254 research outputs found
Protostellar disks and the primitive solar nebula
The objective is to obtain quantitative information on the turbulent transport of mass, angular momentum, and energy under the conditions that characterize the solar nebula, by direct numerical calculations. These calculations were made possible by research conducted on supercomputers (Cray XMP and Cray 2) by the Ames Computational Fluid Dynamics Branch. Techniques were developed that permitted the accurate representation of turbulent flows over the full range of important eddy sizes. So far, these techniques were applied (and verified) primarily in mundane laboratory situations, but they have a strong potential for astrophysical applications. A sequence of numerical experiments were conducted to evaluate the Reynold's stress tensor, turbulent heat transfer rate, turbulent dissipation rate, and turbulent kinetic energy spectrum, as functions of position, for conditions relevant to the solar nebula. Emphasis is placed on the variation of these properties with appropriate nondimensional quantities, so that relations can be derived that will be useful for disk modeling under a variety of hypotheses and initial conditions
High potential x-ray tube
An account is given of further development work on the high potential x-ray tube at the California Institute of Technology. Details of the construction of the tube and its housing are presented. The housing, which is a concrete structure erected on the floor of the high potential laboratory, makes it possible to operate and make observations at close range. The tube has been equipped with a hot cathode and a tungsten target, thus rendering it more suitable for spectrographic work. High speed cathode rays outside of the tube have been obtained by replacing the target by thin windows of mica or metal. Continuous operation is possible over a period of several hours at six hundred kilovolts and with a space current of three to four milliamperes. A comparison between different types of high potential x-ray tubes and of different methods of operation is contained in the discussion
Sustainability, Globalization, and the Energy Sector Europe in a Global Perspective
International audienceThis paper analyzes the socio-economic effects of energy sustainability challenges raised by oil depletion and climate change at the European and global level. We assess macroeconomic impacts at different time horizons over 2010-2100 and under different visions of the future of globalization . Fragmented capital markets affect the pace and direction of change and induce additional economic losses in the long term. Regionalized good markets have a positive effect in the long term since less intense international trade moderates the effects of fossil fuel constraints. A sustainable energy future will require implementing policies and measures that are able to (i) provide correct incentives for long-term investments by resorting to other signals than current market prices, (ii) incorporate sectoral measures that act complementarily to pricing schemes measures for sectors confronted with biased agents’ behaviors or strong inertias, (iii) foster globalization patterns that are consistent with energy sustainability objectives. The challenge consists in articulating the objectives and the instruments of these different policy and measures triggering the transition towards sustainable future
Nonlinear Outcome of Gravitational Instability in Disks with Realistic Cooling
We consider the nonlinear outcome of gravitational instability in optically
thick disks with a realistic cooling function. We use a numerical model that is
local, razor-thin, and unmagnetized. External illumination is ignored. Cooling
is calculated from a one-zone model using analytic fits to low temperature
Rosseland mean opacities. The model has two parameters: the initial surface
density Sigma_0 and the rotation frequency Omega. We survey the parameter space
and find: (1) The disk fragments when t_c,eff Omega = 1, where t_c,eff is an
effective cooling time defined as the average internal energy of the model
divided by the average cooling rate. This is consistent with earlier results
that used a simplified cooling function. (2) The initial cooling time t_c0 or a
uniform disk with Q = 1 can differ by orders of magnitude from t_c,eff in the
nonlinear outcome. The difference is caused by sharp variations in the opacity
with temperature. The condition t_c0 Omega = 1 therefore does not necessarily
indicate where fragmentation will occur. (3) The largest difference between
t_c,eff and t_c0 is near the opacity gap, where dust is absent and hydrogen is
largely molecular. (4) In the limit of strong illumination the disk is
isothermal; we find that an isothermal version of our model fragments for Q <
1.4. Finally, we discuss some physical processes not included in our model, and
find that most are likely to make disks more susceptible to fragmentation. We
conclude that disks with t_c,eff Omega < 1 do not exist.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figure
