5,564 research outputs found
Relic density and CMB constraints on dark matter annihilation with Sommerfeld enhancement
We calculate how the relic density of dark matter particles is altered when
their annihilation is enhanced by the Sommerfeld mechanism due to a Yukawa
interaction between the annihilating particles. Maintaining a dark matter
abundance consistent with current observational bounds requires the
normalization of the s-wave annihilation cross section to be decreased compared
to a model without enhancement. The level of suppression depends on the
specific parameters of the particle model, with the kinetic decoupling
temperature having the most effect. We find that the cross section can be
reduced by as much as an order of magnitude for extreme cases. We also compute
the mu-type distortion of the CMB energy spectrum caused by energy injection
from such Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation. Our results indicate that in the
vicinity of resonances, associated with bound states, distortions can be large
enough to be excluded by the upper limit |mu|<9.0x10^(-5) found by the
COBE/FIRAS experiment.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review D.
Corrections to eqs. 9,10,14 and 16. Figures updated accordingly. No major
changes to previous results. Website with online tools for Sommerfeld-related
calculations can be found at
http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~vogelsma/sommerfeld
Formation of Globular Clusters in Galaxy Mergers
We present a high-resolution simulation of globular cluster formation in a
galaxy merger. For the first time in such a simulation, individual star
clusters are directly identified and followed on their orbits. We
quantitatively compare star formation in the merger to that in the unperturbed
galaxies. The merging galaxies show a strong starburst, in sharp contrast to
their isolated progenitors. Most star clusters form in the tidal features. With
a mass range of --, they are
identified as globular clusters. The merger remnant is an elliptical galaxy.
Clusters with different mass or age have different radial distributions in the
galaxy. Our results show that the high specific frequency and bimodal
distribution of metallicity observed in elliptical galaxies are natural
products of gas-rich mergers, supporting a merger origin for the ellipticals
and their globular cluster systems.Comment: ApJL accepted, version with high quality color images can be found in
http://research.amnh.org/~yuexing/astro-ph/0407248.pd
Cooling Radiation and the Lyman-alpha Luminosity of Forming Galaxies
We examine the cooling radiation from forming galaxies in hydrodynamic
simulations of the LCDM model (cold dark matter with a cosmological constant),
focusing on the Ly-alpha line luminosities of high-redshift systems. Primordial
composition gas condenses within dark matter potential wells, forming objects
with masses and sizes comparable to the luminous regions of observed galaxies.
As expected, the energy radiated in this process is comparable to the
gravitational binding energy of the baryons, and the total cooling luminosity
of the galaxy population peaks at z ~= 2. However, in contrast to the classical
picture of gas cooling from the \sim 10^6 K virial temperature of a typical
dark matter halo, we find that most of the cooling radiation is emitted by gas
with T < 20,000 K. As a consequence, roughly 50% of this cooling radiation
emerges in the Ly-alpha line. While a galaxy's cooling luminosity is usually
smaller than the ionizing continuum luminosity of its young stars, the two are
comparable in the most massive systems, and the cooling radiation is produced
at larger radii, where the Ly-alpha photons are less likely to be extinguished
by dust. We suggest, in particular, that cooling radiation could explain the
two large (\sim 100 kpc), luminous (L_{Ly-alpha} \sim 10^{44} erg s^{-1})
``blobs'' of Ly-alpha emission found in Steidel et al.'s (1999) narrow band
survey of a z = 3 proto-cluster. Our simulations predict objects of the
observed luminosity at about the right space density, and radiative transfer
effects can account for the observed sizes and line widths. We discuss
observable tests of this hypothesis for the nature of the Ly-alpha blobs, and
we present predictions for the contribution of cooling radiation to the
Ly-alpha luminosity function of galaxies as a function of redshift.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. 28 pages including 9 PS figures. Version with color
figures available at
http://donald.astro.umass.edu/~fardal/papers/cooling/cooling.htm
Recommended from our members
Intense molecular emission from the Lagoon nebula, M8
The discovery is reported of the second strongest source of mm and submm wavelength CO line emission, towards M8, the Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius. The ~31 M⊙ molecular core has dimensions ~0.2 x 0.3pc and is centred on the O7V star Herschel 36 (H36), near the Hourglass Nebula in the core of M8. Emission from the CO line wings extends to the north and south of the Hourglass, although a lack of near-IR H2 emission indicates that outflow activity is much less prominent than in many active star-formation regions, and suggests that the CO line wings may trace the expanding edge of a cavity around H36. The molecular line data are compared with new near-IR narrow-band, continuum-subtracted images in He I, H2, and H,+ (Brγ) lines and archival HST emission-line images in Hα, [O III], and [S II]. The optical and near-IR data are found to be broadly consistent with previous photo-ionisation models of the Hourglass, which is excited by H 36. However, there are variations in the He I/Brγ line ratio which are difficult to explain
