Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “numerical stars”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 73 records · Page 4

The Effect of Warm Dark Matter on Early Star Formation Histories of Massive Galaxies: Predictions from the CROC Simulations

Several massive (M * > 108 M ⊙ ), high-redshift (z = 8–10) galaxies have recently been discovered to contain stars with ages of several hundred million years, pushing the onset of star formation in these galaxies back to z ~ 15. The very existence of stars formed so early may serve as a test for cosmological models with suppressed small-scale power (and, hence, late formation of cosmic structure). We explore the ages of the oldest stars in numerical simulations from the Cosmic Reionization On Computers project with cold dark matter (CDM) and two warm dark matter (WDM) cosmologies with 3 and 6 keV particles. There are statistically significant differences of ~5 Myr between average stellar ages of massive galaxies in CDM and 3 keV WDM, while CDM and 6 keV WDM are statistically indistinguishable. Even this 5 Myr difference, however, is much less than current observational uncertainties on the stellar population properties of high-redshift galaxies. The age distributions of all galaxies in all cosmologies fail to produce a substantial Balmer break, although uncertainties in dust attenuation are a potentially significant factor. Finally, we assess the convergence of our simulation predictions and find that the systematic uncertainties on individual galaxy properties are comparable to the differences between cosmologies, suggesting these differences may not be numerically robust.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Superbubbles

Individual massive stars with M sub bol -6 have huge stellar winds that create interstellar bubbles. Stars with masses greater than 8 solar mass are considered supernova progenitors. These massive stars are numerous in OB associations where few supernova remnants are detected. Model calculations describing the evolution of an association show: that large, hot cavities are formed by pushing the ambient gas into neutral shells; that the shell radii change with galactocentric radius; that only thirty percent of the interstellar medium is in the form of supercavities; and that a consequence is that only a small fraction of supernovae form supernova remnants.

Gull, T. R.↗

Gamma-ray bursts from extinct neutron stars

The paper concentrates on disks around old extinct pulsars, that can produce gamma-ray bursts owing to viscous evolution of the disk bringing it into the near vicinity of the neutron star, with runaway ionization of the disk and simultaneous precipitation of this plasma onto the neutron star. An old extinct pulsar is modeled as a magnetized neutron star circled by a ring of cold dense matter with an orbital period approximately equal to the rotational period of the neutron star. The numerical estimates produced are found to be consistent with the observed properties of gamma-ray bursters.

Michel, F. C.↗

The oscillations of superfluid neutron stars

The effects of superfluid hydrodynamics on the oscillations of neutron stars are investigated. The equations describing the small-amplitude pulsations of a neutron star's neutron-proton superfluid mixture are reduced to a system of three second-order equations for three scalar potentials. A variational principle is developed from which the frequencies of the modes of these superfluid oscillations may be estimated. These pulsations are studied by finding analytical solutions to the equations for simple uniform models of nonrotating neutron stars and numerical solutions for realistic models (including rotation). These solutions reveal that the lowest frequency modes are almost indistinguishable from those based on ordinary-fluid hydrodynamics. The analytical solutions also reveal the existence of a new set of modes having no ordinary-fluid counterpart.

Lindblom, Lee↗

KAO and AAT observations of the Galactic Center filaments

We have used the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) and the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) to investigate the nature of the filamentary radio emission from the Galactic center region. KAO observations of the FIR line and continuum emission from the radio peak G0.095+0.012 and the E2 thermal radio filament northeast of the Galactic center can be produced by numerous nearby stars with T(sub eff) approx. 35,000 K; these can account for both the FIR luminosity and the excitation of the gas. Much of the FIR continuum and most of the strong (Si II) (34.8 micron) line emission are probably produced in the ionized gas of the filament. The FIR (O III) 52 and 88 micron lines imply an electron density of a few hundred; when compared with the radio emission measure, this implies the filament is roughly tubular or somewhat flattened in the plane of the sky. The (O III) and (S III) lines show higher excitation associated with the filament, and suggest that exciting stars may be located within the filaments and/or southeast of the E2 filament. AAT observations in the near infrared (NIR) in fact reveal a nearby cluster of hot stars southeast of the E2 filament. Additional hot stars, not identifiable from their NIR spectra, are likely to be present. These stars and those in the cluster can plausibly produce the observed radio and FIR emission in the region. The morphology of the filament is not explained by existing information however.

Erickson, Edwin F.↗

Far-Infrared Line and Continuum Observations of G0.095 + 0.012 and the E2 Thermal Radio Filament Near the Galactic Center

Measurements of far-infrared lines and continuum from GO.095 + 0.012 and the E2 thermal 'arched' radio filament near the Galactic center are well explained by numerous embedded stars with T(sub eff) approximately 35,000 K. The structure of the filament and the apparent absence of hotter stars are qualitatively difficult to reconcile with this idea.

