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Full-Text Articles in Astrophysics and Astronomy
The High-Ion Content And Kinematics Of Low-Redshift Lyman Limit Systems, Andrew J. Fox, Nicolas Lehner, Jason Tumlinson, J. Christopher Howk, Todd M. Tripp, J. Xavier Prochaska, John M. O'Meara, Jessica K. Werk, Rognmon Bordoloi, Neal S. Katz, Benjamin D. Oppenheimer, Romeel Dave
The High-Ion Content And Kinematics Of Low-Redshift Lyman Limit Systems, Andrew J. Fox, Nicolas Lehner, Jason Tumlinson, J. Christopher Howk, Todd M. Tripp, J. Xavier Prochaska, John M. O'Meara, Jessica K. Werk, Rognmon Bordoloi, Neal S. Katz, Benjamin D. Oppenheimer, Romeel Dave
Neal S. Katz
We study the high-ion content and kinematics of the circumgalactic medium around low-redshift galaxies using a sample of 23 Lyman limit systems (LLSs) at 0.08 < z < 0.93 observed with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. In Lehner et al., we recently showed that low-z LLSs have a bimodal metallicity distribution. Here we extend that analysis to search for differences between the high-ion and kinematic properties of the metal-poor and metal-rich branches. We find that metal-rich LLSs tend to show higher O VI columns and broader O VI profiles than metal-poor LLSs. The total H I line width (Δv 90 statistic) in LLSs is not correlated with metallicity, indicating that the H I kinematics alone cannot be used to distinguish inflow from outflow and gas recycling. Among the 17 LLSs with O VI detections, all but two show evidence of kinematic sub-structure, in the form of O VI-H I centroid offsets, multiple components, or both. Using various scenarios for how the metallicities in the high-ion and low-ion phases of each LLS compare, we constrain the ionized hydrogen column in the O VI phase to lie in the range log N(H II) ~ 17.6-20. The O VI phase of LLSs is a substantial baryon reservoir, with M(high-ion) ~ 108.5-10.9 (r/150 kpc)2 M ☉, similar to the mass in the low-ion phase. Accounting for the O VI phase approximately doubles the contribution of low-z LLSs to the cosmic baryon budget.
The Dynamics Of Satellite Disruption In Cold Dark Matter Haloes, Jh Choi, Md Weinberg, N Katz
The Dynamics Of Satellite Disruption In Cold Dark Matter Haloes, Jh Choi, Md Weinberg, N Katz
Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series
We investigate the physical mechanisms of tidal heating and satellite disruption in cold dark matter host haloes using N-body simulations based on cosmological initial conditions. We show the importance of resonant shocks and resonant torques with the host halo to satellite heating. A resonant shock (torque) couples the radial (tangential) motion of a satellite in its orbit to its phase space. For a satellite on a circular orbit, an inner Lindblad resonance (ILR)-like resonance dominates the heating and this heating results in continuous satellite mass loss. We estimate the requirements for simulations to achieve these dynamics using perturbation theory. Both …
Noise-Driven Evolution In Stellar Systems: Theory, Martin D. Weinberg
Noise-Driven Evolution In Stellar Systems: Theory, Martin D. Weinberg
Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series
We present a theory for describing the evolution of a galaxy caused by stochastic events such as weak mergers, transient spiral structure, orbiting blobs, etc. This noise excites large-scale patterns that drives the evolution of the galactic density profile. In dark-matter haloes, the repeated stochastic perturbations preferentially ring the lowest-order modes of the halo with only a very weak dependence on the details of their source. Shaped by these modes, the profile quickly takes on a nearly self-similar form. We show that this form has the features of the “universal profile” reported by Navarro, Frenk, & White independent of initial …
Co Distribution And Kinematics Along The Bar In The Strongly Barred Spiral Ngc 7479, S Laine, J D P Kenny, Min S. Yun, S T. Gottesman
Co Distribution And Kinematics Along The Bar In The Strongly Barred Spiral Ngc 7479, S Laine, J D P Kenny, Min S. Yun, S T. Gottesman
Min S. Yun
We report on the 2farcs5 (400 pc) resolution CO (J=1→0) observations covering the whole length of the bar in the strongly barred late-type spiral galaxy NGC 7479. CO emission is detected only along a dust lane that traverses the whole length of the bar, including the nucleus. The emission is strongest in the nucleus. The distribution of emission is clumpy along the bar outside the nucleus and consists of gas complexes that are unlikely to be gravitationally bound. The CO kinematics within the bar consist of two separate components. A kinematically distinct circumnuclear disk, <500 pc in diameter, is undergoing predominantly circular motion with a maximum rotational velocity of 245 km s-1 at a radius of 1'' (160 pc). The CO-emitting gas in the bar outside the circumnuclear disk has substantial noncircular motions that are consistent with a large radial velocity component, directed inward. The CO emission has a large velocity gradient across the bar dust lane, ranging from 0.5 to 1.9 km s-1 pc-1 after correcting for inclination, and the projected velocity change across the dust lane is as high as 200 km s-1. This sharp velocity gradient is consistent with a shock front at the location of the bar dust lane. A comparison of Hα and CO kinematics across the dust lane shows that, although the Hα emission is often observed both upstream and downstream from the dust lane, the CO emission is observed only where the velocity gradient is large. We also compare the observations with hydrodynamic models and discuss star formation along the bar.
Fluctuations In Finite N Equilibrium Stellar Systems, Martin D. Weinberg
Fluctuations In Finite N Equilibrium Stellar Systems, Martin D. Weinberg
Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series
Gravitational amplification of Poisson noise in stellar systems is important on large scales. For example, it increases the dipole noise power by roughly a factor of six and the quadrupole noise by 50% for a King model profile. The dipole noise is amplified by a factor of fifteen for the core-free Hernquist model. The predictions are computed using the dressed-particle formalism of Rostoker & Rosenbluth (1960) and are demonstrated by n-body simulation. This result implies that a collisionless n-body simulation is impossible; The fluctuation noise which causes relaxation is an intrinic part of self gravity. In other words, eliminating two-body …