Physical processes behind the alignment effect

The radio/optical alignment effect for small powerful radio galaxies has been shown to be produced by shock waves formed by the interaction of the head of the jet and/or cocoon with clouds embedded in the interstellar/intergalactic medium. We present here preliminary results of analytical and numerical solutions that have been made to account for the production of implosive shock waves induced by embedding cold clouds in the radio lobe of expanding powerful radio sources.Comment: 4 pages. To be published in Multiwavelength AGN Surveys", Cozumel, Dec 8 - 12, 200

On recent SFR calibrations and the constant SFR approximation

Star Formation Rate (SFR) inferences are based in the so-called constant SFR approximation, where synthesis models are require to provide a calibration; we aims to study the key points of such approximation to produce accurate SFR inferences. We use the intrinsic algebra used in synthesis models, and we explore how SFR can be inferred from the integrated light without any assumption about the underling Star Formation history (SFH). We show that the constant SFR approximation is actually a simplified expression of more deeper characteristics of synthesis models: It is a characterization of the evolution of single stellar populations (SSPs), acting the SSPs as sensitivity curve over different measures of the SFH can be obtained. As results, we find that (1) the best age to calibrate SFR indices is the age of the observed system (i.e. about 13Gyr for z=0 systems); (2) constant SFR and steady-state luminosities are not requirements to calibrate the SFR; (3) it is not possible to define a SFR single time scale over which the recent SFH is averaged, and we suggest to use typical SFR indices (ionizing flux, UV fluxes) together with no typical ones (optical/IR fluxes) to correct the SFR from the contribution of the old component of the SFH, we show how to use galaxy colors to quote age ranges where the recent component of the SFH is stronger/softer than the older component. Particular values of SFR calibrations are (almost) not affect by this work, but the meaning of what is obtained by SFR inferences does. In our framework, results as the correlation of SFR time scales with galaxy colors, or the sensitivity of different SFR indices to sort and long scale variations in the SFH, fit naturally. In addition, the present framework provides a theoretical guide-line to optimize the available information from data/numerical experiments to improve the accuracy of SFR inferences.Comment: A&A accepted, 13 pages, 4 Figure

MOND as the weak-field limit of an extended metric theory of gravity

We show that the Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) regime can be fully recovered as the weak-field limit of a particular theory of gravity formulated in the metric approach. This is possible when Milgrom's acceleration constant is taken as a fundamental quantity which couples to the theory in a very consistent manner. As a consequence, the scale invariance of the gravitational interaction is naturally broken. In this sense, Newtonian gravity is the weak-field limit of general relativity and MOND is the weak-field limit of that particular extended theory of gravity.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 2011 Spanish Relativity Meeting (ERE2011) held in Madrid, Spain, 4 page

ADER-WENO Finite Volume Schemes with Space-Time Adaptive Mesh Refinement

We present the first high order one-step ADER-WENO finite volume scheme with Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) in multiple space dimensions. High order spatial accuracy is obtained through a WENO reconstruction, while a high order one-step time discretization is achieved using a local space-time discontinuous Galerkin predictor method. Due to the one-step nature of the underlying scheme, the resulting algorithm is particularly well suited for an AMR strategy on space-time adaptive meshes, i.e.with time-accurate local time stepping. The AMR property has been implemented 'cell-by-cell', with a standard tree-type algorithm, while the scheme has been parallelized via the Message Passing Interface (MPI) paradigm. The new scheme has been tested over a wide range of examples for nonlinear systems of hyperbolic conservation laws, including the classical Euler equations of compressible gas dynamics and the equations of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). High order in space and time have been confirmed via a numerical convergence study and a detailed analysis of the computational speed-up with respect to highly refined uniform meshes is also presented. We also show test problems where the presented high order AMR scheme behaves clearly better than traditional second order AMR methods. The proposed scheme that combines for the first time high order ADER methods with space--time adaptive grids in two and three space dimensions is likely to become a useful tool in several fields of computational physics, applied mathematics and mechanics.Comment: With updated bibliography informatio

Rational points in the moduli space of genus two

We build a database of genus 2 curves defined over $\mathbb Q$ which contains all curves with minimal absolute height $h \leq 5$, all curves with moduli height $\mathfrak h \leq 20$, and all curves with extra automorphisms in standard form $y^2=f(x^2)$ defined over $\mathbb Q$ with height $h \leq 101$. For each isomorphism class in the database, an equation over its minimal field of definition is provided, the automorphism group of the curve, Clebsch and Igusa invariants. The distribution of rational points in the moduli space $\mathcal M_2$ for which the field of moduli is a field of definition is discussed and some open problems are presented