24,926 research outputs found
PACS and SPIRE photometer maps of Mâ33: First results of the HERschelâMâ33 Extended Survey (HERM33ES)
Context. Within the framework of the HERM33ES key program, we are studying the star forming interstellar medium in the nearby, metal-poor spiral galaxy Mâ33, exploiting the high resolution and sensitivity of Herschel.
Aims. We use PACS and SPIRE maps at 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500 ÎŒm wavelength, to study the variation of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with galacto-centric distance.
Methods. Detailed SED modeling is performed using azimuthally averaged fluxes in elliptical rings of 2 kpc width, out to 8 kpc galacto-centric distance. Simple isothermal and two-component grey body models, with fixed dust emissivity index, are fitted to the SEDs between 24 ÎŒm and 500 ÎŒm using also MIPS/Spitzerâ data, to derive first estimates of the dust physical conditions.
Results. The far-infrared and submillimeter maps reveal the branched, knotted spiral structure of Mâ33. An underlying diffuse disk is seen in all SPIRE maps (250â500 ÎŒm). Two component fits to the SEDs agree better than isothermal models with the observed, total and radially averaged flux densities. The two component model, with ÎČ fixed at 1.5, best fits the global and the radial SEDs. The cold dust component clearly dominates; the relative mass of the warm component is less than 0.3% for all the fits. The temperature of the warm component is not well constrained and is found to be about 60 K ± 10 K. The temperature of the cold component drops significantly from ~24 K in the inner 2 kpc radius to 13 K beyond 6 kpc radial distance, for the best fitting model. The gas-to-dust ratio for ÎČ = 1.5, averaged over the galaxy, is higher than the solar value by a factor of 1.5 and is roughly in agreement with the subsolar metallicity of Mâ33
Solving the Poisson equation on small aspect ratio domains using unstructured meshes
We discuss the ill conditioning of the matrix for the discretised Poisson
equation in the small aspect ratio limit, and motivate this problem in the
context of nonhydrostatic ocean modelling. Efficient iterative solvers for the
Poisson equation in small aspect ratio domains are crucial for the successful
development of nonhydrostatic ocean models on unstructured meshes. We introduce
a new multigrid preconditioner for the Poisson problem which can be used with
finite element discretisations on general unstructured meshes; this
preconditioner is motivated by the fact that the Poisson problem has a
condition number which is independent of aspect ratio when Dirichlet boundary
conditions are imposed on the top surface of the domain. This leads to the
first level in an algebraic multigrid solver (which can be extended by further
conventional algebraic multigrid stages), and an additive smoother. We
illustrate the method with numerical tests on unstructured meshes, which show
that the preconditioner makes a dramatic improvement on a more standard
multigrid preconditioner approach, and also show that the additive smoother
produces better results than standard SOR smoothing. This new solver method
makes it feasible to run nonhydrostatic unstructured mesh ocean models in small
aspect ratio domains.Comment: submitted to Ocean Modellin
Crustal deformation, the earthquake cycle, and models of viscoelastic flow in the asthenosphere
The crustal deformation patterns associated with the earthquake cycle can depend strongly on the rheological properties of subcrustal material. Substantial deviations from the simple patterns for a uniformly elastic earth are expected when viscoelastic flow of subcrustal material is considered. The detailed description of the deformation pattern and in particular the surface displacements, displacement rates, strains, and strain rates depend on the structure and geometry of the material near the seismogenic zone. The origin of some of these differences are resolved by analyzing several different linear viscoelastic models with a common finite element computational technique. The models involve strike-slip faulting and include a thin channel asthenosphere model, a model with a varying thickness lithosphere, and a model with a viscoelastic inclusion below the brittle slip plane. The calculations reveal that the surface deformation pattern is most sensitive to the rheology of the material that lies below the slip plane in a volume whose extent is a few times the fault depth. If this material is viscoelastic, the surface deformation pattern resembles that of an elastic layer lying over a viscoelastic half-space. When the thickness or breath of the viscoelastic material is less than a few times the fault depth, then the surface deformation pattern is altered and geodetic measurements are potentially useful for studying the details of subsurface geometry and structure. Distinguishing among the various models is best accomplished by making geodetic measurements not only near the fault but out to distances equal to several times the fault depth. This is where the model differences are greatest; these differences will be most readily detected shortly after an earthquake when viscoelastic effects are most pronounced
A Stochastic Immersed Boundary Method for Fluid-Structure Dynamics at Microscopic Length Scales
In this work it is shown how the immersed boundary method of (Peskin2002) for
modeling flexible structures immersed in a fluid can be extended to include
thermal fluctuations. A stochastic numerical method is proposed which deals
with stiffness in the system of equations by handling systematically the
statistical contributions of the fastest dynamics of the fluid and immersed
structures over long time steps. An important feature of the numerical method
is that time steps can be taken in which the degrees of freedom of the fluid
are completely underresolved, partially resolved, or fully resolved while
retaining a good level of accuracy. Error estimates in each of these regimes
are given for the method. A number of theoretical and numerical checks are
furthermore performed to assess its physical fidelity. For a conservative
force, the method is found to simulate particles with the correct Boltzmann
equilibrium statistics. It is shown in three dimensions that the diffusion of
immersed particles simulated with the method has the correct scaling in the
physical parameters. The method is also shown to reproduce a well-known
hydrodynamic effect of a Brownian particle in which the velocity
autocorrelation function exhibits an algebraic tau^(-3/2) decay for long times.
