119,580 research outputs found
X-raying Galaxies: A Chandra Legacy
This presentation reviews Chandra's major contribution to the understanding
of nearby galaxies. After a brief summary on significant advances in
characterizing various types of discrete X-ray sources, the presentation
focuses on the global hot gas in and around galaxies, especially normal ones
like our own. The hot gas is a product of stellar and AGN feedback -- the least
understood part in theories of galaxy formation and evolution. Chandra
observations have led to the first characterization of the spatial, thermal,
chemical, and kinetic properties of the gas in our Galaxy. The gas is
concentrated around the Galactic bulge and disk on scales of a few kpc. The
column density of chemically-enriched hot gas on larger scales is at least an
order magnitude smaller, indicating that it may not account for the bulk of the
missing baryon matter predicted for the Galactic halo according to the standard
cosmology. Similar results have also been obtained for other nearby galaxies.
The X-ray emission from hot gas is well correlated with the star formation rate
and stellar mass, indicating that the heating is primarily due to the stellar
feedback. However, the observed X-ray luminosity of the gas is typically less
than a few percent of the feedback energy. Thus the bulk of the feedback
(including injected heavy elements) is likely lost in galaxy-wide outflows. The
results are compared with simulations of the feedback to infer its dynamics and
interplay with the circum-galactic medium, hence the evolution of galaxies.Comment: Refereed review article to be published in Proceedings of the
National Academy of Science
Chandra detection of diffuse hot gas in and around the M31 bulge
We report the detection of diffuse hot gas in M31, using archival Chandra
observations which allow us to map out a 30' by 30' field (covering a
galactocentric radius up to 4.5 kpc) and to detect sources in the galaxy down
to a 0.5-8 keV luminosity limit of ~10^35 ergs/s. We estimate the remaining
stellar contribution from fainter X-ray sources (primarily cataclysmic
variables and coronally active binaries), assuming that they spatially follow
the stellar distribution. Indeed, the near-IR K-band light of the galaxy
closely traces the 2-8 keV unresolved X-rays, indicating a collective stellar
X-ray emissivity consistent with those determined for the Galactic ridge and
M32, whereas the amount of the 0.5-2 keV unresolved emission is significantly
greater than the expected stellar contribution, especially within a
galactocentric radius of ~2 kpc. Morphologically, this soft X-ray excess
appears substantially rounder than the bulge as seen in K-band and is elongated
approximately along the minor-axis at large radii. The excess thus most likely
represents the emission of diffuse hot gas in and around the galactic bulge.
Furthermore, the near side of the M31 disk casts an apparent shadow against the
soft X-ray excess, indicating that the hot gas extends to at least 2.5 kpc from
the galactic plane. We briefly discuss the implications of these results on the
energy balance in the M31 bulge and on understanding the large-scale soft X-ray
enhancement observed toward the inner region of our own Galaxy.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ
Abell 2111: An Optical and Radio Study of the Richest Butcher-Oemler Cluster
We present an in-depth analysis of the Butcher-Oemler cluster A2111,
including new optical spectroscopy plus a deep Very Large Array (VLA) radio
continuum observation. These are combined with optical imaging from the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to assess the activity and properties of member
galaxies. Prior X-ray studies have suggested A2111 is a head-on cluster merger,
a dynamical state which might be connected to the high level of activity
inferred from its blue fraction. We are able to directly assess this claim,
using our spectroscopic data to identify 95 cluster members among 196 total
galaxy spectra. These galaxy velocities do not themselves provide significant
evidence for the merger interpretation, however they are consistent with it
provided the system is viewed near the time of core passage and at a viewing
angle >~30 degrees different from the merger axis. The SDSS data allow us to
confirm the high blue fraction for A2111, f_b = 0.15 +/- 0.03 based on
photometry alone and f_b = 0.23 +/- 0.03 using spectroscopic data to remove
background galaxies. We are able to detect 175 optical sources from the SDSS in
our VLA radio data, of which 35 have redshift information. We use the SDSS