Spectral analysis of boundary layers in Rayleigh-Benard convection
A combined experimental and numerical study of the boundary layer in a 4:1
aspect-ratio Rayleigh-B\'{e}nard cell over a four-decade range of Rayleigh
numbers has been undertaken aimed at gaining a better insight into the
character of the boundary layers. The experiments involved the simultaneous
Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) measurements of fluid velocity at two locations,
i.e. in the boundary layer and far away from it in the bulk, for Rayleigh
numbers varying between and . In parallel,
direct numerical simulations (DNS) have been performed for the same
configuration for Rayleigh numbers between and . The temperature and velocity probability density functions and the power
spectra of the horizontal velocity fluctuations measured in the boundary layer
and in the bulk flow are found to be practically identical. Except for the
smallest Rayleigh numbers, the spectra in the boundary layer and in the bulk
central region are continuous and have a wide range of active scales. This
indicates that both the bulk and the boundary layers are turbulent in the
number range considered. However, molecular effects can still be
observed and the boundary layer does not behave like a classical shear-driven
turbulent boundary layer.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Recommended from our members
High resolution molecular line observations of the Serpens Nebula
The Serpens Molecular cloud is a nearby low/intermediate mass star forming region that is in the final stages of forming a densely packed cluster of stars. Spectra and high angular resolution maps of the CO, 13CO, C18O and C17O J=2-1 and CO J=4-3 transitions were obtained to study the distribution of molecular gas near the cluster. These are supplemented with data on the J=4-3 HCO+ line (to probe the denser gas), and 3P1 - 3P0 line of atomic carbon. The mass of the region is estimated to be ~1450Msun, implying that the star formation efficiency in the region to date has been ~2.5percent. Several molecular outflows are visible in the maps; some are associated with compact objects visible in millimetre and submillimetre wave continuum maps, as well as more widespread diffuse high velocity gas that extends over much of the nebula. The mass and energy of material in the high velocity gas are relatively small, ~0.3Msun and 3 x 1045 erg s-1, consistent with the characteristics of outflows seen towards low mass star-formation regions. The directions of the overlapping outflow lobes do not however show a clear alignment with the cloud's large scale magnetic field as has been reported towards some other regions. The gas temperatures in the central part of the molecular cloud are warmer (~30-40K) than typical for dark clouds, suggesting that the Serpens cluster has interacted with, and heated this gas. Estimates of the CO isotopomeric abundance ratios from these data may be strongly affected by opacity and radiative transfer effects. In a comparison of the LTE and LVG techniques, the disagreement between the derived column densities is discussed - with particular relevance to the higher rotationa
Heavy Quark Fragmentation to Baryons Containing Two Heavy Quarks
We discuss the fragmentation of a heavy quark to a baryon containing two
heavy quarks of mass . In this limit the heavy quarks
first combine perturbatively into a compact diquark with a radius small
compared to , which interacts with the light hadronic
degrees of freedom exactly as does a heavy antiquark. The subsequent evolution
of this diquark to a baryon is identical to the fragmentation of a
heavy antiquark to a meson. We apply this analysis to the production of baryons
of the form , , and .Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure included, uses harvmac.tex and epsf.tex, UCSD/PTH
93-11, CALT-68-1868, SLAC-PUB-622
Dark Matter Caustics
Caustics are a generic feature of the nonlinear growth of structure in the
dark matter distribution. If the dark matter were absolutely cold, its mass
density would diverge at caustics, and the integrated annihilation probability
would also diverge for individual particles participating in them. For
realistic dark matter candidates, this behaviour is regularised by small but
non-zero initial thermal velocities. We present a mathematical treatment of
evolution from Hot, Warm or Cold Dark Matter initial conditions which can be
directly implemented in cosmological N-body codes. It allows the identification
of caustics and the estimation of their annihilation radiation in fully general
simulations of structure formation.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, Accepted for publication in MNRAS, minor edit
- …