Engineering topics

Sari, Re'em

Publications and source records attributed to Sari, Re'em.

13 records

DOE OSTI2015

THE GALACTIC CENTER CLOUD G2 AND ITS GAS STREAMER

We present new, deep near-infrared SINFONI @ VLT integral field spectroscopy of the gas cloud G2 in the Galactic Center, from late 2013 August, 2014 April, and 2014 July. G2 is visible in recombination line emission. The spatially resolved kinematic data track the ongoing tidal disruption. The cloud reached minimum distance to the MBH of 1950 Schwarzschild radii. As expected for an observation near the pericenter passage, roughly half of the gas in 2014 is found at the redshifted, pre-pericenter side of the orbit, while the other half is at the post-pericenter, blueshifted side. We also present an orbital solution for the gas cloud G1, which was discovered a decade ago in L'-band images when it was spatially almost coincident with Sgr A*. The orientation of the G1 orbit in the three angles is almost identical to that of G2, but it has a lower eccentricity and smaller semi-major axis. We show that the observed astrometric positions and radial velocities of G1 are compatible with the G2 orbit, assuming that (1) G1 was originally on the G2 orbit preceding G2 by 13 yr, and (2) a simple drag force acted on it during pericenter passage. Taken together with the previously described tail of G2, which we detect in recombination line emission and thermal broadband emission, we propose that G2 may be a bright knot in a much more extensive gas streamer. This matches purely gaseous models for G2, such as a stellar wind clump or the tidal debris from a partial disruption of a star.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2015

BALANCING THE LOAD: A VORONOI BASED SCHEME FOR PARALLEL COMPUTATIONS

One of the key issues when running a simulation on multiple CPUs is maintaining a proper load balance throughout the run and minimizing communications between CPUs. We propose a novel method of utilizing a Voronoi diagram to achieve a nearly perfect load balance without the need of any global redistributions of data. As a show case, we implement our method in RICH, a two-dimensional moving mesh hydrodynamical code, but it can be extended trivially to other codes in two or three dimensions. Our tests show that this method is indeed efficient and can be used in a large variety of existing hydrodynamical codes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

The velocity distribution of hypervelocity stars

We consider the process of stellar binaries tidally disrupted by a supermassive black hole (BH). For highly eccentric orbits, as one star is ejected from the three-body system, the companion remains bound to the BH. Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) observed in the Galactic halo and S-stars observed orbiting the central BH may originate from such mechanism. In this paper, we predict the velocity distribution of the ejected stars of a given mass, after they have traveled out of the Galactic potential. We use both analytical methods and Monte Carlo simulations. We find that each part of the velocity distribution encodes different information. At low velocities <800 km s{sup –1}, the Galactic potential universally shapes the observed distribution, which rises toward a peak, related to the Galactic escape velocity. Beyond the peak, the velocity distribution depends on binary mass and separation distributions. Finally, the finite star life introduces a break related to their mass. A qualitative comparison of our models with current observations shows the great potential of HVSs to constrain bulge and Galactic properties. Standard choices for parameter distributions predict velocities below and above ∼800 km s{sup –1} with equal probability, while none are observed beyond ∼700 km s{sup –1} and the current detections are more clustered at low velocities 300-400 km s{sup –1}. These features may indicate that the separation distribution of binaries that reach the tidal sphere is not flat in logarithmic space, as observed in more local massive binaries, but has more power toward larger separations, enhancing smaller velocities. In addition, the binary formation/evolution process or the injection mechanism might also induce a cut-off a {sub min} ∼ 10 R {sub ☉} in the separation distribution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2013

