Reconstruction of halo power spectrum from redshift-space galaxy distribution: cylinder-grouping method and halo exclusion effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okumura, Teppei; Takada, Masahiro; More, Surhud; Masaki, Shogo

2017-07-01

The peculiar velocity field measured by redshift-space distortions (RSD) in galaxy surveys provides a unique probe of the growth of large-scale structure. However, systematic effects arise when including satellite galaxies in the clustering analysis. Since satellite galaxies tend to reside in massive haloes with a greater halo bias, the inclusion boosts the clustering power. In addition, virial motions of the satellite galaxies cause a significant suppression of the clustering power due to non-linear RSD effects. We develop a novel method to recover the redshift-space power spectrum of haloes from the observed galaxy distribution by minimizing the contamination of satellite galaxies. The cylinder-grouping method (CGM) we study effectively excludes satellite galaxies from a galaxy sample. However, we find that this technique produces apparent anisotropies in the reconstructed halo distribution over all the scales which mimic RSD. On small scales, the apparent anisotropic clustering is caused by exclusion of haloes within the anisotropic cylinder used by the CGM. On large scales, the misidentification of different haloes in the large-scale structures, aligned along the line of sight, into the same CGM group causes the apparent anisotropic clustering via their cross-correlation with the CGM haloes. We construct an empirical model for the CGM halo power spectrum, which includes correction terms derived using the CGM window function at small scales as well as the linear matter power spectrum multiplied by a simple anisotropic function at large scales. We apply this model to a mock galaxy catalogue at z = 0.5, designed to resemble Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) CMASS galaxies, and find that our model can predict both the monopole and quadrupole power spectra of the host haloes up to k < 0.5 {{h Mpc^{-1}}} to within 5 per cent.

Globular cluster systems - Comparative evolution of Galactic halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, William E.

Space distributions, metallicity/age distributions, and kinematics are considered for the Milky Way halo system. Comparisons are made with other systems, and time scales for dynamical evolution are considered. It is noted that the globular cluster subsystems of halos resemble each other more closely than their parent galaxies do; this forms a reasonable basis for supposing that they represent a kind of underlying unity in the protogalaxy formation process.

Using photometrically selected metal-poor stars to study dwarf galaxies and the Galactic stellar halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Youakim, Kris; Starkenburg, Else; Martin, Nicolas; Pristine Team

2018-06-01

The Pristine survey is a narrow-band photometric survey designed to efficiently search for extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars. In the first three years of the survey, it has demonstrated great efficiency at finding EMP stars, and also great promise for increasing the current, small sample of the most metal-poor stars. The present sky coverage is ~2500 square degrees in the Northern Galactic Halo, including several individual fields targeting dwarf galaxies. By efficiently identifying member stars in the outskirts of known faint dwarf galaxies, the dynamical histories and chemical abundance patterns of these systems can be understood in greater detail. Additionally, with reliable photometric metallicities over a large sky coverage it is possible to perform a large scale clustering analysis in the Milky Way halo, and investigate the characteristic scale of substructure at different metallicities. This can reveal important details about the process of building up the halo through dwarf galaxy accretion, and offer insight into the connection between dwarf galaxies and the Milky Way halo. In this talk I will outline our results on the search for the most pristine stars, with a focus on how we are using this information to advance our understanding of dwarf galaxies and their contribution to the formation of the Galactic stellar halo.

The Dual Origin Of Stellar Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zolotov, Adi

In the dominant Lambda+Cold Dark Matter cosmological paradigm, galaxy stellar halos are thought to form hierarchically from multiple accretion events, starting from the first structures to collapse in the Universe. This dissertation aims to make the first detailed theoretical predictions for the origin of galactic stellar halos. We focus on understanding the physical processes involved in halo formation using high-resolution, N-body + Smooth Particle Hydrodynamic simulations of disk galaxies in a cosmological context. These self-consistent simulations are used to study the competing importance of dissipative processes and dissipationless mergers in the formation of stellar halos. The relative contribution of each mechanism, and its specific role in assembling the inner and outer regions of halos is explored, as a function of galaxy mass and merging history. We show that the presence of both accreted and in situ stars in halos is a generic feature of galaxy formation. For L* galaxies, the relative contribution of each stellar population to a halo is shown to be a function of a galaxy's accretion history. Galaxies with recent mergers, like M31, will host relatively few in situ stars, while galaxies with more quiescent recent histories, like the Milky Way, will likely have a larger relative contribution from an in situ population. We show that in situ halo stars are more [alpha/Fe]-rich than accreted stars at the high [Fe/H] end of a halo's metallicity distribution function. In lower mass galaxies, M ˜ 1010 M, in situ stars dominate the stellarmass of halos. In these galaxies, in situ halo stars are, on average, younger and more metal-rich than accreted halo stars. Because in situ stars are dominant, these trends result in halos that are more metal-rich than simple accretion models predict. The halos of low mass galaxies do not extend out to the virial radii of the primary, as they do in more massive galaxies. We find that the ratio of luminous-halo mass to total

Chemical Cartography. I. A Carbonicity Map of the Galactic Halo

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Young Sun; Kim, Young Kwang; Beers, Timothy C.

We present the first map of carbonicity, [C/Fe], for the halo system of the Milky Way, based on a sample of over 100,000 main-sequence turnoff stars with available spectroscopy from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This map, which explores distances up to 15 kpc from the Sun, reveals clear evidence for the dual nature of the Galactic halo, based on the spatial distribution of stellar carbonicity. The metallicity distribution functions of stars in the inner- and outer-halo regions of the carbonicity map reproduce those previously argued to arise from contributions of the inner- and outer-halo populations, with peaks at [Fe/H]more » = −1.5 and −2.2, respectively. From consideration of the absolute carbon abundances for our sample, A (C), we also confirm that the carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars in the outer-halo region exhibit a higher frequency of CEMP-no stars (those with no overabundances of heavy neutron-capture elements) than of CEMP- s stars (those with strong overabundances of elements associated with the s -process), whereas the stars in the inner-halo region exhibit a higher frequency of CEMP- s stars. We argue that the contrast in the behavior of the CEMP-no and CEMP- s fractions in these regions arises from differences in the mass distributions of the mini-halos from which the stars of the inner- and outer-halo populations formed, which gives rise in turn to the observed dichotomy of the Galactic halo.« less

WEAK GALACTIC HALO-DWARF SPHEROIDAL CONNECTION FROM RR LYRAE STARS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fiorentino, Giuliana; Bono, Giuseppe; Monelli, Matteo

2015-01-01

We discuss the role that dwarf galaxies may have played in the formation of the Galactic halo (Halo) using RR Lyrae stars (RRL) as tracers of their ancient stellar component. The comparison is performed using two observables (periods, luminosity amplitudes) that are reddening and distance independent. Fundamental mode RRL in 6 dwarf spheroidals (dSphs) and 11 ultra faint dwarf galaxies (∼1300) show a Gaussian period distribution well peaked around a mean period of (Pab) = 0.610 ± 0.001 days (σ = 0.03). The Halo RRL (∼15,000) are characterized by a broader period distribution. The fundamental mode RRL in all the dSphs apart from Sagittariusmore » are completely lacking in High Amplitude Short Period (HASP) variables, defined as those having P ≲ 0.48 days and A{sub V} ≥ 0.75 mag. Such variables are not uncommon in the Halo and among the globular clusters and massive dwarf irregulars. To further interpret this evidence, we considered 18 globulars covering a broad range in metallicity (–2.3 ≲ [Fe/H] ≲ –1.1) and hosting more than 35 RRL each. The metallicity turns out to be the main parameter, since only globulars more metal-rich than [Fe/H] ∼ –1.5 host RRL in the HASP region. This finding suggests that dSphs similar to the surviving ones do not appear to be the major building-blocks of the Halo. Leading physical arguments suggest an extreme upper limit of ∼50% to their contribution. On the other hand, massive dwarfs hosting an old population with a broad metallicity distribution (Large Magellanic Cloud, Sagittarius) may have played a primary role in the formation of the Halo.« less

The masses and metallicities of stellar haloes reflect galactic merger histories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Souza, Richard; Bell, Eric F.

2018-03-01

There is increasing observational and theoretical evidence for a correlation between the metallicity and the mass of the stellar halo for galaxies with Milky Way-like stellar masses. Using the Illustris cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, we find that this relationship arises because a single massive progenitor contributes the bulk of the mass to the accreted stellar component as well as sets its metallicity. Moreover, in the Illustris simulations, this relationship extends over 3 orders of magnitude in accreted stellar mass for central galaxies. We show that for Milky Way-like mass galaxies, the scatter in accreted metallicity at a fixed accreted stellar mass encodes information about the stellar mass of the dominant accreted progenitor, while the radial density and metallicity gradients of the accreted stellar component encodes information about the time of accretion of the dominant progenitor. We demonstrate that for Milky Way-like mass galaxies, the Illustris simulations predict that the metallicity and the stellar mass of the total accreted stellar component can be reconstructed from aperture measurements of the stellar halo along the minor axis of edge-on disc galaxies. These correlations highlight the potential for observational studies of stellar haloes to quantify our understanding of the most dominant events in the growth history of galaxies. We explore the implications of our model for our understanding of the accretion histories of the Milky Way, M31, and NGC 5128. In particular, a relatively late and massive accretion is favoured for M31; additionally, we provide a first estimate of the accreted stellar mass for NGC 5128.

The Phase-space Density Distribution of Dark Matter Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Liliya L. R.; Austin, Crystal; Barnes, Eric; Babul, Arif; Dalcanton, Julianne

2004-12-01

High resolution N-body simulations have all but converged on a common empirical form for the shape of the density profiles of halos, but the full understanding of the underlying physics of halo formation has eluded them so far. We investigate the formation and structure of dark matter halos using analytical and semi-analytical techniques. Our halos are formed via an extended secondary infall model (ESIM); they contain secondary perturbations and hence random tangential and ra- dial motions which affect the halo’s evolution at it undergoes shell-crossing and virialization. Even though the density profiles of NFW and ESIM halos are different their phase-space density distributions are the same: ρ σ3 ∝ r α , with α 1 875 over 3 decades in radius. We use two approaches to try to explain this “universal” slope: (1) The Jeans equation analysis yields many insights, however, does not answer why α 1 875. (2) The secondary infall model of the 1960’s £ ¤ and 1970’s, augmented by “thermal motions” of particles does predict that halos should have α 1 875. However, this relies on assumptions of spherical symmetry and slow accretion. While £ ¤ for ESIM halos these assumptions are justified, they most certainly break down for simulated halos which forms hierarchically. We speculate that our argument may apply to an “on-average” formation scenario of halos within merger-driven numerical simulations, and thereby explain why α 1 875 for NFW halos. Thus, ρ σ3 ∝ r 1 875 may be a generic feature of violent relaxation.

Tracing the Metal-poor M31 Stellar Halo with Blue Horizontal Branch Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Benjamin F.; Dalcanton, Julianne J.; Bell, Eric F.; Gilbert, Karoline M.; Guhathakurta, Puragra; Dorman, Claire; Lauer, Tod R.; Seth, Anil C.; Kalirai, Jason S.; Rosenfield, Philip; Girardi, Leo

2015-03-01

We have analyzed new Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Advanced Camera for Surveys and HST/WFC3 imaging in F475W and F814W of two previously unobserved fields along the M31 minor axis to confirm our previous constraints on the shape of M31's inner stellar halo. Both of these new data sets reach a depth of at least F814W <27 and clearly detect the blue horizontal branch (BHB) of the field as a distinct feature of the color-magnitude diagram. We measure the density of BHB stars and the ratio of BHB to red giant branch (RGB) stars in each field using techniques identical to our previous work. We find excellent agreement with our previous measurement of a power law for the 2D projected surface density with an index of 2.6-0.2+0.3 outside of 3 kpc, which flattens to α < 1.2 inside of 3 kpc. Our findings confirm our previous suggestion that the field BHB stars in M31 are part of the halo population. However, the total halo profile is now known to differ from this BHB profile, which suggests that we have isolated the metal-poor component. This component appears to have an unbroken power-law profile from 3-150 kpc but accounts for only about half of the total halo stellar mass. Discrepancies between the BHB density profile and other measurements of the inner halo are therefore likely due to the different profile of the metal-rich halo component, which is not only steeper than the profile of the metal-poor component, but also has a larger core radius. These profile differences also help to explain the large ratio of BHB/RGB stars in our observations.

THE HALO OCCUPATION DISTRIBUTION OF SDSS QUASARS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Richardson, Jonathan; Chatterjee, Suchetana; Nagai, Daisuke

2012-08-10

We present an estimate of the projected two-point correlation function (2PCF) of quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) over the full range of one- and two-halo scales, 0.02 h{sup -1} Mpc < r{sub p} < 120 h{sup -1} Mpc. This was achieved by combining data from SDSS DR7 on large scales and Hennawi et al. (with appropriate statistical corrections) on small scales. Our combined clustering sample is the largest spectroscopic quasar clustering sample to date, containing {approx}48, 000 quasars in the redshift range 0.4 {approx}< z {approx}< 2.5 with median redshift 1.4. We interpret these precise 2PCF measurementsmore » within the halo occupation distribution (HOD) framework and constrain the occupation functions of central and satellite quasars in dark matter halos. In order to explain the small-scale clustering, the HOD modeling requires that a small fraction of z {approx} 1.4 quasars, f{sub sat} = (7.4 {+-} 1.4) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -4}, be satellites in dark matter halos. At z {approx} 1.4, the median masses of the host halos of central and satellite quasars are constrained to be M{sub cen} = 4.1{sup +0.3}{sub -0.4} Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 12} h{sup -1} M{sub Sun} and M{sub sat} = 3.6{sup +0.8}{sub -1.0} Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 14} h{sup -1} M{sub Sun }, respectively. To investigate the redshift evolution of the quasar-halo relationship, we also perform HOD modeling of the projected 2PCF measured by Shen et al. for SDSS quasars with median redshift 3.2. We find tentative evidence for an increase in the mass scale of quasar host halos-the inferred median mass of halos hosting central quasars at z {approx} 3.2 is M{sub cen} = 14.1{sup +5.8}{sub -6.9} Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 12} h{sup -1} M{sub Sun }. The cutoff profiles of the mean occupation functions of central quasars reveal that quasar luminosity is more tightly correlated with halo mass at higher redshifts. The average quasar duty cycle around the median host halo mass is inferred to be f

Linking dwarf galaxies to halo building blocks with the most metal-poor star in Sculptor.

PubMed

Frebel, Anna; Kirby, Evan N; Simon, Joshua D

2010-03-04

Current cosmological models indicate that the Milky Way's stellar halo was assembled from many smaller systems. On the basis of the apparent absence of the most metal-poor stars in present-day dwarf galaxies, recent studies claimed that the true Galactic building blocks must have been vastly different from the surviving dwarfs. The discovery of an extremely iron-poor star (S1020549) in the Sculptor dwarf galaxy based on a medium-resolution spectrum cast some doubt on this conclusion. Verification of the iron-deficiency, however, and measurements of additional elements, such as the alpha-element Mg, are necessary to demonstrate that the same type of stars produced the metals found in dwarf galaxies and the Galactic halo. Only then can dwarf galaxy stars be conclusively linked to early stellar halo assembly. Here we report high-resolution spectroscopic abundances for 11 elements in S1020549, confirming its iron abundance of less than 1/4,000th that of the Sun, and showing that the overall abundance pattern follows that seen in low-metallicity halo stars, including the alpha-elements. Such chemical similarity indicates that the systems destroyed to form the halo billions of years ago were not fundamentally different from the progenitors of present-day dwarfs, and suggests that the early chemical enrichment of all galaxies may be nearly identical.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Model SDSS colors for halo stars (Allende Prieto+, 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allende Prieto, C.; Fernandez-Alvar, E.; Schlesinger, K. J.; Lee, Y. S.; Morrison, H. L.; Schneider, D. P.; Beers, T. C.; Bizyaev, D.; Ebelke, G.; Malanushenko, E.; Oravetz, D.; Pan, K.; Simmons, A.; Simmerer, J.; Sobeck, J.; Robin, A. C.

2014-06-01

We analyze a sample of tens of thousands of spectra of halo turnoff stars, obtained with the optical spectrographs of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), to characterize the stellar halo population "in situ" out to a distance of a few tens of kpc from the Sun. In this paper we describe the derivation of atmospheric parameters. We also derive the overall stellar metallicity distribution based on F-type stars observed as flux calibrators for the Baryonic Oscillations Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Our analysis is based on an automated method that determines the set of parameters of a model atmosphere that best reproduces each observed spectrum. We use an optimization algorithm and evaluate model fluxes by means of interpolation in a pre-computed grid. In our analysis, we account for the spectrograph's varying resolution as a function of fiber and wavelength. Our results for early SDSS (pre-BOSS upgrade) data compare well with those from the SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline (SSPP), except for stars at logg (cgs units) lower than 2.5. An analysis of stars in the globular cluster M13 reveals a dependence of the inferred metallicity on surface gravity for stars with logg<2.5, confirming the systematics identified in the comparison with the SSPP. We find that our metallicity estimates are significantly more precise than the SSPP results. We also find excellent agreement with several independent analyses. We show that the SDSS color criteria for selecting F-type halo turnoff stars as flux calibrators efficiently excludes stars with high metallicities, but does not significantly distort the shape of the metallicity distribution at low metallicity. We obtain a halo metallicity distribution that is narrower and more asymmetric than in previous studies. The lowest gravity stars in our sample, at tens of kpc from the Sun, indicate a shift of the metallicity distribution to lower abundances, consistent with that expected from a dual halo system in the Milky Way. (1 data file).

Beyond assembly bias: exploring secondary halo biases for cluster-size haloes

DOE PAGES

Mao, Yao-Yuan; Zentner, Andrew R.; Wechsler, Risa H.

2017-12-01

Secondary halo bias, commonly known as ‘assembly bias’, is the dependence of halo clustering on a halo property other than mass. This prediction of the Λ Cold Dark Matter cosmology is essential to modelling the galaxy distribution to high precision and interpreting clustering measurements. As the name suggests, different manifestations of secondary halo bias have been thought to originate from halo assembly histories. We show conclusively that this is incorrect for cluster-size haloes. We present an up-to-date summary of secondary halo biases of high-mass haloes due to various halo properties including concentration, spin, several proxies of assembly history, and subhalomore » properties. While concentration, spin, and the abundance and radial distribution of subhaloes exhibit significant secondary biases, properties that directly quantify halo assembly history do not. In fact, the entire assembly histories of haloes in pairs are nearly identical to those of isolated haloes. In general, a global correlation between two halo properties does not predict whether or not these two properties exhibit similar secondary biases. For example, assembly history and concentration (or subhalo abundance) are correlated for both paired and isolated haloes, but follow slightly different conditional distributions in these two cases. Lastly, this results in a secondary halo bias due to concentration (or subhalo abundance), despite the lack of assembly bias in the strict sense for cluster-size haloes. Due to this complexity, caution must be exercised in using any one halo property as a proxy to study the secondary bias due to another property.« less

Beyond assembly bias: exploring secondary halo biases for cluster-size haloes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mao, Yao-Yuan; Zentner, Andrew R.; Wechsler, Risa H.

