18940226
GALACTIC WARPS IN TRIAXIAL HALOS
We study the behavior of galactic disks in triaxial halos both numerically and analytically to see if warps can be excited and sustained in triaxial potentials. We consider the following two scenarios: (1) galactic disks that are initially tilted relative to the equatorial plane of the halo (for a pedagogical purpose), and (2) tilted infall of dark matter relative to the equatorial plane of the disk and the halo. With numerical simulations of 100,000 disk particles in a fixed halo potential, we find that in triaxial halos, warps can be excited and sustained just as in spherical or axisymmetric halos but they show some oscillatory behavior and even can be transformed to a polar-ring system if the halo has a prolate-like triaxiality. The nonaxisymmetric component of the halo causes the disk to nutate, and the differential nutation between the inner and outer parts of the disk generally makes the magnitude of the warp slightly diminish and fluctuate. We also find that warps are relatively weaker in oblate and oblate-like triaxial halos, and since these halos are the halo configurations of disk galaxies inferred by cosmological simulations, our results are consistent with the fact that most of the observed warps are quite weak. We derive approximate formulae for the torques exerted on the disk by the triaxial halo and the dark matter torus, and with these formulae we successfully describe the behavior of the disks in our simulations. The techniques used in deriving these formulae could be applied for realistic halos with more complex structures.
118942465
The Arches Cluster Mass Function
We have analyzed H- and Ks-band images of the Arches cluster obtained using the NIRC2 instrument on Keck with the laser guide star adaptive optics (LGS AO) system. With the help of the LGS AO system, we were able to obtain the deepest ever photometry for this cluster and its neighborhood and derive the background-subtracted present-day mass function down to 1.3 M☉ for the 5''-9'' annulus of the cluster. We find that the previously reported turnover at 6 M☉ is simply due to a local bump in the mass function (MF), and that the MF continues to increase down to our 50% completeness limit (1.3 M☉) with a power-law exponent of Γ = -0.91 for the mass range of 1.3 < M/M☉ < 50. Our numerical calculations for the evolution of the Arches cluster show that the Γ-values for our annulus increase by 0.1-0.2 during the lifetime of the cluster and thus suggest that the Arches cluster initially had Γ of -1.0 to 1.1, which is only slightly shallower than the Salpeter value.
119489565
Core-Collapse Times of Two-Component Clusters
We examine the corecollapse times of isolated, two-mass-component star clusters using Fokker-Planck models. With initial condition of Plummer models, we find that the corecollapse times of clusters with M_1/M_2 >> 1 are well correlated with (N_1/N_2)^{1/2}(m_1/m_2)^{2} t_{rh}, where M_1/M_2 and m_1/m_2 are the light to heavy component total and individual mass ratios, respectively, N_1/N_2 is the number ratio, and t_{rh} is the initial half-mass relaxation time scale. We also find two-component cluster parameters that best match multi-component (thus more realistic) clusters with power-law mass functions.
119456102
Theoretical isochrones with extinction in the K band. II. J - K versus K
ABSTRACT We calculate theoretical isochrones in a consistent way for five filter pairs near the J and K band atmospheric windows ( \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcommand\sfdefault{wncyss} \renewcommand\encodingdefault{OT2} \normalfont \selectfont} \DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyr} \pagestyle{empty} \DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6} \begin{document} \landscape $J-K$ \end{document} , \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcom...
17473739
Stellar collisions and mergers in the galactic center
Stars are most likely to merge or collide in regions of the highest stellar densities, and our own Galactic Center contains many stars packed into a relatively small volume -- even the ambient stellar number density in the central 50 pc is quite high, ~10^3 stars pc^{-3}. More striking, the three compact young clusters in this region have central densities as high as 10^6 stars pc^{-3}. We discuss these extreme environments and the possibility that stellar mergers and collisions have recently occured there. In particular, we predict that at least one massive star in the Arches cluster has already experienced a stellar merger in its short lifetime. Further, the Pistol Star, in the nearby Quintuplet cluster, might owe its apparent relative youth to a rejuvinating stellar merger. Finally, the apparently young stars in the central arcsecond could be products of either collisions, inducing atmospheric stripping, or mergers.