Erickson, Edwin F.↗

Mining the HST Treasury: The ASTRAL Reference Spectra for Evolved M Stars

The "Advanced Spectral Library (ASTRAL) Project: Cool Stars" (PI = T. Ayres) is an HST Cycle 18 Treasury Program designed to collect a definitive set of representative, high-resolution (R greater than 100,000) and high signal/noise (S/N greater than 100) UV spectra of eight F-M evolved cool stars. These extremely high-quality STIS UV echelle spectra are available from the HST archive and through the University of Colorado (http://casa.colorado.edu/~ayres/ASTRAL/) portal and will enable investigations of a broad range of problems -- stellar, interstellar. and beyond -- for many years. In this current paper, we concentrate on producing a roadrnap to the very rich spectra of the two evolved M stars in the sample, the M3.4 giant Gamma Crucis (GaCrux) and the M2Iab supergiant Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse) and illustrate the huge increase in coverage and quality that these spectra provide over that previously available from IUE and earlier HST observations. These roadmaps will facilitate the study of the spectra, outer atmospheres, and winds of not only these stars. but also numerous other cool, low-gravity stars and make a very interesting comparison to the already-available atlases of the K2III giant Arcturus.

Carpenter, K. G.↗

Organics and Ices in the Outer Solar System: Connections to the Interstellar Medium

The solar nebula, that aggregate of gas and dust that formed the birthplace of the Sun, planets and plethora of small bodies comprising the Solar System, originated in a molecular cloud that is thought to have spawned numerous additional stars, some with their own planets and attendant small bodies. The question of the chemical and physical reprocessing of the original interstellar materials in the solar nebula has challenged both theory and observations. The acquisition and analysis of samples of comet and asteroid solids, and a growing suite of in-situ and close-up analyses of relatively unaltered small Solar System bodies now adds critical new dimensions to the study of the origin and evolution of the early solar nebula. Better understanding the original composition of the material from which our solar nebula formed, and the processing that material experienced, will aid in formulations of chemistry that might occur in other solar systems. While we seek to understand the compositional history of planetary bodies in our own Solar System, we will inevitably learn more about the materials that comprise exoplanets and their surrounding systems.

SOLAR NEBULA↗

Numerical relativity estimates of the remnant recoil velocity in binary neutron star mergers

We present, for the first time, recoil velocity estimates for binary neutron star mergers using data from numerical relativity simulations. We find that binary neutron star merger remnants can have recoil velocity of the order of a few tens of kilometers per second and as high as 150 kilometers per second in our dataset. These recoils are attained due to equivalent contributions from the anisotropic gravitational wave emission as well as the asymmetric ejection of dynamical matter during the merger. Here, we provide fits for net recoil velocity as well as its ejecta component as a function of the amount of ejected matter, which may be useful when constraints on the ejected matter are obtained through electromagnetic observations. We also estimate the mass and spin of the remnants and find them to be in the range [2.34,3.38]M ⊙ and [0.63, 0.82], respectively, for our dataset.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Radiation hydrodynamics modelling of kilonovae with SNEC

ABSTRACT We develop a method to compute synthetic kilonova light curves that combine numerical relativity simulations of neutron star mergers and the SNEC radiation–hydrodynamics code. We describe our implementation of initial and boundary conditions, r-process heating, and opacities for kilonova simulations. We validate our approach by carefully checking that energy conservation is satisfied and by comparing the SNEC results with those of two semi-analytic light-curve models. We apply our code to the calculation of colour light curves for three binaries having different mass ratios (equal and unequal mass) and different merger outcome (short-lived and long-lived remnants). We study the sensitivity of our results to hydrodynamic effects, nuclear physics uncertainties in the heating rates, and duration of the merger simulations. We find that hydrodynamics effects are typically negligible and that homologous expansion is a good approximation in most cases. However, pressure forces can amplify the impact of uncertainties in the radioactive heating rates. We also study the impact of shocks possibly launched into the outflows by a relativistic jet. None of our models match AT2017gfo, the kilonova in GW170817. This points to possible deficiencies in our merger simulations and kilonova models that neglect non-LTE effects and possible additional energy injection from the merger remnant and to the need to go beyond the assumption of spherical symmetry adopted in this work.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Tidal capture of stars by a massive black hole

The processes leading to tidal capture of stars by a massive black hole and the consequences of these processes in a dense stellar cluster are discussed in detail. When the amplitude of a tide and the subsequent oscillations are sufficiently large, the energy deposited in a star after periastron passage and formation of a bound orbit cannot be estimated directly using the linear theory of oscillations of a spherical star, but rather numerical estimates must be used. The evolution of a star after tidal capture is discussed. The maximum ratio R of the cross-section for tidal capture to that for tidal disruption is about 3 for real systems. For the case of a stellar system with an empty capture loss cone, even in the case when the impact parameter for tidal capture only slightly exceeds the impact parameter for direct tidal disruption, tidal capture would be much more important than tidal disruption.