SHORT VERSUS LONG AND COLLAPSARS VERSUS NON-COLLAPSARS: A QUANTITATIVE CLASSIFICATION OF GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are traditionally divided into long and short according to their durations (lg2 s). It was generally believed that this reflects a different physical origin: collapsars (long) and non-collapsars (short). We have recently shown that the duration distribution of collapsars is flat, namely, independent of the duration, at short durations. Using this model for the distribution of Collapsars we determine the duration distribution of non-Collapsars and estimate the probability that a burst with a given duration (and hardness) is a Collapsar or not. We find that this probability depends strongly on the spectral window of the observing detector. While the commonly used limit of 2 s is conservative and suitable for BATSE bursts, 40% of Swift's bursts shorter than 2 s are Collapsars and the division lg0.8 s is more suitable for Swift. We find that the duration overlap of the two populations is very large. On the one hand there is a non-negligible fraction of non-Collapsars longer than 10 s, while on the other hand even bursts shorter than 0.5 s in the Swift sample have a non-negligible probability to be Collapsars. Our results enable the construction of non-Collapsar samples while controlling the Collapsar contamination. They also highlight that no firm conclusions can be drawn based on a single burst and they have numerous implications concerning previous studies of non-Collapsar properties that were based on the current significantly contaminated Swift samples of localized short GRBs. Specifically (1) all known short bursts with z > 1 are most likely Collapsars; (2) the only short burst with a clear jet break is most likely a Collapsar, indicating our lack of knowledge concerning non-Collapsar beaming; and (3) the existence of non-Collapsars with durations up to 10 s imposes new challenges to non-Collapsar models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

MEASURING THE ABUNDANCE OF SUB-KILOMETER-SIZED KUIPER BELT OBJECTS USING STELLAR OCCULTATIONS

We present here the analysis of about 19,500 new star hours of low ecliptic latitude observations (|b| {<=} 20 Degree-Sign ) obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope's Fine Guidance Sensors over a time span of more than nine years, which is in addition to the {approx}12, 000 star hours previously analyzed by Schlichting et al. Our search for stellar occultations by small Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) yielded one new candidate event corresponding to a body with a 530 {+-} 70 m radius at a distance of about 40 AU. Using bootstrap simulations, we estimate a probability of Almost-Equal-To 5% that this event is due to random statistical fluctuations within the new data set. Combining this new event with the single KBO occultation reported by Schlichting et al. we arrive at the following results: (1) the ecliptic latitudes of 6. Degree-Sign 6 and 14. Degree-Sign 4 of the two events are consistent with the observed inclination distribution of larger, 100-km-sized KBOs. (2) Assuming that small, sub-kilometer-sized KBOs have the same ecliptic latitude distribution as their larger counterparts, we find an ecliptic surface density of KBOs with radii larger than 250 m of N(r > 250 m) = 1.1{sup +1.5}{sub -0.7} Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 7} deg{sup -2}; if sub-kilometer-sized KBOs have instead a uniform ecliptic latitude distribution for -20 Degree-Sign < b < 20 Degree-Sign then N(r > 250 m) = 4.4{sup +5.8}{sub -2.8} Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 6} deg{sup -2}. This is the best measurement of the surface density of sub-kilometer-sized KBOs to date. (3) Assuming the KBO size distribution can be well described by a single power law given by N(> r){proportional_to}r{sup 1-q}, where N(> r) is the number of KBOs with radii greater than r, and q is the power-law index, we find q = 3.8 {+-} 0.2 and q = 3.6 {+-} 0.2 for a KBO ecliptic latitude distribution that follows the observed distribution for larger, 100-km-sized KBOs and a uniform KBO ecliptic latitude distribution for -20 Degree-Sign < b < 20 Degree-Sign , respectively. (4) Regardless of the exact power law, our results suggest that small KBOs are numerous enough to satisfy the required supply rate for the Jupiter family comets. (5) We can rule out a single power law below the break with q > 4.0 at 2{sigma}, confirming a strong deficit of sub-kilometer-sized KBOs compared to a population extrapolated from objects with r > 45 km. This suggests that small KBOs are undergoing collisional erosion and that the Kuiper Belt is a true analog to the dust producing debris disks observed around other stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

