30,979 research outputs found
Bounds on Cubic Lorentz-Violating Terms in the Fermionic Dispersion Relation
We study the recently proposed Lorentz-violating dispersion relation for
fermions and show that it leads to two distinct cubic operators in the
momentum. We compute the leading order terms that modify the non-relativistic
equations of motion and use experimental results for the hyperfine transition
in the ground state of the ion to bound the values of the
Lorentz-violating parameters and for neutrons. The resulting
bounds depend on the value of the Lorenz-violating background four-vector in
the laboratory frame.Comment: Revtex 4, four pages. Version to match the one to appear in Physical
Review
Heavy Quark Interactions and Quarkonium Binding
We consider heavy quark interactions in quenched and unquenched lattice QCD.
In a region just above the deconfinement point, non-Abelian gluon polarization
leads to a strong increase in the binding. Comparing quark-antiquark and
quark-quark interaction, the dependence of the binding on the separation
distance is found to be the same for the colorless singlet and
the colored anti-triplet state. In a potential model description of
in-medium behavior, this enhancement of the binding leads to a
survival up to temperatures of 1.5 or higher; it could also result in
flow.Comment: 8 pages, 8 Figures; invited talk at "Strangeness in Quark Matter
2008", Beijing/China, to appear in the Proceeding
Anomalous Soft Photons in Hadron Production
Anomalous soft photons in excess of what is expected from electromagnetic
bremsstrahlung have been observed in association with the production of
hadrons, mostly mesons, in high-energy (K+)p, (pi+)p, (pi-)p, pp, and (e+)(e-)
collisions. We propose a model for the simultaneous production of anomalous
soft photons and mesons in quantum field theory, in which the meson production
arises from the oscillation of color charge densities of the quarks of the
underlying vacuum in the flux tube. As a quark carries both a color charge and
an electric charge, the oscillation of the color charge densities will be
accompanied by the oscillation of electric charge densities, which will in turn
lead to the simultaneous production of soft photons during the meson production
process. How the production of these soft photons may explain the anomalous
soft photon data will be discussed. Further experimental measurements to test
the model will be proposed.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Physical Review
HI-deficient galaxies in intermediate density environments
Observations show that spiral galaxies in galaxy clusters tend to have on
average less neutral hydrogen (HI) than galaxies of the same type and size in
the field. There is accumulating evidence that such HI-deficient galaxies are
also relatively frequent in galaxy groups. An important question is, which
mechanisms are responsible for the gas deficiency in galaxy groups. To gain a
better understanding of how environment affects the gas content of galaxies, we
identified a sample of six HI-deficient galaxies from the HI Parkes All Sky
Survey (HIPASS) using HI-optical scaling relations. One of the galaxies is
located in the outskirts of the Fornax cluster, four are in loose galaxy groups
and one is in a galaxy triplet. We present new high resolution HI observations
with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) of these galaxies. We discuss
the possible cause of HI-deficiency in these galaxies based on HI observations
and various multi-wavelength data. We find that the galaxies have truncated HI
disks, lopsided gas distribution and some show asymmetries in their stellar
disks. We conclude that both ram pressure stripping and tidal interactions are
important gas removal mechanisms in low density environments.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS, 17 pages, 10 figures, 7 table
X-ray Observations of Parsec-Scale Tails behind Two Middle-Aged Pulsars
Chandra and XMM-Newton resolved extremely long tails behind two middle-aged
pulsars, J1509-5850 and J1740+1000. The tail of PSR J1509-5850 is discernible
up to 5.6' from the pulsar (6.5 pc at a distance of 4 kpc), with a flux of
2*10^{-13} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} in 0.5-8 keV. The tail spectrum fits an absorbed
power-law (PL) model with the photon index of 2.3\pm0.2, corresponding to the
0.5-8 keV luminosity of 1*10^{33} ergs s^{-1}, for n_H= 2.1*10^{22} cm^{-2}.