Novikov, I. D.↗

Massive Dirac neutrinos and SN 1987A

The wrong-helicity states of a Dirac neutrino can provide an important cooling mechanism for young neutron stars. Based on numerical models of the early cooling of the neutron star associated with SN 1987A which self-consistently incorporate wrong-helicity neutrino emission, it is argued that a Dirac neutrino of mass greater than 30 keV (25 keV if it is degenerate) leads to shortening of the neutrino burst that is inconsistent with the Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven and Kamiokande II data. If pions are as abundant as nucleons in the cores of neutron stars, the present limit improves to 15 keV.

Burrows, Adam↗

Numerical relativity simulations of the neutron star merger GW190425: microphysics and mass ratio effects

ABSTRACT GW190425 was the second gravitational wave (GW) signal compatible with a binary neutron star (BNS) merger detected by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. Since no electromagnetic counterpart was identified, whether the associated kilonova was too dim or the localization area too broad is still an open question. We simulate 28 BNS mergers with the chirp mass of GW190425 and mass ratio 1 ≤ q ≤ 1.67, using numerical-relativity simulations with finite-temperature, composition dependent equations of state (EOS) and neutrino radiation. The energy emitted in GWs is $\lesssim 0.083\mathrm{\, M_\odot }c^2$ with peak luminosity of 1.1–$2.4\times ~10^{58}/(1+q)^2\, {\rm {erg \, s^{-1}}}$. Dynamical ejecta and disc mass range between 5 × 10−6–10−3 and 10−5–$0.1 \mathrm{\, M_\odot }$, respectively. Asymmetric mergers, especially with stiff EOSs, unbind more matter and form heavier discs compared to equal mass binaries. The angular momentum of the disc is 8–$10\mathrm{\, M_\odot }~GM_{\rm {disc}}/c$ over three orders of magnitude in Mdisc. While the nucleosynthesis shows no peculiarity, the simulated kilonovae are relatively dim compared with GW170817. For distances compatible with GW190425, AB magnitudes are always dimmer than ∼20 mag for the B, r, and K bands, with brighter kilonovae associated to more asymmetric binaries and stiffer EOSs. We suggest that, even assuming a good coverage of GW190425’s sky location, the kilonova could hardly have been detected by present wide-field surveys and no firm constraints on the binary parameters or EOS can be argued from the lack of the detection.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Thermal relaxation oscillations in horizontal-branch stars

In a recent numerical investigation of the effect of trapped 'cosmions' on horizontal-branch (HB) stars, thermal pulses were observed to occur if the energy transfer provided by these weakly interacting particles was chosen to be efficient enough to break convection. A simple analytic two-zone model of the core of an HB star is presented which allows the interpretation of these pulsations as oscillations of thermal relaxation between the small energy generating 'nuclear core' and the overlying 'gravothermal buffer'. It is shown that any novel form of energy transfer which breaks convection will lead to this behavior where the usual stellar 'conductive equilibrium' is replaced by a limit cycle. The star follows this cycle, oscillating with a period roughly given by the Kelvin-Helmholtz time scale of the core.

Salati, Pierre↗

Spectropolarimetric variability in OB stars

Data from the Wisconsin spectropolarimetric monitoring program provide information about the polarimetric variability of numerous types of stars. Examining the data that exist thus far, we find, not surprisingly, that many OB stars, especially OB supergiants and Be stars, are polarimetric variables. Be stars show the most extreme variable as a class. Results from the Be star pi Aqr are presented which illustrate the dramatic polarimetric variability that such stars can exhibit. Contemporaneous IUE data show that the development of low velocity discrete absorption components in the UV wind lines may be associated with the onset of polarimetric outbursts. These preliminary findings add further support to the picture that winds from hot stars are non-homogeneous and variable.

Bjorkman, K. S.↗

Numerical experiments with a disk of stars

Computer model for dynamical evolution of isolated disks of stars with initial velocity dispersions corresponding to Toomre criterion, noting instability relative to large scale modes

Hohl, F.↗

Quasi-static winds from neutron stars

A series of numerical models is constructed for radiatively driven, quasi-static winds from the surfaces of hot neutron stars. A mathematical technique is devised that in many cases facilitates the integration of the fluid equations in the vicinity of the sonic point, and an improved treatment of radiative transfer is developed that is appropriate to the exotic physical conditions encountered in the models. Boundary conditions which are more realistic than previous ones are used in these models. In agreement with earlier studies, it is found that radiatively driven winds are likely to be directly relevant to the existence of precursors in fast X-ray transients and to apparent radius variations during the course of some type I bursts, and that the presence of such a wind should prevent the bolometric luminosity of a neutron star from exceeding the Eddington limit by more than a small fractional amount. Formulas describing the wind models are presented which are usable as boundary conditions for calculations of the evolution of the deeper, hydrostatic layers of a neutron-star envelope.

Joss, Paul C.↗