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Model predictions of the results of interferometric observations for stars under conditions of strong gravitational scattering by black holes and wormholes
The characteristic and distinctive features of the visibility amplitude of interferometric observations for compact objects like stars in the immediate vicinity of the central black hole in our Galaxy are considered. These features are associated with the specifics of strong gravitational scattering of point sources by black holes, wormholes, or black-white holes. The revealed features will help to determine the most important topological characteristics of the central object in our Galaxy: whether this object possesses the properties of only a black hole or also has characteristics unique to wormholes or black-white holes. These studies can be used to interpret the results of optical, infrared, and radio interferometric observations.
A QUICK METHOD TO IDENTIFY SECULAR RESONANCES IN MULTI-PLANET SYSTEMS WITH A BINARY COMPANION
Gravitational perturbations in multi-planet systems caused by an accompanying star are the subject of this investigation. Our dynamical model is based on the binary star HD 41004 AB where a giant planet orbits HD 41004 A. We modify the orbital parameters of this system and analyze the motion of a hypothetical test planet surrounding HD 41004 A on an interior orbit to the detected giant planet. Our numerical computations indicate perturbations due to mean motion and secular resonances (SRs). The locations of these resonances are usually connected to high eccentricity and highly inclined motion depending strongly on the binary-planet architecture. As the positions of mean motion resonances can easily be determined, the main purpose of this study is to present a new semi-analytical method to determine the location of an SR without huge computational effort.
Angular momentum fluctuations in the convective helium shell of massive stars
We find significant fluctuations of angular momentum within the convective helium shell of a pre-collapse massive star—a core-collapse supernova progenitor—that may facilitate the formation of accretion disks and jets that can explode the star. The convective flow in our model of an evolved M{sub ZAMS}=15M{sub ⊙} star, computed using the subsonic hydrodynamic solver MAESTRO, contains entire shells with net angular momentum in different directions. This phenomenon may have important implications for the late evolutionary stages of massive stars and for the dynamics of core collapse.
The relativistic equations of stellar structure and evolution. Stars with degenerate neutron cores. 1: Structure of equilibrium models
The general relativistic equations of stellar structure and evolution are reformulated in a notation which makes easy contact with Newtonian theory. Also, a general relativistic version of the mixing-length formalism for convection is presented. Finally, it is argued that in previous work on spherical systems general relativity theorists have identified the wrong quantity as "total mass-energy inside radius r."
The naked T Tauri stars - The low-mass pre-main sequence unveiled
The search for low-mass premain-sequence (PMS) stars associated with X-ray sources in regions of star formation is discussed. The survey to date has revealed at least 30 low-mass PMS stars in the Tau-Aur region, and a comparable number in Oph. These stars are the naked T Tau stars, unveiled versions of the well-known classical T Tau stars. The properties of these newly discovered PMS stars and their relation to the classical T Tau stars are discussed, and it is concluded that the naked T Tau stars are the true low-mass PMS stars, and that the observable characteristics defining the classical T Tau stars are due to the interaction of an underlying, fairly normal star with a dominant circumstellar environment. The impact the naked T Tau stars are likely to have on models of the PMS evolution of low-mass stars is considered.
Galaxy formation through hierarchical clustering
Analytic methods for studying the formation of galaxies by gas condensation within massive dark halos are presented. The present scheme applies to cosmogonies where structure grows through hierarchical clustering of a mixture of gas and dissipationless dark matter. The simplest models consistent with the current understanding of N-body work on dissipationless clustering, and that of numerical and analytic work on gas evolution and cooling are adopted. Standard models for the evolution of the stellar population are also employed, and new models for the way star formation heats and enriches the surrounding gas are constructed. Detailed results are presented for a cold dark matter universe with Omega = 1 and H(0) = 50 km/s/Mpc, but the present methods are applicable to other models. The present luminosity functions contain significantly more faint galaxies than are observed.
A model for the spectroscopic variations of the peculiar symbiotic star MWC 560
In this note, we show that the ultraviolet and optical spectroscopic variability of this unique symbiotic star can be understood in terms of a time variable collimated stellar wind with a rapid acceleration near the source. Using the radial velocities observed during the ultraviolet bright phase, we find that a variation in the mass loss rate of a factor of ten can explain the ultraviolet spectral changes. The acceleration is far faster than normally observed in radiatively driven stellar winds and may be due to mechanical driving of the outflow from the disk.
The Spectral Energy Distribution of HH 100 IRS
Recent progress in the modeling of the radiative transfer in star forming regions has lead to improved dusty envelope models. Such models can now explain in great detail the observed infrared spectrum. The success of such models suggests that input parameters correspond to the true physical situation of the environment of the young stellar object. However, so far only minor attention has been given to models which include the spectroscopic signature of ice bands. Such models are applied to the Herbig-Haro energy source HH100 IRS. Calculations have been performed to interpret the spectral energy distribution as a function of dust parameters such as the grain size, the ice volume fraction, and the 'fluffiness' of the particles. The infrared spectrum together with the strength of the water ice band of HH 100 IRS is successfully reproduced if an upper limit of the grain size below 1 micron is used. Comet-like grains, with sizes above 1 micron, result in a poor fit of the observations.