The tail of PSR J1740+1000 is firmly detected up to 5' (2 pc at a 1.4 kpc
distance), with a flux of 6*10^{-14} ergs cm^{-2} s^{-1} in 0.4-10 keV. The PL
fit yields photon index of 1.4-1.5 and n_H=1*10^{21} cm^{-2}. The large extent
of the tails suggests that the bulk flow in the tails starts as mildly
relativistic downstream of the termination shock, and then gradually
decelerates. Within the observed extent of the J1509-5850 tail, the average
flow speed exceeds 5,000 km s^{-1}, and the equipartition magnetic field is a
few times 10^{-5} G. For the J1740+1000 tail, the equipartition field is a
factor of a few lower. The harder spectrum of the J1740+1000 tail implies
either less efficient cooling or a harder spectrum of injected electrons. For
the high-latitude PSR J1740+1000, the orientation of the tail on the sky shows
that the pulsar is moving toward the Galactic plane, which means that it was
born from a halo-star progenitor. The comparison between the J1509 and J1740
tails and the X-ray tails of other pulsars shows that the X-ray radiation
efficiency correlates poorly with the pulsar spin-down luminosity or age. The
X-ray efficiencies of the ram-pressure confined pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are
systematically higher than those of PWNe around slowly moving pulsars with
similar spin-down parameters.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures and 5 table
The HI - Star Formation Connection: Open Questions
We show data from the Survey of Ionization in Neutral Gas Galaxies (SINGG)
and Survey of Ultraviolet emission in Neutral Gas Galaxies (SUNGG) which survey
the star formation properties of HI selected galaxies as traced by H-alpha and
ultraviolet emission, respectively. The correlations found demonstrate a strong
relationship between the neutral ISM, young massive stars, and the evolved
stellar populations. For example the correlation between R band surface
brightness and the HI cycling time is tighter than the Kennicutt-Schmidt Star
Formation Law. Other scaling relations from SINGG give strong direct
confirmation of the downsizing scenario: low mass galaxies are more gaseous and
less evolved into stars than high mass galaxies. There are strong variations in
the H-alpha to UV flux ratios within and between galaxies. The only plausible
explanations for this result are that either the escape fraction of ionizing
photons or the upper end of the IMF varies with galaxy mass. We argue for the
latter interpretation, although either result has major implications for
astrophysics. A detailed dissection of the massive star content in the extended
HI disk of NGC2915 provides a consistent picture of continuing star formation
with a truncated or steep IMF, while other GALEX results indicate that star
formation edges seen in Halpha are not always apparent in the UV. These and
other recent results settle some old questions but open many new questions
about star formation and its relation to the ISM.Comment: To appear in AIP Conference Proceedings, "The Evolution of Galaxies
through the Neutral Hydrogen Window", Feb 1-3 2008, Arecibo, Puerto Rico,
eds. R. Minchin & E. Momjian. 7 page
The influence of the cluster environment on the star formation efficiency of 12 Virgo spiral galaxies
The influence of the environment on gas surface density and star formation
efficiency of cluster spiral galaxies is investigated. We extend previous work
on radial profiles by a pixel-to pixel analysis looking for asymmetries due to
environmental interactions. The star formation rate is derived from GALEX UV
and Spitzer total infrared data. As in field galaxies, the star formation rate
for most Virgo galaxies is approximately proportional to the molecular gas
mass. Except for NGC 4438, the cluster environment does not affect the star
formation efficiency with respect to the molecular gas. Gas truncation is not
associated with major changes in the total gas surface density distribution of
the inner disk of Virgo spiral galaxies. In three galaxies, possible increases
in the molecular fraction and the star formation efficiency with respect to the
total gas, of factors of 1.5 to 2, are observed on the windward side of the
galactic disk. A significant increase of the star formation efficiency with
respect to the molecular gas content on the windward side of ram
pressure-stripped galaxies is not observed. The ram-pressure stripped
extraplanar gas of 3 highly inclined spiral galaxies shows a depressed star
formation efficiency with respect to the total gas, and one of them (NGC 4438)
shows a depressed rate even with respect to the molecular gas. The
interpretation is that stripped gas loses the gravitational confinement and
associated pressure of the galactic disk, and the gas flow is diverging, so the
gas density decreases and the star formation rate drops. However, the stripped
extraplanar gas in one highly inclined galaxy (NGC 4569) shows a normal star
formation efficiency with respect to the total gas. We propose this galaxy is
different because it is observed long after peak pressure, and its extraplanar
gas is now in a converging flow as it resettles back into the disk.Comment: 34 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication by A&
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