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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.

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At least 1,351 records · Page 75
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

GAPS IN THE HD 169142 PROTOPLANETARY DISK REVEALED BY POLARIMETRIC IMAGING: SIGNS OF ONGOING PLANET FORMATION?

We present H-band Very Large Telescope/NACO polarized light images of the Herbig Ae/Be star HD 169142 probing its protoplanetary disk as close as {approx}0.''1 to the star. Our images trace the face-on disk out to {approx}1.''7 ({approx}250 AU) and reveal distinct substructures for the first time: (1) the inner disk ({approx}<20 AU) appears to be depleted in scattering dust grains; (2) an unresolved disk rim is imaged at {approx}25 AU; (3) an annular gap extends from {approx}40 to 70 AU; (4) local brightness asymmetries are found on opposite sides of the annular gap. We discuss different explanations for the observed morphology among which ongoing planet formation is a tempting, but yet to be proven, one. Outside of {approx}85 AU the surface brightness drops off roughly {proportional_to}r {sup -3.3}, but describing the disk regions between 85-120 AU and 120-250 AU separately with power laws {proportional_to}r {sup -2.6} and {proportional_to}r {sup -3.9} provides a better fit hinting toward another discontinuity in the disk surface. The flux ratio between the disk-integrated polarized light and the central star is {approx}4.1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -3}. Finally, combining our results with those from the literature, {approx}40% of the scattered light in the H band appears to be polarized. Our results emphasize that HD 169142 is an interesting system for future planet formation or disk evolution studies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

KINEMATICS OF OUTER HALO GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN M31

We present the first kinematic analysis of the far outer halo globular cluster (GC) population in the Local Group galaxy M31. Our sample contains 53 objects with projected radii of {approx}20-130 kpc, 44 of which have no previous spectroscopic information. GCs with projected radii {approx}> 30 kpc are found to exhibit net rotation around the minor axis of M31, in the same sense as the inner GCs, albeit with a smaller amplitude of 79 {+-} 19 km s{sup -1}. The rotation-corrected velocity dispersion of the full halo GC sample is 106 {+-} 12 km s{sup -1}, which we observe to decrease with increasing projected radius. We find compelling evidence for kinematic coherence among GCs that project on top of halo substructure, including a clear signature of infall for GCs lying along the northwest stream. Using the tracer mass estimator, we estimate the dynamical mass of M31 within 200 kpc to be M{sub M31} = (1.2-1.5) {+-} 0.2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 12} M{sub Sun }. This value is highly dependent on the chosen model and assumptions within.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

GAUSSIAN RANDOM FIELD: PHYSICAL ORIGIN OF SERSIC PROFILES

While the Sersic profile family provides adequate fits for the surface brightness profiles of observed galaxies, its physical origin is unknown. We show that if the cosmological density field is seeded by random Gaussian fluctuations, as in the standard cold dark matter model, galaxies with steep central profiles have simultaneously extended envelopes of shallow profiles in the outskirts, whereas galaxies with shallow central profiles are accompanied by steep density profiles in the outskirts. These properties are in accord with those of the Sersic profile family. Moreover, galaxies with steep central profiles form their central regions in smaller denser subunits that possibly merge subsequently, which naturally leads to the formation of bulges. In contrast, galaxies with shallow central profiles form their central regions in a coherent fashion without significant substructure, a necessary condition for disk galaxy formation. Thus, the scenario is self-consistent with respect to the correlation between observed galaxy morphology and the Sersic index. We further predict that clusters of galaxies should display a similar trend, which should be verifiable observationally.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

ON ASYMMETRIC DISTRIBUTIONS OF SATELLITE GALAXIES

We demonstrate that the asymmetric distribution of M31 satellites cannot be produced by tides from the Milky Way as such effects are too weak. However, loosely bound associations and groups of satellites can fall into larger halos and give rise to asymmetries. We compute the survival times for such associations. We prove that the survival time is always shortest in Keplerian potentials, and can be ∼3 times longer in logarithmic potentials. We provide an analytical formula for the dispersal time in terms of the size and velocity dispersion of the infalling structure. We show that, if an association of ∼10 dwarfs fell into the M31 halo, its present aspect would be that of an asymmetric disk of satellites. We also discuss the case of cold substructure in the Andromeda II and Ursa Minor dwarfs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

