Making chiral fermion actions (almost) gauge invariant using Laplacian gauge fixing

Straight foreward lattice descriptions of chiral fermions lead to actions that break gauge invariance. I describe a method to make such actions gauge invariant (up to global gauge transformations) with the aid of gauge fixing. To make this prescription unambiguous, Laplacian gauge fixing is used, which is free from Gribov ambiguities.Comment: 3 p., Latex, (proc. Lattice '93, Dallas), 2 figs. appended, UCSD/PTH 93-4

Fast & slow winds from supergiants and Luminous Blue Variables

We predict quantitative mass-loss rates and terminal wind velocities for early-type supergiants and luminous blue variables (LBVs) using a dynamical version of the Monte Carlo radiative transfer method. First, the observed drop in terminal wind velocity around spectral type B1 is confirmed by the Monte Carlo method -- at the correct effective temperature of about 21 000 K. This drop in wind velocity is much steeper than would be expected from the drop in escape speed for cooler stars. The results may be particularly relevant for slow winds inferred for some High-Mass X-ray binaries. Second, the strength of the mass-loss bi-stability jump is found to be significantly larger than previously assumed. Not only could this make bi-stability braking more efficient in massive star evolution, but a rotationally-induced version of the bi-stability mechanism may now be capable of producing the correct density of outflowing disks around B[e] supergiants, although multi-dimensional modelling including the disk velocity structure is still needed. For LBVs, we find the bi-stability jump to become larger at higher metallicities, but perhaps surprisingly also larger at lower Eddington parameters. This may have consequences for the role of LBVs in the evolution of massive stars at different metallicities and Cosmic Epochs. Finally, our predicted low wind velocities may be important for explaining the slow outflow speeds of supernova type IIb/IIn progenitors, for which the direct LBV-SN link was first introduced.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figure

Some comments on Laplacian gauge fixing

Laplacian gauge fixing was introduced to find a unique representative of the gauge orbit, which on the lattice could be implemented by a ``finite'' algorithm. What was still lacking was a perturbative formulation of this gauge, which will be presented here. However, renormalizability is still to be demonstrated. For torodial and spherical geometries a detailed comparison with the Landau (or Coulomb) gauge will be made.Comment: Contribution to Lattice '94, 3 pages PostScrip

Constraining the progenitor evolution of GW 150914

One of the largest surprises from the LIGO results regarding the first gravitational wave detection (GW 150914) was the fact the black holes (BHs) were "heavy", of order 30 - 40 solar masses. The most promising explanation for this obesity is that the BH-BH merger occurred at low metallicity (Z): when the iron (Fe) contents is lower this is expected to result in weaker mass loss during the Wolf-Rayet (WR) phase. We therefore critically evaluate the claims for the reasons of heavy BHs as a function of Z in the literature. Furthermore, weaker stellar winds might lead to more rapid stellar rotation, allowing WR and BH progenitor evolution in a chemically homogeneous manner. However, there is as yet no empirical evidence for more rapid rotation amongst WR stars in the low Z environment of the Magellanic Clouds. Due to the intrinsic challenge of determining WR rotation rates from emission lines, the most promising avenue to constrain rotation-rate distributions amongst various WR subgroups is through the utilisation of their emission lines in polarised light. We thus provide an overview of linear spectro-polarimetry observations of both single and binary WRs in the Galaxy, as well as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, at 50% and 20% of solar Z, respectively. Initial results suggest that the route of chemically homogeneous evolution (CHE) through stellar rotation is challenging, whilst the alternative of a post-LBV or common envelope evolution is more likely.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, oral contribution: IAU Symposium 346 "High Mass X-ray Binaries: illuminating the passage from massive binaries to merging compact objects", Vienna, Austria, 27-31 August 201

Asymmetric Type-Ia supernova origin of W49B as revealed from spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopic study

The origin of the asymmetric supernova remnant (SNR) W49B has been a matter of debate: is it produced by a rare jet-driven core-collapse supernova, or by a normal supernova that is strongly shaped by its dense environment? Aiming to uncover the explosion mechanism and origin of the asymmetric, centrally filled X-ray morphology of W49B, we have performed spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy and a search for potential point sources. We report new candidate point sources inside W49B. The Chandra X-ray spectra from W49B are well-characterized by two-temperature gas components ($\sim 0.27$ keV + 0.6--2.2 keV). The hot component gas shows a large temperature gradient from the northeast to the southwest and is over-ionized in most regions with recombination timescales of 1--$10\times 10^{11}$ cm$^{-3}$ s. The Fe element shows strong lateral distribution in the SNR east, while the distribution of Si, S, Ar, Ca is relatively smooth and nearly axially symmetric. Asymmetric Type-Ia explosion of a Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf well-explains the abundance ratios and metal distribution of W49B, whereas a jet-driven explosion and normal core-collapse models fail to describe the abundance ratios and large masses of iron-group elements. A model based on a multi-spot ignition of the white dwarf can explain the observed high $M_{\rm Mn}/M_{\rm Cr}$ value (0.8--2.2). The bar-like morphology is mainly due to a density enhancement in the center, given the good spatial correlation between gas density and X-ray brightness. The recombination ages and the Sedov age consistently suggest a revised SNR age of 5--6 kyr. This study suggests that despite the presence of candidate point sources projected within the boundary of this SNR, W49B is likely a Type-Ia SNR, which suggests that Type-Ia supernovae can also result in mixed-morphology SNRs.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in A&

On the electron-ion temperature ratio established by collisionless shocks

Astrophysical shocks are often collisionless shocks. An open question about collisionless shocks is whether electrons and ions each establish their own post-shock temperature, or whether they quickly equilibrate in the shock region. Here we provide simple relations for the minimal amount of equilibration to expect. The basic assumption is that the enthalpy-flux of the electrons is conserved separately, but that all particle species should undergo the same density jump across the the shock. This assumption results in an analytic treatment of electron-ion equilibration that agrees with observations of collisionless shocks: at low Mach numbers ($<2$) the electrons and ions are close to equilibration, whereas for Mach numbers above $M \sim 60$ the electron-ion temperature ratio scales with the particle masses $T_e/T_i = m_e/m_i$. In between these two extremes the electron-ion temperature ratio scales as $T_e/T_i \propto 1/M_s^2$. This relation also hold if adiabatic compression of the electrons is taken into account. For magnetised plasmas the compression is governed by the magnetosonic Mach number, whereas the electron-ion temperatures are governed by the sonic Mach number. The derived equations are in agreement with observational data at low Mach numbers, but for supernova remnants the relation requires that the inferred Mach numbers for the observations are over- estimated, perhaps as a result of upstream heating in the cosmic-ray precursor. In addition to predicting a minimal electron/ion temperature ratio, we also heuristically incorporate ion-electron heat exchange at the shock, quantified with a dimensionless parameter ${\xi}$. Comparing the model to existing observations in the solar system and supernova remnants suggests that the data are best described by ${\xi} \sim 5$ percent. (Abridged abstract.)Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. This version is expanded with a section on adiabatic heating of the electrons and the effects of magnetic field