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At least 91 records · Page 5

Streams, Shells, and Substructures in the Accretion-Built Stellar Halo of NGC 300

We present deep optical observations of the stellar halo of NGC 300, an LMC-mass galaxy, acquired with the DEEP sub-component of the DECam Local Volume Exploration survey (DELVE) using the 4 m Blanco Telescope. Our resolved star analysis reveals a large, low surface brightness stellar stream ($M_{V}\sim-8.5$; [Fe/H] $= -1.4\pm0.15$) extending more than 40 kpc north from the galaxy's center. We also find other halo structures, including potentially an additional stream wrap to the south, which may be associated with the main stream. The morphology and derived low metallicities of the streams and shells discovered surrounding NGC 300 are highly suggestive of a past accretion event. Assuming a single progenitor, the accreted system is approximately Fornax-like in luminosity, with an inferred mass ratio to NGC 300 of approximately $1:15$. We also present the discovery of a metal-poor globular cluster ($R_{\rm{proj}}=23.3$~kpc; $M_{V}=-8.99\pm0.16$; [Fe/H] $\approx-1.6\pm0.6$) in the halo of NGC 300, the furthest identified globular cluster associated with NGC 300. The stellar structures around NGC 300 represent the richest features observed in a Magellanic Cloud analog to date, strongly supporting the idea that accretion and subsequent disruption is an important mechanism in the assembly of dwarf galaxy stellar halos.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Global simulations of monoterpene-derived peroxy radical fates and the distributions of highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) and accretion products

Abstract. We evaluate monoterpene-derived peroxy radical (MT-RO2) unimolecular autoxidation and self- and cross-reactions with other RO2 species in the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model. The formation of associated highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) and accretion products are tracked in competition with other bimolecular reactions. Autoxidation is the dominant fate up to 6–8 km for first-generation MT-RO2, which can undergo unimolecular H shifts. Reaction with NO can be a more common fate for H-shift rate constants < 0.1 s−1 or at altitudes higher than 8 km due to the imposed Arrhenius temperature dependence of unimolecular H shifts. For MT-derived HOM-RO2, generated by multistep autoxidation of first-generation MT-RO2, reaction with other RO2 species is predicted to be the major fate throughout most of the boreal and tropical forest regions, whereas reaction with NO dominates in the temperate and subtropical forests of the Northern Hemisphere. The newly added reactions result in an approximate 4 % global average decrease in HO2 and RO2, mainly due to faster self-/cross-reactions of MT-RO2, but the impact upon HO2, OH, and NOx abundances is only important in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) over portions of tropical forests. Predicted HOM concentrations in MT-rich regions and seasons can exceed total organic aerosol predicted by the standard version of the GEOS-Chem model depending on the parameters used. Comparisons to observations reveal that large uncertainties remain for key reaction parameters and processes, especially with respect to the photochemical lifetime and volatility of HOMs as well as the rates and branching of associated RO2 accretion products. Further observations and laboratory studies related to MT-RO2-derived HOMs and gas-phase RO2 accretion product formation kinetics – especially their atmospheric fate, such as gas–particle partitioning, multiphase chemistry, and net secondary organic aerosol formation – are needed.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Formation and evolution of protostellar accretion discs – I. Angular-momentum budget, gravitational self-regulation, and numerical convergence