OPTICAL TO X-RAY SUPERNOVA LIGHT CURVES FOLLOWING SHOCK BREAKOUT THROUGH A THICK WIND

Recent supernova (SN) observations have motivated renewed interest in SN shock breakouts from stars surrounded by thick winds. In such events the interaction with the wind powers the observed luminosity, and predictions include observable hard X-rays. Wind breakouts on timescales of a day or longer are currently the most probable for detection. Here, we study the signal that follows such events. We start from the breakout of the radiation-mediated shock, finding that the breakout temperature can vary significantly from one event to another (10{sup 4} to 5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 6} K) due to possible deviation from thermal equilibrium. In general, events with longer breakout pulse duration, t {sub bo}, are softer. We follow the observed radiation through the evolution of the collisionless shock that forms after the breakout of the radiation-mediated shock. We restrict the study of the collisionless shock evolution to cases where the breakout itself is in thermal equilibrium, peaking in optical/UV. In these cases the post-breakout emission contains two spectral components-soft (optical/UV) and hard (X-rays and possibly soft {gamma}-rays). Right after the breakout pulse X-rays are strongly suppressed, and they carry only a small fraction of the total luminosity. The hard component becomes harder, and its luminosity rises quickly afterward, gaining dominance at {approx}10-50 t {sub bo}. The ratio of the peak optical/UV to the peak X-ray luminosity depends mostly on the breakout time. In early breakouts (t {sub bo} {approx}< 20 days for typical parameters) they are comparable, while in late breakouts (t {sub bo} {approx}> 80 days for typical parameters) the X-rays become dominant only after the total luminosity has dropped significantly. In terms of prospects for X-ray and soft gamma-ray detections, it is best to observe 100-500 days after explosions with breakout timescales between a week and a month.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

AN OBSERVATIONAL IMPRINT OF THE COLLAPSAR MODEL OF LONG GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

The Collapsar model provides a theoretical framework for the well-known association between long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and collapsing massive stars. A bipolar relativistic jet, launched at the core of a collapsing star, drills its way through the stellar envelope and breaks out of the surface before producing the observed gamma rays. While a wealth of observations associate GRBs with the death of massive stars, as yet there is no direct evidence for the Collapsar model itself. Here we show that a distinct signature of the Collapsar model is the appearance of a plateau in the duration distribution of the prompt GRB emission at times much shorter than the typical breakout time of the jet. This plateau is evident in the data of all three major satellites. Our findings provide evidence that directly supports the Collapsar model. In addition, the model suggests the existence of a large population of choked (failed) GRBs, and implies that the 2 s duration commonly used to separate Collapsars and non-Collapsars is inconsistent with the duration distributions of Swift and Fermi GRBs and only holds for BATSE GRBs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

EJECTION AND CAPTURE DYNAMICS IN RESTRICTED THREE-BODY ENCOUNTERS

We study the tidal disruption of binaries by a massive point mass (e.g., the black hole at the Galactic center), and we discuss how the ejection and capture preference between unequal-mass binary members depends on which orbit they approach the massive object. We show that the restricted three-body approximation provides a simple and clear description of the dynamics. The orbit of a binary with mass m around a massive object M should be almost parabolic with an eccentricity of |1 - e| {approx}< (m/M){sup 1/3} << 1 for a member to be captured, while the other is ejected. Indeed, the energy change of the members obtained for a parabolic orbit can be used to describe non-parabolic cases. If a binary has an encounter velocity much larger than (M/m){sup 1/3} times the binary rotation velocity, it would be abruptly disrupted, and the energy change at the encounter can be evaluated in a simple disruption model. We evaluate the probability distributions for the ejection and capture of circular binary members and for the final energies. In principle, for any hyperbolic (elliptic) orbit, the heavier member has more chance to be ejected (captured), because it carries a larger fraction of the orbital energy. However, if the orbital energy is close to zero, the difference between the two members becomes small, and there is practically no ejection and capture preferences. The preference becomes significant when the orbital energy is comparable to the typical energy change at the encounter. We discuss its implications to hypervelocity stars and irregular satellites around giant planets.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