2018-03-01

Secondary halo bias, commonly known as `assembly bias', is the dependence of halo clustering on a halo property other than mass. This prediction of the Λ Cold Dark Matter cosmology is essential to modelling the galaxy distribution to high precision and interpreting clustering measurements. As the name suggests, different manifestations of secondary halo bias have been thought to originate from halo assembly histories. We show conclusively that this is incorrect for cluster-size haloes. We present an up-to-date summary of secondary halo biases of high-mass haloes due to various halo properties including concentration, spin, several proxies of assembly history, and subhalo properties. While concentration, spin, and the abundance and radial distribution of subhaloes exhibit significant secondary biases, properties that directly quantify halo assembly history do not. In fact, the entire assembly histories of haloes in pairs are nearly identical to those of isolated haloes. In general, a global correlation between two halo properties does not predict whether or not these two properties exhibit similar secondary biases. For example, assembly history and concentration (or subhalo abundance) are correlated for both paired and isolated haloes, but follow slightly different conditional distributions in these two cases. This results in a secondary halo bias due to concentration (or subhalo abundance), despite the lack of assembly bias in the strict sense for cluster-size haloes. Due to this complexity, caution must be exercised in using any one halo property as a proxy to study the secondary bias due to another property.

Beyond assembly bias: exploring secondary halo biases for cluster-size haloes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mao, Yao-Yuan; Zentner, Andrew R.; Wechsler, Risa H.

Secondary halo bias, commonly known as ‘assembly bias’, is the dependence of halo clustering on a halo property other than mass. This prediction of the Λ Cold Dark Matter cosmology is essential to modelling the galaxy distribution to high precision and interpreting clustering measurements. As the name suggests, different manifestations of secondary halo bias have been thought to originate from halo assembly histories. We show conclusively that this is incorrect for cluster-size haloes. We present an up-to-date summary of secondary halo biases of high-mass haloes due to various halo properties including concentration, spin, several proxies of assembly history, and subhalomore » properties. While concentration, spin, and the abundance and radial distribution of subhaloes exhibit significant secondary biases, properties that directly quantify halo assembly history do not. In fact, the entire assembly histories of haloes in pairs are nearly identical to those of isolated haloes. In general, a global correlation between two halo properties does not predict whether or not these two properties exhibit similar secondary biases. For example, assembly history and concentration (or subhalo abundance) are correlated for both paired and isolated haloes, but follow slightly different conditional distributions in these two cases. Lastly, this results in a secondary halo bias due to concentration (or subhalo abundance), despite the lack of assembly bias in the strict sense for cluster-size haloes. Due to this complexity, caution must be exercised in using any one halo property as a proxy to study the secondary bias due to another property.« less

Metallicities and Nucleosynthesis Patterns in Early Generation Halo Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beers, T.

2004-05-01

I review our present knowledge of the Metallicity Distribution Function of stars in the low-metallicity tail of the halo population of the Galaxy, and the variety of observed elemental signatures that might be associated with particular astrophysical origins in the early Universe. Such signatures include stars that exhibit (a) highly and mildly enhanced r-process element ratios, as compared to the solar ratios, (b) highly s-process enriched stars, (c) stars showing large enrichments of both the r- and and s-process elements, and (d) stars that are greatly enhanced in the light element species, such as CNO, and (in some cases) the alpha elements. Because the stars in which these characteristics are observed all have metallicity [Fe/H] ≤ -2.5, they are inferred to have formed no more than 0.5-1 Gyrs after the Big Bang, prior to the final assemblage of the Milky Way. As such, they provide our best available probes of the nature of early element producers, such as Type II SN and hypernovae, as well as binaries that included (now deceased) stars of intermediate (1.5 - 3 Mo) masses. I outline ongoing and future plans for dramatically accelerating the pace of discovery of these rare, but clearly important, objects. Partial support for this work has been received from NSF grants AST 00-98508 and AST 00-98549, and from JINA, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, an NSF Physics Frontier Center.

THE DUAL ORIGIN OF STELLAR HALOS. II. CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES AS TRACERS OF FORMATION HISTORY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zolotov, Adi; Hogg, David W.; Willman, Beth

2010-09-20

Fully cosmological, high-resolution N-body+smooth particle hydrodynamic simulations are used to investigate the chemical abundance trends of stars in simulated stellar halos as a function of their origin. These simulations employ a physically motivated supernova feedback recipe, as well as metal enrichment, metal cooling, and metal diffusion. As presented in an earlier paper, the simulated galaxies in this study are surrounded by stellar halos whose inner regions contain both stars accreted from satellite galaxies and stars formed in situ in the central regions of the main galaxies and later displaced by mergers into their inner halos. The abundance patterns ([Fe/H] andmore » [O/Fe]) of halo stars located within 10 kpc of a solar-like observer are analyzed. We find that for galaxies which have not experienced a recent major merger, in situ stars at the high [Fe/H] end of the metallicity distribution function are more [{alpha}/Fe]-rich than accreted stars at similar [Fe/H]. This dichotomy in the [O/Fe] of halo stars at a given [Fe/H] results from the different potential wells within which in situ and accreted halo stars form. These results qualitatively match recent observations of local Milky Way halo stars. It may thus be possible for observers to uncover the relative contribution of different physical processes to the formation of stellar halos by observing such trends in the halo populations of the Milky Way and other local L{sup *} galaxies.« less

Distribution and Kinematics of O VI in the Galactic Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savage, B. D.; Sembach, K. R.; Wakker, B. P.; Richter, P.; Meade, M.; Jenkins, E. B.; Shull, J. M.; Moos, H. W.; Sonneborn, G.

2003-05-01

Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spectra of 100 extragalactic objects and two distant halo stars are analyzed to obtain measures of O VI λλ1031.93, 1037.62 absorption along paths through the Milky Way thick disk/halo. Strong O VI absorption over the velocity range from -100 to 100 km s-1 reveals a widespread but highly irregular distribution of O VI, implying the existence of substantial amounts of hot gas with T~3×105 K in the Milky Way thick disk/halo. The integrated column density, log[N(O VI) cm-2], ranges from 13.85 to 14.78 with an average value of 14.38 and a standard deviation of 0.18. Large irregularities in the gas distribution are found to be similar over angular scales extending from <1° to 180°, implying a considerable amount of small- and large-scale structure in the absorbing gas. The overall distribution of O VI is not well described by a symmetrical plane-parallel layer of patchy O VI absorption. The simplest departure from such a model that provides a reasonable fit to the observations is a plane-parallel patchy absorbing layer with an average O VI midplane density of n0(O VI)=1.7×10-8 cm-3, a scale height of ~2.3 kpc, and a ~0.25 dex excess of O VI in the northern Galactic polar region. The distribution of O VI over the sky is poorly correlated with other tracers of gas in the halo, including low- and intermediate-velocity H I, Hα emission from the warm ionized gas at ~104 K, and hot X-ray-emitting gas at ~106 K. The O VI has an average velocity dispersion, b~60 km s-1, and standard deviation of 15 km s-1. Thermal broadening alone cannot explain the large observed profile widths. The average O VI absorption velocities toward high-latitude objects (|b|>45deg) range from -46 to 82 km s-1, with a high-latitude sample average of 0 km s-1 and a standard deviation of 21 km s-1. High positive velocity O VI absorbing wings extending from ~100 to ~250 km s-1 observed along 21 lines of sight may be tracing the flow of O VI into the halo

Cosmic stellar relics in the Galactic halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salvadori, Stefania; Schneider, Raffaella; Ferrara, Andrea

2007-10-01

We study the stellar population history and chemical evolution of the Milky Way (MW) in a hierarchical Λ cold dark matter model for structure formation. Using a Monte Carlo method based on the semi-analytical extended Press & Schechter formalism, we develop a new code GALAXY MERGER TREE AND EVOLUTION (GAMETE) to reconstruct the merger tree of the Galaxy and follow the evolution of gas and stars along the hierarchical tree. Our approach allows us to compare the observational properties of the MW with model results, exploring different properties of primordial stars, such as their initial mass function and the critical metallicity for low-mass star formation, Zcr. In particular, by matching our predictions to the metallicity distribution function (MDF) of metal-poor stars in the Galactic halo we find that: (i) a strong supernova (SN) feedback is required to reproduce the observed properties of the MW; (ii) stars with [Fe/H] < -2.5 form in haloes accreting Galactic medium (GM) enriched by earlier SN explosions; (iii) the fiducial model (Zcr = 10-4Zsolar, mPopIII = 200 Msolar) provides an overall good fit to the MDF, but cannot account for the two hyper-metal-poor (HMP) stars with [Fe/H] < -5 the latter can be accommodated if Zcr <= 10-6 Zsolar but such model overpopulates the `metallicity desert', that is, the range -5.3 < [Fe/H] < -4 in which no stars have been detected; (iv) the current non-detection of metal-free stars robustly constrains either Zcr > 0 or the masses of the first stars mPopIII > 0.9 Msolar (v) the statistical impact of truly second-generation stars, that is, stars forming out of gas polluted only by metal-free stars, is negligible in current samples; and (vi) independent of Zcr, 60 per cent of metals in the GM are ejected through winds by haloes with masses M < 6 × 109 Msolar, thus showing that low-mass haloes are the dominant population contributing to cosmic metal enrichment. We discuss the limitations of our study and comparison with previous

Pal 12 - A metal-rich globular cluster in the outer halo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cohen, J. G.; Frogel, J. A.; Persson, S. E.; Zinn, R.

1980-01-01

New optical and infrared observations of several stars in the distant globular cluster Pal 12 show that they have CO strengths and heavy element abundances only slightly less than in M 71, one of the more metal-rich globular clusters. Pal 12 thus has a metal abundance near the high end of the range over which globular clusters exist and lies in the outer galactic halo. Its red horizontal branch is not anomalous in view of the abundance that has been found.

Revised Model of the Steady-state Solar Wind Halo Electron Velocity Distribution Function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Peter H.; Kim, Sunjung; Choe, G. S.; moon, Y.-J.

2016-08-01

A recent study discussed the steady-state model for solar wind electrons during quiet time conditions. The electrons emanating from the Sun are treated in a composite three-population model—the low-energy Maxwellian core with an energy range of tens of eV, the intermediate ˜102-103 eV energy-range (“halo”) electrons, and the high ˜103-105 eV energy-range (“super-halo”) electrons. In the model, the intermediate energy halo electrons are assumed to be in resonance with transverse EM fluctuations in the whistler frequency range (˜102 Hz), while the high-energy super-halo electrons are presumed to be in steady-state wave-particle resonance with higher-frequency electrostatic fluctuations in the Langmuir frequency range (˜105 Hz). A comparison with STEREO and WIND spacecraft data was also made. However, ignoring the influence of Langmuir fluctuations on the halo population turns out to be an unjustifiable assumption. The present paper rectifies the previous approach by including both Langmuir and whistler fluctuations in the construction of the steady-state velocity distribution function for the halo population, and demonstrates that the role of whistler-range fluctuation is minimal unless the fluctuation intensity is arbitrarily raised. This implies that the Langmuir-range fluctuations, known as the quasi thermal noise, are important for both halo and super-halo electron velocity distribution.

HaloSat - A CubeSat to Study the Hot Galactic Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaaret, Philip

2017-01-01

Observations of the nearby universe fail to locate about half of the baryons observed in the early universe. The missing baryons may be in hot galactic halos. HaloSat is a CubeSat designed to map oxygen line emission (O VII and O VIII) around the Milky Way in order to constrain the mass and spatial distribution of hot gas in the halo. HaloSat has a grasp competitive with current X-ray observatories. Its observing program will be optimized to minimize contributions from solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) emission that limit the accuracy of current measurements. We will describe the HaloSat mission concept, progress towards its implementation, and plans for archiving and distribution of the data.

Modelling galaxy clustering: halo occupation distribution versus subhalo matching.

PubMed

Guo, Hong; Zheng, Zheng; Behroozi, Peter S; Zehavi, Idit; Chuang, Chia-Hsun; Comparat, Johan; Favole, Ginevra; Gottloeber, Stefan; Klypin, Anatoly; Prada, Francisco; Rodríguez-Torres, Sergio A; Weinberg, David H; Yepes, Gustavo

2016-07-01

We model the luminosity-dependent projected and redshift-space two-point correlation functions (2PCFs) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 Main galaxy sample, using the halo occupation distribution (HOD) model and the subhalo abundance matching (SHAM) model and its extension. All the models are built on the same high-resolution N -body simulations. We find that the HOD model generally provides the best performance in reproducing the clustering measurements in both projected and redshift spaces. The SHAM model with the same halo-galaxy relation for central and satellite galaxies (or distinct haloes and subhaloes), when including scatters, has a best-fitting χ 2 /dof around 2-3. We therefore extend the SHAM model to the subhalo clustering and abundance matching (SCAM) by allowing the central and satellite galaxies to have different galaxy-halo relations. We infer the corresponding halo/subhalo parameters by jointly fitting the galaxy 2PCFs and abundances and consider subhaloes selected based on three properties, the mass M acc at the time of accretion, the maximum circular velocity V acc at the time of accretion, and the peak maximum circular velocity V peak over the history of the subhaloes. The three subhalo models work well for luminous galaxy samples (with luminosity above L * ). For low-luminosity samples, the V acc model stands out in reproducing the data, with the V peak model slightly worse, while the M acc model fails to fit the data. We discuss the implications of the modelling results.

Baryonic distributions in galaxy dark matter haloes - II. Final results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richards, Emily E.; van Zee, L.; Barnes, K. L.; Staudaher, S.; Dale, D. A.; Braun, T. T.; Wavle, D. C.; Dalcanton, J. J.; Bullock, J. S.; Chandar, R.

2018-06-01

Re-creating the observed diversity in the organization of baryonic mass within dark matter haloes represents a key challenge for galaxy formation models. To address the growth of galaxy discs in dark matter haloes, we have constrained the distribution of baryonic and non-baryonic matter in a statistically representative sample of 44 nearby galaxies defined from the Extended Disk Galaxy Exploration Science (EDGES) Survey. The gravitational potentials of each galaxy are traced using rotation curves derived from new and archival radio synthesis observations of neutral hydrogen (H I). The measured rotation curves are decomposed into baryonic and dark matter halo components using 3.6 μm images for the stellar content, the H I observations for the atomic gas component, and, when available, CO data from the literature for the molecular gas component. The H I kinematics are supplemented with optical integral field spectroscopic (IFS) observations to measure the central ionized gas kinematics in 26 galaxies, including 13 galaxies that are presented for the first time in this paper. Distributions of baryonic-to-total mass ratios are determined from the rotation curve decompositions under different assumptions about the contribution of the stellar component and are compared to global and radial properties of the dominant stellar populations extracted from optical and near-infrared photometry. Galaxies are grouped into clusters of similar baryonic-to-total mass distributions to examine whether they also exhibit similar star and gas properties. The radial distribution of baryonic-to-total mass in a galaxy does not appear to correlate with any characteristics of its star formation history.

Chemical trends in the Galactic halo from APOGEE data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández-Alvar, E.; Carigi, L.; Allende Prieto, C.; Hayden, M. R.; Beers, T. C.; Fernández-Trincado, J. G.; Meza, A.; Schultheis, M.; Santiago, B. X.; Queiroz, A. B.; Anders, F.; da Costa, L. N.; Chiappini, C.

2017-02-01

The galaxy formation process in the Λ cold dark matter scenario can be constrained from the analysis of stars in the Milky Way's halo system. We examine the variation of chemical abundances in distant halo stars observed by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), as a function of distance from the Galactic Centre (r) and iron abundance ([M/H]), in the range 5 ≲ r ≲ 30 kpc and -2.5 < [M/H] < 0.0. We perform a statistical analysis of the abundance ratios derived by the APOGEE pipeline (ASPCAP) and distances calculated by several approaches. Our analysis reveals signatures of a different chemical enrichment between the inner and outer regions of the halo, with a transition at about 15 kpc. The derived metallicity distribution function exhibits two peaks, at [M/H] ˜ -1.5 and ˜-2.1, consistent with previously reported halo metallicity distributions. We obtain a difference of ˜0.1 dex for α-element-to-iron ratios for stars at r > 15 kpc and [M/H] > -1.1 (larger in the case of O, Mg, and S) with respect to the nearest halo stars. This result confirms previous claims for low-α stars found at larger distances. Chemical differences in elements with other nucleosynthetic origins (Ni, K, Na, and Al) are also detected. C and N do not provide reliable information about the interstellar medium from which stars formed because our sample comprises red giant branch and asymptotic giant branch stars and can experience mixing of material to their surfaces.

REVISED MODEL OF THE STEADY-STATE SOLAR WIND HALO ELECTRON VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yoon, Peter H.; Kim, Sunjung; Choe, G. S.

2016-08-01

A recent study discussed the steady-state model for solar wind electrons during quiet time conditions. The electrons emanating from the Sun are treated in a composite three-population model—the low-energy Maxwellian core with an energy range of tens of eV, the intermediate ∼10{sup 2}–10{sup 3} eV energy-range (“halo”) electrons, and the high ∼10{sup 3}–10{sup 5} eV energy-range (“super-halo”) electrons. In the model, the intermediate energy halo electrons are assumed to be in resonance with transverse EM fluctuations in the whistler frequency range (∼10{sup 2} Hz), while the high-energy super-halo electrons are presumed to be in steady-state wave–particle resonance with higher-frequency electrostaticmore » fluctuations in the Langmuir frequency range (∼10{sup 5} Hz). A comparison with STEREO and WIND spacecraft data was also made. However, ignoring the influence of Langmuir fluctuations on the halo population turns out to be an unjustifiable assumption. The present paper rectifies the previous approach by including both Langmuir and whistler fluctuations in the construction of the steady-state velocity distribution function for the halo population, and demonstrates that the role of whistler-range fluctuation is minimal unless the fluctuation intensity is arbitrarily raised. This implies that the Langmuir-range fluctuations, known as the quasi thermal noise, are important for both halo and super-halo electron velocity distribution.« less

Explaining the Ba, Y, Sr, and Eu abundance scatter in metal-poor halo stars: constraints to the r-process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cescutti, G.; Chiappini, C.

2014-05-01

Context. Thanks to the heroic observational campaigns carried out in recent years we now have large samples of metal-poor stars for which measurements of detailed abundances exist. In particular, large samples of stars with metallicities -5 < [Fe/H] <-1 and measured abundances of Sr, Ba, Y, and Eu are now available. These data hold important clues on the nature of the contribution of the first stellar generations to the enrichment of our Galaxy. Aims: We aim to explain the scatter in Sr, Ba, Y, and Eu abundance ratio diagrams unveiled by the metal-poor halo stars. Methods: We computed inhomogeneous chemical evolution models for the Galactic halo assuming different scenarios for the r-process site: the electron-capture (EC) supernovae and the magnetorotationally driven (MRD) supernovae scenarios. We also considered models with and without the contribution of fast-rotating massive stars (spinstars) to an early enrichment by the s-process. A detailed comparison with the now large sample of stars with measured abundances of Sr, Ba, Y, Eu, and Fe is provided (both in terms of scatter plots and number distributions for several abundance ratios). Results: The scatter observed in these abundance ratios of the very metal-poor stars (with [Fe/H] <-2.5) can be explained by combining the s-process production in spinstars, and the r-process contribution coming from massive stars. For the r-process we have developed models for both the EC and the MRD scenarios that match the observations. Conclusions: With the present observational and theoretical constraints we cannot distinguish between the EC and the MRD scenarios in the Galactic halo. Independently of the r-process scenarios adopted, the production of elements by an s-process in spinstars is needed to reproduce the spread in abundances of the light neutron capture elements (Sr and Y) over heavy neutron capture elements (Ba and Eu). We provide a way to test our suggestions by means of the distribution of the Ba isotopic

THE DOMINANCE OF METAL-RICH STREAMS IN STELLAR HALOS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN SUBSTRUCTURE IN M31 AND {lambda}CDM MODELS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gilbert, Karoline M.; Font, Andreea S.; Johnston, Kathryn V.