On type-I migration near opacity transitions. A generalized Lindblad torque formula for planetary population synthesis
We give an expression for the Lindblad torque acting on a low-mass planet
embedded in a protoplanetary disk that is valid even at locations where the
surface density or temperature profile cannot be approximated by a power law,
such as an opacity transition. At such locations, the Lindblad torque is known
to suffer strong deviation from its standard value, with potentially important
implications for type I migration, but the full treatment of the tidal
interaction is cumbersome and not well suited to models of planetary population
synthesis. The expression that we propose retains the simplicity of the
standard Lindblad torque formula and gives results that accurately reproduce
those of numerical simulations, even at locations where the disk temperature
undergoes abrupt changes. Our study is conducted by means of customized
numerical simulations in the low-mass regime, in locally isothermal disks, and
compared to linear torque estimates obtained by summing fully analytic torque
estimates at each Lindblad resonance. The functional dependence of our modified
Lindblad torque expression is suggested by an estimate of the shift of the
Lindblad resonances that mostly contribute to the torque, in a disk with sharp
gradients of temperature or surface density, while the numerical coefficients
of the new terms are adjusted to seek agreement with numerics. As side results,
we find that the vortensity related corotation torque undergoes a boost at an
opacity transition that can counteract migration, and we find evidence from
numerical simulations that the linear corotation torque has a non-negligible
dependency upon the temperature gradient, in a locally isothermal disk.Comment: Appeared in special issue of "Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical
Astronomy" on Extrasolar Planetary System
Eccentricity of radiative discs in close binary-star systems
Discs in binaries have a complex behavior because of the perturbations of the
companion star. Planet formation in binary-star systems both depend on the
companion star parameters and on the properties of the circumstellar disc. An
eccentric disc may increase the impact velocity of planetesimals and therefore
jeopardize the accumulation process. We model the evolution of discs in close
binaries including the effects of self-gravity and adopting different
prescriptions to model the disc's radiative properties. We focus on the
dynamical properties and evolutionary tracks of the discs. We use the
hydrodynamical code FARGO and we include in the energy equation heating and
cooling effects. Radiative discs have a lower disc eccentricity compared to
locally isothermal discs with same temperature profile. As a consequence, we do
not observe the formation of an internal elliptical low density region as in
locally isothermal disc models. However, the disc eccentricity depends on the
disc mass through the opacities. Akin to locally isothermal disc models,
self-gravity forces the disc's longitude of pericenter to librate about a fixed
orientation with respect to the binary apsidal line (). The disc's
radiative properties play an important role in the evolution of discs in
binaries. A radiative disc has an overall shape and internal structure that are
significantly different compared to a locally isothermal disc with same
temperature profile. This is an important finding both for describing the
evolutionary track of the disc during its progressive mass loss, and for planet
formation since the internal structure of the disc is relevant for
planetesimals growth in binary systems. The non-symmetrical distribution of
mass in these discs causes large eccentricities for planetesimals that may
affect their growth.Comment: accepted for publication in A&A (abstract truncated to comply with
astro-ph rules
Analytic solutions to the accretion of a rotating finite cloud towards a central object - II. Schwarzschild spacetime
We construct a general relativistic model for the accretion flow of a
rotating finite cloud of non-interacting particles infalling onto a
Schwarzschild black hole. The streamlines start at a spherical shell, where
boundary conditions are fixed, and are followed down to the point at which they
either cross the black hole horizon or become incorporated into an equatorial
thin disc. Analytic expressions for the streamlines and the velocity field are
given, in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions, under the assumptions of
stationarity and ballistic motion. A novel approach allows us to describe all
of the possible types of orbit with a single formula. A simple numerical scheme
is presented for calculating the density field. This model is the relativistic
generalisation of the Newtonian one developed by Mendoza, Tejeda, Nagel, 2009
and, due to its analytic nature, it can be useful in providing a benchmark for
general relativistic hydrodynamical codes and for exploring the parameter space
in applications involving accretion onto black holes when the approximations of
steady state and ballistic motion are reasonable ones.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, references and minor changes added to match