Here, we investigate the formation and early evolution of a protostellar disc from a magnetized prestellar core using non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations including ambipolar diffusion and Ohmic dissipation. The dynamical contraction of the prestellar core ultimately leads to the formation of a first hydrostatic core, after ambipolar diffusion decouples the magnetic field from the predominantly neutral gas. The hydrostatic core accumulates angular momentum from the infalling material, evolving into a rotationally supported torus; this ‘first hydrostatic torus’ then forms an accreting protostar and a rotationally supported disc. The disc spreads out by gravitational instability, reaching ~30 au in diameter at ~3 kyr after protostar formation. The total mass and angular momentum of the protostar–disc system are determined mainly by accretion of gas from an infalling pseudo-disc, which has low specific angular momentum because of magnetic braking; their removal from the protostar–disc system by outflow and disc magnetic braking are negligible, in part because the magnetic field is poorly coupled there. The redistribution of angular momentum within the protostar–disc system is facilitated mainly by gravitational instability; this allows formation of relatively large discs even when the specific angular momentum of infalling material is low. We argue that such discs should remain marginally unstable as they grow (with Toomre Q ~ 1–2), an idea that is broadly consistent with recent observational estimates for Class 0/I discs. We discuss the numerical convergence of our results, and show that properly treating the inner boundary condition is crucial for achieving convergence at an acceptable computational cost.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Disc tearing leads to low and high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in a GRMHD simulation of a thin accretion disc

Black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs) display a wide range of variability phenomena, from long duration spectral state changes to short-term broad-band variability and quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs). A particularly puzzling aspect is the production of QPOs, which – if properly understood – could be used as a powerful diagnostic tool of black hole accretion and evolution. In this work, we analyse a high-resolution 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulation of a geometrically thin accretion disc, which is tilted by 65° with respect to the black hole spin axis. We find that the Lense–Thirring torque from the rapidly spinning 10 M ⊙ black hole causes several sub-discs to tear off within ~10–20 gravitational radii. Tearing occurs in cycles on time-scales of seconds. During each tearing cycle, the inner sub-disc precesses for 1–5 periods before it falls into the black hole. We find a precession frequency of ~3 Hz, consistent with observed low-frequency QPOs. In addition, we find a high frequency QPO (HFQPO) with centroid frequency of ~55 Hz in the power spectra of the mass-weighted radius of the inner disc and the radial mass flux. This signal is caused by radial epicyclic oscillations of a dense ring of gas at the tearing radius, which suggests a corresponding modulation of the X-ray light curve and may thus explain some of the observed HFQPOs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Probing plasma physics with spectral index maps of accreting black holes on event horizon scales

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has produced the first resolved images of the supermassive black holes at the centre of our galaxy and at the centre of the elliptical galaxy M87. As both technology and analysis pipelines improve, it will soon become possible to produce spectral index maps of black hole accretion flows on event horizon scales. Here, in this work, we predict spectral index maps of both M87* and Sgr A* by applying the general relativistic radiative transfer (GRRT) code IPOLE to a suite of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations. We analytically show that the spectral index increases with increasing magnetic field strength, electron temperature, and optical depth. Consequently, spectral index maps grow more negative with increasing radius in almost all models, since all of these quantities tend to be maximized near the event horizon. Additionally, photon ring geodesics exhibit more positive spectral indices, since they sample the innermost regions of the accretion flow with the most extreme plasma conditions. Spectral index maps are sensitive to highly uncertain plasma heating prescriptions (the electron temperature and distribution function). However, if our understanding of these aspects of plasma physics can be tightened, even the spatially unresolved spectral index around 230 GHz can be used to discriminate between models. In particular, Standard and Normal Evolution (SANE) flows tend to exhibit more negative spectral indices than Magnetically Arrested Disc (MAD) flows due to differences in the characteristic magnetic field strength and temperature of emitting plasma.

(magnetohydrodynamics) MHD↗

Local models of two-temperature accretion disc coronae – II. Ion thermal conduction and the absence of disc evaporation

