272 research outputs found
Potential--density pairs for spherical galaxies and bulges: the influence of scalar fields
A family of potential--density pairs has been found for spherical halos and
bulges of galaxies in the Newtonian limit of scalar--tensor theories of
gravity. The scalar field is described by a Klein--Gordon equation with a
source that is coupled to the standard Poisson equation of Newtonian gravity.
The net gravitational force is given by two contributions: the standard
Newtonian potential plus a term stemming from massive scalar fields. General
solutions have been found for spherical systems. In particular, we compute
potential--density pairs of spherical galactic systems, and some other
astrophysical quantities that are relevant to generating initial conditions for
spherical galaxy simulations.Comment: Paper accepted for publication in MNRAS, with four figure
Multi-filter transit observations of WASP-39b and WASP-43b with three San Pedro M\'artir telescopes
Three optical telescopes located at the San Pedro M\'artir National
Observatory were used for the first time to obtain multi-filter defocused
photometry of the transiting extrasolar planets WASP-39b and WASP-43b. We
observed WASP-39b with the 2.12m telescope in the U filter for the first time,
and additional observations were carried out in the R and I filters using the
0.84m telescope. WASP-43b was observed in VRI with the same instrument, and in
the i filter with the robotic 1.50m telescope. We reduced the data using
different pipelines and performed aperture photometry with the help of custom
routines, in order to obtain the light curves. The fit of the light curves
(1.5--2.5mmag rms), and of the period analysis, allowed a revision of the
orbital and physical parameters, revealing for WASP-39b a period ( days) which is seconds larger than
previously reported. Moreover, we find for WASP-43b a planet/star radius
() which is larger in the i filter
with respect to previous works, and that should be confirmed with additional
observations. Finally, we confirm no evidence of constant period variations in
WASP-43b.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, accepted in PASP, scheduled for the February 1,
2015 issu
Nonspherical similarity solutions for dark halo formation
We carry out fully 3-dimensional simulations of evolution from self-similar,
spherically symmetric linear perturbations of a Cold Dark Matter dominated
Einstein-de Sitter universe. As a result of the radial orbit instability, the
haloes which grow from such initial conditions are triaxial with major-to-minor
axis ratios of order 3:1. They nevertheless grow approximately self-similarly
in time. In all cases they have power-law density profiles and near-constant
velocity anisotropy in their inner regions. Both the power-law index and the
value of the velocity anisotropy depend on the similarity index of the initial
conditions, the former as expected from simple scaling arguments. Halo
structure is thus not "universal" but remembers the initial conditions. On
larger scales the density and anisotropy profiles show two characteristic
scales, corresponding to particles at first pericentre and at first apocentre
after infall. They are well approximated by the NFW model only for one value of
the similarity index. In contrast, at all radii within the outer caustic the
pseudo phase-space density can be fit by a single power law with an index which
depends only very weakly on the similarity index of the initial conditions.
This behaviour is very similar to that found for haloes formed from LCDM
initial conditions and so can be considered approximately universal.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRA
Feedback and the Structure of Simulated Galaxies at redshift z=2
We study the properties of simulated high-redshift galaxies using
cosmological N-body/gasdynamical runs from the OverWhelmingly Large Simulations
(OWLS) project. The runs contrast several feedback implementations of varying
effectiveness: from no-feedback, to supernova-driven winds to powerful
AGN-driven outflows. These different feedback models result in large variations
in the abundance and structural properties of bright galaxies at z=2. We find
that feedback affects the baryonic mass of a galaxy much more severely than its
spin, which is on average roughly half that of its surrounding dark matter halo
in our runs. Feedback induces strong correlations between angular momentum
content and galaxy mass that leave their imprint on galaxy scaling relations
and morphologies. Encouragingly, we find that galaxy disks are common in
moderate-feedback runs, making up typically ~50% of all galaxies at the centers
of haloes with virial mass exceeding 1e11 M_sun. The size, stellar masses, and
circular speeds of simulated galaxies formed in such runs have properties that
straddle those of large star-forming disks and of compact early-type galaxies
at z=2. Once the detailed abundance and structural properties of these rare
objects are well established it may be possible to use them to gauge the
overall efficacy of feedback in the formation of high redshift galaxies.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Minor
changes to match published versio
Mass-to-light ratio gradients in early-type galaxy haloes
Since the near future should see a rapidly expanding set of probes of the
halo masses of individual early-type galaxies, we introduce a convenient
parameter for characterising the halo masses from both observational and
theoretical results: \dML, the logarithmic radial gradient of the mass-to-light
ratio. Using halo density profiles from LCDM simulations, we derive predictions
for this gradient for various galaxy luminosities and star formation
efficiencies . As a pilot study, we assemble the available \dML\
data from kinematics in early-type galaxies - representing the first unbiassed
study of halo masses in a wide range of early-type galaxy luminosities - and
find a correlation between luminosity and \dML, such that the brightest
galaxies appear the most dark-matter dominated. We find that the gradients in
most of the brightest galaxies may fit in well with the LCDM predictions, but
that there is also a population of fainter galaxies whose gradients are so low
as to imply an unreasonably high star formation efficiency .