2009-08-10

Extensive photometric and spectroscopic surveys of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) have discovered tidal debris features throughout M31's stellar halo. We present stellar kinematics and metallicities in fields with identified substructure from our on-going SPLASH survey of M31 red giant branch stars with the DEIMOS spectrograph on the Keck II 10 m telescope. Radial velocity criteria are used to isolate members of the kinematically cold substructures. The substructures are shown to be metal-rich relative to the rest of the dynamically hot stellar population in the fields in which they are found. We calculate the mean metallicity and average surface brightness ofmore » the various kinematical components in each field, and show that, on average, higher surface brightness features tend to be more metal-rich than lower surface brightness features. Simulations of stellar halo formation via accretion in a cosmological context are used to illustrate that the observed trend can be explained as a natural consequence of the observed dwarf galaxy mass-metallicity relation. A significant spread in metallicity at a given surface brightness is seen in the data; we show that this is due to time effects, namely, the variation in the time since accretion of the tidal streams' progenitor onto the host halo. We show that in this theoretical framework a relationship between the alpha-enhancement and surface brightness of tidal streams is expected, which arises from the varying times of accretion of the progenitor satellites onto the host halo. Thus, measurements of the alpha-enrichment, metallicity, and surface brightness of tidal debris can be used to reconstruct the luminosity and time of accretion onto the host halo of the progenitors of tidal streams.« less

Halo Formation During Solidification of Refractory Metal Aluminide Ternary Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Souza, N.; Feitosa, L. M.; West, G. D.; Dong, H. B.

2018-02-01

The evolution of eutectic morphologies following primary solidification has been studied in the refractory metal aluminide (Ta-Al-Fe, Nb-Al-Co, and Nb-Al-Fe) ternary systems. The undercooling accompanying solid growth, as related to the extended solute solubility in the primary and secondary phases can be used to account for the evolution of phase morphologies during ternary eutectic solidification. For small undercooling, the conditions of interfacial equilibrium remain valid, while in the case of significant undercooling when nucleation constraints occur, there is a departure from equilibrium leading to unexpected phases. In Ta-Al-Fe, an extended solubility of Fe in σ was observed, which was consistent with the formation of a halo of μ phase on primary σ. In Nb-Al-Co, a halo of C14 is formed on primary CoAl, but very limited vice versa. However, in the absence of a solidus projection it was not possible to definitively determine the extended solute solubility in the primary phase. In Nb-Al-Fe when nucleation constraints arise, the inability to initiate coupled growth of NbAl3 + C14 leads to the occurrence of a two-phase halo of C14 + Nb2Al, indicating a large undercooling and departure from equilibrium.

Kinematics of Metal-poor Stars in the Galaxy. III. Formation of the Stellar Halo and Thick Disk as Revealed from a Large Sample of Nonkinematically Selected Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiba, Masashi; Beers, Timothy C.

2000-06-01

We present a detailed analysis of the space motions of 1203 solar-neighborhood stars with metal abundances [Fe/H]<=-0.6, on the basis of a catalog, of metal-poor stars selected without kinematic bias recently revised and supplemented by Beers et al. This sample, having available proper motions, radial velocities, and distance estimates for stars with a wide range of metal abundances, is by far the largest such catalog to be assembled to date. We show that the stars in our sample with [Fe/H]<=-2.2, which likely represent a ``pure'' halo component, are characterized by a radially elongated velocity ellipsoid (σU,σV,σW)=(141+/-11, 106+/-9, 94+/-8) km s-1 and small prograde rotation =30 to 50 km s-1, consistent with previous analysis of this sample by Beers and Sommer-Larsen based on radial velocity information alone. In contrast to the previous analysis, we find a decrease in with increasing distance from the Galactic plane for stars that are likely to be members of the halo population (Δ/Δ|Z|=-52+/-6 km s-1 kpc-1), which may represent the signature of a dissipatively formed flattened inner halo. Unlike essentially all previous kinematically selected catalogs, the metal-poor stars in our sample exhibit a diverse distribution of orbital eccentricities, e, with no apparent correlation between [Fe/H] and e. This demonstrates, clearly and convincingly, that the evidence offered in 1962 by Eggen, Lynden-Bell, & Sandage for a rapid collapse of the Galaxy, an apparent correlation between the orbital eccentricity of halo stars with metallicity, is basically the result of their proper-motion selection bias. However, even in our nonkinematically selected sample, we have identified a small concentration of high-e stars at [Fe/H]~-1.7, which may originate, in part, from infalling gas during the early formation of the Galaxy. We find no evidence for an additional thick disk component for stellar abundances [Fe/H]<=-2.2. The kinematics of the intermediate

Kinematics of metal-poor giants in an inner-halo field, with implications for disk formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morrison, Heather L.

1993-01-01

A sample of approximately 100 predominantly metal-weak giants, identified in a high-latitude field towards the galactic center using an automated objective-prism survey technique, is presented. Abundances and radial velocities have been measured for these giants, whose distances from the Sun range from 1 to 18 kpc. While the extremely metal-weak stars in the field have halo kinematics, the majority of the stars with intermediate abundance have thick disk kinematics, despite the fact that their average distance from the galactic plane is 3 kpc. The most satisfactory explanation for this effect is that the inner halo is moderately flattened, and the metal-weak stars of the thick disk have a scale height of about 2 kpc. It is suggested that the thick disk may have formed in a dissipational collapse, rather than in a separate event such as the accretion of a small satellite galaxy.

A Wide-Field Photometric Survey for Extratidal Tails Around Five Metal-Poor Globular Clusters in the Galactic Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chun, Sang-Hyun; Kim, Jae-Woo; Sohn, Sangmo T.; Park, Jang-Hyun; Han, Wonyong; Kim, Ho-Il; Lee, Young-Wook; Lee, Myung Gyoon; Lee, Sang-Gak; Sohn, Young-Jong

2010-02-01

Wide-field deep g'r'i' images obtained with the Megacam of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope are used to investigate the spatial configuration of stars around five metal-poor globular clusters M15, M30, M53, NGC 5053, and NGC 5466, in a field-of-view ~3°. Applying a mask filtering algorithm to the color-magnitude diagrams of the observed stars, we sorted cluster's member star candidates that are used to examine the characteristics of the spatial stellar distribution surrounding the target clusters. The smoothed surface density maps and the overlaid isodensity contours indicate that all of the five metal-poor globular clusters exhibit strong evidence of extratidal overdensity features over their tidal radii, in the form of extended tidal tails around the clusters. The orientations of the observed extratidal features show signatures of tidal tails tracing the clusters' orbits, inferred from their proper motions, and effects of dynamical interactions with the Galaxy. Our findings include detections of a tidal bridge-like feature and an envelope structure around the pair of globular clusters M53 and NGC 5053. The observed radial surface density profiles of target clusters have a deviation from theoretical King models, for which the profiles show a break at 0.5-0.7rt , extending the overdensity features out to 1.5-2rt . Both radial surface density profiles for different angular sections and azimuthal number density profiles confirm the overdensity features of tidal tails around the five metal-poor globular clusters. Our results add further observational evidence that the observed metal-poor halo globular clusters originate from an accreted satellite system, indicative of the merging scenario of the formation of the Galactic halo. Based on observations carried out at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, operated by the National Research Council of Canada, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique de France, and the University of Hawaii. This is part of the

Formation of the Galactic Stellar Halo: Origin of the Metallicity-Eccentricity Relation.

PubMed

Bekki; Chiba

2000-05-01

Motivated by the recently improved knowledge on the kinematic and chemical properties of the Galactic metal-poor stars, we present the numerical simulation for the formation of the Galactic stellar halo to interpret the observational results. As a model for the Galaxy contraction, we adopt the currently standard theory of galaxy formation based on the hierarchical assembly of the cold dark matter fluctuations. We find, for the simulated stars with &sqbl0;Fe&solm0;H&sqbr0;metal abundances and orbital eccentricities, in good agreement with the observations. Moreover, the observed fraction of the low-eccentricity stars is reproduced correctly for &sqbl0;Fe&solm0;H&sqbr0;halo is a natural consequence of the hierarchical evolution of the subgalactic clumps seeded from the cold dark matter density fluctuations.

Carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars: CEMP-s and CEMP-no subclasses in the halo system of the Milky Way

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carollo, Daniela; Freeman, Ken; Beers, Timothy C.

2014-06-20

We explore the kinematics and orbital properties of a sample of 323 very metal-poor stars in the halo system of the Milky Way, selected from the high-resolution spectroscopic follow-up studies of Aoki et al. and Yong et al. The combined sample contains a significant fraction of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars (22% or 29%, depending on whether a strict or relaxed criterion is applied for this definition). Barium abundances (or upper limits) are available for the great majority of the CEMP stars, allowing for their separation into the CEMP-s and CEMP-no subclasses. A new method to assign membership to the inner-more » and outer-halo populations of the Milky Way is developed, making use of the integrals of motion, and applied to determine the relative fractions of CEMP stars in these two subclasses for each halo component. Although limited by small-number statistics, the data suggest that the inner halo of the Milky Way exhibits a somewhat higher relative number of CEMP-s stars than CEMP-no stars (57% versus 43%), while the outer halo possesses a clearly higher fraction of CEMP-no stars than CEMP-s stars (70% versus 30%). Although larger samples of CEMP stars with known Ba abundances are required, this result suggests that the dominant progenitors of CEMP stars in the two halo components were different; massive stars for the outer halo, and intermediate-mass stars in the case of the inner halo.« less

Distribution and Characteristics of Boulder Halos at High Latitudes on Mars: Ground Ice and Surface Processes Drive Surface Reworking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levy, J. S.; Fassett, C. I.; Rader, L. X.; King, I. R.; Chaffey, P. M.; Wagoner, C. M.; Hanlon, A. E.; Watters, J. L.; Kreslavsky, M. A.; Holt, J. W.; Russell, A. T.; Dyar, M. D.

2018-02-01

Boulder halos are circular arrangements of clasts present at Martian middle to high latitudes. Boulder halos are thought to result from impacts into a boulder-poor surficial unit that is rich in ground ice and/or sediments and that is underlain by a competent substrate. In this model, boulders are excavated by impacts and remain at the surface as the crater degrades. To determine the distribution of boulder halos and to evaluate mechanisms for their formation, we searched for boulder halos over 4,188 High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment images located between 50-80° north and 50-80° south latitude. We evaluate geological and climatological parameters at halo sites. Boulder halos are about three times more common in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere (19% versus 6% of images) and have size-frequency distributions suggesting recent Amazonian formation (tens to hundreds of millions of years). In the north, boulder halo sites are characterized by abundant shallow subsurface ice and high thermal inertia. Spatial patterns of halo distribution indicate that excavation of boulders from beneath nonboulder-bearing substrates is necessary for the formation of boulder halos, but that alone is not sufficient. Rather, surface processes either promote boulder halo preservation in the north or destroy boulder halos in the south. Notably, boulder halos predate the most recent period of near-surface ice emplacement on Mars and persist at the surface atop mobile regolith. The lifetime of observed boulders at the Martian surface is greater than the lifetime of the craters that excavated them. Finally, larger minimum boulder halo sizes in the north indicate thicker icy soil layers on average throughout climate variations driven by spin/orbit changes during the last tens to hundreds of millions of years.

Exploring the squeezed three-point galaxy correlation function with generalized halo occupation distribution models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Sihan; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Garrison, Lehman H.

2018-04-01

We present the GeneRalized ANd Differentiable Halo Occupation Distribution (GRAND-HOD) routine that generalizes the standard 5 parameter halo occupation distribution model (HOD) with various halo-scale physics and assembly bias. We describe the methodology of 4 different generalizations: satellite distribution generalization, velocity bias, closest approach distance generalization, and assembly bias. We showcase the signatures of these generalizations in the 2-point correlation function (2PCF) and the squeezed 3-point correlation function (squeezed 3PCF). We identify generalized HOD prescriptions that are nearly degenerate in the projected 2PCF and demonstrate that these degeneracies are broken in the redshift-space anisotropic 2PCF and the squeezed 3PCF. We also discuss the possibility of identifying degeneracies in the anisotropic 2PCF and further demonstrate the extra constraining power of the squeezed 3PCF on galaxy-halo connection models. We find that within our current HOD framework, the anisotropic 2PCF can predict the squeezed 3PCF better than its statistical error. This implies that a discordant squeezed 3PCF measurement could falsify the particular HOD model space. Alternatively, it is possible that further generalizations of the HOD model would open opportunities for the squeezed 3PCF to provide novel parameter measurements. The GRAND-HOD Python package is publicly available at https://github.com/SandyYuan/GRAND-HOD.

Neutron-Capture Elements in Very Metal-Poor Halo Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

French, R. S.; Sneden, C.; Cowan, J. J.; Lawler, J. E.; Primas, F.; Beers, T. C.; Truran, J. W.

2000-05-01

Abundances of the most massive stable elements (Os -> Pb or 76 <= Z <= 82) in metal-poor stars can provide crucial information about the so-called ``third neutron-capture peak,'' and are critical to the radioactive-dating technique that uses unstable thorium and uranium as chronometers. As the relevant transitions occur in the UV and are inaccessable to ground-based telescopes, we have obtained high resolution (R ~= 30,000) UV spectra of 10 very metal-poor (--3.0 <= [Fe/H] <= --1.4) halo giants using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. Using iterative spectrum synthesis techniques, we derive abundances for some of these heavy elements. We compare our abundances to those predicted for very metal-poor stars based on a scaled solar system rapid-process (production in rapid neutron-capture synthesis events, such as occurs during supernovae explosions). This research is supported by NASA STScI grant GO-08342 and NSF grants AST-9618364 to C.S. and AST-9618332 to J.J.C.

The slight spin of the old stellar halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deason, Alis J.; Belokurov, Vasily; Koposov, Sergey E.; Gómez, Facundo A.; Grand, Robert J.; Marinacci, Federico; Pakmor, Rüdiger

2017-09-01

We combine Gaia data release 1 astrometry with Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) images taken some ˜10-15 years earlier, to measure proper motions of stars in the halo of our Galaxy. The SDSS-Gaia proper motions have typical statistical errors of 2 mas yr-1 down to r ˜ 20 mag, and are robust to variations with magnitude and colour. Armed with this exquisite set of halo proper motions, we identify RR Lyrae, blue horizontal branch (BHB), and K giant stars in the halo, and measure their net rotation with respect to the Galactic disc. We find evidence for a gently rotating prograde signal (〈Vϕ〉 ˜ 5-25 km s-1) in the halo stars, which shows little variation with Galactocentric radius out to 50 kpc. The average rotation signal for the three populations is 〈Vϕ〉 = 14 ± 2 ± 10 (syst.) km s-1. There is also tentative evidence for a kinematic correlation with metallicity, whereby the metal richer BHB and K giant stars have slightly stronger prograde rotation than the metal poorer stars. Using the Auriga simulation suite, we find that the old (T >10 Gyr) stars in the simulated haloes exhibit mild prograde rotation, with little dependence on radius or metallicity, in general agreement with the observations. The weak halo rotation suggests that the Milky Way has a minor in situ halo component, and has undergone a relatively quiet accretion history.

Diverse stellar haloes in nearby Milky Way mass disc galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harmsen, Benjamin; Monachesi, Antonela; Bell, Eric F.; de Jong, Roelof S.; Bailin, Jeremy; Radburn-Smith, David J.; Holwerda, Benne W.

2017-04-01

We have examined the resolved stellar populations at large galactocentric distances along the minor axis (from 10 kpc up to between 40 and 75 kpc), with limited major axis coverage, of six nearby highly inclined Milky Way (MW) mass disc galaxies using Hubble Space Telescope data from the Galaxy haloes, Outer discs, Substructure, Thick discs, and Star clusters (GHOSTS) survey. We select red giant branch stars to derive stellar halo density profiles. The projected minor axis density profiles can be approximated by power laws with projected slopes of -2 to -3.7 and a diversity of stellar halo masses of 1-6 × 109 M⊙, or 2-14 per cent of the total galaxy stellar masses. The typical intrinsic scatter around a smooth power-law fit is 0.05-0.1 dex owing to substructure. By comparing the minor and major axis profiles, we infer projected axis ratios c/a at ˜25 kpc between 0.4and0.75. The GHOSTS stellar haloes are diverse, lying between the extremes charted out by the (rather atypical) haloes of the MW and M31. We find a strong correlation between the stellar halo metallicities and the stellar halo masses. We compare our results with cosmological models, finding good agreement between our observations and accretion-only models where the stellar haloes are formed by the disruption of dwarf satellites. In particular, the strong observed correlation between stellar halo metallicity and mass is naturally reproduced. Low-resolution hydrodynamical models have unrealistically high stellar halo masses. Current high-resolution hydrodynamical models appear to predict stellar halo masses somewhat higher than observed but with reasonable metallicities, metallicity gradients, and density profiles.

Velocity bias in the distribution of dark matter halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldauf, Tobias; Desjacques, Vincent; Seljak, Uroš

2015-12-01

The standard formalism for the coevolution of halos and dark matter predicts that any initial halo velocity bias rapidly decays to zero. We argue that, when the purpose is to compute statistics like power spectra etc., the coupling in the momentum conservation equation for the biased tracers must be modified. Our new formulation predicts the constancy in time of any statistical halo velocity bias present in the initial conditions, in agreement with peak theory. We test this prediction by studying the evolution of a conserved halo population in N -body simulations. We establish that the initial simulated halo density and velocity statistics show distinct features of the peak model and, thus, deviate from the simple local Lagrangian bias. We demonstrate, for the first time, that the time evolution of their velocity is in tension with the rapid decay expected in the standard approach.