We use local stratified shearing-box simulations with magnetic field-aligned thermal conduction to study an idealized model of the coupling between a cold, radiatively efficient accretion disc, and an overlying, hot, two-temperature corona. Evaporation of a cold disc by conduction from the hot corona has been proposed as a means of mediating the soft-to-hard state transitions observed in X-ray binary systems. We model the coronal plasma in our local disc patch as an MHD fluid subject to both free-streaming ion conduction and a parametrized cooling function that captures the collisional transfer of energy from hot ions to colder, rapidly cooling leptons. In all of our models, independent of the initial net vertical magnetic flux (NF) threading the disc, we find no evidence of disc evaporation. The ion heat flux into the disc is radiated away before conduction can heat the disc’s surface layers. When an initial NF is present, steady-state temperature, density, and outflow velocities in our model coronae are unaffected by conduction. Instead of facilitating disc evaporation, thermal conduction is more likely to feed the disc with plasma condensing out of the corona, particularly in flows without NF. Our work indicates that uncertainties in the amount of NF threading the disc hold far greater influence over whether or not the disc will evaporate into a radiatively inefficient accretion flow compared to thermal conduction. We speculate that a change in net flux mediates disc truncation/evaporation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Inverse Compton Cooling in the Coronae of Simulated Black Hole Accretion Flows

Here we present a formulation for a local cooling function to be employed in the diffuse, hot corona region of 3D GRMHD simulations of accreting black holes. This new cooling function calculates the cooling rate due to inverse Compton scattering by considering the relevant microphysics in each cell in the corona and approximating the radiation energy density and Compton temperature thereby integrating over the thermal seed photon flux from the disk surface. The method either assumes the ion and electron temperatures are equal (1T) or calculates them separately (2T) using an instantaneous equilibrium approach predicated on the actual relevant rate equations (Coulomb and Compton). The method is shown to be consistent with a more detailed ray-tracing calculation where the bulk of the cooling occurs, but is substantially less costly to perform. As an example, we apply these methods to a harm3d simulation of a 10M⊙, non-spinning black hole, accreting at nominally 1% the Eddington value. This new approach leads to radiative efficiency values sime65% above Novikov–Thorne, with a larger fraction of total cooling in the corona as compared to simulations performed using the original target-temperature cooling function. Time-averaged post-processing reveals that the continuum spectral observations predicted from these simulations are qualitatively similar to actual X-ray binary data, especially so for the 1T approach, which yields a harder power-law component (Γ = 2.25) compared to the 2T version (Γ = 2.53).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Circumbinary Disk Accretion into Spinning Black Hole Binaries

Supermassive black hole binaries are likely to accrete interstellar gas through a circumbinary disk. Shortly before merger, the inner portions of this circumbinary disk are subject to general relativistic effects. To study this regime, we approximate the spacetime metric of close orbiting black holes by superimposing two boosted Kerr–Schild terms. After demonstrating the quality of this approximation, we carry out very long-term general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the circumbinary disk. We consider black holes with spin dimensionless parameters of magnitude 0.9, in one simulation parallel to the orbital angular momentum of the binary, but in another anti-parallel. These are contrasted with spinless simulations. We find that, for a fixed surface mass density in the inner circumbinary disk, aligned spins of this magnitude approximately reduce the mass accretion rate by 14% and counter-aligned spins increase it by 45%, leaving many other disk properties unchanged.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Emergent Nucleosynthesis from a 1.2 s Long Simulation of a Black Hole Accretion Disk

Abstract We simulate a black hole accretion disk system with full-transport general relativistic neutrino radiation magnetohydrodynamics for 1.2 s. This system is likely to form after the merger of two compact objects and is thought to be a robust site of r -process nucleosynthesis. We consider the case of a black hole accretion disk arising from the merger of two neutron stars. Our simulation time coincides with the nucleosynthesis timescale of the r -process (∼1 s). Because these simulations are time-consuming, it is common practice to run for a “short” duration of approximately 0.1–0.3 s. We analyze the nucleosynthetic outflow from this system and compare the results of stopping at 0.12 and 1.2 s. We find that the addition of mass ejected in the longer simulation as well as more favorable thermodynamic conditions from emergent viscous ejecta greatly impacts the nucleosynthetic outcome. We quantify the error in nucleosynthetic outcomes between short and long cuts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Tests of Dark MACHOs: lensing, accretion, and glow

