5667549
Large Misalignment between Stellar and Dust Bars in NGC 3488 Revealed by Spitzer and SDSS
A large position angle misalignment between the stellar and dust bars in the late-type barred spiral NGC 3488 was discovered, using mid-infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope and optical images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The angle between the two distinctive bar patterns was measured to be 25±2, larger than most of the misalignments found previously in barred systems based on Hα or H ii/CO observations. The stellar bar is bright at optical and 3.6μm, while the dust bar is more prominent in the 8μm band but also shows up in the SDSS u and g-band images, suggesting a rich interstellar medium environment harboring ongoing star formation. The angular misalignment between the two bars in NGC 3488 is unlikely to have been caused by spontaneous bar formation. We suggest that the two bars have different formation histories, and that the large misalignment was triggered by a tidal interaction with a small companion. A statistical analysis of a large sample of nearby galaxies with archival Spitzer data indicates that bar structure such as that seen in NGC 3488 is quite rare in the local Universe. Subject headings: galaxies: individual(NGC 3488) — galaxies: spiral — galaxies: structure — infrared: galaxies National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, P. R. China; caochen@bao.ac.cn, hwu@bao.ac.cn Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 College of Physical Sciences, Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 3908, 100039 Beijing, China
119180657
THE STRUCTURE OF ACTIVE MERGER REMNANT NGC 6240 FROM IRAC OBSERVATIONS
NGC 6240 is a rare object in the local universe: an active merger remnant viewed at the point of merging where two active galactic nuclei are visible. We present IRAC data of this object, providing high-sensitivity maps of the stellar and PAH distribution in this complicated system. We use photometry to analyze the variation in these distributions with radius and provide an SED in the four IRAC bands: 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 μm. We fit the radial profiles of the 3.6 μm band to r1/4 and exponential profiles to evaluate the structure of the remnant. Finally, we compare the IRAC images with multiwavelength data and examine how outflows in the X-ray, Hα, and CO correlate with 8 μm emission. The results support the general picture of NGC 6240 as a system experiencing a major merger and transitioning from a disk galaxy to a spheroid. The sensitivity of IRAC to low surface brightness mid-infrared features provides detailed information on the extended distributions of stars and dust in this rare system.
18719624
Warm Molecular Gas in Galaxy-Galaxy Merger NGC 6090
We present Submillimeter Array observations of the CO (2-1) and (3-2) transitions toward the merging galaxies of NGC 6090. The high-resolution CO data reveal three gas concentrations. The main component is peaking in the overlap region between the two galaxies, where the near-IR and radio continuum emission are weak. The CO (2-1) emission from the face-on galaxy NGC 6090E is somewhat stronger than that from the edge-on galaxy NGC 6090W. The CO (3-2) emission peaks in the overlap region, similar to the CO (2-1) emission. More than 50% of the CO (3-2) emission arises from the 2'' (1.2 kpc) area of the overlap region. There appears to be CO (3-2) emission toward the nuclear region and the northwest arm of NGC 6090E, while no CO (3-2) emission is detected toward NGC 6090W. Unlike the CO gas, most of the radio continuum emission comes from NGC 6090E. The strong CO emission, together with the weak radio continuum emission, suggests that star formation in the overlap region has not proceeded long enough to produce significant numbers of supernovae that would be detectable from their radio continuum emission.
119548246
Subarcsecond Resolution Mid-Infrared Observations of Super Star Clusters in the Antennae (NGC 4038/4039)*
We present ground-based subarcsecond mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopy of young super star clusters in the overlap region of the merging galaxies NGC 4038/4039 (the Antennae) obtained with the VLT Imager and Spectrometer for mid-InfraRed (VISIR). With its unprecedented spatial resolution, VISIR begins for the first time to resolve the H II/photodissociation region complexes around the star-forming regions. In the N-band spectra of two young star clusters, unexpectedly low polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission is observed, compared to what is seen with the Infrared Space Observatory and with the Spitzer Space Telescope. We conclude that a large fraction of the PAH emission cannot be directly associated with the super star clusters but originates from an extended region of at least 215 pc radius around the clusters. In the distribution of [Ne II] 12.81 μm emission, a highly obscured cluster is discovered that does not have an optical or near-infrared counterpart.
7625841
Topological Hamiltonian as an exact tool for topological invariants.
We propose the concept of 'topological Hamiltonian' for topological insulators and superconductors in interacting systems. The eigenvalues of the topological Hamiltonian are significantly different from the physical energy spectra, but we show that the topological Hamiltonian contains the information of gapless surface states, therefore it is an exact tool for topological invariants.
119282064
Topological field theory and thermal responses of interacting topological superconductors
We investigate the three-dimensional, time-reversal invariant topological superconductors with generic interaction by their response to external fields. The first description is a gravitational topological field theory, which gives a $Z_2$ classification of topological superconductors, and predicts a half-quantized thermal Hall effect on the surface. The second description introduces an s-wave proximity pairing field on the surface, and the associated topological defects give an integer $Z$ classification of the topological superconductors.