ON THE MULTI-THREADED NATURE OF SOLAR SPICULES

A dominant constituent in the dynamic chromosphere is spicules. Spicules at the limb appear as relatively small and dynamic jets that are observed to stick out everywhere. Many papers emphasize the important role spicules might play in the energy and mass balance of the chromosphere and corona. However, many aspects of spicules remain a mystery. In this Letter, we shed more light on the multi-threaded nature of spicules and their torsional component. We use high spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution observations from the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope in the Hα spectral line. The data target the limb, and we extract spectra from spicules far out from the limb to reduce the line-of-sight superposition effect. We discover that many spicules display very asymmetric spectra with some even showing multiple peaks. To quantify this asymmetry, we use a double-Gaussian fitting procedure and find an average velocity difference between the single-Gaussian components to be between 20 and 30 km s{sup –1} for a sample of 57 spicules. We observe that spicules show significant substructure where one spicule consists of many ''threads''. We interpret the asymmetric spectra as a line-of-sight superposition of threads in one spicule and therefore have a measure for a perpendicular flow inside spicules that will be important for future numerical models to reproduce. In addition, we show examples of λ – x slices perpendicular across spicules and find spectral tilts in individual threads, providing further evidence for the complex dynamical nature of spicules.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

DUST EVOLUTION CAN PRODUCE SCATTERED LIGHT GAPS IN PROTOPLANETARY DISKS

Recent imaging of protoplanetary disks with high resolution and contrast have revealed a striking variety of substructure. Of particular interest are cases where near-infrared scattered light images show evidence for low-intensity annular “gaps.” The origins of such structures are still uncertain, but the interaction of the gas disk with planets is a common interpretation. We study the impact that the evolution of the solid material can have on the observable properties of disks in a simple scenario without any gravitational or hydrodynamical disturbances to the gas disk structure. Even with a smooth and continuous gas density profile, we find that the scattered light emission produced by small dust grains can exhibit ring-like depressions similar to those presented in recent observations. The physical mechanisms responsible for these features rely on the inefficient fragmentation of dust particles. The occurrence and position of the proposed “gap” features depend most strongly on the dust-to-gas ratio, the fragmentation threshold velocity, the strength of the turbulence, and the age of the disk, and should be generic (at some radius) for typically adopted disk parameters. The same physical processes can affect the thermal emission at optically thin wavelengths (∼1 mm), although the behavior can be more complex; unlike for disk–planet interactions, a “gap” should not be present at these longer wavelengths.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Triangulum II: possibly a very dense ultra-faint dwarf galaxy

Laevens et al. recently discovered Triangulum II (Tri II), a satellite of the Milky Way. Its Galactocentric distance is 36 kpc, and its luminosity is only 450 L{sub ⊙}. Using Keck/DEIMOS, we measured the radial velocities of six member stars within 1.′2 of the center of Tri II, and we found a velocity dispersion of σ{sub v}=5.1{sub −1.4}{sup +4.0} km s{sup −1}. We also measured the metallicities of three stars and found a range of 0.8 dex in [Fe/H]. The velocity and metallicity dispersions identify Tri II as a dark matter-dominated galaxy. The galaxy is moving very quickly toward the Galactic center (v{sub GSR}=−262 km s{sup −1}). Although it might be in the process of being tidally disrupted as it approaches pericenter, there is no strong evidence for disruption in our data set. The ellipticity is low, and the mean velocity, 〈v{sub helio}〉=−382.1±2.9 km s{sup −1}, rules out an association with the Triangulum–Andromeda substructure or the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey stellar stream. If Tri II is in dynamical equilibrium, then it would have a mass-to-light ratio of 3600{sub −2100}{sup +3500} M{sub ⊙} L{sub ⊙}{sup −1}, the highest of any non-disrupting galaxy (those for which dynamical mass estimates are reliable). The density within the 3D half-light radius would be 4.8{sub −3.5}{sup +8.1} M{sub ⊙} pc{sup −3}, even higher than Segue 1. Hence, Tri II is an excellent candidate for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Clusters have edges: the projected phase-space structure of SDSS redMaPPer clusters