Dark matter could take the form of dark massive compact halo objects (dMACHOs); i.e., composite objects that are made up of dark-sector elementary particles, that could have a macroscopic mass from the Planck scale to above the solar mass scale, and that also admit a wide range of energy densities and sizes. Concentrating on the gravitational interaction of dMACHOs with visible matter, we map out the mass-radius parameter space that is consistent with gravitational lensing experiments, as well as anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) based on the spherical accretion of matter onto a dMACHO in the hydrostatic approximation. For dMACHOs with a uniform-density mass profile and total mass in the range of ~ 10 -12 - 10 M , we find that a dMACHO could explain 100% of the dark matter if its radius is above ≈ 3 times the Einstein radius of the lensing system. For a larger mass above 10 M , a dMACHO with radius above ~ 1×10 8 cm×(M/100 M ) 9/2 is consistent with CMB observables. For a lighter dMACHO with mass below ~ 10 -12 M , there still is not a good experimental probe. Finally, we point out that heavier dMACHOs with masses ~ 0.1 M may be observed by X-ray and optical telescopes if they reside at rest in a large molecular cloud, nearby to our solar system, and accrete ordinary matter to emit photons.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The detailed chemical abundance patterns of accreted halo stars from the optical to infrared

ABSTRACT Understanding the assembly of our Galaxy requires us to also characterize the systems that helped build it. In this work, we accomplish this by exploring the chemistry of accreted halo stars from Gaia-Enceladus/Gaia-Sausage (GES) selected in the infrared from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) Data Release 16. We use high resolution optical spectra for 62 GES stars to measure abundances in 20 elements spanning the α, Fe-peak, light, odd-Z, and notably, the neutron-capture groups of elements to understand their trends in the context of and in contrast to the Milky Way and other stellar populations. Using these derived abundances we find that the optical and the infrared abundances agree to within 0.15 dex except for O, Co, Na, Cu, and Ce. These stars have enhanced neutron-capture abundance trends compared to the Milky Way, and their [Eu/Mg] and neutron-capture abundance ratios (e.g. [Y/Eu], [Ba/Eu], [Zr/Ba], [La/Ba], and [Nd/Ba]) point to r-process enhancement and a delay in s-process enrichment. Their [α/Fe] trend is lower than the Milky Way trend for [Fe/H] > −1.5 dex, similar to previous studies of GES stars and consistent with the picture that these stars formed in a system with a lower rate of star formation. This is further supported by their depleted abundances in Ni, Na, and Cu abundances, again, similar to previous studies of low-α stars with accreted origins.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Long-term 3D MHD simulations of black hole accretion discs formed in neutron star mergers

ABSTRACT We examine the long-term evolution of accretion tori around black hole (BH) remnants of compact object mergers involving at least one neutron star, to better understand their contribution to kilonovae and the synthesis of r-process elements. To this end, we modify the unsplit magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) solver in flash 4.5 to work in non-uniform three-dimensional spherical coordinates, enabling more efficient coverage of a large dynamic range in length scales while exploiting symmetries in the system. This modified code is used to perform BH accretion disc simulations that vary the initial magnetic field geometry and disc compactness, utilizing a physical equation of state, a neutrino leakage scheme for emission and absorption, and modelling the BH’s gravity with a pseudo-Newtonian potential. Simulations run for long enough to achieve a radiatively inefficient state in the disc. We find robust mass ejection with both poloidal and toroidal initial field geometries, and suppressed outflow at high disc compactness. With the included physics, we obtain bimodal velocity distributions that trace back to mass ejection by magnetic stresses at early times, and to thermal processes in the radiatively inefficient state at late times. The electron fraction distribution of the disc outflow is broad in all models, and the ejecta geometry follows a characteristic hourglass shape. We test the effect of removing neutrino absorption or nuclear recombination with axisymmetric models, finding ${\sim} 50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ less mass ejection and more neutron-rich composition without neutrino absorption, and a subdominant contribution from nuclear recombination. Tests of the MHD and neutrino leakage implementations are included.