13852548
Optical/Infrared Observations of the Anomalous X-Ray Pulsar 1E 1048.1-5937 During Its 2007 X-Ray Flare
We report on optical and infrared observations of the anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXP) 1E 1048.1–5937 made during its ongoing X-ray flare that started in 2007 March. We detected the source in the optical I and near-infrared Ks bands in two ground-based observations and obtained deep flux upper limits from four observations, including one with the Spitzer Space Telescope at 4.5 and 8.0 μm. The detections indicate that the source was approximately 1.3-1.6 mag brighter than in 2003-2006, when it was at the tail of a previous similar X-ray flare. Similar related flux variations have been seen in two other AXPs during their X-ray outbursts, suggesting common behavior for large X-ray flux variation events in AXPs. The Spitzer flux limits are sufficiently deep that we can exclude mid-infrared emission similar to that from the AXP 4U 0142+61, which has been interpreted as arising from a dust disk around the AXP. The optical/near-infrared emission from 1E 1048.1–5937 probably has a magnetospheric origin. The similarity in the flux spectra of 1E 1048.1–5937 and 4U 0142+61 challenges the dust disk model proposed for the latter.
18804785
Spitzer Imaging of nearby ULIRGs and their Progeny: Fine-Structure Elliptical Galaxies
We present results from two mid-infrared imaging programs of ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) and fine-structure elliptical galaxies. The former are known to nearly all be recent mergers between two gas-rich spiral galaxies, while the latter are also believed to be even more aged merger remnants. An examination of these two classes of objects, which may represent different stages of the same putative merger sequence, should reveal similarities in the distribution of their stellar populations and dust content consistent with that expected for time-evolution of the merger. The data reveal for the first time extended dust emission in the ULIRG galaxy bodies and along their tidal features. However, contrary to expectation, we find that the vast majority of the fine-structure elliptical galaxies lack such structured emission. This likely results from the optical selection of the elliptical sample, resulting in a population that reflects the IR-activity (or lack thereof) of optically selected interacting galaxies. Alternately, this may reflect an evolutionary process in the distribution of the dust content of the galaxy bodies.
121663887
Mass and transverse momentum dependence of the dielectron yield in p-Be collisions at 4.9 GeV
We present the invariant mass and transverse momentum dependence of direct electron-positron pair production in {ital p}-Be collisions at a beam kinetic energy of 4.9 GeV. The acceptance of our apparatus is shown to have no significant effect for masses above 0.15 GeV. After a correction is made for the available phase space, the transverse momentum dependence of the data is found to be comparable to hadron-hadron observations. A phenomenological calculation involving {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup {minus}} annihilation into {ital e}{sup +}e{sup {minus}} is shown to be in good agreement with our measurements.
119121085
ANALYSIS OF THE $B \to K^*_2(1430), a_2(1320), f_2(1270)$ FORM-FACTORS WITH LIGHT-CONE QCD SUM RULES
In this paper, we study the form-factors with the light-cone QCD sum rules, where the B-meson light-cone distribution amplitudes are used. In calculations, we observe that the line-shapes of the B-meson light-cone distribution amplitude ϕ+(ω) have significant impacts on the values of the form-factors, and expect to obtain severe constraints on the parameters of the B-meson light-cone distribution amplitudes from the experimental data in the future.
119266949
MULTIBAND STUDIES OF THE OPTICAL PERIODIC MODULATION IN THE X-RAY BINARY SAX J1808.4–3658 DURING ITS QUIESCENCE AND 2008 OUTBURST
We report on time-resolved optical imaging of the X-ray binary SAX J1808.4-3658 during its quiescent state and 2008 outburst. The binary, containing an accretion-powered millisecond pulsar, has a large sinusoidal-like modulation in its quiescent optical emission. We employ a Markov chain Monte Carlo technique to fit our multi-band light curve data in quiescence with an irradiated star model, and derive a tight constraint of 50(-5)(+6) deg on the inclination angle i of the binary system. The pulsar and its companion are constrained to have masses of 0.97(-0.22)(+0.31) M-circle dot and 0.04(-0.01)(+0.02) M-circle dot (both 1 sigma ranges), respectively. The dependence of these results on the measurements of the companion's projected radial velocity is discussed. We also find that the accretion disk had nearly constant optical fluxes over a similar to 500 day period in the quiescent state our data covered, but started brightening 1.5 months before the 2008 outburst. Variations in modulation during the outburst were detected in our four observations made 7-12 days after the start of the outburst, and a sinusoidal-like modulation with 0.2 mag amplitude changed to have a smaller amplitude of 0.1 mag. The modulation variations are discussed. We estimate the albedo of the companion during its quiescence and the outburst, which was approximately 0 and 0.8 (for isotropic emission), respectively. This large difference probably provides additional evidence that the neutron star in the binary turns on as a radio pulsar in quiescence.