Haloes gone MAD: The Halo-Finder Comparison Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knebe, Alexander; Knollmann, Steffen R.; Muldrew, Stuart I.; Pearce, Frazer R.; Aragon-Calvo, Miguel Angel; Ascasibar, Yago; Behroozi, Peter S.; Ceverino, Daniel; Colombi, Stephane; Diemand, Juerg; Dolag, Klaus; Falck, Bridget L.; Fasel, Patricia; Gardner, Jeff; Gottlöber, Stefan; Hsu, Chung-Hsing; Iannuzzi, Francesca; Klypin, Anatoly; Lukić, Zarija; Maciejewski, Michal; McBride, Cameron; Neyrinck, Mark C.; Planelles, Susana; Potter, Doug; Quilis, Vicent; Rasera, Yann; Read, Justin I.; Ricker, Paul M.; Roy, Fabrice; Springel, Volker; Stadel, Joachim; Stinson, Greg; Sutter, P. M.; Turchaninov, Victor; Tweed, Dylan; Yepes, Gustavo; Zemp, Marcel

2011-08-01

We present a detailed comparison of fundamental dark matter halo properties retrieved by a substantial number of different halo finders. These codes span a wide range of techniques including friends-of-friends, spherical-overdensity and phase-space-based algorithms. We further introduce a robust (and publicly available) suite of test scenarios that allow halo finder developers to compare the performance of their codes against those presented here. This set includes mock haloes containing various levels and distributions of substructure at a range of resolutions as well as a cosmological simulation of the large-scale structure of the universe. All the halo-finding codes tested could successfully recover the spatial location of our mock haloes. They further returned lists of particles (potentially) belonging to the object that led to coinciding values for the maximum of the circular velocity profile and the radius where it is reached. All the finders based in configuration space struggled to recover substructure that was located close to the centre of the host halo, and the radial dependence of the mass recovered varies from finder to finder. Those finders based in phase space could resolve central substructure although they found difficulties in accurately recovering its properties. Through a resolution study we found that most of the finders could not reliably recover substructure containing fewer than 30-40 particles. However, also here the phase-space finders excelled by resolving substructure down to 10-20 particles. By comparing the halo finders using a high-resolution cosmological volume, we found that they agree remarkably well on fundamental properties of astrophysical significance (e.g. mass, position, velocity and peak of the rotation curve). We further suggest to utilize the peak of the rotation curve, vmax, as a proxy for mass, given the arbitrariness in defining a proper halo edge. Airport code for Madrid, Spain

X-ray detection of warm ionized matter in the Galactic halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicastro, F.; Senatore, F.; Gupta, A.; Guainazzi, M.; Mathur, S.; Krongold, Y.; Elvis, M.; Piro, L.

2016-03-01

We report on a systematic investigation of the cold and mildly ionized gaseous baryonic metal components of our Galaxy, through the analysis of high-resolution Chandra and XMM-Newton spectra of two samples of Galactic and extragalactic sources. The comparison between lines of sight towards sources located in the disc of our Galaxy and extragalactic sources allows us for the first time to clearly distinguish between gaseous metal components in the disc and halo of our Galaxy. We find that a warm ionized metal medium (WIMM) permeates a large volume above and below the Galaxy's disc, perhaps up to the circum-galactic space. This halo WIMM imprints virtually the totality of the O I and O II absorption seen in the spectra of our extragalactic targets, has a temperature of T_{WIMM}^{Halo}=2900 ± 900 K, a density < n_H > _{WIMM}^{Halo} = 0.023 ± 0.009 cm-3 and a metallicity Z_{WIMM}^{Halo} = (0.4 ± 0.1) Z⊙. Consistently with previous works, we also confirm that the disc of the Galaxy contains at least two distinct gaseous metal components, one cold and neutral (the CNMM: cold neutral metal medium) and one warm and mildly ionized, with the same temperature of the halo WIMM, but higher density (< n_H > _{WIMM}^{Disc} = 0.09 ± 0.03 cm-3) and metallicity (Z_{WIMM}^{Disc} = 0.8 ± 0.1 Z⊙). By adopting a simple disc+sphere geometry for the Galaxy, we estimate masses of the CNMM and the total (disc + halo) WIMM of MCNMM ≲ 8 × 108 M⊙ and MWIMM ≃ 8.2 × 109 M⊙.

The Mass and Absorption Columns of Galactic Gaseous Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Zhijie; Bregman, Joel N.

2018-03-01

The galactic gaseous halo is a gas reservoir for the interstellar medium in the galaxy disk, supplying materials for star formation. We developed a gaseous halo model connecting the galaxy disk and the gaseous halo by assuming that the star formation rate on the disk is balanced by the radiative cooling rate of the gaseous halo, including stellar feedback. In addition to a single-temperature gaseous halo in collisional ionization equilibrium, we also consider the photoionization effect and a steady-state cooling model. Photoionization is important for modifying the ion distribution in low-mass galaxies and in the outskirts of massive galaxies due to the low densities. The multiphase cooling model dominates the region within the cooling radius, where t cooling = t Hubble. Our model reproduces most of the observed high ionization state ions for a wide range of galaxy masses (i.e., O VI, O VII, Ne VIII, Mg X, and O VIII). We find that the O VI column density has a narrow range around ≈1014 cm‑2 for halo masses from M ⋆ ≈ 3 × 1010 M ⊙ to 6 × 1012 M ⊙, which is consistent with some but not all observational studies. For galaxies with halo masses ≲3 × 1011 M ⊙, photoionization produces most of the O VI, while for more massive galaxies, the O VI is from the medium that is cooling from higher temperatures. Fitting the Galactic (Milky-Way) O VII and O VIII suggests a gaseous halo model where the metallicity is ≈0.55 Z ⊙ and the gaseous halo has a maximum temperature of ≈1.9 × 106 K. This gaseous halo model does not close the census of baryonic material within R 200.

The Milky Way Halo in Action Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myeong, G. C.; Evans, N. W.; Belokurov, V.; Sanders, J. L.; Koposov, S. E.

2018-04-01

We analyze the structure of the local stellar halo of the Milky Way using ∼60000 stars with full phase space coordinates extracted from the SDSS–Gaia catalog. We display stars in action space as a function of metallicity in a realistic axisymmetric potential for the Milky Way Galaxy. The metal-rich population is more distended toward high radial action J R as compared to azimuthal or vertical action, J ϕ or J z . It has a mild prograde rotation (< {v}φ > ≈ 25 {km} {{{s}}}-1), is radially anisotropic and highly flattened, with axis ratio q ≈ 0.6–0.7. The metal-poor population is more evenly distributed in all three actions. It has larger prograde rotation (< {v}φ > ≈ 50 {km} {{{s}}}-1), a mild radial anisotropy, and a roundish morphology (q ≈ 0.9). We identify two further components of the halo in action space. There is a high-energy, retrograde component that is only present in the metal-rich stars. This is suggestive of an origin in a retrograde encounter, possibly the one that created the stripped dwarf galaxy nucleus, ωCentauri. Also visible as a distinct entity in action space is a resonant component, which is flattened and prograde. It extends over a range of metallicities down to [Fe/H] ≈ ‑3. It has a net outward radial velocity < {v}R> ≈ 12 {km} {{{s}}}-1 within the solar circle at | z| < 3.5 {kpc}. The existence of resonant stars at such extremely low metallicities has not been seen before.

A budget and accounting of metals at z ∼ 0: Results from the COS-Halos survey

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peeples, Molly S.; Werk, Jessica K.; Prochaska, J. Xavier

2014-05-01

We present a budget and accounting of metals in and around star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 0. We combine empirically derived star formation histories with updated supernova and asymptotic giant branch yields and rates to estimate the total mass of metals produced by galaxies with present-day stellar mass of 10{sup 9.3}-10{sup 11.6} M{sub ☉}. On the accounting side of the ledger, we show that a surprisingly constant 20%-25% mass fraction of produced metals remain in galaxies' stars, interstellar gas and interstellar dust, with little dependence of this fraction on the galaxy stellar mass (omitting those metals immediately locked up inmore » remnants). Thus, the bulk of metals are outside of galaxies, produced in the progenitors of today's L* galaxies. The COS-Halos survey is uniquely able to measure the mass of metals in the circumgalactic medium (CGM, to impact parameters of <150 kpc) of low-redshift ∼L* galaxies. Using these data, we map the distribution of CGM metals as traced by both the highly ionized O VI ion and a suite of low-ionization species; combined with constraints on circumgalactic dust and hotter X-ray emitting gas out to similar impact parameters, we show that ∼40% of metals produced by M {sub *} ∼ 10{sup 10} M{sub ☉} galaxies can be easily accounted for out to 150 kpc. With the current data, we cannot rule out a constant mass of metals within this fixed physical radius. This census provides a crucial boundary condition for the eventual fate of metals in galaxy evolution models.« less

The Milky Way, the Galactic Halo, and the Halos of Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerhard, Ortwin

2016-08-01

The Milky Way, ``our'' Galaxy, is currently the subject of intense study with many ground-based surveys, in anticipation of upcoming results from the Gaia mission. From this work we have been learning about the full three-dimensional structure of the Galactic box/peanut bulge, the distribution of stars in the bar and disk, and the many streams and substructures in the Galactic halo. The data indicate that a large fraction of the Galactic halo has been accreted from outside. Similarly, in many external galaxy halos there is now evidence for tidal streams and accretion of satellites. To study these features requires exquisite, deep photometry and spectroscopy. These observations illustrate how galaxy halos are still growing, and sometimes can be used to ``time'' the accretion events. In comparison with cosmological simulations, the structure of galaxy halos gives us a vivid illustration of the hierarchical nature of our Universe.

The Halo Occupation Distribution of obscured quasars: revisiting the unification model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitra, Kaustav; Chatterjee, Suchetana; DiPompeo, Michael A.; Myers, Adam D.; Zheng, Zheng

2018-06-01

We model the projected angular two-point correlation function (2PCF) of obscured and unobscured quasars selected using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), at a median redshift of z ˜ 1 using a five parameter Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) parametrization, derived from a cosmological hydrodynamic simulation by Chatterjee et al. The HOD parametrization was previously used to model the 2PCF of optically selected quasars and X-ray bright active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z ˜ 1. The current work shows that a single HOD parametrization can be used to model the population of different kinds of AGN in dark matter haloes suggesting the universality of the relationship between AGN and their host dark matter haloes. Our results show that the median halo mass of central quasar hosts increases from optically selected (4.1^{+0.3}_{-0.4} × 10^{12} h^{-1} M_{⊙}) and infra-red (IR) bright unobscured populations (6.3^{+6.2}_{-2.3} × 10^{12} h^{-1} M_{⊙}) to obscured quasars (10.0^{+2.6}_{-3.7} × 10^{12} h^{-1} M_{⊙}), signifying an increase in the degree of clustering. The projected satellite fractions also increase from optically bright to obscured quasars and tend to disfavour a simple `orientation only' theory of active galactic nuclei unification. Our results also show that future measurements of the small-scale clustering of obscured quasars can constrain current theories of galaxy evolution where quasars evolve from an IR-bright obscured phase to the optically bright unobscured phase.

The Milky Way, the Galactic halo, and the Halos of Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerhard, Ortwin

2015-08-01

The Milky Way, "our" Galaxy, is currently the subject of intense study with many ground-based surveys, in anticipation of upcoming results from the GAIA mission. From this work we have been learning about the full three-dimensional structure of the Galactic box/peanut bulge, the distribution of stars in the bar and disk, and the many streams in the Galactic halo. The data tell us that most of the Galactic bulge formed from the disk, and that a large fraction of the Galactic halo has been accreted from outside. Similarly, in many external galaxy halos there is now evidence for tidal streams and accretion of satellites. To see these features requires exquisite data - mostly very deep photometry, but some halo substructures have also been found with kinematic data. These observations illustrate how galaxy halos are still growing, and sometimes can be used to "time" the accretion events. In comparison with cosmological simulations, the structure of galaxy halos gives us a vivid illustration of the hierarchical nature of our Universe.

THE SEGUE K GIANT SURVEY. III. QUANTIFYING GALACTIC HALO SUBSTRUCTURE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Janesh, William; Morrison, Heather L.; Ma, Zhibo

2016-01-10

We statistically quantify the amount of substructure in the Milky Way stellar halo using a sample of 4568 halo K giant stars at Galactocentric distances ranging over 5–125 kpc. These stars have been selected photometrically and confirmed spectroscopically as K giants from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey’s Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration project. Using a position–velocity clustering estimator (the 4distance) and a model of a smooth stellar halo, we quantify the amount of substructure in the halo, divided by distance and metallicity. Overall, we find that the halo as a whole is highly structured. We also confirm earliermore » work using blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars which showed that there is an increasing amount of substructure with increasing Galactocentric radius, and additionally find that the amount of substructure in the halo increases with increasing metallicity. Comparing to resampled BHB stars, we find that K giants and BHBs have similar amounts of substructure over equivalent ranges of Galactocentric radius. Using a friends-of-friends algorithm to identify members of individual groups, we find that a large fraction (∼33%) of grouped stars are associated with Sgr, and identify stars belonging to other halo star streams: the Orphan Stream, the Cetus Polar Stream, and others, including previously unknown substructures. A large fraction of sample K giants (more than 50%) are not grouped into any substructure. We find also that the Sgr stream strongly dominates groups in the outer halo for all except the most metal-poor stars, and suggest that this is the source of the increase of substructure with Galactocentric radius and metallicity.« less

Insights into the chemical composition of the metal-poor Milky Way halo globular cluster NGC 6426

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanke, M.; Koch, A.; Hansen, C. J.; McWilliam, A.

2017-03-01

We present our detailed spectroscopic analysis of the chemical composition of four red giant stars in the halo globular cluster NGC 6426. We obtained high-resolution spectra using the Magellan2/MIKE spectrograph, from which we derived equivalent widths and subsequently computed abundances of 24 species of 22 chemical elements. For the purpose of measuring equivalent widths, we developed a new semi-automated tool, called EWCODE. We report a mean Fe content of [Fe/H] =-2.34 ± 0.05 dex (stat.) in accordance with previous studies. At a mean α-abundance of [(Mg, Si, Ca)/3 Fe] = 0.39 ± 0.03 dex, NGC 6426 falls on the trend drawn by the Milky Way halo and other globular clusters at comparably low metallicities. The distribution of the lighter α-elements as well as the enhanced ratio [Zn/Fe] = 0.39 dex could originate from hypernova enrichment of the pre-cluster medium. We find tentative evidence for a spread in the elements Mg, Si, and Zn, indicating an enrichment scenario, where ejecta of evolved massive stars of a slightly older population have polluted a newly born younger one. The heavy element abundances in this cluster fit well into the picture of metal-poor globular clusters, which in that respect appear to be remarkably homogeneous. The pattern of the neutron-capture elements heavier than Zn points toward an enrichment history governed by the r-process with little, if any, sign of s-process contributions. This finding is supported by the striking similarity of our program stars to the metal-poor field star HD 108317. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5-m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.Equivalent widths and full Table 2 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/599/A97

Reconstructing the Accretion History of the Galactic Stellar Halo from Chemical Abundance Ratio Distributions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Duane M.; Johnston, Kathryn V.; Sen, Bodhisattva; Jessop, Will

2015-03-01

Observational studies of halo stars during the past two decades have placed some limits on the quantity and nature of accreted dwarf galaxy contributions to the Milky Way (MW) stellar halo by typically utilizing stellar phase-space information to identify the most recent halo accretion events. In this study we tested the prospects of using 2D chemical abundance ratio distributions (CARDs) found in stars of the stellar halo to determine its formation history. First, we used simulated data from 11 “MW-like” halos to generate satellite template sets (STSs) of 2D CARDs of accreted dwarf satellites, which are composed of accreted dwarfs from various mass regimes and epochs of accretion. Next, we randomly drew samples of ˜103-4 mock observations of stellar chemical abundance ratios ([α/Fe], [Fe/H]) from those 11 halos to generate samples of the underlying densities for our CARDs to be compared to our templates in our analysis. Finally, we used the expectation-maximization algorithm to derive accretion histories in relation to the STS used and the sample size. For certain STSs used we typically can identify the relative mass contributions of all accreted satellites to within a factor of two. We also find that this method is particularly sensitive to older accretion events involving low-luminosity dwarfs, e.g., ultra-faint dwarfs—precisely those events that are too ancient to be seen by phase-space studies of stars and too faint to be seen by high-z studies of the early universe. Since our results only exploit two chemical dimensions and near-future surveys promise to provide ˜6-9 dimensions, we conclude that these new high-resolution spectroscopic surveys of the stellar halo will allow us to recover its accretion history—and the luminosity function of infalling dwarf galaxies—across cosmic time.

RECONSTRUCTING THE ACCRETION HISTORY OF THE GALACTIC STELLAR HALO FROM CHEMICAL ABUNDANCE RATIO DISTRIBUTIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Duane M.; Johnston, Kathryn V.; Sen, Bodhisattva

Observational studies of halo stars during the past two decades have placed some limits on the quantity and nature of accreted dwarf galaxy contributions to the Milky Way (MW) stellar halo by typically utilizing stellar phase-space information to identify the most recent halo accretion events. In this study we tested the prospects of using 2D chemical abundance ratio distributions (CARDs) found in stars of the stellar halo to determine its formation history. First, we used simulated data from 11 “MW-like” halos to generate satellite template sets (STSs) of 2D CARDs of accreted dwarf satellites, which are composed of accreted dwarfsmore » from various mass regimes and epochs of accretion. Next, we randomly drew samples of ∼10{sup 3–4} mock observations of stellar chemical abundance ratios ([α/Fe], [Fe/H]) from those 11 halos to generate samples of the underlying densities for our CARDs to be compared to our templates in our analysis. Finally, we used the expectation-maximization algorithm to derive accretion histories in relation to the STS used and the sample size. For certain STSs used we typically can identify the relative mass contributions of all accreted satellites to within a factor of two. We also find that this method is particularly sensitive to older accretion events involving low-luminosity dwarfs, e.g., ultra-faint dwarfs—precisely those events that are too ancient to be seen by phase-space studies of stars and too faint to be seen by high-z studies of the early universe. Since our results only exploit two chemical dimensions and near-future surveys promise to provide ∼6–9 dimensions, we conclude that these new high-resolution spectroscopic surveys of the stellar halo will allow us to recover its accretion history—and the luminosity function of infalling dwarf galaxies—across cosmic time.« less

Spectral Energy Distribution and Radio Halo of NGC 253 at Low Radio Frequencies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kapińska, A. D.; Staveley-Smith, L.; Meurer, G. R.

We present new radio continuum observations of NGC 253 from the Murchison Widefield Array at frequencies between 76 and 227 MHz. We model the broadband radio spectral energy distribution for the total flux density of NGC 253 between 76 MHz and 11 GHz. The spectrum is best described as a sum of a central starburst and extended emission. The central component, corresponding to the inner 500 pc of the starburst region of the galaxy, is best modeled as an internally free–free absorbed synchrotron plasma, with a turnover frequency around 230 MHz. The extended emission component of the spectrum of NGCmore » 253 is best described as a synchrotron emission flattening at low radio frequencies. We find that 34% of the extended emission (outside the central starburst region) at 1 GHz becomes partially absorbed at low radio frequencies. Most of this flattening occurs in the western region of the southeast halo, and may be indicative of synchrotron self-absorption of shock-reaccelerated electrons or an intrinsic low-energy cutoff of the electron distribution. Furthermore, we detect the large-scale synchrotron radio halo of NGC 253 in our radio images. At 154–231 MHz the halo displays the well known X-shaped/horn-like structure, and extends out to ∼8 kpc in the z -direction (from the major axis).« less

Characterizing the Chemistry of the Milky Way Stellar Halo: Detailed Chemical Analysis of a Metal-poor Stellar Stream

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roederer, Ian U.; Sneden, Christopher; Thompson, Ian B.; Preston, George W.; Shectman, Stephen A.

