Galaxy destruction and diffuse light in clusters

Deep images of the Centaurus and Coma clusters reveal two spectacular arcs of diffuse light that stretch for over 100 kpc, yet are just a few kpc wide. At a surface brightness of m_b \sim 27-28th arcsec^-2, the Centaurus arc is the most striking example known of structure in the diffuse light component of a rich galaxy cluster. We use numerical simulations to show that the Centaurus feature can be reproduced by the tidal debris of a spiral galaxy that has been tidally disrupted by the gravitational potential of NGC 4709. The surface brightness and narrow dimensions of the diffuse light suggest that the disk was co-rotating with its orbital path past pericentre. Features this prominent in clusters will be relatively rare, although at fainter surface brightness levels the diffuse light will reveal a wealth of structure. Deeper imaging surveys may be able to trace this feature for several times its presently observed extent and somewhere along the tidal debris, a fraction of the original stellar component of the disk will remain bound, but transformed into a faint spheroidal galaxy. It should be possible to confirm the galactic origin of the Centaurus arc by observing planetary nebulae along its length with redshifts close to that of NGC 4709.Comment: Replaced with version accepted by MNRAS (Dec. 1999): Added missing reference (to pg. 4 & reference list). Section 3 shortened; removed three figures. Now 8 pages long, with 8 figures. Low resolution images included, high resolution version available at http://star-www.dur.ac.uk:80/~calcaneo/cenarc.htm

Vacuum Polarization and Dynamical Chiral Symmetry Breaking: Phase Diagram of QED with Four-Fermion Contact Interaction

We study chiral symmetry breaking for fundamental charged fermions coupled electromagnetically to photons with the inclusion of four-fermion contact self-interaction term. We employ multiplicatively renormalizable models for the photon dressing function and the electron-photon vertex which minimally ensures mass anomalous dimension = 1. Vacuum polarization screens the interaction strength. Consequently, the pattern of dynamical mass generation for fermions is characterized by a critical number of massless fermion flavors above which chiral symmetry is restored. This effect is in diametrical opposition to the existence of criticality for the minimum interaction strength necessary to break chiral symmetry dynamically. The presence of virtual fermions dictates the nature of phase transition. Miransky scaling laws for the electromagnetic interaction strength and the four-fermion coupling, observed for quenched QED, are replaced by a mean-field power law behavior corresponding to a second order phase transition. These results are derived analytically by employing the bifurcation analysis, and are later confirmed numerically by solving the original non-linearized gap equation. A three dimensional critical surface is drawn to clearly depict the interplay of the relative strengths of interactions and number of flavors to separate the two phases. We also compute the beta-function and observe that it has ultraviolet fixed point. The power law part of the momentum dependence, describing the mass function, reproduces the quenched limit trivially. We also comment on the continuum limit and the triviality of QED.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Searching for tidal tails - investigating galaxy harassment

Galaxy harassment has been proposed as a physical process that morphologically transforms low surface density disc galaxies into dwarf elliptical galaxies in clusters. It has been used to link the observed very different morphology of distant cluster galaxies (relatively more blue galaxies with 'disturbed' morphologies) with the relatively large numbers of dwarf elliptical galaxies found in nearby clusters. One prediction of the harassment model is that the remnant galaxies should lie on low surface brightness tidal streams or arcs. We demonstrate in this paper that we have an analysis method that is sensitive to the detection of arcs down to a surface brightness of 29 B mag/arcsec^2 and then use this method to search for arcs around 46 Virgo cluster dwarf elliptical galaxies. We find no evidence for tidal streams or arcs and consequently no evidence for galaxy harassment as a viable explanation for the relatively large numbers of dwarf galaxies found in the Virgo cluster.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Neutralino Warm Dark Matter

In the supersymmetric (SUSY) standard model, the lightest neutralino may be the lightest SUSY particle (LSP), and it is is a candidate of the dark matter in the universe. The LSP dark matter might be produced by the non-thermal process such as heavy particle decay after decoupling of the thermal relic LSP. If the produced LSP is relativistic, and does not scatter enough in the thermal bath, the neutralino LSP may contribute as the warm dark matter (WDM) to wash out the small scale structure of O(0.1) Mpc. In this letter we calculate the energy reduction of the neutralino LSP in the thermal bath and study whether the LSP can be the WDM. If temperature of the production time T_I is smaller than 5MeV, the bino-like LSP can be the WDM and may contribute to the small-scale structure of O(0.1) Mpc. The Higgsino-like LSP might also work as the WDM if T_I< 2MeV. The wino-like LSP cannot be the WDM in the favoured parameter region.Comment: 13 pages. Some references are added in revised versio

Evidence for Dark Matter Annihilation from Galactic Gamma Rays?

The diffuse galactic EGRET gamma ray data show a clear excess for energies above 1 GeV in comparison with the expectations from conventional galactic models. The excess is seen with the same spectrum in all sky directions, as expected for Dark Matter (DM) annihilation. This hypothesis is investigated in detail. The energy spectrum of the excess is used to limit the WIMP mass to the 50-100 GeV range, while the skymaps are used to determine the halo structure, which is consistent with a triaxial isothermal halo with additional enhancement of Dark Matter in the disc. The latter is strongly correlated with the ring of stars around our galaxy at a distance of 14 kpc, thought to originate from the tidal disruption of a dwarf galaxy. It is shown that this ring of DM with a mass of $\approx 2\cdot 10^{11} M_\odot$ causes the mysterious change of slope in the rotation curve at $R=1.1R_0$ and the large local surface density of the disc. The total mass of the halo is determined to be $3\cdot 10^{12} M_\odot$. A cuspy profile is definitely excluded to describe the gamma ray data. These signals of Dark Matter Annihilation are compatible with Supersymmetry for boost factors of 20 upwards and have a statistical significance of more than $10\sigma$ in comparison with the conventional galactic model. The latter combined with all features mentioned above provides an intriguing hint that the EGRET excess is indeed indirect evidence for Dark Matter Annihilation.Comment: To be published in Proc. of DM 2004, Feb. 2004, Los Angeles; updated references and somewhat improved fits in new versio

Supersymmetric dark matter in M31: can one see neutralino annihilation with CELESTE?

It is widely believed that dark matter exists within galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Under the assumption that this dark matter is composed of the lightest, stable supersymmetric particle, assumed to be the neutralino, the feasibility of its indirect detection via observations of a diffuse gamma-ray signal due to neutralino annihilations within M31 is examined. To this end, first the dark matter halo of the close spiral galaxy M31 is modeled from observations, then the resultant gamma-ray flux is estimated within supersymmetric model configurations. We conclude that under favorable conditions such as the rapid accretion of neutralinos on the central black hole in M31 and/or the presence of many clumps inside its halo with $r^{-3/2}$ inner profiles, a neutralino annihilation gamma-ray signal is marginally detectable by the ongoing collaboration CELESTE.Comment: Latex, 32 pages, 12 figures, 5 table

Detecting the dark matter annihilation at the ground EAS detectors

In this paper we study the possibility of detecting gamma rays from dark matter annihilation in the subhalos of the Milky Way by the ground based EAS detectors within the frame of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. Based on the Monte Carlo simulation we also study the properties of two specific EAS detectors, the ARGO and HAWC, and the sensitivities of these detectors on the detection of dark matter annihilation. We find the ground EAS detectors have the possibility to observe such signals. Conversely if no signal observed we give the constraints on the supersymmetric parameter space, which however depends on the subhalos properties.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, accepted by NP