version accepted for publication in MNRA
Characterizing the velocity field in hydrodynamical simulations of low-mass star formation using spectral line profiles
When low-mass stars form, the collapsing cloud of gas and dust goes through
several stages which are usually characterized by the shape of their spectral
energy distributions. Such classification is based on the cloud morphology only
and does not address the dynamical state of the object. In this paper we
investigate the initial cloud collapse and subsequent disk formation through
the dynamical behavior as reflected in the sub-millimeter spectral emission
line profiles. If a young stellar object is to be characterized by its
dynamical structure it is important to know how accurately information about
the velocity field can be extracted and which observables provide the best
description of the kinematics. Of particular interest is the transition from
infalling envelope to rotating disk, because this provides the initial
conditions for the protoplanetary disk, such as mass and size. We use a
hydrodynamical model, describing the collapse of a core and formation of a
disk, to produce synthetic observables which we compare to calculated line
profiles of a simple parameterized model. Because we know the velocity field
from the hydrodynamical simulation we can determine in a quantitative way how
well our best-fit parameterized velocity field reproduces the original. We use
a molecular line excitation and radiation transfer code to produce spectra of
both our hydro dynamical simulation as well as our parameterized model. We find
that information about the velocity field can reasonably well be derived by
fitting a simple model to either single-dish lines or interferometric data, but
preferentially by using a combination of the two. Our result shows that it is
possible to establish relative ages of a sample of young stellar objects using
this method, independently of the details of the hydrodynamical model.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&A on June 1
Database model and specification of GermOnline Release 2.0, a cross-species community annotation knowledgebase on germ cell differentiation
Summary: GermOnline is a web-accessible relational database that enables life scientists to make a significant and sustained contribution to the annotation of genes relevant for the fields of mitosis, meiosis, germ line development and gametogenesis across species. This novel approach to genome annotation includes a platform for knowledge submission and curation as well as microarray data storage and visualization hosted by a global network of servers. Availability: The database is accessible at http://www.germonline.org/. For convenient world-wide access we have set up a network of servers in Europe (http://germonline.unibas.ch/; http://germonline.igh.cnrs.fr/), Japan (http://germonline.biochem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/) and USA (http://germonline.yeastgenome.org/). Supplementary information: Extended documentation of the database is available through the link ‘About GermOnline' at the website
A deeply embedded young protoplanetary disk around L1489 IRS observed by the submillimeter array
Circumstellar disks are expected to form early in the process that leads to
the formation of a young star, during the collapse of the dense molecular cloud
core. It is currently not well understood at what stage of the collapse the
disk is formed or how it subsequently evolves. We aim to identify whether an
embedded Keplerian protoplanetary disk resides in the L1489 IRS system. Given
the amount of envelope material still present, such a disk would respresent a
very young example of a protoplanetary disk. Using the Submillimeter Array
(SMA) we have observed the HCO 3--2 line with a resolution of about
1. At this resolution a protoplanetary disk with a radius of a few hundred
AUs should be detectable, if present. Radiative transfer tools are used to
model the emission from both continuum and line data. We find that these data
are consistent with theoretical models of a collapsing envelope and Keplerian
circumstellar disk. Models reproducing both the SED and the interferometric
continuum observations reveal that the disk is inclined by 40 which is
significantly different to the surrounding envelope (74). This
misalignment of the angular momentum axes may be caused by a gradient within
the angular momentum in the parental cloud or if L1489 IRS is a binary system
rather than just a single star. In the latter case, future observations looking
for variability at sub-arcsecond scales may be able to constrain these
dynamical variations directly. However, if stars form from turbulent cores, the
accreting material will not have a constant angular momentum axis (although the
average is well defined and conserved) in which case it is more likely to have
a misalignment of the angular momentum axes of the disk and the envelope.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, accepted by A&
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