196 research outputs found
Wind changes above warm Agulhas Current eddies
Sea surface temperature (SST) estimated from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer E onboard the Aqua satellite and altimetry-derived sea level anomalies are used south of the Agulhas Current to identify warm-core mesoscale eddies presenting a distinct SST perturbation greater than to 1 °C to the surrounding ocean. The analysis of twice daily instantaneous charts of equivalent stability-neutral wind speed estimates from the SeaWinds scatterometer onboard the QuikScat satellite collocated with SST for six identified eddies shows stronger wind speed above the warm eddies than the surrounding water in all wind directions, if averaged over the lifespan of the eddies, as was found in previous studies. However, only half of the cases showed higher wind speeds above the eddies at the instantaneous scale; 20 % of cases had incomplete data due to partial global coverage by the scatterometer for one path. For cases where the wind is stronger above warm eddies, there is no relationship between the increase in surface wind speed and the SST perturbation, but we do find a linear relationship between the decrease in wind speed from the centre to the border of the eddy downstream and the SST perturbation. SST perturbations range from 1 to 6 °C for a mean eddy SST of 15.9 °C and mean SST perturbation of 2.65 °C. The diameter of the eddies range from 100 to 250 km. Mean background wind speed is about 12 m s−1 (mostly southwesterly to northwesterly) and ranging mainly from 4 to 16 m s−1. The mean wind increase is about 15 %, which corresponds to 1.8 m s−1. A wind speed increase of 4 to 7 m s−1 above warm eddies is not uncommon. Cases where the wind did not increase above the eddies or did not decrease downstream had higher wind speeds and occurred during a cold front associated with intense cyclonic low-pressure systems, suggesting certain synoptic conditions need to be met to allow for the development of wind speed anomalies over warm-core ocean eddies. In many cases, change in wind speed above eddies was masked by a large-scale synoptic wind speed deceleration/acceleration affecting parts of the eddies
Modified Fluctuation-dissipation theorem for non-equilibrium steady-states and applications to molecular motors
We present a theoretical framework to understand a modified
fluctuation-dissipation theorem valid for systems close to non-equilibrium
steady-states and obeying markovian dynamics. We discuss the interpretation of
this result in terms of trajectory entropy excess. The framework is illustrated
on a simple pedagogical example of a molecular motor. We also derive in this
context generalized Green-Kubo relations similar to the ones derived recently
by Seifert., Phys. Rev. Lett., 104, 138101 (2010) for more general networks of
biomolecular states.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, submitted in EP
Cool and warm dust emission from M33 (HerM33es)
We study the far-infrared emission from the nearby spiral galaxy M33 in order
to investigate the dust physical properties such as the temperature and the
luminosity density across the galaxy. Taking advantage of the unique wavelength
coverage (100, 160, 250, 350 and 500 micron) of the Herschel Space Observatory
and complementing our dataset with Spitzer-IRAC 5.8 and 8 micron and
Spitzer-MIPS 24 and 70 micron data, we construct temperature and luminosity
density maps by fitting two modified blackbodies of a fixed emissivity index of
1.5. We find that the 'cool' dust grains are heated at temperatures between 11
and 28 K with the lowest temperatures found in the outskirts of the galaxy and
the highest ones in the center and in the bright HII regions. The
infrared/submillimeter total luminosity (5 - 1000 micron) is estimated to be
1.9x10^9 Lsun. 59% of the total luminosity of the galaxy is produced by the
'cool' dust grains (~15 K) while the rest 41% is produced by 'warm' dust grains
(~55 K). The ratio of the cool-to-warm dust luminosity is close to unity
(within the computed uncertainties), throughout the galaxy, with the luminosity
of the cool dust being slightly enhanced in the center of the galaxy.
Decomposing the emission of the dust into two components (one emitted by the
diffuse disk of the galaxy and one emitted by the spiral arms) we find that the
fraction of the emission in the disk in the mid-infrared (24 micron) is 21%,
while it gradually rises up to 57% in the submillimeter (500 micron). We find
that the bulk of the luminosity comes from the spiral arm network that produces
70% of the total luminosity of the galaxy with the rest coming from the diffuse
dust disk. The 'cool' dust inside the disk is heated at a narrow range of
temperatures between 18 and 15 K (going from the center to the outer parts of
the galaxy).Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Star formation in M33 (HerM33es)
Within the key project "Herschel M33 extended survey" (HerM33es), we are
studying the physical and chemical processes driving star formation and
galactic evolution in the nearby galaxy M33, combining the study of local
conditions affecting individual star formation with properties only becoming
apparent on global scales. Here, we present recent results obtained by the
HerM33es team. Combining Spitzer and Herschel data ranging from 3.6um to 500um,
along with HI, Halpha, and GALEX UV data, we have studied the dust at high
spatial resolutions of 150pc, providing estimators of the total infrared (TIR)
brightness and of the star formation rate. While the temperature of the warm
dust at high brightness is driven by young massive stars, evolved stellar
populations appear to drive the temperature of the cold dust. Plane-parallel
models of photon dominated regions (PDRs) fail to reproduce fully the [CII],
[OI], and CO maps obtained in a first spectroscopic study of one 2'x2'
subregion of M33, located on the inner, northern spiral arm and encompassing
the HII region BCLMP302.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the 5th Zermatt ISM
Symposium "Conditions and impact of star formation: New results with Herschel
and beyond
PACS and SPIRE photometer maps of M33: First results of the Herschel M33 extended survey (HERM33ES)
Within the framework of the HERM33ES key project, we are studying the star
forming interstellar medium in the nearby, metal-poor spiral galaxy M33,
exploiting the high resolution and sensitivity of Herschel. We use PACS and
SPIRE maps at 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500 micron wavelength, to study the
variation of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with galacto-centric
distance. Detailed SED modeling is performed using azimuthally averaged fluxes
in elliptical rings of 2 kpc width, out to 8 kpc galacto-centric distance.