ABSTRACT We study the distribution of line-of-sight velocities of galaxies in the vicinity of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) red-sequence Matched-filter Probabilistic Percolation (redMaPPer) galaxy clusters. Based on their velocities, galaxies can be split into two categories: galaxies that are dynamically associated with the cluster, and random line-of-sight projections. Both the fraction of galaxies associated with the galaxy clusters, and the velocity dispersion of the same, exhibit a sharp feature as a function of radius. The feature occurs at a radial scale Redge ≈ 2.2Rλ, where Rλ is the cluster radius assigned by redMaPPer. We refer to Redge as the ‘edge radius’. These results are naturally explained by a model that further splits the galaxies dynamically associated with a galaxy cluster into a component of galaxies orbiting the halo and an infalling galaxy component. The edge radius Redge constitutes a true ‘cluster edge’, in the sense that no orbiting structures exist past this radius. A companion paper tests whether the ‘halo edge’ hypothesis holds when investigating the full three-dimensional phase-space distribution of dark matter substructures in numerical simulations, and demonstrates that this radius coincides with a suitably defined splashback radius.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Stellar splashback: the edge of the intracluster light

We examine the outskirts of galaxy clusters in the C-EAGLE simulations to quantify the ‘edges’ of the stellar and dark matter distribution. The radius of the steepest slope in the dark matter, commonly used as a proxy for the splashback radius, is located at $\sim \, r_{200 \rm m}$; the strength and location of this feature depends on the recent mass accretion rate, in good agreement with previous work. Interestingly, the stellar distribution (or intracluster light, ICL) also has a well-defined edge, which is directly related to the splashback radius of the halo. Thus, detecting the edge of the ICL can provide an independent measure of the physical boundary of the halo, and the recent mass accretion rate. We show that these caustics can also be seen in the projected density profiles, but care must be taken to account for the influence of substructures and other non-diffuse material, which can bias and/or weaken the signal of the steepest slope. This is particularly important for the stellar material, which has a higher fraction bound in subhaloes than the dark matter. Finally, we show that the ‘stellar splashback’ feature is located beyond current observational constraints on the ICL, but these large projected distances (>> 1 Mpc) and low surface brightnesses (μ>>32 mag arcsec -2 ) can be reached with upcoming observational facilities such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and Euclid.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Milky Way’s stellar streams and globular clusters do not align in a Vast Polar Structure

ABSTRACT There is increasing evidence that a substantial fraction of Milky Way satellite galaxies align in a rotationally supported plane of satellites, a rare configuration in cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. It has been suggested that other Milky Way substructures (namely young halo globular clusters and stellar/gaseous streams) similarly tend to align with this plane, accordingly dubbed the Vast Polar Structure (VPOS). Using systemic proper motions inferred from Gaia data, we find that globular cluster orbital poles are not clustered in the VPOS direction, though the population with the highest VPOS membership fraction is the young halo clusters (∼30 per cent). We additionally provide a current census of stellar streams, including new streams discovered using the Dark Energy Survey and Gaia data sets, and find that stellar stream normals are also not clustered in the direction of the VPOS normal. We also find that, based on orbit modelling, there is a likely association between NGC 3201 and the Gjöll stellar stream and that, based on its orbital pole, NGC 4147 is likely not a Sagittarius globular cluster. That the Milky Way’s accreted globular clusters and streams do not align in the same planar configuration as its satellites suggests that the plane of satellites is either a particularly stable orbital configuration or a population of recently accreted satellites. Neither of these explanations is particularly likely in light of other recent studies, leaving the plane of satellites problem as one of the more consequential open problems in galaxy formation and cosmology.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The kinematic properties of Milky Way stellar halo populations

ABSTRACT In the Gaia era, stellar kinematics are extensively used to study Galactic halo stellar populations, to search for halo structures, and to characterize the interface between the halo and hot disc populations. We use distribution function-based models of modern data sets with 6D phase space data to qualitatively describe a variety of kinematic spaces commonly used in the study of the Galactic halo. Furthermore, we quantitatively assess how well each kinematic space can separate radially anisotropic from isotropic halo populations. We find that scaled action space (the ‘action diamond’) is superior to other commonly used kinematic spaces at this task. We present a new, easy to implement selection criterion for members of the radially anisotropic Gaia–Enceladus merger remnant. Assuming a 1:1 ratio of Gaia–Enceladus stars to more isotropic halo, we find our selection achieves a sample purity of 86 per cent in our models with respect to contamination from the more isotropic halo. We compare this criterion to literature criteria, finding that it produces the highest purity in the resulting samples, at the expense of a modest reduction in completeness. We also show that selection biases that underlie nearly all contemporary spectroscopic data sets can noticeably impact the E−Lz distribution of samples in a manner that may be confused for real substructure. We conclude by providing recommendations for how authors should use stellar kinematics in the future to study the Galactic stellar halo.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

