1,485 research outputs found
Face-on accretion onto a protoplanetary disc
Globular clusters (GCs) are known to harbor multiple stellar populations. To
explain these observations Bastian et al. suggested a scenario in which a
second population is formed by the accretion of enriched material onto the
low-mass stars in the initial GC population. The idea is that the low-mass,
pre-main sequence stars sweep up gas expelled by the massive stars of the same
generation into their protoplanetary disc as they move through the GC core. We
perform simulations with 2 different smoothed particle hydrodynamics codes to
investigate if a low-mass star surrounded by a protoplanetary disc can accrete
the amount of enriched material required in this scenario. We focus on the gas
loading rate onto the disc and star as well as on the lifetime of the disc. We
find that the gas loading rate is a factor of 2 smaller than the geometric
rate, because the effective cross section of the disc is smaller than its
surface area. The loading rate is consistent for both codes, irrespective of
resolution. The disc gains mass in the high resolution runs, but loses angular
momentum on a time scale of 10^4 yrs. Two effects determine the loss of
(specific) angular momentum in our simulations: 1) continuous ram pressure
stripping and 2) accretion of material with no azimuthal angular momentum. Our
study and previous work suggest that the former, dominant process is mainly
caused by numerical rather than physical effects, while the latter is not. The
latter process causes the disc to become more compact, increasing the surface
density profile at smaller radii. The disc size is determined in the first
place by the ram pressure when the flow first hits the disc. Further evolution
is governed by the decrease in the specific angular momentum of the disc. We
conclude that the size and lifetime of the disc are probably not sufficient to
accrete the amount of mass required in Bastian et al.'s scenario.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 15 pages, 5 figures, 4 table
The evolution of the Sun's birth cluster and the search for the solar siblings with Gaia
We use self-consistent numerical simulations of the evolution and disruption
of the Sun's birth cluster in the Milky Way potential to investigate the
present-day phase space distribution of the Sun's siblings. The simulations
include the gravitational N-body forces within the cluster and the effects of
stellar evolution on the cluster population. In addition the gravitational
forces due to the Milky Way potential are accounted for in a self-consistent
manner. Our aim is to understand how the astrometric and radial velocity data
from the Gaia mission can be used to pre-select solar sibling candidates. We
vary the initial conditions of the Sun's birth cluster, as well as the
parameters of the Galactic potential. We show that the disruption time-scales
of the cluster are insensitive to the details of the non-axisymmetric
components of the Milky Way model and we make predictions, averaged over the
different simulated possibilities, about the number of solar siblings that
should appear in surveys such as Gaia or GALAH. We find a large variety of
present-day phase space distributions of solar siblings, which depend on the
cluster initial conditions and the Milky Way model parameters. We show that
nevertheless robust predictions can be made about the location of the solar
siblings in the space of parallaxes (), proper motions () and
radial velocities (). By calculating the ratio of the number of
simulated solar siblings to that of the number of stars in a model Galactic
disk, we find that this ratio is above 0.5 in the region given by: mas, masyr, and kms. Selecting stars from this region should increase the probability
of success in identifying solar siblings through follow up observations
[Abridged].Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Expected Coalescence Rate of Double Neutron Stars for Ground Based Interferometers
In this paper we present new estimates of the coalescence rate of neutron
star binaries in the local universe and we discuss its consequences for the
first generations of ground based interferometers. Our approach based on both
evolutionary and statistical methods gives a galactic merging rate of 1.7
10 yr, in the range of previous estimates 10 - 10
yr. The local rate which includes the contribution of elliptical
galaxies is two times higher, in the order of 3.4 10 yr. We
predict one detection every 148 and 125 years with initial VIRGO and LIGO, and
up to 6 events per year with their advanced configuration. Our recent detection
rate estimates from investigations on VIRGO future improvements are quoted.Comment: talk given at the GWDAW9 (Annecy, 2004) to be published in CQ
The Evolution of Globular Clusters in the Galaxy
We investigate the evolution of globular clusters using N-body calculations
and anisotropic Fokker-Planck (FP) calculations. The models include a mass
spectrum, mass loss due to stellar evolution, and the tidal field of the parent
galaxy. Recent N-body calculations have revealed a serious discrepancy between
the results of N-body calculations and isotropic FP calculations. The main
reason for the discrepancy is an oversimplified treatment of the tidal field
employed in the isotropic FP models. In this paper we perform a series of
calculations with anisotropic FP models with a better treatment of the tidal
boundary and compare these with N-body calculations. The new tidal boundary
condition in our FP model includes one free parameter. We find that a single
value of this parameter gives satisfactory agreement between the N-body and FP
models over a wide range of initial conditions.
Using the improved FP model, we carry out an extensive survey of the
evolution of globular clusters over a wide range of initial conditions varying
the slope of the mass function, the central concentration, and the relaxation
time. The evolution of clusters is followed up to the moment of core collapse
or the disruption of the clusters in the tidal field of the parent galaxy. In
general, our model clusters, calculated with the anisotropic FP model with the
improved treatment for the tidal boundary, live longer than isotropic models.
The difference in the lifetime between the isotropic and anisotropic models is
particularly large when the effect of mass loss via stellar evolution is rather
significant. On the other hand the difference is small for relaxation-
dominated clusters which initially have steep mass functions and high central
concentrations.Comment: 36 pages, 11 figures, LaTeX; added figures and tables; accepted by
Ap
Evaporation of Compact Young Clusters near the Galactic Center
We investigate the dynamical evolution of compact young clusters (CYCs) near
the Galactic center (GC) using Fokker-Planck models. CYCs are very young (< 5
Myr), compact (< 1 pc), and only a few tens of pc away from the GC, while they
appear to be as massive as the smallest Galactic globular clusters (~10^4
Msun). A survey of cluster lifetimes for various initial mass functions,
cluster masses, and galactocentric radii is presented. Short relaxation times
due to the compactness of CYCs, and the strong tidal fields near the GC make
clusters evaporate fairly quickly. Depending on cluster parameters, mass
segregation may occur on a time scale shorter than the lifetimes of most
massive stars, which accelerates the cluster's dynamical evolution even more.
When the difference between the upper and lower mass boundaries of the initial
mass function is large enough, strongly selective ejection of lighter stars
makes massive stars dominate even in the outer regions of the cluster, so the
dynamical evolution of those clusters is weakly dependent on the lower mass
boundary. The mass bins for Fokker-Planck simulations were carefully chosen to
properly account for a relatively small number of the most massive stars. We
find that clusters with a mass <~ 2x10^4 Msun evaporate in <~ 10 Myr. A simple
calculation based on the total masses in observed CYCs and the lifetimes
obtained here indicates that the massive CYCs comprise only a fraction of the
star formation rate (SFR) in the inner bulge estimated from Lyman continuum
photons and far-IR observations.Comment: 20 pages in two-column format, accepted for publication in Ap
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