinaturas radioativas de diferentes tipos de rocha. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a possibilidade de distinguir entre as rochas ácidas e básicas da Formação Serra Geral, na região vitivinícola Serra Gaúcha, no estado do Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil) por meio de técnicas de gamaespectrometria Palavras-chave: m´étodos geofísicos, terroir vitivinícola, rocha vulcânica