On the physical size of the Milky Way globular cluster NGC 7089 (M2)

ABSTRACT We study the outer regions of the Milky Way globular cluster NGC 7089 based on new Dark Energy Camera observations. The resulting background-cleaned stellar density profile reveals the existence of an extended envelope. We confirm previous results that cluster stars are found out up to ∼1° from the cluster’s centre, which is nearly three times the value of the most robust tidal radii estimations. We also used results from direct N-body simulations in order to compare with the observations. We found a fairly good agreement between the observed and numerically generated stellar density profiles. Because of the existence of gaps and substructures along globular cluster tidal tails, we closely examined the structure of the outer cluster region beyond the Jacobi radius. We extended the analysis to a sample of 35 globular clusters, 20 of them with observed tidal tails. We found that if the stellar density profile follows a power law ∝ r−α, the α slope correlates with the globular cluster present mass, in the sense that, the more massive the globular cluster, the smaller the α value. This trend is not found in globular clusters without observed tidal tails. The origin of such a phenomenon could be related, among other reasons, to the proposed so-called potential escapers or to the formation of globular clusters within dark matter minihaloes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

The role of magnetic fields in the stability and fragmentation of filamentary molecular clouds: two case studies at OMC-3 and OMC-4

We present the stability analysis of two regions, OMC-3 and OMC-4, in the massive and long molecular cloud complex of Orion A. We obtained 214 $\mu$m HAWC + /SOFIA polarization data, and we make use of archival data for the column density and C 18 O (1–0) emission line. We find clear depolarization in both observed regions and that the polarization fraction is anticorrelated with the column density and the polarization-angle dispersion function. We find that the filamentary cloud and dense clumps in OMC-3 are magnetically supercritical and strongly subvirial. This region should be in the gravitational collapse phase and is consistent with many young stellar objects (YSOs) forming in the region. Our histogram of relative orientation (HRO) analysis shows that the magnetic field is dynamically sub-dominant in the dense gas structures of OMC-3. We present the first polarization map of OMC-4. We find that the observed region is generally magnetically subcritical except for an elongated dense core, which could be a result of projection effect of a filamentary structure aligned close to the line of sight. The relative large velocity dispersion and the unusual positive shape parameters at high column densities in the HROs analysis suggest that our viewing angle may be close to axes of filamentary substructures in OMC-4. The dominating strong magnetic field in OMC-4 is unfavourable for star formation and is consistent with much fewer YSOs than in OMC-3.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Milky Way mass with K giants and BHB stars using LAMOST, SDSS/SEGUE, and Gaia : 3D spherical Jeans equation and tracer mass estimator

ABSTRACT We measure the enclosed Milky Way mass profile to Galactocentric distances of ∼70 and ∼50 kpc using the smooth, diffuse stellar halo samples of Bird et al. The samples are Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey/Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SDSS/SEGUE) K giants (KG) and SDSS/SEGUE blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars with accurate metallicities. The 3D kinematics are available through LAMOST and SDSS/SEGUE distances and radial velocities and Gaia DR2 proper motions. Two methods are used to estimate the enclosed mass: 3D spherical Jeans equation and Evans et al. tracer mass estimator (TME). We remove substructure via the Xue et al. method based on integrals of motion. We evaluate the uncertainties on our estimates due to random sampling noise, systematic distance errors, the adopted density profile, and non-virialization and non-spherical effects of the halo. The tracer density profile remains a limiting systematic in our mass estimates, although within these limits we find reasonable agreement across the different samples and the methods applied. Out to ∼70 and ∼50 kpc, the Jeans method yields total enclosed masses of 4.3 ± 0.95 (random) ±0.6 (systematic) × 1011 M⊙ and 4.1 ± 1.2 (random) ±0.6 (systematic) × 1011 M⊙ for the KG and BHB stars, respectively. For the KG and BHB samples, we find a dark matter virial mass of $M_{200}=0.55^{+0.15}_{-0.11}$ (random) ±0.083 (systematic) × 1012 M⊙ and $M_{200}=1.00^{+0.67}_{-0.33}$ (random) ±0.15 (systematic) × 1012 M⊙, respectively.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dynamics of stellar disc tilting from satellite mergers