Simple isothermal and two-component grey body models, with fixed dust
emissivity index, are fitted to the SEDs between 24 and 500 micron using also
MIPS/Spitzer data, to derive first estimates of the dust physical conditions.
The far-infrared and submillimeter maps reveal the branched, knotted spiral
structure of M33. An underlying diffuse disk is seen in all SPIRE maps (250-500
micron). Two component fits to the SEDs agree better than isothermal models
with the observed, total and radially averaged flux densities. The two
component model, with beta fixed at 1.5, best fits the global and the radial
SEDs. The cold dust component clearly dominates; the relative mass of the warm
component is less than 0.3% for all the fits. The temperature of the warm
component is not well constrained and is found to be about 60K plus/minus 10K.
The temperature of the cold component drops significantly from about 24K in the
inner 2 kpc radius to 13K beyond 6 kpc radial distance, for the best fitting
model. The gas-to-dust ratio for beta=1.5, averaged over the galaxy, is higher
than the solar value by a factor of 1.5 and is roughly in agreement with the
subsolar metallicity of M33.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the A&A Herschel
Special Issu
Modified fluctuation-dissipation theorem near non-equilibrium states and applications to the Glauber-Ising chain
In this paper, we present a general derivation of a modified
fluctuation-dissipation theorem (MFDT) valid near an arbitrary non-stationary
state for a system obeying markovian dynamics. We show that the method to
derive modified fluctuation-dissipation theorems near non-equilibrium
stationary states used by J. Prost et al., PRL 103, 090601 (2009), is
generalizable to non-stationary states. This result follows from both standard
linear response theory and from a transient fluctuation theorem, analogous to
the Hatano-Sasa relation. We show that this modified fluctuation-dissipation
theorem can be interpreted at the trajectory level using the notion of
stochastic trajectory entropy, in a way which is similar to what has been done
recently in the case of MFDT near non-equilibrium steady states (NESS). We
illustrate this framework with two solvable examples: the first example
corresponds to a brownian particle in an harmonic trap submitted to a quench of
temperature and to a time-dependent stiffness. The second example is a classic
model of coarsening systems, namely the 1D Ising model with Glauber dynamics.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure
Properties of compact 250 μm emission and H II regions in M 33 (HERM33ES)
Aims. Within the framework of the HERM33ES key program, using the high resolution and sensitivity of the Herschel photometric
data, we study the compact emission in the Local Group spiral galaxy M33 to investigate the nature of the compact SPIRE emission
sources. We extracted a catalogue of sources at 250 μm in order to investigate the nature of this compact emission. Taking advantage
of the unprecedented Herschel resolution at these wavelengths, we also focus on a more precise study of some striking Hα shells in
the northern part of the galaxy.
Methods. We present a catalogue of 159 compact emission sources in M33 identified by SExtractor in the 250 μm SPIRE band that
is the one that provides the best spatial resolution. We also measured fluxes at 24 μm and Hα for those 159 extracted sources. The
morphological study of the shells also benefits from a multiwavelength approach including Hα, far-ultraviolet from GALEX, and
infrared from both Spitzer IRAC 8 μm and MIPS 24 μm in order to make comparisons.
Results. For the 159 compact sources selected at 250 μm, we find a very strong Pearson correlation coefficient with the MIPS 24 μm
emission (r_(24) = 0.94) and a rather strong correlation with the Hα emission, although with more scatter (r_(Hα) = 0.83). The morphological
study of the Hα shells shows a displacement between far-ultraviolet, Hα, and the SPIRE bands. The cool dust emission from
SPIRE clearly delineates the Hα shell structures.
Conclusions. The very strong link between the 250 μm compact emission and the 24 μm and Hα emissions, by recovering the star formation
rate from standard recipes for H II regions, allows us to provide star formation rate calibrations based on the 250 μm compact
emission alone. The different locations of the Hα and far-ultraviolet emissions with respect to the SPIRE cool dust emission leads to
a dynamical age of a few Myr for the Hα shells and the associated cool dust
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