9,819 research outputs found
Magnetically Regulated Star Formation in Turbulent Clouds
We investigate numerically the combined effects of supersonic turbulence,
strong magnetic fields and ambipolar diffusion on cloud evolution leading to
star formation. We find that, in clouds that are initially magnetically
subcritical, supersonic turbulence can speed up star formation, through
enhanced ambipolar diffusion in shocks. The speedup overcomes a major objection
to the standard scenario of low-mass star formation involving ambipolar
diffusion, since the diffusion time scale at the average density of a molecular
cloud is typically longer than the cloud life time. At the same time, the
strong magnetic field can prevent the large-scale supersonic turbulence from
converting most of the cloud mass into stars in one (short) turbulence crossing
time, and thus alleviate the high efficiency problem associated with the
turbulence-controlled picture for low-mass star formation. We propose that
relatively rapid but inefficient star formation results from supersonic
collisions of somewhat subcritical gas in strongly magnetized, turbulent
clouds. The salient features of this shock-accelerated, ambipolar
diffusion-regulated scenario are demonstrated with numerical experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Wind-Interaction Models for the Early Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts: The Case of GRB 021004
Wind-interaction models for gamma-ray burst afterglows predict that the
optical emission from the reverse shock drops below that from the forward shock
within 100s of seconds of the burst. The typical frequency of the
synchrotron emission from the forward shock passes through the optical band
typically on a timescale of minutes to hours. Before the passage of ,
the optical flux evolves as and after the passage, the decay
steepens to , where is the exponent for the assumed
power-law energy distribution of nonthermal electrons and is typically . The steepening in the slope of temporal decay should be readily
identifiable in the early afterglow light curves. We propose that such a
steepening was observed in the R-band light curve of GRB 021004 around day 0.1.
Available data at several radio frequencies are consistent with this
interpretation, as are the X-ray observations around day~1. The early evolution
of GRB 021004 contrasts with that of GRB 990123, which can be described by
emission from interaction with a constant density medium.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, submitted to ApJ
Production of large transverse momentum dileptons and photons in , and collisions by photoproduction processes
The production of large dileptons and photons originating from
photoproduction processes in , and collisions is calculated. We
find that the contribution of dileptons and photons produced by photoproduction
processes is not prominent at RHIC energies. However, the numerical results
indicate that the modification of photoproduction processes becomes evident in
the large region for , and collisions at LHC energies.Comment: 10 figure
Gamma-Ray Burst Environments and Progenitors
Likely progenitors for the GRBs (gamma-ray bursts) are the mergers of compact
objects or the explosions of massive stars. These two cases have distinctive
environments for the GRB afterglow: the compact object explosions occur in the
ISM (interstellar medium) and those of massive stars occur in the preburst
stellar wind. We calculate the expected afterglow for a burst in a Wolf-Rayet
star wind and compare the results to those for constant, interstellar density.
The optical afterglow for the wind case is generally expected to decline more
steeply than in the constant density case, but this effect may be masked by
variations in electron spectral index, and the two cases have the same
evolution in the cooling regime. Observations of the concurrent radio and
optical/X-ray evolution are especially useful for distinguishing between the
two cases. The different rates of decline of the optical and X-ray afterglows
of GRB 990123 suggest constant density interaction for this case. We have
previously found strong evidence for wind interaction in SN 1998bw/GRB 980425
and here present a wind model for GRB 980519. We thus suggest that there are
both wind type GRB afterglows with massive star progenitors and ISM type
afterglows with compact binary star progenitors. The wind type bursts are
likely to be accompanied by a supernova, but not the ISM type.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, revised version, ApJ Letters, in pres
Parton distribution functions and nuclear EMC effect in a statistical model
A new and simple statistical approach is performed to calculate the parton
distribution functions (PDFs) of the nucleon in terms of light-front kinematic
variables. Analytic expressions of x-dependent PDFs are obtained in the whole x
region. And thereafter, we treat the temperature T as a parameter of the atomic
number A to explain the nuclear EMC effect in the region . We
give the predictions of PDF ratios, and they are very different from those by
other models, thus experiments aiming at measuring PDF ratios are suggested to
provide a discrimination of different models.Comment: 4 pages, no figure; talk given at the 5th International Conference On
Quarks and Nuclear Physics (QNP09), Sep 2009, Beijing Chin
Nonaxisymmetric Evolution of Magnetically Subcritical Clouds: Bar Growth, Core Elongation, and Binary Formation
We have begun a systematic numerical study of the nonlinear growth of
nonaxisymmetric perturbations during the ambipolar diffusion-driven evolution
of initially magnetically subcritical molecular clouds, with an eye on the
formation of binaries, multiple stellar systems and small clusters. In this
initial study, we focus on the (or bar) mode, which is shown to be
unstable during the dynamic collapse phase of cloud evolution after the central
region has become magnetically supercritical. We find that, despite the
presence of a strong magnetic field, the bar can grow fast enough that for a
modest initial perturbation (at 5% level) a large aspect ratio is obtained
during the isothermal phase of cloud collapse. The highly elongated bar is
expected to fragment into small pieces during the subsequent adiabatic phase.
Our calculations suggest that the strong magnetic fields observed in some
star-forming clouds and envisioned in the standard picture of single star
formation do not necessarily suppress bar growth and fragmentation; on the
contrary, they may actually promote these processes, by allowing the clouds to
have more than one (thermal) Jeans mass to begin with without collapsing
promptly. Nonlinear growth of the bar mode in a direction perpendicular to the
magnetic field, coupled with flattening along field lines, leads to the
formation of supercritical cores that are triaxial in general. It removes a
longstanding objection to the standard scenario of isolated star formation
involving subcritical magnetic field and ambipolar diffusion based on the
likely prolate shape inferred for dense cores. Continuted growth of the bar
mode in already elongated starless cores, such as L1544, may lead to future
binary and multiple star formation.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ
Chilling susceptibility in mungbean varieties is associated with their differentially expressed genes
Additional file 4: Table S3. Validation of microarray data by qRT-PCR in mungbean seedlings
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