58,466 research outputs found
Detailed Abundances of Two Very Metal-Poor Stars in Dwarf Galaxies
The most metal-poor stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) can show the nucleosynthetic patterns of one or a few supernovae (SNe). These SNe could have zero metallicity, making metal-poor dSph stars the closest surviving links to Population III stars. Metal-poor dSph stars also help to reveal the formation mechanism of the Milky Way (MW) halo. We present the detailed abundances from Keck/HIRES spectroscopy for two very metal-poor stars in two MW dSphs. One star, in the Sculptor dSph, has [Fe I/H] = -2.40. The other star, in the Ursa Minor dSph, has [Fe I/H] = -3.16. Both stars fall in the previously discovered low-metallicity, high-[α/Fe] plateau. Most abundance ratios of very metal-poor stars in these two dSphs are largely consistent with very metal-poor halo stars. However, the abundances of Na and some r-process elements lie at the lower end of the envelope defined by inner halo stars of similar metallicity. We propose that the metallicity dependence of SN yields is the cause. The earliest SNe in low-mass dSphs have less gas to pollute than the earliest SNe in massive halo progenitors. As a result, dSph stars at –3 < [Fe/H] < –2 sample SNe with [Fe/H] Lt –3, whereas halo stars in the same metallicity range sample SNe with [Fe/H] ~ –3. Consequently, enhancements in [Na/Fe] and [r/Fe] were deferred to higher metallicity in dSphs than in the progenitors of the inner halo
Sim(2) and SUSY
The proposal of hep-ph/0601236, that the laws of physics in flat spacetime
need be invariant only under a SIM(2) subgroup of the Lorentz group, is
extended to include supersymmetry. SUSY gauge theories which
include SIM(2) couplings for the fermions in chiral multiplets are formulated.
These theories contain two conserved supercharges rather than the usual four.Comment: 10 pages, revtex4. Note added and sign correcte
The Peculiar Chemical Inventory of NGC 2419: an Extreme Outer Halo "Globular Cluster"
NGC 2419 is a massive outer halo Galactic globular cluster (GC) whose stars have previously been shown to have
somewhat peculiar abundance patterns. We have observed seven luminous giants that are members of NGC 2419
with Keck/HIRES at reasonable signal-to-noise ratio. One of these giants is very peculiar, with an extremely low
[Mg/Fe] and high [K/Fe] but normal abundances of most other elements. The abundance pattern does not match
the nucleosynthetic yields of any supernova model. The other six stars show abundance ratios typical of inner halo
Galactic GCs, represented here by a sample of giants in the nearby GC M30. Although our measurements show
that NGC 2419 is unusual in some respects, its bulk properties do not provide compelling evidence for a difference between inner and outer halo GCs
Spectroscopic Confirmation of the Dwarf Galaxies Hydra II and Pisces II and the Globular Cluster Laevens 1
We present Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy of stars in the recently discovered Milky
Way satellites Hydra II, Pisces II, and Laevens 1. We measured a velocity
dispersion of 5.4 (+3.6 -2.4) km/s for Pisces II, but we did not resolve the
velocity dispersions of Hydra II or Laevens 1. We marginally resolved the
metallicity dispersions of Hydra II and Pisces II but not Laevens 1.
Furthermore, Hydra II and Pisces II obey the luminosity-metallicity relation
for Milky Way dwarf galaxies ( = -2.02 +/- 0.08 and -2.45 +/- 0.07,
respectively), whereas Laevens 1 does not ( = -1.68 +/- 0.05). The
kinematic and chemical properties suggest that Hydra II and Pisces II are dwarf
galaxies, and Laevens 1 is a globular cluster. We determined that two of the
previously observed blue stars near the center of Laevens 1 are not members of
the cluster. A third blue star has ambiguous membership. Hydra II has a radial
velocity = 303.1 +/- 1.4 km/s, similar to the leading arm of the
Magellanic stream. The mass-to-light ratio for Pisces II is 370 (+310 -240)
M_sun/L_sun. It is not among the most dark matter-dominated dwarf galaxies, but
it is still worthy of inclusion in the search for gamma rays from dark matter
self-annihilation.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. v2 has been revised in response to the referee's
repor
An Update on the 0Z Project
We give an update on our 0Z Survey to find more extremely metal poor (EMP)
stars with [Fe/H] < -3 dex through mining the database of the Hamburg/ESO
Survey. We present the most extreme such stars we have found from ~1550
moderate resolution follow up spectra. One of these, HE1424-0241, has highly
anomalous abundance ratios not seen in any previously known halo giant, with
very deficient Si, moderately deficient Ca and Ti, highly enhanced Mn and Co,
and low C, all with respect to Fe. We suggest a SNII where the nucleosynthetic
yield for explosive alpha-burning nuclei was very low compared to that for the
hydrostatic alpha-burning element Mg, which is normal in this star relative to
Fe. A second, less extreme, outlier star with high [Sc/Fe] has also been found.
