119347404
Oscillations of Thick Accretion Discs Around Black Holes
We present a numerical study of the response of a thick accretion disc to a localized, external perturbation with the aim of exciting internal modes of oscillation. We find that the perturbations efficiently excite global modes recently identified as acoustic p--modes, and closely related to the epicyclic oscillations of test particles. The two strongest modes occur at eigenfrequencies which are in a 3:2 ratio. We have assumed a constant specific angular momentum distribution within the disc. Our models are in principle scale--free and can be used to simulate accretion tori around stellar or super massive black holes.
118540175
NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURST PRODUCTION IN BINARY NEUTRON STAR MERGERS
The central engine of short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) is hidden from direct view, operating at a scale much smaller than that probed by the emitted radiation. Thus we must infer its origin not only with respect to the formation of the trigger—the actual astrophysical configuration that is capable of powering an sGRB—but also from the consequences that follow from the various evolutionary pathways that may be involved in producing it. Considering binary neutron star mergers we critically evaluate, analytically and through numerical simulations, whether the neutrino-driven wind produced by the newly formed hyper-massive neutron star can allow the collimated relativistic outflow that follows its collapse to actually produce an sGRB or not. Upon comparison with the observed sGRB duration distribution, we find that collapse cannot be significantly delayed (≤100 ms) before the outflow is choked, thus limiting the possibility that long-lived hyper-massive remnants can account for these events. In the case of successful breakthrough of the jet through the neutrino-driven wind, the energy stored in the cocoon could contribute to the precursor and extended emission observed in sGRBs.
119191887
Hypercritical Accretion onto a Newborn Neutron Star and Magnetic Field Submergence
We present magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulations of the late post-supernova hypercritical accretion to understand its effect on the magnetic field of the newborn neutron star. We consider as an example the case of a magnetic field loop protruding from the star's surface. The accreting matter is assumed to be non-magnetized, and, due to the high accretion rate, matter pressure dominates over magnetic pressure. We find that an accretion envelope develops very rapidly, and once it becomes convectively stable, the magnetic field is easily buried and pushed into the newly forming neutron star crust. However, for low enough accretion rates the accretion envelope remains convective for an extended period of time and only partial submergence of the magnetic field occurs due to a residual field that is maintained at the interface between the forming crust and the convective envelope. In this latter case, the outcome should be a weakly magnetized neutron star with a likely complicated field geometry. In our simulations we find the transition from total to partial submergence to occur around M-dot {approx}10 M{sub sun} yr{sup -1}. Back-diffusion of the submerged magnetic field toward the surface, and the resulting growth of the dipolar component, may result in a delayed switch-onmore » of a pulsar on timescales of centuries to millennia.« less
118078261
Gravitational Waveforms for Mergers of Neutron Stars with Black Holes
118549902
Cooling-induced structure formation and evolution in collapsars
The collapse of massive rotating stellar cores and the associated accretion onto the newborn compact object is thought to power long gamma ray bursts (GRBs). The physical scale and dynamics of the accretion disk are initially set by the angular momentum distribution in the progenitor, and the physical conditions make neutrino emission the main cooling agent in the flow. The formation and evolution of structure in these disks is potentially very relevant for the energy release and its time variability, which ultimately imprint on the observed GRB properties. To begin to characterize these, taking into account the three dimensional nature of the problem, we have carried out an initial set of calculations of the collapse of rotating polytropic cores in three dimensions, making use of a pseudo-relativistic potential and a simplified cooling prescription. We focus on the effects of self gravity and cooling on the overall morphology and evolution of the flow for a given rotation rate in the context of the collapsar model. For the typical cooling times expected in such a scenario we observe the appearance of strong instabilities on the cooling time scale following disk formation, which modulate the properties of the flow. Such instabilities, and the interaction they produce between the disk and the central object lead to significant variability in the obtained mass accretion and energy loss rates, which will likely translate into variations in the power of the relativistic outflow that ultimately results in a GRB.
14488980
Binary coalescence of a strange star with a black hole: Newtonian results
We present Newtonian three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of the merger of quark stars with black holes. The initial conditions correspond to non-spinning stars in Keplerian orbits, the code includes gravitational radiation reaction in the quadrupole approximation for point masses. We find that the quark star is disrupted, forming transient accretion structures around the black hole, but 0.03 of the original stellar mass survives the initial encounter and remains in an elongated orbit as a rapidly rotating quark starlet, in all cases. No resolvable amount of mass is dynamically ejected during the encounters--the black hole eventually accretes 99.99% +/- 0.01% of the quark matter initially present.
117695773
Exotic Photon Searches at CDF II
We present recent results of searches for exotic photons at CDF II. In the first signature-based search, we search for anomalous production of two photons with additional energetic objects. The results are consistent with the standard model expectations. In the second analysis, we present a signature-based search for anomalous production of events containing a photon, two jets, of which at least one is identified as originating from a b quark, and missing transverse energy. We find no indications of non-standard model phenomena. Finally, a search for a fermiophobic Higgs in the diphoton final state is presented. Since no evidence of a resonance in the diphoton mass spectrum is observed we exclude this Higgs boson with mass below 106 GeV/c{sup 2} at a 95% confidence level.
117075074
Search for Supersymmetry Using Diphoton Events in p anti-p Collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96-TeV
This dissertation presents the results of a search for supersymmetry in proton-antiproton collisions with a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV studied with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. Our strategy is to select collisions with two photons in the final state that have the properties of being the decays of very massive supersymmetric particles. This includes looking for large total energy from the decayed particles as well as for the presence of particles that leave the detector without interacting. We find no events using 2.6 fb{sup -1} of data collected during the 2004-2008 collider run of the Fermilab Tevatron which is consistent with the background estimate of 1.4 {+-} 0.4 events. Since there is no evidence of new particles we set cross section limits in a gauge-mediated supersymmetry model with {tilde {chi}}{sub 1}{sup 0} {yields} {gamma}{tilde G}, where the {tilde {chi}}{sub 1}{sup 0} and {tilde G} are the lightest neutralino and the gravitino (the lightest supersymmetric particle), respectively. We set limits on models as a function of the {tilde {chi}}{sub 1}{sup 0} mass and lifetime, producing the world's most sensitive search for {tilde {chi}}{sub 1}{sup 0} by excluding masses up to 149 GeV/c{sup 2} for {tilde {chi}}{sub 1}{sup 0} lifetimes much less than 1 ns.