RELATIVISTIC SHOCK BREAKOUTS-A VARIETY OF GAMMA-RAY FLARES: FROM LOW-LUMINOSITY GAMMA-RAY BURSTS TO TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE

The light from a shock breakout of stellar explosions, which carries a wealth of information, strongly depends on the shock velocity at the time of the breakout. The emission from Newtonian breakouts, typical in regular core-collapse supernovae (SNe), has been explored extensively. However, a large variety of explosions result in mildly or ultrarelativistic breakouts, where the observed signature is unknown. Here we calculate the luminosity and spectrum produced by relativistic breakouts. In order to do so, we improve the analytic description of relativistic radiation-mediated shocks and follow the system from the breakout itself, through the planar phase and into the spherical phase. We limit our calculation to cases where the post-breakout acceleration of the gas ends during the planar phase (i.e., the final gas Lorentz factor {approx}< 30). We find that spherical relativistic breakouts produce a flash of gamma rays with energy, E{sub bo}, temperature, T{sub bo}, and duration, t{sup obs} b{sub o}, that provide the breakout radius ( Almost-Equal-To 5 R{sub Sun }(t{sup obs}{sub bo}/10 s)(T{sub bo}/50 keV){sup 2}) and the Lorentz factor ( Almost-Equal-To T{sub bo}/50 keV). They also always satisfy a relativistic breakout relation (t{sup obs}{sub bo}/20 s) {approx} (E{sub bo}/10{sup 46} erg){sup 1/2}(T{sub bo}/50 keV){sup -2.68}. The breakout flare is typically followed, on longer timescales, by X-rays that carry a comparable energy. We apply our model to a variety of explosions, including Type Ia and .Ia SNe, accretion-induced collapse, energetic SNe, and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We find that all these events produce detectable gamma-ray signals, some of which may have already been seen. Some particular examples are: (1) relativistic shock breakouts provide a natural explanation to the energy, temperature, and timescales of low-luminosity GRBs. Indeed, all observed low-luminosity GRBs satisfy the relativistic breakout relation. (2) Nearby broad-line Type Ib/c (like SN 2002ap) may produce a detectable {gamma}-ray signal. (3) Galactic Type Ia SNe may produce detectable {gamma}-ray flares. We conclude that relativistic shock breakouts provide a generic process for the production of gamma-ray flares.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2011

THE PROPAGATION OF RELATIVISTIC JETS IN EXTERNAL MEDIA

Relativistic jets are ubiquitous in astrophysical systems that contain compact objects. They transport large amounts of energy to large distances from the source and their interaction with the ambient medium has a crucial effect on the evolution of the system. The propagation of the jet is characterized by the formation of a shocked 'head' at the front of the jet which dissipates the jet's energy and a cocoon that surrounds the jet and potentially collimates it. We present here a self-consistent, analytic model that follows the evolution of the jet and its cocoon, and describes their interaction. We show that the critical parameter that determines the properties of the jet-cocoon system is the dimensionless ratio between the jet's energy density and the rest-mass energy density of the ambient medium. This parameter, together with the jet's injection angle, also determines whether the jet is collimated by the cocoon or not. The model is applicable to relativistic, unmagnetized jets on all scales and may be used to determine the conditions in active galactic nucleus (AGN) jets as well as in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) or microquasars. It shows that AGN and microquasar jets are hydrodynamically collimated due to the interaction with the ambient medium, while GRB jets can be collimated only inside a star and become uncollimated once they break out.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2011