We examine the extremely metal-poor tail of the HES metallicity distribution
function (MDF). We suggest on the basis of comparison of our high resolution
detailed abundance analyses with [Fe/H](HES) for stars in our sample that the
MDF inferred from follow up spectra of the HES sample of candidate EMP stars is
heavily contaminated for [Fe/H](HES) < -3 dex; many of the supposed EMP stars
below that metallicity are of substantially higher Fe-metallicity, including
most of the very C-rich stars, or are spurious objects.Comment: to appear in conference proceedings "First Stars III", ed. B. O'Shea,
A. Heger & T.Abel, 4 pages, 2 figure
Thermodynamics as a nonequilibrium path integral
Thermodynamics is a well developed tool to study systems in equilibrium but
no such general framework is available for non-equilibrium processes. Only hope
for a quantitative description is to fall back upon the equilibrium language as
often done in biology. This gap is bridged by the work theorem. By using this
theorem we show that the Barkhausen-type non-equilibrium noise in a process,
repeated many times, can be combined to construct a special matrix
whose principal eigenvector provides the equilibrium distribution. For an
interacting system , and hence the equilibrium distribution, can be
obtained from the free case without any requirement of equilibrium.Comment: 15 pages, 5 eps files. Final version to appear in J Phys.
Optimization of Network Robustness to Waves of Targeted and Random Attack
We study the robustness of complex networks to multiple waves of simultaneous
(i) targeted attacks in which the highest degree nodes are removed and (ii)
random attacks (or failures) in which fractions and respectively of
the nodes are removed until the network collapses. We find that the network
design which optimizes network robustness has a bimodal degree distribution,
with a fraction of the nodes having degree k_2= (\kav - 1 +r)/r and the
remainder of the nodes having degree , where \kav is the average
degree of all the nodes. We find that the optimal value of is of the order
of for
Phenomenology of Electroweak Symmetry Breaking from Theory Space
Recently, a new class of realistic models for electroweak symmetry breaking
have been constructed, without supersymmetry. These theories have naturally
light Higgs bosons and perturbative new physics at the TeV scale. We describe
these models in detail, and show that electroweak symmetry breaking can be
triggered by a large top quark Yukawa coupling. A rich spectrum of particles is
predicted, with a pair of light Higgs doublets accompanied by new light weak
triplet and singlet scalars. The lightest of these new scalars is charged under
a geometric discrete symmetry and is therefore stable, providing a new
candidate for WIMP dark matter. At TeV energies, a plethora of new heavy
scalars, gauge bosons and fermions are revealed, with distinctive quantum
numbers and decay modes.Comment: 22 pages, latex, 6 figures. Numerical results corrected,
clarifications added, conclusions unchange
Life and death of a hero - Lessons learned from modeling the dwarf spheroidal Hercules: an incorrect orbit?
Hercules is a dwarf spheroidal satellite of the Milky Way, found at a
distance of about 138 kpc, and showing evidence of tidal disruption. It is very
elongated and exhibits a velocity gradient of 16 +/- 3 km/s/kpc. Using this
data a possible orbit of Hercules has previously been deduced in the
literature. In this study we make use of a novel approach to find a best fit
model that follows the published orbit. Instead of using trial and error, we
use a systematic approach in order to find a model that fits multiple
observables simultaneously. As such, we investigate a much wider parameter
range of initial conditions and ensure we have found the best match possible.
Using a dark matter free progenitor that undergoes tidal disruption, our
best-fit model can simultaneously match the observed luminosity, central
surface brightness, effective radius, velocity dispersion, and velocity
gradient of Hercules. However, we find it is impossible to reproduce the
observed elongation and the position angle of Hercules at the same time in our
models. This failure persists even when we vary the duration of the simulation
significantly, and consider a more cuspy density distribution for the
progenitor. We discuss how this suggests that the published orbit of Hercules
is very likely to be incorrect.Comment: accepted by MNRAS; 19 pages, 19 figures, 2 table
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