A few preliminary results are presented for more complex systems which
demonstrate some potential application areas of the method.Comment: 52 pages, 11 figures, published in journal of computational physic
Extragalactic H3O+: Some Consequences
We discuss some implications of our recent detection of extragalactic H3O+:
the location of the gas in M82, the origin of energetic radiation in M82, and
the possible feedback effects of star formation on the cosmic ray flux in
galaxies.Comment: Five pages, one figure; contribution to proceedings of conference
"Far-infrared observations of the interstellar medium", December 2007, Bad
Honne
Infrared Photometry of Starless Dense Cores
Deep JHKs photometry was obtained towards eight dense molecular cores and J-H
vs. H-Ks color-color plots are presented. Our photometry, sensitive to the
detection of a 1 solar mass, 1 X 10^6 year old star through approx. 35 - 50
magnitudes of visual extinction, shows no indication of the presence of
star/disk systems based on J-H vs. H-Ks colors of detected objects. The stars
detected towards the cores are generally spatially anti-correlated with core
centers suggesting a background origin, although we cannot preclude the
possibility that some stars detected at H and Ks alone, or Ks alone, are not
low mass stars or brown dwarfs (< 0.3 Solar Masses) behind substantial amounts
of visual extinction (e.g. 53 magnitudes for L183B). Lower limits to optical
extinctions are estimated for the detected background stars, with high
extinctions being encountered, in the extreme case ranging up to at least Av =
46, and probably higher. The extinction data are used to estimate cloud masses
and densities which are comparable to those determined from molecular line
studies. Variations in cloud extinctions are consistent with a systematic
nature to cloud density distributions and column density variations and
extinctions are found to be consistent with submillimeter wave continuum
studies of similar regions. The results suggest that some cores have achieved
significant column density contrasts (approx. 30) on sub-core scales (approx.
0.05 pc) without having formed known stars.Comment: 44 pages including tables and figures, accepted ApJ, March 24, 200
NMR evidence for a strong modulation of the Bose-Einstein Condensate in BaCuSiO
We present a Cu and Si NMR study of the quasi-2D coupled
spin 1/2 dimer compound BaCuSiO in the magnetic field range 13-26 T and
at temperatures as low as 50 mK. NMR data in the gapped phase reveal that below
90 K different intra-dimer exchange couplings and different gaps
( = 1.16) exist in every second plane along
the c-axis, in addition to a planar incommensurate (IC) modulation. Si
spectra in the field induced magnetic ordered phase reveal that close to the
quantum critical point at = 23.35 T the average boson density
of the Bose-Einstein condensate is strongly modulated along the
c-axis with a density ratio for every second plane
. An IC modulation of the local
density is also present in each plane. This adds new constraints for the
understanding of the 2D value = 1 of the critical exponent describing
the phase boundary
Production of a pseudo-scalar Higgs boson at hadron colliders at next-to-next-to leading order
The production cross section for pseudo-scalar Higgs bosons at hadron
colliders is computed at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD. The
pseudo-scalar Higgs is assumed to couple only to top quarks. The NNLO effects
are evaluated using an effective lagrangian where the top quarks are integrated
out. The NNLO corrections are similar in size to those found for scalar Higgs
boson production.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, JHEP style, Minor changes, Journal reference
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