This difficulty is eased if dark haloes are not assumed to have the standard
LCDM profiles, but lower central concentrations.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication on MNRA
The Evolution of Central Group Galaxies in Hydrodynamical Simulations
We trace the evolution of central galaxies in three ~10^13 M_sun galaxy
groups simulated at high resolution in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations.
The evolution in the group potential leads, at z=0, to central galaxies that
are massive, gas-poor early-type systems supported by stellar velocity
dispersion resembling either elliptical or S0 galaxies. Their z~2-2.5 main
progenitors are massive M* ~ 3-10 x 10^10 M_sun, star forming (20-60 M_sun/yr)
galaxies which host substantial reservoirs of cold gas (~5 x 10^9 M_sun) in
extended gas disks. Our simulations thus show that star forming galaxies
observed at z~2 are likely the main progenitors of central galaxies in galaxy
groups at z=0. Their central stellar densities stay approximately constant from
z~1.5 down to z=0. Instead, the galaxies grow inside-out, by acquiring a
stellar envelope outside the innermost ~2 kpc. Consequently the density within
the effective radius decreases by up to two orders of magnitude. Both major and
minor mergers contribute to most of the mass accreted outside the effective
radius and thus drive the evolution of the half-mass radii. In one of the three
simulated groups the short central cooling time leads to a dramatic
rejuvenation of the central group galaxy at z<1, affecting its morphology,
kinematics and colors. This episode is eventually terminated by a group-group
merger. Our simulations demonstrate that, in galaxy groups, the interplay
between halo mass assembly, galaxy merging and gas accretion has a substantial
influence on the star formation histories and z=0 morphologies of central
galaxies.[Abridged]Comment: 28 pages, 23 figures, 9 tables, accepted to APJ (revised to match
accepted version
Scalar-field Pressure in Induced Gravity with Higgs Potential and Dark Matter
A model of induced gravity with a Higgs potential is investigated in detail
in view of the pressure components related to the scalar-field excitations. The
physical consequences emerging as an artifact due to the presence of these
pressure terms are analysed in terms of the constraints parting from energy
density, solar-relativistic effects and galactic dynamics along with the dark
matter halos.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures, Minor revision, Published in JHE
VizieR Online Data Catalog: WASP-39b and WASP-43b light curves (Ricci+, 2015)
The instrument comes with a set of standard UBVRI Johnson filters among others. We present observations carried out using the VRI filters. Light curves of WASP-39b were obtained with the 0.84m telescope in R and I bands and with the 2.12m telescope in the U band. Light curves of WASP-43b were obtained with the 0.84m telescope in VRI bands and with the 1.50m telescope in the Gunn-i band. (2 data files
STREGA: STRucture and Evolution of the GAlaxy - I : Survey overview and first results
STREGA (STRucture and Evolution of the GAlaxy) is a guaranteed time survey being performed at the VST (the ESO Very Large Telescope Survey Telescope) to map about 150 square degrees in the Galactic halo, in order to constrain the mechanisms of galactic formation and evolution. The survey is built as a 5 yr project, organized in two parts: a core programme to explore the surrounding regions of selected stellar systems and a second complementary part to map the southern portion of the Fornax orbit and extend the observations of the core programme. The adopted stellar tracers are mainly variable stars (RR Lyraes and long-period variables) and main-sequence turn-off stars for which observations in the g, r, i bands are obtained. We present an overview of the survey and some preliminary results for three observing runs that have been completed. For the region centred on ω Cen (37 deg^2), covering about three tidal radii, we also discuss the detected stellar density radial profile and angular distribution, leading to the identification of extratidal cluster stars. We also conclude that the cluster tidal radius is about 1.2 deg, in agreement with values in the literature based on the Wilson model.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
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