2010-03-01

We present the results of a detailed abundance analysis of one of the confirmed building blocks of the Milky Way stellar halo, a kinematically coherent metal-poor stellar stream. We have obtained high-resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra of 12 probable stream members using the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle spectrograph on the Magellan-Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory and the 2dCoude spectrograph on the Smith Telescope at McDonald Observatory. We have derived abundances or upper limits for 51 species of 46 elements in each of these stars. The stream members show a range of metallicity (-3.4 < [Fe/H] <-1.5) but are otherwise chemically homogeneous, with the same star-to-star dispersion in [X/Fe] as the rest of the halo. This implies that, in principle, a significant fraction of the Milky Way stellar halo could have formed from accreted systems like the stream. The stream stars show minimal evolution in the α or Fe-group elements over the range of metallicity. This stream is enriched with material produced by the main and weak components of the rapid neutron-capture process and shows no evidence for enrichment by the slow neutron-capture process. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. This paper includes data taken at The McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas at Austin.

Optimal linear reconstruction of dark matter from halo catalogues

DOE PAGES

Cai, Yan -Chuan; Bernstein, Gary; Sheth, Ravi K.

2011-04-01

The dark matter lumps (or "halos") that contain galaxies have locations in the Universe that are to some extent random with respect to the overall matter distributions. We investigate how best to estimate the total matter distribution from the locations of the halos. We derive the weight function w(M) to apply to dark-matter haloes that minimizes the stochasticity between the weighted halo distribution and its underlying mass density field. The optimal w(M) depends on the range of masses of halos being used. While the standard biased-Poisson model of the halo distribution predicts that bias weighting is optimal, the simple factmore » that the mass is comprised of haloes implies that the optimal w(M) will be a mixture of mass-weighting and bias-weighting. In N-body simulations, the Poisson estimator is up to 15× noisier than the optimal. Optimal weighting could make cosmological tests based on the matter power spectrum or cross-correlations much more powerful and/or cost effective.« less

HaloSat- A CubeSat to Study the Hot Galactic Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaaret, Philip

We propose to develop, build, and fly HaloSat, a CubeSat capable of measuring the oxygen line emission from the hot Galactic halo. A dedicated CubeSat enables an instrument design and observing strategy to maximize the halo signal while minimizing foregrounds from solar wind charge exchange interactions within the solar system. We will use HaloSat to map the distribution of hot gas in the Milky Way and determine whether it fills an extended, and thus massive halo, or whether the halo is compact, and thus does not contribute significantly to the total mass of the Milky Way. HaloSat can be accomplished at modest cost using a CubeSat, a novel platform for space astrophysics missions. We will use a commercially available CubeSat bus and commercially available X-ray detectors to reduce development risk and minimize overall mission cost. HaloSat builds on the initiatives of GSFC/Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) in the development of CubeSats for low cost access to space and relies on the technical expertise of WFF personnel for spacecraft and mission design and operations. The team, from University of Iowa (UI), GSFC, Johns Hopkins, and CNRS (France), contains experts in X-ray detector development and data analysis and the astrophysics of hot plasmas and Galactic structure. The UI team will include a number of junior researchers (undergraduates, graduate students, and a postdoc) and help train them for future leadership roles on NASA space flight missions.

The Radial Distribution of Mono-metallicity Populations in the Galactic Disk as Evidence for Two-phase Disk Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Domínguez-Tenreiro, R.; Obreja, A.; Brook, C. B.; Martínez-Serrano, F. J.; Serna, A.

2017-09-01

Recent determinations of the radial distributions of mono-metallicity populations (MMPs, I.e., stars in narrow bins in [Fe/H] within wider [α/Fe] ranges) by the SDSS-III/APOGEE DR12 survey cast doubts on the classical thin- and thick-disk dichotomy. The analysis of these observations led to the non-[α /Fe] enhanced populations splitting into MMPs with different surface densities according to their [Fe/H]. By contrast, [α /Fe] enhanced (I.e., old) populations show a homogeneous behavior. We analyze these results in the wider context of disk formation within non-isolated halos embedded in the Cosmic Web, resulting in a two-phase mass assembly. By performing hydrodynamical simulations in the context of the ΛCDM model, we have found that the two phases of halo mass assembly (an early fast phase, followed by a slow phase with low mass-assembly rates) are very relevant to determine the radial structure of MMP distributions, while radial mixing only plays a secondary role, depending on the coeval dynamical and/or destabilizing events. Indeed, while the frequent dynamical violent events occuring at high redshift remove metallicity gradients and imply efficient stellar mixing, the relatively quiescent dynamics after the transition keeps [Fe/H] gaseous gradients and prevents newly formed stars from suffering strong radial mixing. By linking the two-component disk concept with the two-phase halo mass-assembly scenario, our results set halo virialization (the event marking the transition from the fast to the slow phases) as the separating event that marks periods that are characterized by different physical conditions under which thick- and thin-disk stars were born.

Structure and Population of the Andromeda Stellar Halo from a Subaru/Suprime-Cam Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanaka, Mikito; Chiba, Masashi; Komiyama, Yutaka; Guhathakurta, Puragra; Kalirai, Jason S.; Iye, Masanori

2010-01-01

properties of an underlying, smooth, and extended halo component out to R>100 kpc. We find that the surface density of this smooth halo can be fitted to a Hernquist model of scale radius ~17 kpc or a power-law profile with Σ(R) vprop R -2.17±0.15. In contrast to the relative smoothness of the halo density profile, its metallicity distribution appears to be spatially non-uniform with non-monotonic variations with radius, suggesting that the halo population has not had sufficient time to dynamically homogenize the accreted populations. Further implications for the formation of the M31 halo are discussed. Based on data collected at the Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

Smooth halos in the cosmic web

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gaite, José, E-mail: jose.gaite@upm.es

Dark matter halos can be defined as smooth distributions of dark matter placed in a non-smooth cosmic web structure. This definition of halos demands a precise definition of smoothness and a characterization of the manner in which the transition from smooth halos to the cosmic web takes place. We introduce entropic measures of smoothness, related to measures of inequality previously used in economy and with the advantage of being connected with standard methods of multifractal analysis already used for characterizing the cosmic web structure in cold dark matter N-body simulations. These entropic measures provide us with a quantitative description ofmore » the transition from the small scales portrayed as a distribution of halos to the larger scales portrayed as a cosmic web and, therefore, allow us to assign definite sizes to halos. However, these ''smoothness sizes'' have no direct relation to the virial radii. Finally, we discuss the influence of N-body discreteness parameters on smoothness.« less

Surveying the H I Content of the Galactic Halo via Lyman Series Absorption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fox, Andrew

The halo of the Milky Way is home to a population of gaseous high-velocity clouds (HVCs) that trace the exchange of matter between the Galaxy and its surroundings. HVCs have been studied extensively via H I 21 cm emission and UV metal-line absorption. Here we propose a third, complementary approach for studying HVCs: surveying them in UV Lyman series H I absorption using all AGN spectra in the FarUltraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) archive. This H I survey will constitute a metal-independent view of the baryons in the Galactic halo at a level over 1000 times more sensitive than 21 cm surveys, and it can be conducted with archival data alone. 67 AGN are available in the FUSE archives with suitable properties (S/N>4 at 977 A), and the data are reduced and ready for analysis. With these data, we will calculate HVC sky covering fractions in H I absorption and conduct HVC metallicity measurements in sightlines with UV metal absorption in HST/COS or HST/STIS spectra. We will calculate the Galactic H I column density distribution function (CDDF), the incidence of H I clouds per unit column density that encodes underlying density and ionization variations and is sensitive to the escaping ionization radiation field. The CDDF has been measured at high redshifts over eight orders of magnitude of H I column density via quasar-absorption line experiments. However, the Galactic H I CDDF has until now only been constrained at high H I column density where HVCs can be seen in 21cm emission. Our detailed work plan will involve identifying and modeling HVC absorption in ten Lyman series lines from Ly gamma 972 to Ly mu 917 in each sight line in the FUSE sample. This will constrain the H I CDDF in the column density range log N(H I) 14 to 18. By combining with the existing H I CDDF in 21 cm HVCs in the range log N(H I) 18 to 21 from the all-sky GASS survey, we will produce a global Galactic CDDF complete over seven orders of magnitude, providing key new information on the

MACHO RR Lyrae in the Inner Halo and Bulge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minniti, Dante; Alcock, Charles; Allsman, Robyn A.; Alves, David; Axelrod, Tim S.; Becker, Andrew C.; Bennett, David; Cook, Kem H.; Drake, Andrew J.; Freeman, Ken C.; Griest, Kim; Lehner, Matt; Marshall, Stuart; Peterson, Bruce; Pratt, Mark; Quinn, Peter; Rodgers, Alex; Stubbs, Chris; Sutherland, Will; Tomaney, Austin; Vandehei, Thor; Welch, Doug L.

The RR Lyrae in the bulge have been proposed to be the oldest populations in the Milky Way, tracers of how the galaxy formed. We study here the distribution of ~1600 bulge RR Lyrae stars found by the MACHO Project. The RR Lyrae with Galactocentric radius 0.4metal-poor stellar halo present in the outer regions of the Milky Way.

A Universal Angular Momentum Profile for Dark Matter Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Shihong; Chen, Jianxiong; Chu, M.-C.

2017-07-01

The angular momentum distribution in dark matter halos and galaxies is a key ingredient in understanding their formation. Specifically, the internal distribution of angular momenta is closely related to the formation of disk galaxies. In this article, we use halos identified from a high-resolution simulation, the Bolshoi simulation, to study the spatial distribution of specific angular momenta, j(r,θ ). We show that by stacking halos with similar masses to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, the profile can be fitted as a simple function, j{(r,θ )={j}s{\\sin }2{(θ /{θ }s)(r/{r}s)}2/(1+r/{r}s)}4, with three free parameters, {j}s,{r}s, and {θ }s. Specifically, j s correlates with the halo mass M vir as {j}s\\propto {M}{vir}2/3, r s has a weak dependence on the halo mass as {r}s\\propto {M}{vir}0.040, and {θ }s is independent of M vir. This profile agrees with that from a rigid shell model, though its origin is unclear. Our universal specific angular momentum profile j(r,θ ) is useful in modeling the angular momenta of halos. Furthermore, by using an empirical stellar mass-halo mass relation, we can infer the average angular momentum distribution of a dark matter halo. The specific angular momentum-stellar mass relation within a halo computed from our profile is shown to share a similar shape as that from the observed disk galaxies.

A box full of chocolates: The rich structure of the nearby stellar halo revealed by Gaia and RAVE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helmi, Amina; Veljanoski, Jovan; Breddels, Maarten A.; Tian, Hao; Sales, Laura V.

2017-02-01

Context. The hierarchical structure formation model predicts that stellar halos should form, at least partly, via mergers. If this was a predominant formation channel for the Milky Way's halo, imprints of this merger history in the form of moving groups or streams should also exist in the vicinity of the Sun. Aims: We study the kinematics of halo stars in the Solar neighbourhood using the very recent first data release from the Gaia mission, and in particular the TGAS dataset, in combination with data from the RAVE survey. Our aim is to determine the amount of substructure present in the phase-space distribution of halo stars that could be linked to merger debris. Methods: To characterise kinematic substructure, we measured the velocity correlation function in our sample of halo (low-metallicity) stars. We also studied the distribution of these stars in the space of energy and two components of the angular momentum, in what we call "integrals of motion" space. Results: The velocity correlation function reveals substructure in the form of an excess of pairs of stars with similar velocities, well above that expected for a smooth distribution. Comparison to cosmological simulations of the formation of stellar halos indicates that the levels found are consistent with the Galactic halo having been built solely via accretion. Similarly, the distribution of stars in the space of integrals of motion is highly complex. A strikingly high fraction (from 58% up to more than 73%) of the stars that are somewhat less bound than the Sun are on (highly) retrograde orbits. A simple comparison to Milky Way-mass galaxies in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations suggests that less than 1% have such prominently retrograde outer halos. We also identify several other statistically significant structures in integrals of motion space that could potentially be related to merger events.

On the shoulders of giants: properties of the stellar halo and the Milky Way mass distribution

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kafle, Prajwal Raj; Sharma, Sanjib; Lewis, Geraint F.

2014-10-10

Halo stars orbit within the potential of the Milky Way, and hence their kinematics can be used to understand the underlying mass distribution. However, the inferred mass distribution depends sensitively on assumptions made on the density and the velocity anisotropy profiles of the tracer population. Also, there is a degeneracy between the parameters of the halo and those of the disk or bulge. Most previous attempts that use halo stars have made arbitrary assumptions about these. In this paper, we decompose the Galaxy into three major components—a bulge, a Miyamoto-Nagai disk, and a Navarro-Frenk-White dark matter halo - and thenmore » model the kinematic data of the halo blue horizontal branch and K-giant stars from the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration. Additionally, we use the gas terminal velocity curve and the Sgr A* proper motion. With the distance of the Sun from the center of the Galaxy R {sub ☉} = 8.5 kpc, our kinematic analysis reveals that the density of the stellar halo has a break at 17.2{sub −1.0}{sup +1.1} kpc and an exponential cutoff in the outer parts starting at 97.7{sub −15.8}{sup +15.6} kpc. Also, we find that the tracer velocity anisotropy is radially biased with β {sub s} = 0.4 ± 0.2 in the outer halo. We measure halo virial mass M {sub vir} to be 0.80{sub −0.16}{sup +0.31}×10{sup 12} M{sub ⊙}, concentration c to be 21.1{sub −8.3}{sup +14.8}, disk mass to be 0.95{sub −0.30}{sup +0.24}×10{sup 11} M{sub ⊙}, disk scale length to be 4.9{sub −0.4}{sup +0.4} kpc, and bulge mass to be 0.91{sub −0.38}{sup +0.31}×10{sup 10} M{sub ⊙}. The halo mass is found to be small, and this has important consequences. The giant stars reveal that the outermost halo stars have low velocity dispersion, but interestingly this suggests a truncation of the stellar halo density rather than a small overall mass of the Galaxy. Our estimates of local escape velocity v{sub esc}=550.9{sub −22.1}{sup +32.4} km s{sup −1

Unveiling the stellar halo with TGAS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veljanoski, Jovan; Posti, L.; Helmi, A.; Breddels, M. A.

2018-04-01

The detailed study of the Galactic stellar halo may hold the key to unlocking the assembly history of the Milky Way. Here, we present a machine learning model for selecting metal poor stars from the TGAS catalogue using 5 dimensional phase-space information, coupled with optical and near-IR photometry. We characterise the degree of substructure in our halo sample in the Solar neighbourhood by measuring the velocity correlation function.

The Birth of a Galaxy: Primordial Metal Enrichment and Stellar Populations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wise, John H.; Turk, Matthew J.; Norman, Michael L.; Abel, Tom

2012-01-01

By definition, Population III stars are metal-free, and their protostellar collapse is driven by molecular hydrogen cooling in the gas phase, leading to large characteristic masses. Population II stars with lower characteristic masses form when the star-forming gas reaches a critical metallicity of 10-6-10-3.5 Z ⊙. We present an adaptive mesh refinement radiation hydrodynamics simulation that follows the transition from Population III to Population II star formation. The maximum spatial resolution of 1 comoving parsec allows for individual molecular clouds to be well resolved and their stellar associations to be studied in detail. We model stellar radiative feedback with adaptive ray tracing. A top-heavy initial mass function for the Population III stars is considered, resulting in a plausible distribution of pair-instability supernovae and associated metal enrichment. We find that the gas fraction recovers from 5% to nearly the cosmic fraction in halos with merger histories rich in halos above 107 M ⊙. A single pair-instability supernova is sufficient to enrich the host halo to a metallicity floor of 10-3 Z ⊙ and to transition to Population II star formation. This provides a natural explanation for the observed floor on damped Lyα systems metallicities reported in the literature, which is of this order. We find that stellar metallicities do not necessarily trace stellar ages, as mergers of halos with established stellar populations can create superpositions of t-Z evolutionary tracks. A bimodal metallicity distribution is created after a starburst occurs when the halo can cool efficiently through atomic line cooling.

TESTING GALAXY FORMATION MODELS WITH THE GHOSTS SURVEY: THE COLOR PROFILE OF M81's STELLAR HALO

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Monachesi, Antonela; Bell, Eric F.; Bailin, Jeremy

2013-04-01

We study the properties of the stellar populations in M81's outermost part, which hereafter we will call the stellar halo, using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys observations of 19 fields from the GHOSTS survey. The observed fields probe the stellar halo out to a projected distance of {approx}50 kpc from the galactic center. Each field was observed in both F606W and F814W filters. The 50% completeness levels of the color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) are typically at 2 mag below the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB). Fields at distances closer than 15 kpc show evidence of disk-dominatedmore » populations whereas fields at larger distances are mostly populated by halo stars. The red giant branch (RGB) of the M81's halo CMDs is well matched with isochrones of {approx}10 Gyr and metallicities [Fe/H] {approx} - 1.2 dex, suggesting that the dominant stellar population of M81's halo has a similar age and metallicity. The halo of M81 is characterized by a color distribution of width {approx}0.4 mag and an approximately constant median value of (F606W - F814W) {approx}1 mag measured using stars within the magnitude range 23.7 {approx}< F814W {approx}< 25.5. When considering only fields located at galactocentric radius R > 15 kpc, we detect no color gradient in the stellar halo of M81. We place a limit of 0.03 {+-} 0.11 mag difference between the median color of RGB M81 halo stars at {approx}15 and at 50 kpc, corresponding to a metallicity difference of 0.08 {+-} 0.35 dex over that radial range for an assumed constant age of 10 Gyr. We compare these results with model predictions for the colors of stellar halos formed purely via accretion of satellite galaxies. When we analyze the cosmologically motivated models in the same way as the HST data, we find that they predict no color gradient for the stellar halos, in good agreement with the observations.« less

The halo current in ASDEX Upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pautasso, G.; Giannone, L.; Gruber, O.; Herrmann, A.; Maraschek, M.; Schuhbeck, K. H.; ASDEX Upgrade Team

2011-04-01

Due to the complexity of the phenomena involved, a self-consistent physical model for the prediction of the halo current is not available. Therefore the ITER specifications of the spatial distribution and evolution of the halo current rely on empirical assumptions. This paper presents the results of an extensive analysis of the halo current measured in ASDEX Upgrade with particular emphasis on the evolution of the halo region, on the magnitude and time history of the halo current, and on the structure and duration of its toroidal and poloidal asymmetries. The effective length of the poloidal path of the halo current in the vessel is found to be rather insensitive to plasma parameters. Large values of the toroidally averaged halo current are observed in both vertical displacement events and centred disruptions but last a small fraction of the current quench; they coincide typically with a large but short-lived MHD event.