Impact of Protostellar Outflows on Turbulence and Star Formation Efficiency in Magnetized Dense Cores
The star-forming efficiency of dense gas is thought to be set within cores by outflow and radiative feedback. We use magnetohydrodynamic simulations to investigate the relation between protostellar outflow evolution, turbulence, and star formation efficiency. We model the collapse and evolution of isolated dense cores for ≳0.5 Myr including the effects of turbulence, radiation transfer, and both radiation and outflow feedback from forming protostars. We show that outflows drive and maintain turbulence in the core environment even with strong initial fields. The star formation efficiency decreases with increasing field strength, and the final efficiencies are 15%–40%. The Stage 0 lifetime, during which the protostellar mass is lower than that of the dense envelope, increases proportionally with the initial magnetic field strength and ranges from ∼0.1 to 0.4 Myr. The average accretion rate is well represented by a tapered turbulent core model, which is a function of the final protostellar mass and is independent of the magnetic field strength. By tagging material launched in the outflow, we demonstrate that the outflow entrains about three times the actual launched gas mass, a ratio that remains roughly constant in time regardless of the initial magnetic field strength. However, turbulent driving increases for stronger fields since momentum is more efficiently imparted to non-outflow material. The protostellar outflow momentum is highest during the first 0.1 Myr and declines thereafter by a factor of ≳10 as the accretion rate diminishes.
The Cannon: A data-driven approach to stellar label determination
New spectroscopic surveys offer the promise of stellar parameters and abundances (“stellar labels”) for hundreds of thousands of stars; this poses a formidable spectral modeling challenge. In many cases, there is a subset of reference objects for which the stellar labels are known with high(er) fidelity. We take advantage of this with The Cannon, a new data-driven approach for determining stellar labels from spectroscopic data. The Cannon learns from the “known” labels of reference stars how the continuum-normalized spectra depend on these labels by fitting a flexible model at each wavelength; then, The Cannon uses this model to derive labels for the remaining survey stars. We illustrate The Cannon by training the model on only 542 stars in 19 clusters as reference objects, with T{sub eff}, log g, and [Fe/H] as the labels, and then applying it to the spectra of 55,000 stars from APOGEE DR10. The Cannon is very accurate. Its stellar labels compare well to the stars for which APOGEE pipeline (ASPCAP) labels are provided in DR10, with rms differences that are basically identical to the stated ASPCAP uncertainties. Beyond the reference labels, The Cannon makes no use of stellar models nor any line-list, but needs a set of reference objects that span label-space. The Cannon performs well at lower signal-to-noise, as it delivers comparably good labels even at one-ninth the APOGEE observing time. We discuss the limitations of The Cannon and its future potential, particularly, to bring different spectroscopic surveys onto a consistent scale of stellar labels.
Stochastic Trust-Region Algorithm in Random Subspaces with Convergence and Expected Complexity Analyses
Here, this work proposes a framework for large-scale stochastic derivative-free optimization (DFO) by introducing STARS, a trust-region method based on iterative minimization in random subspaces. This framework is both an algorithmic and theoretical extension of a random subspace derivative-free optimization (RSDFO) framework, and an algorithm for stochastic optimization with random models (STORM). Moreover, like RSDFO, STARS achieves scalability by minimizing interpolation models that approximate the objective in low-dimensional affine subspaces, thus significantly reducing per-iteration costs in terms of function evaluations and yielding strong performance on largescale stochastic DFO problems. The user-determined dimension of these subspaces, when the latter are defined, for example, by the columns of so-called Johnson-Lindenstrauss transforms, turns out to be independent of the dimension of the problem. For convergence purposes, inspired by the analyses of RSDFO and STORM, both a particular quality of the subspace and the accuracies of random function estimates and models are required to hold with sufficiently high, but fixed, probabilities. Using martingale theory under the latter assumptions, an almost sure global convergence of STARS to a first-order stationary point is shown, and the expected number of iterations required to reach a desired first-order accuracy is proved to be similar to that of STORM and other stochastic DFO algorithms, up to constants.