BINARY YORP EFFECT AND EVOLUTION OF BINARY ASTEROIDS

The rotation states of kilometer-sized near-Earth asteroids are known to be affected by the Yarkevsky O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect. In a related effect, binary YORP (BYORP), the orbital properties of a binary asteroid evolve under a radiation effect mostly acting on a tidally locked secondary. The BYORP effect can alter the orbital elements over {approx}10{sup 4}-10{sup 5} years for a D{sub p} = 2 km primary with a D{sub s} = 0.4 km secondary at 1 AU. It can either separate the binary components or cause them to collide. In this paper, we devise a simple approach to calculate the YORP effect on asteroids and the BYORP effect on binaries including J{sub 2} effects due to primary oblateness and the Sun. We apply this to asteroids with known shapes as well as a set of randomly generated bodies with various degrees of smoothness. We find a strong correlation between the strengths of an asteroid's YORP and BYORP effects. Therefore, statistical knowledge of one could be used to estimate the effect of the other. We show that the action of BYORP preferentially shrinks rather than expands the binary orbit and that YORP preferentially slows down asteroids. This conclusion holds for the two extremes of thermal conductivities studied in this work and the assumption that the asteroid reaches a stable point, but may break down for moderate thermal conductivity. The YORP and BYORP effects are shown to be smaller than could be naively expected due to near cancellation of the effects at small scales. Taking this near cancellation into account, a simple order-of-magnitude estimate of the YORP and BYORP effects as a function of the sizes and smoothness of the bodies is calculated. Finally, we provide a simple proof showing that there is no secular effect due to absorption of radiation in BYORP.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2010

EARLY SUPERNOVAE LIGHT CURVES FOLLOWING THE SHOCK BREAKOUT

The first light from a supernova (SN) emerges once the SN shock breaks out of the stellar surface. The first light, typically a UV or X-ray flash, is followed by a broken power-law decay of the luminosity generated by radiation that leaks out of the expanding gas sphere. Motivated by recent detection of emission from very early stages of several SNe, we revisit the theory of shock breakout and the following emission, paying special attention to the photon-gas coupling and deviations from thermal equilibrium. We derive simple analytic light curves of SNe from various progenitors at early times. We find that for more compact progenitors, white dwarfs, Wolf-Rayet stars (WRs), and possibly more energetic blue-supergiant explosions, the observed radiation is out of thermal equilibrium at the breakout, during the planar phase (i.e., before the expanding gas doubles its radius), and during the early spherical phase. Therefore, during these phases we predict significantly higher temperatures than previous analysis that assumed equilibrium. When thermal equilibrium prevails, we find the location of the thermalization depth and its temporal evolution. Our results are useful for interpretation of early SN light curves. Some examples are (1) red supergiant SNe have an early bright peak in optical and UV flux, less than an hour after breakout. It is followed by a minimum at the end of the planar phase (about 10 hr), before it peaks again once the temperature drops to the observed frequency range. In contrast, WRs show only the latter peak in optical and UV. (2) Bright X-ray flares are expected from all core-collapse SNe types. (3) The light curve and spectrum of the initial breakout pulse hold information on the explosion geometry and progenitor wind opacity. Its spectrum in more compact progenitors shows a (nonthermal) power law and its light curve may reveal both the breakout diffusion time and the progenitor radius.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS2003

Polarization Evolution of the Afterglow of GRB 030329

The association of a supernova with GRB 030329l strongly supports the collapsar model of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), where a relativistic jet forms after the progenitor star collapses. Such jets cannot be spatially resolved because of their cosmological distances. Their existence is conjectured based on breaks in GRB afterglow light curves and the theoretical desire to reduce the GRB energy requirements. Temporal evolution of polarization may provide independent evidence for the jet structure of the relativistic outflow. Small-level polarization (approx. 1-3%) has been reported for a few bursts, but the temporal evolution of polarization properties could not be established. Here, we report polarimetric observations of the afterglow of GRB 030329 with high signal-to-noise and high sampling frequency. We establish the polarization light curve, detect sustained polarization at the percent level, and find significant variability. The data imply that the afterglow magnetic field has small coherence length and is mostly random, probably generated by turbulence, in contrast with the high polarization detected in the prompt gamma-rays from GRB 02120618. Our results suggest a different structure and origin of the magnetic field in the prompt vs. afterglow emission regions.

Greiner, Jochen↗