Probing the Spatial Distribution of the Interstellar Dust Medium by High Angular Resolution X-ray Halos of Point Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiang, Jingen

X-rays are absorbed and scattered by dust grains when they travel through the interstellar medium. The scattering within small angles results in an X-ray ``halo''. The halo properties are significantly affected by the energy of radiation, the optical depth of the scattering, the grain size distributions and compositions, and the spatial distribution of dust along the line of sight (LOS). Therefore analyzing the X-ray halo properties is an important tool to study the size distribution and spatial distribution of interstellar grains, which plays a central role in the astrophysical study of the interstellar medium, such as the thermodynamics and chemistry of the gas and the dynamics of star formation. With excellent angular resolution, good energy resolution and broad energy band, the Chandra ACIS is so far the best instrument for studying the X-ray halos. But the direct images of bright sources obtained with ACIS usually suffer from severe pileup which prevents us from obtaining the halos in small angles. We first improve the method proposed by Yao et al to resolve the X-ray dust scattering halos of point sources from the zeroth order data in CC-mode or the first order data in TE mode with Chandra HETG/ACIS. Using this method we re-analyze the Cygnus X-1 data observed with Chandra. Then we studied the X-ray dust scattering halos around 17 bright X-ray point sources using Chandra data. All sources were observed with the HETG/ACIS in CC-mode or TE-mode. Using the interstellar grain models of WD01 model and MRN model to fit the halo profiles, we get the hydrogen column densities and the spatial distributions of the scattering dust grains along the line of sights (LOS) to these sources. We find there is a good linear correlation not only between the scattering hydrogen column density from WD01 model and the one from MRN model, but also between N_{H} derived from spectral fits and the one derived from the grain models WD01 and MRN (except for GX 301-2 and Vela X-1): N

Co-formation of the disc and the stellar halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belokurov, V.; Erkal, D.; Evans, N. W.; Koposov, S. E.; Deason, A. J.

2018-07-01

Using a large sample of main sequence stars with 7D measurements supplied by Gaia and SDSS, we study the kinematic properties of the local (within ˜10 kpc from the Sun) stellar halo. We demonstrate that the halo's velocity ellipsoid evolves strongly with metallicity. At the low-[Fe/H] end, the orbital anisotropy (the amount of motion in the radial direction compared with the tangential one) is mildly radial, with 0.2 <β< 0.4. For stars with [Fe/H] > -1.7, however, we measure extreme values of β˜ 0.9. Across the metallicity range considered, namely-3 < [Fe/H] < -1, the stellar halo's spin is minimal, at the level of 20< \\bar{v}_{θ }(kms^{-1}) < 30. Using a suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations of halo formation, we deduce that the observed acute anisotropy is inconsistent with the continuous accretion of dwarf satellites. Instead, we argue, the stellar debris in the inner halo was deposited in a major accretion event by a satellite with Mvir > 1010M⊙ around the epoch of the Galactic disc formation, between 8 and 11 Gyr ago. The radical halo anisotropy is the result of the dramatic radialization of the massive progenitor's orbit, amplified by the action of the growing disc.

Levy-Student distributions for halos in accelerator beams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cufaro Petroni, Nicola; De Martino, Salvatore; De Siena, Silvio

2005-12-15

We describe the transverse beam distribution in particle accelerators within the controlled, stochastic dynamical scheme of stochastic mechanics (SM) which produces time reversal invariant diffusion processes. This leads to a linearized theory summarized in a Schroedinger-like (SL) equation. The space charge effects have been introduced in recent papers by coupling this S-L equation with the Maxwell equations. We analyze the space-charge effects to understand how the dynamics produces the actual beam distributions, and in particular we show how the stationary, self-consistent solutions are related to the (external and space-charge) potentials both when we suppose that the external field is harmonicmore » (constant focusing), and when we a priori prescribe the shape of the stationary solution. We then proceed to discuss a few other ideas by introducing generalized Student distributions, namely, non-Gaussian, Levy infinitely divisible (but not stable) distributions. We will discuss this idea from two different standpoints: (a) first by supposing that the stationary distribution of our (Wiener powered) SM model is a Student distribution; (b) by supposing that our model is based on a (non-Gaussian) Levy process whose increments are Student distributed. We show that in the case (a) the longer tails of the power decay of the Student laws and in the case (b) the discontinuities of the Levy-Student process can well account for the rare escape of particles from the beam core, and hence for the formation of a halo in intense beams.« less

Statistics of Dark Matter Halos from Gravitational Lensing.

PubMed

Jain; Van Waerbeke L

2000-02-10

We present a new approach to measure the mass function of dark matter halos and to discriminate models with differing values of Omega through weak gravitational lensing. We measure the distribution of peaks from simulated lensing surveys and show that the lensing signal due to dark matter halos can be detected for a wide range of peak heights. Even when the signal-to-noise ratio is well below the limit for detection of individual halos, projected halo statistics can be constrained for halo masses spanning galactic to cluster halos. The use of peak statistics relies on an analytical model of the noise due to the intrinsic ellipticities of source galaxies. The noise model has been shown to accurately describe simulated data for a variety of input ellipticity distributions. We show that the measured peak distribution has distinct signatures of gravitational lensing, and its non-Gaussian shape can be used to distinguish models with different values of Omega. The use of peak statistics is complementary to the measurement of field statistics, such as the ellipticity correlation function, and is possibly not susceptible to the same systematic errors.

Self-consistent construction of virialized wave dark matter halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Shan-Chang; Schive, Hsi-Yu; Wong, Shing-Kwong; Chiueh, Tzihong

2018-05-01

Wave dark matter (ψ DM ), which satisfies the Schrödinger-Poisson equation, has recently attracted substantial attention as a possible dark matter candidate. Numerical simulations have, in the past, provided a powerful tool to explore this new territory of possibility. Despite their successes in revealing several key features of ψ DM , further progress in simulations is limited, in that cosmological simulations so far can only address formation of halos below ˜2 ×1011 M⊙ and substantially more massive halos have become computationally very challenging to obtain. For this reason, the present work adopts a different approach in assessing massive halos by constructing wave-halo solutions directly from the wave distribution function. This approach bears certain similarities with the analytical construction of the particle-halo (cold dark matter model). Instead of many collisionless particles, one deals with one single wave that has many noninteracting eigenstates. The key ingredient in the wave-halo construction is the distribution function of the wave power, and we use several halos produced by structure formation simulations as templates to determine the wave distribution function. Among different models, we find the fermionic King model presents the best fits and we use it for our wave-halo construction. We have devised an iteration method for constructing the nonlinear halo and demonstrate its stability by three-dimensional simulations. A Milky Way-sized halo has also been constructed, and the inner halo is found to be flatter than the NFW profile. These wave-halos have small-scale interferences both in space and time producing time-dependent granules. While the spatial scale of granules varies little, the correlation time is found to increase with radius by 1 order of magnitude across the halo.

Kinematics and Chemistry of Halo Substructures: The Vicinity of the Virgo Overdensity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casey, Andrew R.; Keller, Stefan C.; Da Costa, Gary

2012-04-01

We present observations obtained with the Anglo-Australian Telescope's 2dF wide field spectrograph AAOmega of K-type stars located within a region of the sky which contains the Virgo Overdensity and the leading arm of the Sagittarius Stream. On the basis of the resulting velocity histogram, we isolate halo substructures in these overlapping regions including Sagittarius and previously discovered Virgo groups. Through comparisons with N-body models of the Galaxy-Sagittarius interaction, we find a tri-axial dark matter halo is favored and we exclude a prolate shape. This result is contradictory with other observations along the Sagittarius leading arm, which typically favor prolate models. We have also uncovered K-giant members of Sagittarius that are notably more metal-poor (lang[Fe/H]rang = -1.7 ± 0.3 dex) than previous studies. This suggests a significantly wider metallicity distribution exists in the Sagittarius Stream than formerly considered. We also present data on five carbon stars which were discovered in our sample.

The Anemic Stellar Halo of M101

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holwerda, Benne

2014-10-01

Models of galaxy formation in a cosmological context predict that massive disk galaxies should have richly-structured extended stellar halos, containing ~10% of a galaxy's stars, originating in large part from the tidal disruption of dwarf galaxies. Observations of a number of nearby disk galaxies have generally agreed with these expectations. Recent new observations in integrated light with a novel array of low scattered-light telephoto lenses have failed to convincingly detect a stellar halo in the nearby massive face-on disk galaxy M101 (van Dokkum et al. 2014). They argue that any halo has to have <0.3% of the mass of the galaxy. This halo would be the least massive of any massive disk galaxy in the local Universe (by factors of several) -- such a halo is not predicted or naturally interpreted by the models, and would present a critical challenge to the picture of ubiquitous stellar halos formed from the debris of disrupting dwarf galaxies.We propose to resolve the stellar populations of this uniquely anemic stellar halo for 6 orbits with HST (ACS and WFC3), allowing us to reach surface brightness limits sufficient to clearly detect and characterize M101's stellar halo if it carries more than 0.1% of M101's mass. With resolved stellar populations, we can use the gradient of stellar populations as a function of radius to separate stellar halo from disk, which is impossible using integrated light observations. The resolved stellar populations will reveal the halo mass to much greater accuracy, measure the halo radial profile, constrain any halo lopsidedness, estimate the halo's stellar metallicity, and permit an analysis of outer disk stellar populations.

Reconstructing the Accretion History of the Galactic Halo Using Stellar Chemical Abundance Ratio Distributions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Duane M.; Johnston, Kathryn V.; Sen, Bodhisattva; Jessop, Will

2016-08-01

In this study we tested the prospects of using 2D chemical abundance ratio distributions (CARDs) found in stars of the stellar halo to determine its formation history. First, we used simulated data from eleven ``MW-like'' halos to generate satellite template sets of 2D CARDs of accreted dwarf satellites which are comprised of accreted dwarfs from various mass regimes and epochs of accretion. Next, we randomly drew samples of ~ 103-4 mock observations of stellar chemical abundance ratios ([α/Fe], [Fe/H]) from those eleven halos to generate samples of the underlying densities for our CARDs to be compared to our templates in our analysis. Finally, we used the expectation-maximization algorithm to derive accretion histories in relation to the satellite template set (STS) used and the sample size. For certain STS used we typically can identify the relative mass contributions of all accreted satellites to within a factor of 2. We also find that this method is particularly sensitive to older accretion events involving low-luminous dwarfs e.g. ultra-faint dwarfs - precisely those events that are too ancient to be seen by phase-space studies of stars and too faint to be seen by high-z studies of the early Universe. Since our results only exploit two chemical dimensions and near-future surveys promise to provide ~ 6-9 dimensions, we conclude that these new high-resolution spectroscopic surveys of the stellar halo will allow us (given the development of new CARD-generating dwarf models) to recover the luminosity function of infalling dwarf galaxies - and the detailed accretion history of the halo - across cosmic time.

Reconstructing the Accretion History of the Galactic Halo Using Stellar Chemical Abundance Ratio Distributions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Duane Morris; Johnston, Kathryn V.; Sen, Bodhisattva; Jessop, Will

2015-08-01

In this study we tested the prospects of using 2D chemical abundance ratio distributions (CARDs) found in stars of the stellar halo to determine its formation history. First, we used simulated data from eleven ``MW-like'' halos to generate satellite template sets of 2D CARDs of accreted dwarf satellites which are comprised of accreted dwarfs from various mass regimes and epochs of accretion. Next, we randomly drew samples of ~103-4 mock observations of stellar chemical abundance ratios ([α/Fe], [Fe/H]) from those eleven halos to generate samples of the underlying densities for our CARDs to be compared to our templates in our analysis. Finally, we used the expectation-maximization algorithm to derive accretion histories in relation to the satellite template set (STS) used and the sample size. For certain STS used we typically can identify the relative mass contributions of all accreted satellites to within a factor of 2. We also find that this method is particularly sensitive to older accretion events involving low-luminous dwarfs e.g. ultra-faint dwarfs --- precisely those events that are too ancient to be seen by phase-space studies of stars and too faint to be seen by high-z studies of the early Universe. Since our results only exploit two chemical dimensions and near-future surveys promise to provide ~6-9 dimensions, we conclude that these new high-resolution spectroscopic surveys of the stellar halo will allow us (given the development of new CARD-generating dwarf models) to recover the luminosity function of infalling dwarf galaxies --- and the detailed accretion history of the halo --- across cosmic time.

CONSTRAINING THE MILKY WAY'S HOT GAS HALO WITH O VII AND O VIII EMISSION LINES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, Matthew J.; Bregman, Joel N., E-mail: mjmil@umich.edu, E-mail: jbregman@umich.edu

2015-02-10

The Milky Way hosts a hot (≈2 × 10{sup 6} K), diffuse, gaseous halo based on detections of z = 0 O VII and O VIII absorption lines in quasar spectra and emission lines in blank-sky spectra. Here we improve constraints on the structure of the hot gas halo by fitting a radial model to a much larger sample of O VII and O VIII emission line measurements from XMM-Newton/EPIC-MOS spectra compared to previous studies (≈650 sightlines). We assume a modified β-model for the halo density distribution and a constant-density Local Bubble from which we calculate emission to compare withmore » the observations. We find an acceptable fit to the O VIII emission line observations with χ{sub red}{sup 2} (dof) = 1.08 (644) for best-fit parameters of n{sub o}r{sub c}{sup 3β}=1.35±0.24 cm{sup –3} kpc{sup 3β} and β = 0.50 ± 0.03 for the hot gas halo and negligible Local Bubble contribution. The O VII observations yield an unacceptable χ{sub red}{sup 2} (dof) = 4.69 (645) for similar best-fit parameters, which is likely due to temperature or density variations in the Local Bubble. The O VIII fitting results imply hot gas masses of M(<50 kpc) = 3.8{sub −0.3}{sup +0.3}×10{sup 9} M{sub ⊙} and M(<250 kpc) = 4.3{sub −0.8}{sup +0.9}×10{sup 10} M{sub ⊙}, accounting for ≲50% of the Milky Way's missing baryons. We also explore our results in the context of optical depth effects in the halo gas, the halo gas cooling properties, temperature and entropy gradients in the halo gas, and the gas metallicity distribution. The combination of absorption and emission line analyses implies a sub-solar gas metallicity that decreases with radius, but that also must be ≥0.3 Z {sub ☉} to be consistent with the pulsar dispersion measure toward the Large Magellanic Cloud.« less

Chronology of the halo globular cluster system formation.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salaris, M.; Weiss, A.

1997-11-01

Using up-to-date stellar models and isochrones we determine the age of 25 galactic halo clusters. The clusters are distributed into four groups according to metallicity. We measure the absolute age of a reference cluster in each group, and then find the relative ages of the other clusters relative to this one. This combination yields the most reliable results. We find that the oldest cluster group on average is 11.8+/-0.9Gyr or 12.3+/-0.3Gyr old, depending on whether we include Arp 2 and Rup 106. The average age of all clusters is about 10.5Gyr. Questions concerning a common age for all clusters and a relation between metallicity and age are addressed. The groups of lower metallicity appear to be coeval, but our results indicate that globally the sample has an age spread, and age and metallicity are correlated but not with a simple linear relation.

A Low-metallicity Molecular Cloud in the Lower Galactic Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernandez, Audra K.; Wakker, Bart P.; Benjamin, Robert A.; French, David; Kerp, Juergen; Lockman, Felix J.; O'Toole, Simon; Winkel, Benjamin

2013-11-01

We find evidence for the impact of infalling, low-metallicity gas on the Galactic disk. This is based on FUV absorption line spectra, 21 cm emission line spectra, and far-infrared (FIR) mapping to estimate the abundance and physical properties of IV21 (IVC135+54-45), a galactic intermediate-velocity molecular cloud that lies ~300 pc above the disk. The metallicity of IV21 was estimated using observations toward the subdwarf B star PG1144+615, located at a projected distance of 16 pc from the cloud's densest core, by measuring ion and H I column densities for comparison with known solar abundances. Despite the cloud's bright FIR emission and large column densities of molecular gas as traced by CO, we find that it has a sub-solar metallicity of log (Z/Z ⊙) = -0.43 ± 0.12 dex. IV21 is thus the first known sub-solar metallicity cloud in the solar neighborhood. In contrast, most intermediate-velocity clouds (IVC) have near-solar metallicities and are believed to originate in the Galactic Fountain. The cloud's low metallicity is also atypical for Galactic molecular clouds, especially in light of the bright FIR emission which suggest a substantial dust content. The measured I 100 μm/N(H I) ratio is a factor of three below the average found in high latitude H I clouds within the solar neighborhood. We argue that IV21 represents the impact of an infalling, low-metallicity high-velocity cloud that is mixing with disk gas in the lower Galactic halo. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from MAST at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with program No. 12275. The Green Bank Telescope is part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory which is a Facility of the National Science Foundation, operated by Associated Universities, Inc.

A look into the inside of haloes: a characterization of the halo shape as a function of overdensity in the Planck cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Despali, Giulia; Giocoli, Carlo; Bonamigo, Mario; Limousin, Marceau; Tormen, Giuseppe

2017-04-01

In this paper, we study the triaxial properties of dark matter haloes of a wide range of masses extracted from a set of cosmological N-body simulations. We measure the shape at different distances from the halo centre (characterized by different overdensity thresholds), both in three and in two dimensions. We discuss how halo triaxiality increases with mass, redshift and distance from the halo centre. We also examine how the orientations of the different ellipsoids are aligned with each other and what is the gradient in internal shapes for haloes with different virial configurations. Our findings highlight that the internal part of the halo retains memory of the violent formation process keeping the major axis oriented towards the preferential direction of the infalling material while the outer part becomes rounder due to continuous isotropic merging events. This effect is clearly evident in high-mass haloes - which formed more recently - while it is more blurred in low-mass haloes. We present simple distributions that may be used as priors for various mass reconstruction algorithms, operating in different wavelengths, in order to recover a more complex and realistic dark matter distribution of isolated and relaxed systems.