Fahlman, Steven (ORCID:0000000348759940)↗

Multimessenger emission from the accretion-induced collapse of white dwarfs

ABSTRACT We present fully general relativistic 3D numerical simulations of accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of white dwarfs (WDs). We evolve three different WD models (non-rotating, rotating at 80 per cent and 99 per cent of the Keplerian mass shedding limit) that collapse due to electron capture. For each of these models, we provide a detailed analysis of their gravitational waves (GWs), neutrinos, and electromagnetic counterpart and discuss their detectability. Our results suggest that fast rotating AICs could be detectable up to a distance of 8 Mpc with third-generation GW observatories, and up to 1 Mpc with LIGO. AIC progenitors are expected to have large angular momentum due to their accretion history, which is a determining factor for their stronger GW emission compared to core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). Regarding neutrino emission, we found no significant difference between AICs and CCSNe. In the electromagnetic spectrum, we find that AICs are two orders of magnitude fainter than type Ia supernovae. Our work places AICs as realistic targets for future multimessenger searches with third generation ground-based GW detectors.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

The stellar mass of the Gaia -Sausage/Enceladus accretion remnant

The Gaia-Sausage/Enceladus (GS/E) structure is an accretion remnant that comprises a large fraction of the Milky Way’s stellar halo. We study GS/E using high-purity samples of kinematically selected stars from APOGEE DR16 and Gaia. Employing a novel framework to account for kinematic selection biases using distribution functions, we fit density profiles to these GS/E samples and measure their masses. We find that GS/E has a shallow density profile in the inner Galaxy, with a break between 15 and 25 kpc beyond which the profile steepens. We also find that GS/E is triaxial, with axis ratios 1:0.55:0.45 (nearly prolate), and the major axis is oriented about 80° from the Sun–Galactic centre line and 16° above the plane. We measure a stellar mass for GS/E of $1.45\, ^{+0.92}_{-0.51}\, \mathrm{(stat.)}\, ^{+0.13}_{-0.37} \mathrm{(sys.)}\ \times 10^{8}$ M ⊙ . Our mass estimate is lower than others in the literature, a finding we attribute to the excellent purity of the samples we work with. We also fit a density profile to the entire Milky Way stellar halo, finding a mass in the range of 6.7–8.4 × 10 8 M ⊙ , and implying that GS/E could make up as little as 15–25 per cent of the mass of the Milky Way stellar halo. Our lower stellar mass combined with standard stellar mass-to-halo mass relations implies that GS/E constituted a minor 1:8 mass-ratio merger at the time of its accretion.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Magnetorotational dynamo can generate large-scale vertical magnetic fields in 3D GRMHD simulations of accreting black holes

ABSTRACT Jetted astrophysical phenomena with black hole engines, including binary mergers, jetted tidal disruption events, and X-ray binaries, require a large-scale vertical magnetic field for efficient jet formation. However, a dynamo mechanism that could generate these crucial large-scale magnetic fields has not been identified and characterized. We have employed three-dimensional global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamical simulations of accretion discs to quantify, for the first time, a dynamo mechanism that generates large-scale magnetic fields. This dynamo mechanism primarily arises from the non-linear evolution of the magnetorotational instability (MRI). In this mechanism, large non-axisymmetric MRI-amplified shearing wave modes, mediated by the axisymmetric azimuthal magnetic field, generate and sustain the large-scale vertical magnetic field through their non-linear interactions. We identify the advection of magnetic loops as a crucial feature, transporting the large-scale vertical magnetic field from the outer regions to the inner regions of the accretion disc. This leads to a larger characteristic size of the, now advected, magnetic field when compared to the local disc height. We characterize the complete dynamo mechanism with two time-scales: one for the local magnetic field generation, $t_{\rm gen}$, and one for the large-scale scale advection, $t_{\rm adv}$. Whereas the dynamo we describe is non-linear, we explore the potential of linear mean field models to replicate its core features. Our findings indicate that traditional $\alpha$-dynamo models, often computed in stratified shearing box simulations, are inadequate and that the effective large-scale dynamics is better described by the shear current effects or stochastic $\alpha$-dynamos.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Growth of accretion driven scalar hair around Kerr black holes

