2,004 research outputs found
Can galaxy growth be sustained through HI-rich minor mergers?
Local galaxies with specific star-formation rates (star-formation rate per
unit mass; sSFR~0.2-10/Gyr) as high as distant galaxies (z~1-3), are very rich
in HI. Those with low stellar masses, log M_star (M_sun)=8-9, for example, have
M_HI/M_star~5-30. Using continuity arguments of Peng et al. (2014), whereby the
specific merger rate is hypothesized to be proportional to the specific
star-formation rate, and HI gas mass measurements for local galaxies with high
sSFR, we estimate that moderate mass galaxies, log M_star (M_sun)=9-10.5, can
acquire sufficient gas through minor mergers (stellar mass ratios ~4-100) to
sustain their star formation rates at z~2. The relative fraction of the gas
accreted through minor mergers declines with increasing stellar mass and for
the most massive galaxies considered, log M_star (M_sun)=10.5-11, this
accretion rate is insufficient to sustain their star formation. We checked our
minor merger hypothesis at z=0 using the same methodology but now with
relations for local normal galaxies and find that minor mergers cannot account
for their specific growth rates, in agreement with observations of HI-rich
satellites around nearby spirals. We discuss a number of attractive features,
like a natural down-sizing effect, in using minor mergers with extended HI
disks to support star formation at high redshift. The answer to the question
posed by the title, "Can galaxy growth be sustained through \HI-rich minor
mergers?", is maybe, but only for relatively low mass galaxies and at high
redshift.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; in final acceptance by A&
Spin drag Hall effect in a rotating Bose mixture
We show that in a rotating two-component Bose mixture, the spin drag between
the two different spin species shows a Hall effect. This spin drag Hall effect
can be observed experimentally by studying the out-of-phase dipole mode of the
mixture. We determine the damping of this mode due to spin drag as a function
of temperature. We find that due to Bose stimulation there is a strong
enhancement of the damping for temperatures close to the critical temperature
for Bose-Einstein condensation.Comment: 1 figur
A coherent approach to Spacetime Foam
A coherent superposition of N Schwarzschild wormholes is proposed as a model
for spacetime foam. Following the subtraction procedure for manifolds with
boundaries, we calculate by variational methods the Casimir energy. A proposal
for an alternative foamy model formed by N Schwarzschild-Anti-de Sitter
wormholes is here considered. Finally, a conjecture about the foam evolution is
proposed.Comment: 3 pages. To be submitted to the proceedings of the 3rd Workshop of
`Mysteries, Puzzles And Paradoxes In Quantum Mechanics' Gargnano (Italy),
17-23 September 200
Granular-Scale Elementary Flux Emergence Episodes in a Solar Active Region
We analyze data from Hinode spacecraft taken over two 54-minute periods
during the emergence of AR 11024. We focus on small-scale portions within the
observed solar active region and discover the appearance of very distinctive
small-scale and short-lived dark features in Ca II H chromospheric filtergrams
and Stokes I images. The features appear in regions with close-to-zero
longitudinal magnetic field, and are observed to increase in length before they
eventually disappear. Energy release in the low chromospheric line is detected
while the dark features are fading. In time series of magnetograms a diverging
bipolar configuration is observed accompanying the appearance of the dark
features and the brightenings. The observed phenomena are explained as
evidencing elementary flux emergence in the solar atmosphere, i.e small-scale
arch filament systems rising up from the photosphere to the lower chromosphere
with a length scale of a few solar granules. Brightenings are explained as
being the signatures of chromospheric heating triggered by reconnection of the
rising loops (once they reached chromospheric heights) with pre-existing
magnetic fields as well as to reconnection/cancellation events in U-loop
segments of emerging serpentine fields. We study the temporal evolution and
dynamics of the events and compare them with the emergence of magnetic loops
detected in quiet sun regions and serpentine flux emergence signatures in
active regions. Incorporating the novel features of granular-scale flux
emergence presented in this study we advance the scenario for serpentine flux
emergence.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Solar Physic
Current-driven and field-driven domain walls at nonzero temperature
We present a model for the dynamics of current- and field-driven domain-wall
lines at nonzero temperature. We compute thermally-averaged drift velocities
from the Fokker-Planck equation that describes the nonzero-temperature dynamics
of the domain wall. As special limits of this general description, we describe
rigid domain walls as well as vortex domain walls. In these limits, we
determine also depinning times of the domain wall from an extrinsic pinning
potential. We compare our theory with previous theoretical and experimental
work
Investigating the Dynamics and Density Evolution of Returning Plasma Blobs from the 2011 June 7 Eruption
This work examines infalling matter following an enormous Coronal Mass
Ejection (CME) on 2011 June 7. The material formed discrete concentrations, or
blobs, in the corona and fell back to the surface, appearing as dark clouds
against the bright corona. In this work we examined the density and dynamic
evolution of these blobs in order to formally assess the intriguing morphology
displayed throughout their descent. The blobs were studied in five wavelengths
(94, 131, 171, 193 and 211 \AA) using the Solar Dynamics Observatory
Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA), comparing background emission to
attenuated emission as a function of wavelength to calculate column densities
across the descent of four separate blobs. We found the material to have a
column density of hydrogen of approximately 2 10 cm,
which is comparable with typical pre-eruption filament column densities.
Repeated splitting of the returning material is seen in a manner consistent
with the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Furthermore, the observed distribution of
density and its evolution are also a signature of this instability. By
approximating the three-dimensional geometry (with data from STEREO-A),
volumetric densities were found to be approximately 2 10 g
cm, and this, along with observed dominant length-scales of the
instability, was used to infer a magnetic field of the order 1 G associated
with the descending blobs.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
The Arecibo Galaxy Environments survey IV: the NGC7448 region and the HI mass function
In this paper we describe results from the Arecibo Galaxy Environments Survey
(AGES). The survey reaches column densities of ~3x10^18 cm^-2 and masses of
~10^7 M_O, over individual regions of order 10 sq deg in size, out to a maximum
velocity of 18,000 km s^-1. Each surveyed region is centred on a nearby galaxy,
group or cluster, in this instance the NGC7448 group. Galaxy interactions in
the NGC7448 group reveal themselves through the identification of tidal tails
and bridges. We find ~2.5 times more atomic gas in the inter-galactic medium
than in the group galaxies. We identify five new dwarf galaxies, two of which
appear to be members of the NGC7448 group. This is too few, by roughly an order
of magnitude, dwarf galaxies to reconcile observation with theoretical
predictions of galaxy formation models. If they had observed this region of sky
previous wide area blind HI surveys, HIPASS and ALFALFA, would have detected
only 5% and 43% respectively of the galaxies we detect, missing a large
fraction of the atomic gas in this volume. We combine the data from this paper
with that from our other AGES papers (370 galaxies) to derive a HI mass
function with the following Schechter function parameters alpha=-1.52+/-0.05,
M^*=5.1+/-0.3x10^9 h_72^-2 M_O, phi=8.6+/-1.1x10-3 h_72^3 Mpc^-3 dex-1.
Integrating the mass function leads to a cosmic mass density of atomic hydrogen
of Omega_HI=5.3+/-0.8x10^-4 h_72^-1. Our mass function is steeper than that
found by both HIPASS and ALFALFA (alpha=1.37 and 1.33 respectively), while our
cosmic mass density is consistent with ALFALFA, but 1.7 times larger than found
by HIPASS
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