Exploring the Milky Way halo with SDSS-II SN survey RR Lyrae stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Lee, Nathan

This thesis details the creation of a large catalog of RR Lyrae stars, their lightcurves, and their associated photometric and kinematic parameters. This catalog contains 421 RR Lyrae stars with 305 RRab and 116 RRc. Of these, 241 stars have stellar spectra taken with either the Blanco 4m RC spectrograph or the SDSS/SEGUE survey, and in some cases taken by both. From these spectra and photometric methods derived from them, an analysis is conducted of the RR lyrae's distribution, metallicity, kinematics, and photometric properties within the halo. All of these RR Lyrae originate from the SDSS-II Supernova Survey. The SDSS-II SN Survey covers a 2.5 degree equatorial stripe ranging from -60 to +60 degrees in RA. This corresponds to relatively high southern galactic latitudes in the anti-center direction. The full catalog ranges from g 0 magnitude 13 to 20 which covers a distance of 3 to 95 kpc from the sun. Using this sample, we explore the Oosterhoff dichotomy through the D log P method as a function of | Z | distance from the plane. This results in a clear division of the RRab stars into OoI and OoII groups at lower | Z |, but the population becomes dominated by OoI stars at higher | Z |. The idea of a dual halo is explored primarily in the context of radial velocity distributions as a function of | Z |. In particular, V gsr , the radial velocity in the galactic standard of rest, is used as a proxy for V [straight phi] , the cylindrical rotational velocity. This is then compared against a single halo model galaxy, which results in very similar V gsr histograms for both at low to medium | Z |. However, at high | Z | there is a clear separation into two distinct velocity groups for the data without a corresponding separation in the model, suggesting that at least a two-component model for the halo is necessary. The final part of the analysis involves [Fe/H] measurements from both spectra and photometric relations cut in both | Z | and radial velocity. In this case

Is the Milky Way's hot halo convectively unstable?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Henley, David B.; Shelton, Robin L., E-mail: dbh@physast.uga.edu

2014-03-20

We investigate the convective stability of two popular types of model of the gas distribution in the hot Galactic halo. We first consider models in which the halo density and temperature decrease exponentially with height above the disk. These halo models were created to account for the fact that, on some sight lines, the halo's X-ray emission lines and absorption lines yield different temperatures, implying that the halo is non-isothermal. We show that the hot gas in these exponential models is convectively unstable if γ < 3/2, where γ is the ratio of the temperature and density scale heights. Usingmore » published measurements of γ and its uncertainty, we use Bayes' theorem to infer posterior probability distributions for γ, and hence the probability that the halo is convectively unstable for different sight lines. We find that, if these exponential models are good descriptions of the hot halo gas, at least in the first few kiloparsecs from the plane, the hot halo is reasonably likely to be convectively unstable on two of the three sight lines for which scale height information is available. We also consider more extended models of the halo. While isothermal halo models are convectively stable if the density decreases with distance from the Galaxy, a model of an extended adiabatic halo in hydrostatic equilibrium with the Galaxy's dark matter is on the boundary between stability and instability. However, we find that radiative cooling may perturb this model in the direction of convective instability. If the Galactic halo is indeed convectively unstable, this would argue in favor of supernova activity in the Galactic disk contributing to the heating of the hot halo gas.« less

The Outer Halos of Early-Type Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerhard, Ortwin; Arnaboldi, Magda; Longobardi, Alessia

2015-04-01

The outer halos of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) are dark matter dominated and may have formed by accretion of smaller systems during galaxy evolution. Here a brief report is given of some recent work on the kinematics, angular momentum, and mass distributions of simulated ETG halos, and of corresponding properties of observed halos measured with planetary nebulae (PNe) as tracers. In the outermost regions of the Virgo-central galaxy M87, the PN data show that the stellar halo and the co-spatial intracluster light are distinct kinematic components.

Cold dark matter. 1: The formation of dark halos

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gelb, James M.; Bertschinger, Edmund

1994-01-01

We use numerical simulations of critically closed cold dark matter (CDM) models to study the effects of numerical resolution on observable quantities. We study simulations with up to 256(exp 3) particles using the particle-mesh (PM) method and with up to 144(exp 3) particles using the adaptive particle-particle-mesh (P3M) method. Comparisons of galaxy halo distributions are made among the various simulations. We also compare distributions with observations, and we explore methods for identifying halos, including a new algorithm that finds all particles within closed contours of the smoothed density field surrounding a peak. The simulated halos show more substructure than predicted by the Press-Schechter theory. We are able to rule out all omega = 1 CDM models for linear amplitude sigma(sub 8) greater than or approximately = 0.5 because the simulations produce too many massive halos compared with the observations. The simulations also produce too many low-mass halos. The distribution of halos characterized by their circular velocities for the P3M simulations is in reasonable agreement with the observations for 150 km/s less than or = V(sub circ) less than or = 350 km/s.

The star formation history in the Andromeda halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Thomas M.

I present the preliminary results of a program to measure the star formation history in the halo of the Andromeda galaxy. Using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope, we obtained the deepest optical images of the sky to date, in a field on the southeast minor axis of Andromeda, 51' (11 kpc) from the nucleus. The resulting color-magnitude diagram (CMD) contains approximately 300,000 stars and extends more than 1.5 mag below the main sequence turnoff, with 50% completeness at V = 30.7 mag. We interpret this CMD using comparisons to ACS observations of five Galactic globular clusters through the same filters, and through χ2-fitting to a finely-spaced grid of calibrated stellar population models. We find evidence for a major (~30%) intermediate-age (6-8 Gyr) metal-rich ([Fe/H])>-0.5) population in the Andromeda halo, along with a significant old metal-poor population akin to that in the Milky Way halo. The large spread in ages suggests that the Andromeda halo formed as a result of a more violent merging history than that in our own Milky Way.

Painting galaxies into dark matter halos using machine learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agarwal, Shankar; Davé, Romeel; Bassett, Bruce A.

2018-05-01

We develop a machine learning (ML) framework to populate large dark matter-only simulations with baryonic galaxies. Our ML framework takes input halo properties including halo mass, environment, spin, and recent growth history, and outputs central galaxy and halo baryonic properties including stellar mass (M*), star formation rate (SFR), metallicity (Z), neutral (H I) and molecular (H_2) hydrogen mass. We apply this to the MUFASA cosmological hydrodynamic simulation, and show that it recovers the mean trends of output quantities with halo mass highly accurately, including following the sharp drop in SFR and gas in quenched massive galaxies. However, the scatter around the mean relations is under-predicted. Examining galaxies individually, at z = 0 the stellar mass and metallicity are accurately recovered (σ ≲ 0.2 dex), but SFR and H I show larger scatter (σ ≳ 0.3 dex); these values improve somewhat at z = 1, 2. Remarkably, ML quantitatively recovers second parameter trends in galaxy properties, e.g. that galaxies with higher gas content and lower metallicity have higher SFR at a given M*. Testing various ML algorithms, we find that none perform significantly better than the others, nor does ensembling improve performance, likely because none of the algorithms reproduce the large observed scatter around the mean properties. For the random forest algorithm, we find that halo mass and nearby (˜200 kpc) environment are the most important predictive variables followed by growth history, while halo spin and ˜Mpc scale environment are not important. Finally we study the impact of additionally inputting key baryonic properties M*, SFR, and Z, as would be available e.g. from an equilibrium model, and show that particularly providing the SFR enables H I to be recovered substantially more accurately.

Accurate mass and velocity functions of dark matter haloes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Comparat, Johan; Prada, Francisco; Yepes, Gustavo; Klypin, Anatoly

2017-08-01

N-body cosmological simulations are an essential tool to understand the observed distribution of galaxies. We use the MultiDark simulation suite, run with the Planck cosmological parameters, to revisit the mass and velocity functions. At redshift z = 0, the simulations cover four orders of magnitude in halo mass from ˜1011M⊙ with 8783 874 distinct haloes and 532 533 subhaloes. The total volume used is ˜515 Gpc3, more than eight times larger than in previous studies. We measure and model the halo mass function, its covariance matrix w.r.t halo mass and the large-scale halo bias. With the formalism of the excursion-set mass function, we explicit the tight interconnection between the covariance matrix, bias and halo mass function. We obtain a very accurate (<2 per cent level) model of the distinct halo mass function. We also model the subhalo mass function and its relation to the distinct halo mass function. The set of models obtained provides a complete and precise framework for the description of haloes in the concordance Planck cosmology. Finally, we provide precise analytical fits of the Vmax maximum velocity function up to redshift z < 2.3 to push for the development of halo occupation distribution using Vmax. The data and the analysis code are made publicly available in the Skies and Universes data base.

Non-local Thermodynamic Equilibrium Stellar Spectroscopy with 1D and >3D< Models. II. Chemical Properties of the Galactic Metal-poor Disk and the Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergemann, Maria; Collet, Remo; Schönrich, Ralph; Andrae, Rene; Kovalev, Mikhail; Ruchti, Greg; Hansen, Camilla Juul; Magic, Zazralt

2017-09-01

From exploratory studies and theoretical expectations it is known that simplifying approximations in spectroscopic analysis (local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), 1D) lead to systematic biases of stellar parameters and abundances. These biases depend strongly on surface gravity, temperature and, in particular, for LTE versus non-LTE (NLTE), on metallicity of the stars. Here we analyze the [Mg/Fe] and [Fe/H] plane of a sample of 326 stars, comparing LTE and NLTE results obtained using 1D hydrostatic models and averaged <3D> models. We show that compared to the <3D> NLTE benchmark, the other three methods display increasing biases toward lower metallicities, resulting in false trends of [Mg/Fe] against [Fe/H], which have profound implications for interpretations by chemical evolution models. In our best <3D> NLTE model, the halo and disk stars show a clearer behavior in the [Mg/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane, from the knee in abundance space down to the lowest metallicities. Our sample has a large fraction of thick disk stars and this population extends down to at least [Fe/H] ˜ -1.6 dex, further than previously proven. The thick disk stars display a constant [Mg/Fe] ≈ 0.3 dex, with a small intrinsic dispersion in [Mg/Fe] that suggests that a fast SN Ia channel is not relevant for the disk formation. The halo stars reach higher [Mg/Fe] ratios and display a net trend of [Mg/Fe] at low metallicities, paired with a large dispersion in [Mg/Fe]. These indicate the diverse origin of halo stars from accreted low-mass systems to stochastic/inhomogeneous chemical evolution in the Galactic halo.

SMC west halo: a slice of the galaxy that is being tidally stripped?. Star clusters trace age and metallicity gradients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dias, B.; Kerber, L.; Barbuy, B.; Bica, E.; Ortolani, S.

2016-06-01

Context. The evolution and structure of the Magellanic Clouds is currently under debate. The classical scenario in which both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC, SMC) are orbiting the Milky Way has been challenged by an alternative in which the LMC and SMC are in their first close passage to our Galaxy. The clouds are close enough to us to allow spatially resolved observation of their stars, and detailed studies of stellar populations in the galaxies are expected to be able to constrain the proposed scenarios. In particular, the west halo (WH) of the SMC was recently characterized with radial trends in age and metallicity that indicate tidal disruption. Aims: We intend to increase the sample of star clusters in the west halo of the SMC with homogeneous age, metallicity, and distance derivations to allow a better determination of age and metallicity gradients in this region. Positions are compared with the orbital plane of the SMC from models. Methods: Comparisons of observed and synthetic V(B-V) colour-magnitude diagrams were used to derive age, metallicity, distance, and reddening for star clusters in the SMC west halo. Observations were carried out using the 4.1 m SOAR telescope. Photometric completeness was determined through artificial star tests, and the members were selected by statistical comparison with a control field. Results: We derived an age of 1.23 ± 0.07 Gyr and [Fe/H] = -0.87 ± 0.07 for the reference cluster NGC 152, compatible with literature parameters. Age and metallicity gradients are confirmed in the WH: 2.6 ± 0.6 Gyr/° and -0.19 ± 0.09 dex/°, respectively. The age-metallicity relation for the WH has a low dispersion in metallicity and is compatible with a burst model of chemical enrichment. All WH clusters seem to follow the same stellar distribution predicted by dynamical models, with the exception of AM-3, which should belong to the counter-bridge. Brück 6 is the youngest cluster in our sample. It is only 130 ± 40 Myr old and

CARBON STARS IN THE SATELLITES AND HALO OF M31

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hamren, Katherine; Guhathakurta, Puragra; Rockosi, Constance M.

2016-09-01

We spectroscopically identify a sample of carbon stars in the satellites and halo of M31 using moderate-resolution optical spectroscopy from the Spectroscopic and Photometric Landscape of Andromeda’s Stellar Halo survey. We present the photometric properties of our sample of 41 stars, including their brightness with respect to the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) and their distributions in various color–color spaces. This analysis reveals a bluer population of carbon stars fainter than the TRGB and a redder population of carbon stars brighter than the TRGB. We then apply principal component analysis to determine the sample’s eigenspectra and eigencoefficients. Correlatingmore » the eigencoefficients with various observable properties reveals the spectral features that trace effective temperature and metallicity. Putting the spectroscopic and photometric information together, we find the carbon stars in the satellites and halo of M31 to be minimally impacted by dust and internal dynamics. We also find that while there is evidence to suggest that the sub-TRGB stars are extrinsic in origin, it is also possible that they are are particularly faint members of the asymptotic giant branch.« less

Sensitivity of the halo nuclei-12C elastic scattering at incident nucleon energy 800 MeV to the halo density distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassan, M. A. M.; Nour El-Din, M. S. M.; Ellithi, A.; Hosny, H.; Salama, T. N. E.

2017-10-01

In the framework of Glauber optical limit approximation where Coulomb effect is taken into account, the elastic scattering differential cross section for halo nuclei with {}^{12}{C} at 800 MeV/N has been calculated. Its sensitivity to the halo densities and the root mean square of the core and halo is the main goal of the current study. The projectile nuclei are taken to be one-neutron and two-neutron halo. The calculations are carried out for Gaussian-Gaussian, Gaussian-Oscillator and Gaussian-2 s phenomenological densities for each considered projectile in the mass number range 6-29. Also included a comparison between the obtained results of phenomenological densities and the results within the microscopic densities LSSM of {}6{He} and {}^{11}{Li} and microscopic densities GCM of {}^{11}{Be} where the density of the target nucleus {}^{12}{C} obtained from electron-{}^{12}{C} scattering is used. The zero range approximation is considered in the calculations. We found that the sensitivity of elastic scattering differential cross section to the halo density is clear if the nucleus appears as two clear different clusters, core and halo.

The massive halos of spiral galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zaritsky, Dennis; White, Simon D. M.

1994-01-01

We use a sample of satellite galaxies to demonstrate the existence of extended massive dark halos around spiral galaxies. Isolated spirals with rotation velocities near 250 km/s have a typical halo mass within 200 kpc of 1.5-2.6 x 10(exp 12) solar mass (90% confidence range for H(sub 0) = 75 km/s/Mpc). This result is most easily derived using standard mass estimator techniques, but such techniques do not account for the strong observational selection effects in the sample, nor for the extended mass distributions that the data imply. These complications can be addressed using scale-free models similar to those previously employed to study binary galaxies. When satellite velocities are assumed isotropic, both methods imply massive and extended halos. However, the derived masses depend sensitively on the assumed shape of satellite orbits. Furthermore, both methods ignore the fact that many of the satellites in the sample have orbital periods comparable to the Hubble time. The orbital phases of such satellites cannot be random, and their distribution in radius cannot be freely adjusted; rather these properties reflect ongoing infall onto the outer halos of their primaries. We use detailed dynamical models for halo formation to evaluate these problems, and we devise a maximum likelihood technique for estimating the parameters of such models from the data. The most strongly constrained parameter is the mass within 200-300 kpc, giving the confidence limits quoted above. The eccentricity, e, of satellite orbits is also strongly constrained, 0.50 less than e less than 0.88 at 90% confidence, implying a near-isotropic distribution of satellite velocities. The cosmic density parameter in the vicinity of our isolated halos exceeds 0.13 at 90% confidence, with preferred values exceeding 0.3.

Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars.

PubMed

Herzog-Arbeitman, Jonah; Lisanti, Mariangela; Madau, Piero; Necib, Lina

2018-01-26

The Milky Way dark matter halo is formed from the accretion of smaller subhalos. These sub-units also harbor stars-typically old and metal-poor-that are deposited in the Galactic inner regions by disruption events. In this Letter, we show that the dark matter and metal-poor stars in the Solar neighborhood share similar kinematics due to their common origin. Using the high-resolution eris simulation, which traces the evolution of both the dark matter and baryons in a realistic Milky Way analog galaxy, we demonstrate that metal-poor stars are indeed effective tracers for the local, virialized dark matter velocity distribution. The local dark matter velocities can therefore be inferred from observations of the stellar halo made by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey within 4 kpc of the Sun. This empirical distribution differs from the standard halo model in important ways and suggests that the bounds on the spin-independent scattering cross section may be weakened for dark matter masses below ∼10  GeV. Data from Gaia will allow us to further refine the expected distribution for the smooth dark matter component, and to test for the presence of local substructure.

Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities Using Metal-Poor Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herzog-Arbeitman, Jonah; Lisanti, Mariangela; Madau, Piero; Necib, Lina

2018-01-01

The Milky Way dark matter halo is formed from the accretion of smaller subhalos. These sub-units also harbor stars—typically old and metal-poor—that are deposited in the Galactic inner regions by disruption events. In this Letter, we show that the dark matter and metal-poor stars in the Solar neighborhood share similar kinematics due to their common origin. Using the high-resolution eris simulation, which traces the evolution of both the dark matter and baryons in a realistic Milky Way analog galaxy, we demonstrate that metal-poor stars are indeed effective tracers for the local, virialized dark matter velocity distribution. The local dark matter velocities can therefore be inferred from observations of the stellar halo made by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey within 4 kpc of the Sun. This empirical distribution differs from the standard halo model in important ways and suggests that the bounds on the spin-independent scattering cross section may be weakened for dark matter masses below ˜10 GeV . Data from Gaia will allow us to further refine the expected distribution for the smooth dark matter component, and to test for the presence of local substructure.

On the scatter in the relation between stellar mass and halo mass: random or halo formation time dependent?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lan; De Lucia, Gabriella; Weinmann, Simone M.

2013-05-01

The empirical traditional halo occupation distribution (HOD) model of Wang et al. fits, by construction, both the stellar mass function and correlation function of galaxies in the local Universe. In contrast, the semi-analytical models of De Lucia & Blazoit (hereafter DLB07) and Guo et al. (hereafter Guo11), built on the same dark matter halo merger trees than the empirical model, still have difficulties in reproducing these observational data simultaneously. We compare the relations between the stellar mass of galaxies and their host halo mass in the three models, and find that they are different. When the relations are rescaled to have the same median values and the same scatter as in Wang et al., the rescaled DLB07 model can fit both the measured galaxy stellar mass function and the correlation function measured in different galaxy stellar mass bins. In contrast, the rescaled Guo11 model still overpredicts the clustering of low-mass galaxies. This indicates that the detail of how galaxies populate the scatter in the stellar mass-halo mass relation does play an important role in determining the correlation functions of galaxies. While the stellar mass of galaxies in the Wang et al. model depends only on halo mass and is randomly distributed within the scatter, galaxy stellar mass depends also on the halo formation time in semi-analytical models. At fixed value of infall mass, galaxies that lie above the median stellar mass-halo mass relation reside in haloes that formed earlier, while galaxies that lie below the median relation reside in haloes that formed later. This effect is much stronger in Guo11 than in DLB07, which explains the overclustering of low mass galaxies in Guo11. Assembly bias in Guo11 model might be overly strong. Nevertheless, in case that a significant assembly bias indeed exists in the real Universe, one needs to use caution when applying current HOD and abundance matching models that employ the assumption of random scatter in the relation

Lévy-Student distributions for halos in accelerator beams.

PubMed

Cufaro Petroni, Nicola; De Martino, Salvatore; De Siena, Silvio; Illuminati, Fabrizio

2005-12-01

We describe the transverse beam distribution in particle accelerators within the controlled, stochastic dynamical scheme of stochastic mechanics (SM) which produces time reversal invariant diffusion processes. This leads to a linearized theory summarized in a Schrödinger-like (SL) equation. The space charge effects have been introduced in recent papers by coupling this S-L equation with the Maxwell equations. We analyze the space-charge effects to understand how the dynamics produces the actual beam distributions, and in particular we show how the stationary, self-consistent solutions are related to the (external and space-charge) potentials both when we suppose that the external field is harmonic (constant focusing), and when we a priori prescribe the shape of the stationary solution. We then proceed to discuss a few other ideas by introducing generalized Student distributions, namely, non-Gaussian, Lévy infinitely divisible (but not stable) distributions. We will discuss this idea from two different standpoints: (a) first by supposing that the stationary distribution of our (Wiener powered) SM model is a Student distribution; (b) by supposing that our model is based on a (non-Gaussian) Lévy process whose increments are Student distributed. We show that in the case (a) the longer tails of the power decay of the Student laws and in the case (b) the discontinuities of the Lévy-Student process can well account for the rare escape of particles from the beam core, and hence for the formation of a halo in intense beams.