photometry to determine photometric redshifts for the remaining 140
radio-optical sources. In total we identify up to 26 cluster radio galaxies, 14
of which have spectroscopic redshifts. The optical spectroscopy and radio data
reveal a substantial population of dusty starbursts within the cluster. The
high blue fraction and prevalence of star formation is consistent with the
hypothesis that dynamically-active clusters are associated with more active
member galaxies than relaxed clusters.Comment: To appear in AJ; 53 pages including 10 figures and several long
table
A General Effective Theory for Dense Quark Matter
A general effective action for quark matter at nonzero temperature and/or
nonzero density is derived. Irrelevant quark modes are distinguished from
relevant quark modes, and hard from soft gluon modes, by introducing two
separate cut-offs in momentum space, one for quarks, , and one for
gluons, . Irrelevant quark modes and hard gluon modes are then
exactly integrated out in the functional integral representation of the QCD
partition function. Depending on the specific choice for and
, the resulting effective action contains well-known effective
actions for hot and/or dense quark matter, for instance the ``Hard Thermal
Loop'' (HTL) or the ``Hard Dense Loop'' (HDL) action, as well as the
high-density effective theory proposed by Hong and others.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, contribution to proceedings of SEWM 200
ROSAT HRI Detection of the 16 ms Pulsar PSR J0537-6910 Inside SNR N157B
Based on a deep ROSAT HRI observation, we have detected a pulsed signal in
the 0.1-2 keV band from PSR J0537-6910 --- the recently discovered pulsar
associated with the supernova remnant N157B in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The
measured pulse period 0.01611548182 ms (+- 0.02 ns), Epoch MJD 50540.5, gives a
revised linear spin-down rate of , slightly
greater than the previously derived value. The narrow pulse shape (FWHM = 10%
duty cycle) in the ROSAT band resembles those seen in both XTE and ASCA data (>
2 keV), but there is also marginal evidence for an interpulse. This ROSAT
detection enables us to locate the pulsar at R.A., Dec (J2000) =
. With its uncertainty , this
position coincides with the centroid of a compact X-ray source. But the pulsed
emission accounts for only about 10% of the source luminosity in the 0.1-2 keV band. These results support our previous
suggestions: (1) The pulsar is moving at a high velocity ();
(2) A bow shock, formed around the pulsar, is responsible for most of the X-ray
emission from the source; (3) A collimated outflow from the bow shock region
powers a pulsar wind nebula that accounts for an elongated non-thermal radio
and X-ray feature to the northwest of the pulsar.Comment: 6 pages including 3 figures. To be published in ApJ
Excitation Energy as a Basic Variable to Control Nuclear Disassembly
Thermodynamical features of Xe system is investigated as functions of
temperature and freeze-out density in the frame of lattice gas model. The
calculation shows different temperature dependence of physical observables at
different freeze-out density. In this case, the critical temperature when the
phase transition takes place depends on the freeze-out density. However, a
unique critical excitation energy reveals regardless of freeze-out density when
the excitation energy is used as a variable insteading of temperature.
Moreover, the different behavior of other physical observables with temperature
due to different vanishes when excitation energy replaces temperature.
It indicates that the excitation energy can be seen as a more basic quantity to
control nuclear disassembly.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, Revte
Laser Mode Bifurcations Induced by -Breaking Exceptional Points
A laser consisting of two independently-pumped resonators can exhibit mode
bifurcations that evolve out of the exceptional points (EPs) of the linear
system at threshold. The EPs are non-Hermitian degeneracies occurring at the
parity/time-reversal () symmetry breaking points of the threshold
system. Above threshold, the EPs become bifurcations of the nonlinear
zero-detuned laser modes, which can be most easily observed by making the gain
saturation intensities in the two resonators substantially different. Small
pump variations can then switch abruptly between different laser behaviors,
e.g. between below-threshold and -broken single-mode operation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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