We report that Scalar fields around compact objects are of interest for scalar-tensor theories of gravity and dark matter models consisting of a massive scalar, e.g., axions. We study the behavior of a scalar field around a Kerr black hole with nontrivial asymptotic boundary conditions - both nonzero density and nonzero angular momentum. Starting from an initial radially homogeneous configuration, a scalar cloud is accreted, which asymptotes to known stationary configurations over time. We study the cloud growth for different parameters including black hole spin, scalar field mass, and the scalar field density and angular momentum far from the black hole. We characterize the transient growth of the mass and angular momentum in the cloud, and the spatial profile of the scalar around the black hole, and relate the results of fully nonlinear simulations to an analytic perturbative expansion. We also highlight the potential for these accreted clouds to create monochromatic gravitational wave signals - similar to the signals from superradiant clouds, although significantly weaker in amplitude.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

β Decay of 61 V and its Role in Cooling Accreted Neutron Star Crusts

The interpretation of observations of cooling neutron star crusts in quasipersistent x-ray transients is affected by predictions of the strength of neutrino cooling via crust Urca processes. The strength of crust Urca neutrino cooling depends sensitively on the electron-capture and β -decay ground-state-to-ground-state transition strengths of neutron-rich rare isotopes. Nuclei with a mass number of A = 61 are predicted to be among the most abundant in accreted crusts, and the last remaining experimentally undetermined ground-state-to-ground-state transition strength was the β decay of 61 V. This Letter reports the first experimental determination of this transition strength, a ground-state branching of $8.1^{+4.0}_{- 3.1}%$, corresponding to a log ft value of $5.5^{+0.2}_{-0.2}$. This result was achieved through the measurement of the β -delayed γ rays using the total absorption spectrometer SuN and the measurement of the β -delayed neutron branch using the neutron long counter system NERO at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University. This method helps to mitigate the impact of the pandemonium effect in extremely neutron-rich nuclei on experimental results. The result implies that A = 61 nuclei do not provide the strongest cooling in accreted neutron star crusts as expected by some predictions, but that their cooling is still larger compared to most other mass numbers. Finally, only nuclei with mass numbers 31, 33, and 55 are predicted to be cooling more strongly. However, the theoretical predictions for the transition strengths of these nuclei are not consistently accurate enough to draw conclusions on crust cooling. With the experimental approach developed in this work, all relevant transitions are within reach to be studied in the future.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

First Direct Measurement Constraining the Ar 34 ( α , p ) K 37 Reaction Cross Section for Mixed Hydrogen and Helium Burning in Accreting Neutron Stars

The rate of the final step in the astrophysical αp process, the 34 Ar(α,p) 37 K reaction, suffers from large uncertainties due to a lack of experimental data, despite having a considerable impact on the observable light curves of x-ray bursts and the composition of the ashes of hydrogen and helium burning on accreting neutron stars. Here, we present the first direct measurement constraining the 34Ar(α,p)37K reaction cross section, using the Jet Experiments in Nuclear Structure and Astrophysics gas jet target. The combined cross section for the 34 Ar,Cl(α,p) 37 K,Ar reaction is found to agree well with Hauser-Feshbach predictions. The 34 Ar(α,2p) 36 Ar cross section, which can be exclusively attributed to the 34 Ar beam component, also agrees to within the typical uncertainties quoted for statistical models. This indicates the applicability of the statistical model for predicting astrophysical (α,p) reaction rates in this part of the αp process, in contrast to earlier findings from indirect reaction studies indicating orders-of-magnitude discrepancies. This removes a significant uncertainty in models of hydrogen and helium burning on accreting neutron stars.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