13909300
The Stream-Stream Collision after the Tidal Disruption of a Star around a Massive Black Hole
A star can be tidally disrupted around a massive black hole. It is known that the debris forms a precessing stream, which may collide with itself. The stream collision is a key process in determining the subsequent evolution of the stellar debris: if the orbital energy is efficiently dissipated, the debris will eventually form a circular disk (or torus). In this paper, we have numerically studied such a stream collision resulting from the encounter between a 106 M☉ black hole and a 1 M☉ normal star with a pericenter radius of 100 R☉. A simple treatment for radiative cooling has been adopted for both optically thick and optically thin regions. We have found that approximately 10% to 15% of the initial kinetic energy of the streams is converted into thermal energy during the collision. The spread in angular momentum of the incoming stream is increased by a factor of 2 to 3, and such an increase, together with the decrease in kinetic energy, significantly helps the circularization process. The initial luminosity burst produced by the collision may reach as high as 1041 ergs s-1 in 104 s, after which the luminosity increases again (but slowly this time) to a steady value of a few 1040 ergs s-1 in a few times 105 s. The radiation from the system is expected to be close to Planckian, with an effective temperature of ~105 K.
119282193
Expanding universe as a classical solution in the Lorentzian matrix model for nonperturbative superstring theory
Recently we have shown by Monte Carlo simulation that expanding (3+1)-dimensional universe appears dynamically from a Lorentzian matrix model for type IIB superstring theory in (9+1)-dimensions. The mechanism for the spontaneous breaking of rotational symmetry relies crucially on the noncommutative nature of the space. Here we study the classical equations of motion as a complementary approach. In particular, we find a unique class of SO(3) symmetric solutions, which exhibits the time-dependence compatible with the expanding universe. The space-space noncommutativity is exactly zero, whereas the space-time noncommutativity becomes significant only towards the end of the expansion. We interpret the Monte Carlo results and the classical solution as describing the behavior of the model at earlier time and at later time, respectively.
118907734
Separation of the variables in the solar neutrino problem.
5691719
Surplus Solid Angle: Toward Astrophysical Test of Horava-Lifshitz Gravity
We consider the electrostatic field of a point charge coupled to Hořava-Lifshitz gravity and find an exact solution describing the space with a surplus (or deficit) solid angle. Although, theoretically in general relativity, a surplus angle is hardly to be obtained in the presence of ordinary matter with positive energy distribution, it seems natural in Hořava-Lifshitz gravity. We present the sudden disappearance and reappearance of a star image as an astrophysical effect of a surplus angle. We also consider matter configurations of all possible power law behaviors coupled to Hořava-Lifshitz gravity and obtain a series of exact solutions. © 2009 The American Physical Society.
121615298
Measurement of the refractive index of the LAB-based liquid scintillator and acrylic at RENO
In this paper, we describe the first measurement of the refractive index of the linear alkyl benzene (LAB)-based liquid scintillator and acrylic used at the Reactor Experiment for Neutrino Oscillation (RENO). The refractive index of a material is an important optical property and the prism spectrometer is the most common device for measuring the refractive index. Using the minimum deviation technique, which requires an exact measurement of the apex angle, we determined the refractive indices at six different wavelengths and then fitted them. We also compared the refractive index of the LAB-based liquid scintillator with the refractive indices of other liquid scintillator solvents commonly used in reactor neutrino experiments.
59400471
Summary of the 3rd International Workshop on a Far Detector in Korea for the J-PARC Beam
by the J-PARC conventional neutrino beam detected by a new large underground neutrino detector in Korea. In this paper, we highlight some of the most relevant findings of the workshop. The present neutrino physics program in Korea, focused at a reactor neutrino experiment RENO, and the state of the J-PARC neutrino beam, presently under construction at Tokai (Japan) for the T2K experiment, were reviewed at the workshop. Future long baseline neutrino experiments have the task to complete the present knowledge on the mixing parameters, possibly including the CP violating phase ‐. The measurements in RENO and T2K could indicate a non-vanishing µ13 angle, thereby ascertaining the 3◊3 nature of the lepton flavor mixing matrix. They may conclude that the simultaneous determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy and the CP violating phase is possible at a next generation long baseline experiment coupled to a high intensity conventional neutrino beam.