The Milky Way’s stellar disc can tilt in response to torques that result from infalling satellite galaxies and their associated tidal debris. In this work, we explore the dynamics of disc tilting by running N-body simulations of mergers in an isolated, isotropic Milky Way-like host galaxy, varying over satellite virial mass, initial position, and orbit. We develop and validate a first-principles understanding of the dynamics that govern how the host galaxy’s stellar disc responds to the satellite’s dark matter (DM) debris. We find that the degree of disc tilting can be large for cosmologically motivated merger histories. In particular, our results suggest that the Galactic disc may still be tilting in response to Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus, one of the most significant recent mergers in the Milky Way’s history. In conclusion, these findings have implications for terrestrial direct detection experiments as disc tilting changes the relative location of the Sun with respect to DM substructure left behind by a merging galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Differences in chemical evolution between isolated and embedded prestellar cores

Models of prestellar cores often assume that the cores are isolated from their environment – material outside the core boundary plays no role in the subsequent evolution. This is unlikely to be the case in reality, where cores are located within hierarchically substructured molecular clouds. Here, we investigate the dynamical and chemical evolution of prestellar cores, modelled as Bonnor–Ebert spheres, and show that the density of the ambient medium has a large impact on the resulting chemical properties of the cores. Models embedded in high-density, low-temperature surroundings have greatly enhanced abundances of several molecules, such as CO and CS, compared to models with more diffuse surroundings, corresponding to relatively isolated cores. The predicted intensities and profile shapes of molecular lines are also affected. The density of the ambient medium has a stronger effect on the chemical evolution than whether the cores are initially in or out of equilibrium. This suggests that the impact of environment cannot be neglected when modelling chemistry in prestellar cores; the results of these models are highly sensitive to the assumptions made about the core surroundings.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

A unified exploration of the chronology of the Galaxy

The Milky Way has distinct structural stellar components linked to its formation and subsequent evolution, but disentangling them is non-trivial. With the recent availability of high-quality data for a large numbers of stars in the Milky Way, it is a natural next step for research in the evolution of the Galaxy to perform automated explorations with unsupervised methods of the structures hidden in the combination of large-scale spectroscopic, astrometric, and asteroseismic data sets. We determine precise stellar properties for 21 076 red giants, mainly spanning 2–15 kpc in Galactocentric radii, making it the largest sample of red giants with measured asteroseismic ages available to date. We explore the nature of different stellar structures in the Galactic disc by using Gaussian mixture models as an unsupervised clustering method to find substructure in the combined chemical, kinematic, and age subspace. The best-fitting mixture model yields four distinct physical Galactic components in the stellar disc: the thin disc, the kinematically heated thin disc, the thick disc, and the stellar halo. We find hints of an age asymmetry between the Northern and Southern hemisphere, and we measure the vertical and radial age gradient of the Galactic disc using the asteroseismic ages extended to further distances than previous studies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Density streams in the disc winds of Classical T Tauri stars

ABSTRACT Spectral and photometric variability of the Classical T Tauri stars RY Tau and SU Aur from 2013 to 2022 is analysed. We find that in SU Aur the H α line’s flux at radial velocity RV = −50 ± 7 km s−1 varies with a period P = 255 ± 5 d. A similar effect previously discovered in RY Tau is confirmed with these new data: P = 21.6 d at RV = −95 ± 5 km s. In both stars, the radial velocity of these variations, the period, and the mass of the star turn out to be related by Kepler’s law, suggesting structural features on the disc plane orbiting at radii of 0.2 au in RY Tau and 0.9 au in SU Aur, respectively. Both stars have a large inclination of the accretion disc to the line of sight – so that the line of sight passes through the region of the disc wind. We propose there is an azimuthal asymmetry in the disc wind, presumably in the form of ‘density streams,’ caused by substructures of the accretion disc surface. These streams cannot dissipate until they go beyond the Alfven surface in the disc’s magnetic field. These findings open up the possibility to learn about the structure of the inner accretion disc of CTTS on scales less than 1 au and to reveal the orbital distances related to the planet’s formation.

Petrov, P. P. (ORCID:0000000155514963)↗