Following the cosmic evolution of pristine gas. I. Implications for Milky Way halo stars
We make use of a new subgrid model of turbulent mixing to accurately follow the cosmological evolution of the first stars, the mixing of their supernova (SN) ejecta, and the impact on the chemical composition of the Galactic Halo. Using the cosmological adaptive mesh refinement code ramses, we implement a model for the pollution of pristine gas as described in Pan et al. Tracking the metallicity of Pop III stars with metallicities below a critical value allows us to account for the fraction of Z<Z{sub crit} stars formed even in regions in which the gas’s average metallicity is well above Z{sub crit}. We demonstrate that such partially mixed regions account for 0.5 to 0.7 of all Pop III stars formed up to z = 5. Additionally, we track the creation and transport of “primordial metals” (PM) generated by Pop III SNe. These neutron-capture deficient metals are taken up by second-generation stars and likely lead to unique abundance signatures characteristic of carbon-enhanced, metal-poor (CEMP-no) stars. As an illustrative example, we associate primordial metals with abundance ratios used by Keller et al. to explain the source of metals in the star SMSS J031300.36-670839.3, finding good agreement with the observed [Fe/H], [C/H], [O/H], and [Mg/Ca] ratios in CEMP-no Milky Way halo stars. Similar future simulations will aid in further constraining the properties of Pop III stars using CEMP observations, as well as improve predictions of the spatial distribution of Pop III stars, as will be explored by the next generation of ground- and space-based telescopes.
Two- and Three-Dimensional Galaxy Simulations
Dynamics of galaxies with up to 100,000 stars are simulated in set of computer programs available from COSMIC. In these models, large number of simulation stars move in combined gravitational field produced by stars themselves (self-consistent field) or by external matter (fixed field).
The rate of neutron star binary mergers in the universe - Minimal predictions for gravity wave detectors
Of the many sources which gravitational wave observatories might see, merging neutron star binaries are the most predictable. Their waveforms at the observable frequencies are easy to calculate. And three systems which will merge in less than a Hubble time have already been observed as binary pulsars: two in the disk of the Galaxy, and one in a globular cluster. From the lifetimes and positions of these, a lower limit to the merger rate in the Galaxy and globular cluster system are inferred with confidence. Taking the merger rate in other galaxies to scale with the star formation rate, the merger rate expected in the local universe is computed. An ultraconservative lower limit to the rate gives three per year within 1 Gpc. The best estimate, still conservative in that it considers only systems like those already observed, gives three per year within 200 Mpc. An upper limit of three mergers per year within 23/h Mpc is set by the rate of Type Ib supernovae. The rates of black hole binary mergers and black hole-neutron star binary mergers are model-dependent, but could be comparable to the given rate of neutron-star binary mergers.
Star formation in the disks of H I-rich S0 galaxies
We present the results of a H-alpha emission-line imaging survey of a sample of neutral-gas-rich S galaxies. We find evidence of disk H II regions in 14 of our sample of 32 galaxies, detect nuclear or faint diffuse circumnuclear H-alpha + forbidden N II emission in another 11 galaxies without disk H II regions, and obtain upper limits for 8 galaxies. We find a striking dichotomy between Ss with and without H II regions; either a galaxy has a number of H II regions, most often distributed into distinct rings or ringlike structures, or there are none down to detection limits equivalent to a single unreddened H II region ionized by single O stars. We find that the S0s without disk H II regions have a lower median M sub H I/L(B) than those with disk H II regions, but the distributions have a large range of dispersion. Our data suggest that S0s may lie in a regime where local threshold effects, perhaps primarily kinematic in origin, are more important in determining the star formation in these galaxies than the global stability mechanisms that recent empirical models for large-scale star formation have suggested prevail in later-type spirals.
Measuring star formation rates in blue galaxies
The problems associated with measurements of star formation rates in galaxies are briefly reviewed, and specific models are presented for determinations of current star formation rates from H alpha and Far Infrared (FIR) luminosities. The models are applied to a sample of optically blue irregular galaxies, and the results are discussed in terms of star forming histories. It appears likely that typical irregular galaxies are forming stars at nearly constant rates, although a few examples of systems with enhanced star forming activity are found among HII regions and luminous irregular galaxies.
A STAR FORMATION LAW FOR DWARF IRREGULAR GALAXIES
The radial profiles of gas, stars, and far-ultraviolet radiation in 20 dwarf Irregular galaxies are converted to stability parameters and scale heights for a test of the importance of two-dimensional (2D) instabilities in promoting star formation. A detailed model of this instability involving gaseous and stellar fluids with self-consistent thicknesses and energy dissipation on a perturbation crossing time gives the unstable growth rates. We find that all locations are effectively stable to 2D perturbations, mostly because the disks are thick. We then consider the average volume densities in the midplanes, evaluated from the observed H i surface densities and calculated scale heights. The radial profiles of the star-formation rates are equal to about 1% of the H i surface densities divided by the free fall times at the average midplane densities. This 1% resembles the efficiency per unit free fall time commonly found in other cases. There is a further variation of this efficiency with radius in all of our galaxies, following the exponential disk with a scale length equal to about twice the stellar mass scale length. This additional variation is modeled by the molecular fraction in a diffuse medium using radiative transfer solutions for galaxies with the observed dimensions and properties of our sample. We conclude that star formation is activated by a combination of three-dimensional gaseous gravitational processes and molecule formation. Implications for outer disk structure and formation are discussed.