Tidal Disruption Flares: The Accretion Disk Phase

The evolution of an accretion disk, formed as a consequence of the disruption of a star by a black hole, is followed by solving numerically the hydrodynamic equations. The present investigation aims to study the dependence of resulting light curves on dynamical and physical properties of such a transient disk during its existence. One of main results derived from our simulations is that black body fits of X-ray data tend to overestimate the true mean disk temperature. The temperature derived from black body fits should be identified with the color X-ray temperature rather than the average value derived from the true temperature distribution along the disk. The time interval between the beginning of the circularization of the bound debris and the beginning of the accretion process by the black hole is determined by the viscous timescale, which fixes also the raising part of the resulting light curve. The luminosity peak coincides with the beginning of matter accretion by the black hole and the late evolution of the light curve depends on the evolution of the debris fallback rate. Peak bolometric luminosities are in the range 10^45-10^46 erg s^-1 whereas peak luminosities in soft X-rays (0.2-2.0 keV) are typically one order of magnitude lower. The timescale derived from our preferred models for the flare luminosity to decay by two orders of magnitude is about 3-4 years. Predicted soft X-ray light curves were fitted to data on galaxies in which a variable X-ray emission, related to tidal events, was detected.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

Gravitation Wave Emission from Radio Pulsars Revisited

We report a new pulsar population synthesis based on Monte Carlo techniques, aiming to estimate the contribution of galactic radio pulsars to the continuous gravitational wave emission. Assuming that the rotation periods of pulsars at birth have a Gaussian distribution, we find that the average initial period is 290 ms. The number of objects with periods equal to or less than 0.4 s, and therefore capable of being detected by an interferometric gravitational antenna like VIRGO, is of the order of 5100-7800. With integration times lasting between 2 and 3 yr, our simulations suggest that about two detections should be possible, if the mean equatorial ellipticity of the pulsars is $\epsilon$ =10$^{-6}$. A mean ellipticity an order of magnitude higher increases the expected number of detections to 12-18, whereas for $\epsilon < 10^{-6}$, no detections are expectedComment: accepted for publication in A&A, 9 pages, 8 figure

Continuous matter creation and the acceleration of the universe: the growth of density fluctuations

Cosmologies including continuous matter creation are able to reproduce the main properties of the standard $\Lambda$CDM model, in particular in cases where the particle and entropy production rates are equal. These specific models, characterized by a mass density equal to the critical value, behave like the standard $\Lambda$CDM model at early times whereas their late evolution is similar to the steady-state cosmology. The maximum amplitude of density fluctuations in these models depends on the adopted creation rate, related here to the parameter $\Omega_v$ and this limitation could be a difficulty for the formation of galaxies and large-scale structure in this class of universe. Additional problems are related with predictions either of the random peculiar velocities of galaxies or the present density of massive clusters of galaxies, both being largely overestimated with respect to observational data.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitatio

Effects of rotation and sloping terrain on fronts of density current fronts

The initial stage of the adjustment of a gravity current to the effects of rotation with angular velocity f/2 is analysed using a short time analysis where Coriolis forces are initiated in an inviscid von Kármán–Benjamin gravity current front at tF=0. It is shown how, on a time-scale of order 1/f, as a result of ageostrophic dynamics, the slope and front speed UF are much reduced from their initial values, while the transverse anticyclonic velocity parallel to the front increases from zero to O(NH0), where N=g′/H0−−−−−√ is the buoyancy frequency, and g′=gΔρ/ρ0 is the reduced acceleration due to gravity. Here ρ0 is the density and Δρ and H0 are the density difference and initial height of the current. Extending the steady-state theory to account for the effect of the slope σ on the bottom boundary shows that, without rotation, UF has a maximum value for σ=\upi/6, while with rotation, UF tends to zero on any slope. For the asymptotic stage when ftF≫1, the theory of unsteady waves on the current is reviewed using nonlinear shallow-water equations and the van der Pol averaging method. Their motions naturally split into a ‘balanced’ component satisfying the Margules geostrophic relation and an equally large ‘unbalanced’ component, in which there is horizontal divergence and ageostrophic vorticity. The latter is responsible for nonlinear oscillations in the current on a time scale f−1, which have been observed in the atmosphere and field experiments. Their magnitude is mainly determined by the initial potential energy in relation to that of the current and is proportional to the ratio \it Bu−−−−−√=LR/R0, where LR=NH0/f is the Rossby deformation radius and R0 is the initial radius. The effect of slope friction also prevents the formation of a steady front. From the analysis it is concluded that a weak mean radial flow must be driven by the ageostrophic oscillations, preventing the mean front speed UF from halting sharply at ftF∼1. Depending on the initial value of LR/R0, physical arguments show that UF decreases slowly in proportion to (ftF)−1/2, i.e. UF/UF0=F(ftF,\it Bu). Thus the front only tends to the geostrophic asymptotic state of zero radial velocity very slowly (i.e. as ftF→∞) for finite values of LR/R0. However, as LR/R0→0, it reaches this state when ftF∼1. This analysis of the overall nonlinear behaviour of the gravity current is consistent with two two-dimensional non-hydrostatic (Navier–Stokes) and axisymmetric hydrostatic (shallow-water) Eulerian numerical simulations of the varying form of the rotating gravity current. When the effect of surface friction is considered, it is found that the mean movement of the front is significantly slowed. Furthermore, the oscillations with angular frequency f and the slow growth of the radius, when ftF≥1, are consistent with recent experiments

Modified Renormalization Strategy for Sandpile Models

Following the Renormalization Group scheme recently developed by Pietronero {\it et al}, we introduce a simplifying strategy for the renormalization of the relaxation dynamics of sandpile models. In our scheme, five sub-cells at a generic scale $b$ form the renormalized cell at the next larger scale. Now the fixed point has a unique nonzero dynamical component that allows for a great simplification in the computation of the critical exponent $z$. The values obtained are in good agreement with both numerical and theoretical results previously reported.Comment: APS style, 9 pages and 3 figures. To be published in Phys. Rev.