N-body dark matter haloes with simple hierarchical histories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Lilian; Helly, John C.; Cole, Shaun; Frenk, Carlos S.

2014-05-01

We present a new algorithm which groups the subhaloes found in cosmological N-body simulations by structure finders such as SUBFIND into dark matter haloes whose formation histories are strictly hierarchical. One advantage of these `Dhaloes' over the commonly used friends-of-friends (FoF) haloes is that they retain their individual identity in the cases when FoF haloes are artificially merged by tenuous bridges of particles or by an overlap of their outer diffuse haloes. Dhaloes are thus well suited for modelling galaxy formation and their merger trees form the basis of the Durham semi-analytic galaxy formation model, GALFORM. Applying the Dhalo construction to the Λ cold dark matter Millennium II Simulation, we find that approximately 90 per cent of Dhaloes have a one-to-one, bijective match with a corresponding FoF halo. The remaining 10 per cent are typically secondary components of large FoF haloes. Although the mass functions of both types of haloes are similar, the mass of Dhaloes correlates much more tightly with the virial mass, M200, than FoF haloes. Approximately 80 per cent of FoF and bijective and non-bijective Dhaloes are relaxed according to standard criteria. For these relaxed haloes, all three types have similar concentration-M200 relations and, at fixed mass, the concentration distributions are described accurately by log-normal distributions.

Luminosity distance in Swiss-cheese cosmology with randomized voids and galaxy halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flanagan, Éanna É.; Kumar, Naresh; Wasserman, Ira

2013-08-01

We study the fluctuations in luminosity distance due to gravitational lensing produced both by galaxy halos and large-scale voids. Voids are represented via a “Swiss-cheese” model consisting of a ΛCDM Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background from which a number of randomly distributed, spherical regions of comoving radius 35 Mpc are removed. A fraction of the removed mass is then placed on the shells of the spheres, in the form of randomly located halos. The halos are assumed to be nonevolving and are modeled with Navarro-Frenk-White profiles of a fixed mass. The remaining mass is placed in the interior of the spheres, either smoothly distributed or as randomly located halos. We compute the distribution of magnitude shifts using a variant of the method of Holz and Wald [Phys. Rev. D 58, 063501 (1998)], which includes the effect of lensing shear. In the two models we consider, the standard deviation of this distribution is 0.065 and 0.072 magnitudes and the mean is -0.0010 and -0.0013 magnitudes, for voids of radius 35 Mpc and the sources at redshift 1.5, with the voids chosen so that 90% of the mass is on the shell today. The standard deviation due to voids and halos is a factor ˜3 larger than that due to 35 Mpc voids alone with a 1 Mpc shell thickness, which we studied in our previous work. We also study the effect of the existence of evacuated voids, by comparing to a model where all the halos are randomly distributed in the interior of the sphere with none on its surface. This does not significantly change the variance but does significantly change the demagnification tail. To a good approximation, the variance of the distribution depends only on the mean column density of halos (halo mass divided by its projected area), the concentration parameter of the halos, and the fraction of the mass density that is in the form of halos (as opposed to smoothly distributed); it is independent of how the halos are distributed in space. We derive an approximate analytic

Lithium in halo stars from standard stellar evolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deliyannis, Constantine P.; Demarque, Pierre; Kawaler, Steven D.

1990-01-01

A grid has been constructed of theoretical evolution sequences of models for low-metallicity stars from the premain-sequence to the giant branch phases. The grid is used to study the history of surface Li abundance during standard stellar evolution. The Li-7 observations of halo stars by Spite and Spite (1982) and subsequent observations are synthesized to separate the halo stars by age. The theory of surface Li abundance is illustrated by following the evolution of a reference halo star model from the contracting fully convective premain sequence to the giant branch phase. The theoretical models are compared with observed Li abundances. The results show that the halo star lithium abundances can be explained in the context of standard stellar evolution theory using completely standard assumptions and physics.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: The SEGUE K giant survey. III. Galactic halo (Janesh+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janesh, W.; Morrison, H. L.; Ma, Z.; Rockosi, C.; Starkenburg, E.; Xue, X. X.; Rix, H.-W.; Harding, P.; Beers, T. C.; Johnson, J.; Lee, Y. S.; Schneider, D. P.

2016-03-01

We statistically quantify the amount of substructure in the Milky Way stellar halo using a sample of 4568 halo K giant stars at Galactocentric distances ranging over 5-125kpc. These stars have been selected photometrically and confirmed spectroscopically as K giants from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) project. Using a position-velocity clustering estimator (the 4distance) and a model of a smooth stellar halo, we quantify the amount of substructure in the halo, divided by distance and metallicity. Overall, we find that the halo as a whole is highly structured. We also confirm earlier work using blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars which showed that there is an increasing amount of substructure with increasing Galactocentric radius, and additionally find that the amount of substructure in the halo increases with increasing metallicity. Comparing to resampled BHB stars, we find that K giants and BHBs have similar amounts of substructure over equivalent ranges of Galactocentric radius. Using a friends-of-friends algorithm to identify members of individual groups, we find that a large fraction (~33%) of grouped stars are associated with Sgr, and identify stars belonging to other halo star streams: the Orphan Stream, the Cetus Polar Stream, and others, including previously unknown substructures. A large fraction of sample K giants (more than 50%) are not grouped into any substructure. We find also that the Sgr stream strongly dominates groups in the outer halo for all except the most metal-poor stars, and suggest that this is the source of the increase of substructure with Galactocentric radius and metallicity. (2 data files).

Dependence of Halo Bias and Kinematics on Assembly Variables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Xiaoju; Zheng, Zheng

2018-06-01

Using dark matter haloes identified in a large N-body simulation, we study halo assembly bias, with halo formation time, peak maximum circular velocity, concentration, and spin as the assembly variables. Instead of grouping haloes at fixed mass into different percentiles of each assembly variable, we present the joint dependence of halo bias on the values of halo mass and each assembly variable. In the plane of halo mass and one assembly variable, the joint dependence can be largely described as halo bias increasing outward from a global minimum. We find it unlikely to have a combination of halo variables to absorb all assembly bias effects. We then present the joint dependence of halo bias on two assembly variables at fixed halo mass. The gradient of halo bias does not necessarily follow the correlation direction of the two assembly variables and it varies with halo mass. Therefore in general for two correlated assembly variables one cannot be used as a proxy for the other in predicting halo assembly bias trend. Finally, halo assembly is found to affect the kinematics of haloes. Low-mass haloes formed earlier can have much higher pairwise velocity dispersion than those of massive haloes. In general, halo assembly leads to a correlation between halo bias and halo pairwise velocity distribution, with more strongly clustered haloes having higher pairwise velocity and velocity dispersion. However, the correlation is not tight, and the kinematics of haloes at fixed halo bias still depends on halo mass and assembly variables.

Disc-halo interactions in ΛCDM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, Jacob S.; Widrow, Lawrence M.; Erkal, Denis

2018-05-01

We present a new method for embedding a stellar disc in a cosmological dark matter halo and provide a worked example from a Λ cold dark matter zoom-in simulation. The disc is inserted into the halo at a redshift z = 3 as a zero-mass rigid body. Its mass and size are then increased adiabatically while its position, velocity, and orientation are determined from rigid-body dynamics. At z = 1, the rigid disc (RD) is replaced by an N-body disc whose particles sample a three-integral distribution function (DF). The simulation then proceeds to z = 0 with live disc (LD) and halo particles. By comparison, other methods assume one or more of the following: the centre of the RD during the growth phase is pinned to the minimum of the halo potential, the orientation of the RD is fixed, or the live N-body disc is constructed from a two rather than three-integral DF. In general, the presence of a disc makes the halo rounder, more centrally concentrated, and smoother, especially in the innermost regions. We find that methods in which the disc is pinned to the minimum of the halo potential tend to overestimate the amount of adiabatic contraction. Additionally, the effect of the disc on the subhalo distribution appears to be rather insensitive to the disc insertion method. The LD in our simulation develops a bar that is consistent with the bars seen in late-type spiral galaxies. In addition, particles from the disc are launched or `kicked up' to high galactic latitudes.

The Chemical Abundances of Stars in the Halo (CASH) Project. II. New Extremely Metal-poor Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krugler, Julie A.; Frebel, A.; Roederer, I. U.; Sneden, C.; Shetrone, M.; Beers, T.; Christlieb, N.

2011-01-01

We present new abundance results from the Chemical Abundances of Stars in the Halo (CASH) project. The 500 CASH spectra were observed using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in "snapshot" mode and are analyzed using an automated stellar parameter and abundance pipeline called CASHCODE. For the 20 most metal-poor stars of the CASH sample we have obtained high resolution spectra using the Magellan Telescope in order to test the uncertainties and systematic errors associated with the snapshot quality (i.e., R 15,000 and S/N 65) HET spectra and to calibrate the newly developed CASHCODE by making a detailed comparison between the stellar parameters and abundances determined from the high resolution and snapshot spectra. We find that the CASHCODE stellar parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity, and microturbulence) agree well with the results of the manual analysis of the high resolution spectra. We present the abundances of three newly discovered stars with [Fe/H] < -3.5. For the entire pilot sample, we find typical halo abundance ratios with alpha-enhancement and Fe-peak depletion and a range of n-capture elements. The full CASH sample will be used to derive statistically robust abundance trends and frequencies (e.g. carbon and n-capture), as well as placing constraints on nucleosynthetic processes that occurred in the early universe.

Effective Dark Matter Halo Catalog in f(R) Gravity.

PubMed

He, Jian-Hua; Hawken, Adam J; Li, Baojiu; Guzzo, Luigi

2015-08-14

We introduce the idea of an effective dark matter halo catalog in f(R) gravity, which is built using the effective density field. Using a suite of high resolution N-body simulations, we find that the dynamical properties of halos, such as the distribution of density, velocity dispersion, specific angular momentum and spin, in the effective catalog of f(R) gravity closely mimic those in the cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant (ΛCDM). Thus, when using effective halos, an f(R) model can be viewed as a ΛCDM model. This effective catalog therefore provides a convenient way for studying the baryonic physics, the galaxy halo occupation distribution and even semianalytical galaxy formation in f(R) cosmologies.

The Impact of Starbursts on the Gaseous Halos of Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heckman, Timothy

2009-07-01

Perhaps the most important {yet uncertain} aspects of galaxy evolution are the processes by which galaxies accrete gas and by which the resulting star formation and black hole growth affects this accreting gas. It is believed that both the form of the accretion and the nature of the feedback change as a function of the galaxy mass. At low mass the gas comes in cold and the feedback is provided by massive stars. At high mass, the gas comes in hot, and the feedback is from an AGN. The changeover occurs near the mass where the galaxy population transitions from star-forming galaxies to red and dead ones. The population of red and dead galaxies is building with cosmic time, and it is believed that feedback plays an imporant role in this process: shutting down star formation by heating and/or expelling the reservoir of cold halo gas. To investigate these ideas, we propose to use COS far-UV spectra of background QSOs to measure the properties of the halo gas in a sample of galaxies near the transition mass that have undergone starbursts within the past 100 Myr to 1 Gyr. The galactic wind associated with the starburst is predicted to have affected the properties of the gaseous halo. To test this, we will compare the properties of the halos of the post-starburst galaxies to those of a control sample of galaxies matched in mass and QSO impact parameter. Do the halos of the post-starburst galaxies show a higher incidence rate of Ly-Alpha and metal absorption-lines? Are the kinematics of the halo gas more disturbed in the post-starbursts? Has the wind affected the ionization state and/or the metallicity of the halo? These data will provide fresh new insights into the role of feedback from massive stars on the evolution of galaxies, and may also offer clues about the properties of the QSO metal absorption-line systems at high-redshift.

The Geographic Distribution of Boulder Halo Craters at Mid-to-High Latitudes on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rader, L. X.; Fassett, C. I.; Levy, J. S.; King, I. R.; Chaffey, P. M.; Wagoner, C. M.; Hanlon, A. E.; Watters, J. L.; Kreslavsky, M. A.; Holt, J. W.;

Analytical halo model of galactic conformity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pahwa, Isha; Paranjape, Aseem

2017-09-01

We present a fully analytical halo model of colour-dependent clustering that incorporates the effects of galactic conformity in a halo occupation distribution framework. The model, based on our previous numerical work, describes conformity through a correlation between the colour of a galaxy and the concentration of its parent halo, leading to a correlation between central and satellite galaxy colours at fixed halo mass. The strength of the correlation is set by a tunable 'group quenching efficiency', and the model can separately describe group-level correlations between galaxy colour (1-halo conformity) and large-scale correlations induced by assembly bias (2-halo conformity). We validate our analytical results using clustering measurements in mock galaxy catalogues, finding that the model is accurate at the 10-20 per cent level for a wide range of luminosities and length-scales. We apply the formalism to interpret the colour-dependent clustering of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We find good overall agreement between the data and a model that has 1-halo conformity at a level consistent with previous results based on an SDSS group catalogue, although the clustering data require satellites to be redder than suggested by the group catalogue. Within our modelling uncertainties, however, we do not find strong evidence of 2-halo conformity driven by assembly bias in SDSS clustering.

Probing the shape and internal structure of dark matter haloes with the halo-shear-shear three-point correlation function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirasaki, Masato; Yoshida, Naoki

2018-04-01

Weak lensing three-point statistics are powerful probes of the structure of dark matter haloes. We propose to use the correlation of the positions of galaxies with the shapes of background galaxy pairs, known as the halo-shear-shear correlation (HSSC), to measure the mean halo ellipticity and the abundance of subhaloes in a statistical manner. We run high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations and use the outputs to measure the HSSC for galaxy haloes and cluster haloes. Non-spherical haloes cause a characteristic azimuthal variation of the HSSC, and massive subhaloes in the outer region near the virial radius contribute to ˜ 10 per cent of the HSSC amplitude. Using the HSSC and its covariance estimated from our N-body simulations, we make forecast for constraining the internal structure of dark matter haloes with future galaxy surveys. With 1000 galaxy groups with mass greater than 1013.5 h-1M⊙, the average halo ellipticity can be measured with an accuracy of 10 percent. A spherical, smooth mass distribution can be ruled out at a ˜5σ significance level. The existence of subhaloes whose masses are in 1-10 percent of the main halo mass can be detected with ˜104 galaxies/clusters. We conclude that the HSSC provides valuable information on the structure of dark haloes and hence on the nature of dark matter.

The Excursion Set Theory of Halo Mass Functions, Halo Clustering, and Halo Growth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zentner, Andrew R.

I review the excursion set theory with particular attention toward applications to cold dark matter halo formation and growth, halo abundance, and halo clustering. After a brief introduction to notation and conventions, I begin by recounting the heuristic argument leading to the mass function of bound objects given by Press and Schechter. I then review the more formal derivation of the Press-Schechter halo mass function that makes use of excursion sets of the density field. The excursion set formalism is powerful and can be applied to numerous other problems. I review the excursion set formalism for describing both halo clustering and bias and the properties of void regions. As one of the most enduring legacies of the excursion set approach and one of its most common applications, I spend considerable time reviewing the excursion set theory of halo growth. This section of the review culminates with the description of two Monte Carlo methods for generating ensembles of halo mass accretion histories. In the last section, I emphasize that the standard excursion set approach is the result of several simplifying assumptions. Dropping these assumptions can lead to more faithful predictions and open excursion set theory to new applications. One such assumption is that the height of the barriers that define collapsed objects is a constant function of scale. I illustrate the implementation of the excursion set approach for barriers of arbitrary shape. One such application is the now well-known improvement of the excursion set mass function derived from the "moving" barrier for ellipsoidal collapse. I also emphasize that the statement that halo accretion histories are independent of halo environment in the excursion set approach is not a general prediction of the theory. It is a simplifying assumption. I review the method for constructing correlated random walks of the density field in the more general case. I construct a simple toy model to illustrate that excursion set

How do stars affect ψDM halos?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, James H. H.; Schive, Hsi-Yu; Woo, Tak-Pong; Chiueh, Tzihong

2018-04-01

Wave dark matter (ψDM) predicts a compact soliton core and a granular halo in every galaxy. This work presents the first simulation study of an elliptical galaxy by including both stars and ψDM, focusing on the systematic changes of the central soliton and halo granules. With the addition of stars in the inner halo, we find the soliton core consistently becomes more prominent by absorbing mass from the host halo than that without stars, and the halo granules become "non-isothermal", "hotter" in the inner halo and "cooler" in the outer halo, as opposed to the isothermal halo in pure ψDM cosmological simulations. Moreover, the composite (star+ψDM) mass density is found to follow a r-2 isothermal profile near the half-light radius in most cases. Most striking is the velocity dispersion of halo stars that increases rapidly toward the galactic center by a factor of at least 2 inside the half-light radius caused by the deepened soliton gravitational potential, a result that compares favorably with observations of elliptical galaxies and bulges in spiral galaxies. However in some rare situations we find a phase segregation turning a compact distribution of stars into two distinct populations with high and very low velocity dispersions; while the high-velocity component mostly resides in the halo, the very low-velocity component is bound to the interior of the soliton core, resembling stars in faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

Effects of primordial magnetic field on the formation rate of dark matter halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheera, Varalakshmi; Nigam, Rahul

2018-05-01

We construct and demonstrate a method for computing the formation rate of the dark matter halo in the hierarchical model set up. This method uses the Press-Schecter distribution for the halos and hence applies only to the spherical halos. But this can be generalized to ellipsoidal structures also if one uses the Sheth-Torman distribution. After obtaining the formation rate, we study the effect of primordial magnetic field on the dynamics of these halos. We investigate the effect for different field strengths and conclude that a magnetic field stronger than 10 nG would impact the halos larger than 108 solar masses while a weaker field affects the formation rate of smaller halos.

The global dark halo structure of the Andromeda galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayashi, Kohei; Chiba, Masashi

2014-01-01

We set new limits on the global shape of the dark halo in the Andromeda galaxy based on axisymmetric mass models constructed by Hayashi & Chiba (2012). This is motivated by the fact that CDM models predict non-spherical virialized dark halos, which reflect the process of mass assembly in the galactic scale. Based on the application of our models to latest kinematical data of globular clusters and dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Andromeda halo, we find that the most plausible cases for Andromeda yield not a spherical but a prolate shape for its dark halo. We also find that the prolate dark halo is consistent with theoretical predictions in which the satellites are distributed anisotropically and preferentially located along major axes of their galactic host halos. It is a reflection of the intimate connection between galactic dark matter halos and the cosmic web.

Semi-empirical catalog of early-type galaxy-halo systems: dark matter density profiles, halo contraction and dark matter annihilation strength

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chae, Kyu-Hyun; Kravtsov, Andrey V.; Frieman, Joshua A.

With Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxy data and halo data from up-to-date N-body simulations within the ΛCDM framework we construct a semi-empirical catalog (SEC) of early-type galaxy-halo systems by making a self-consistent bivariate statistical match of stellar mass (M{sub *}) and velocity dispersion (σ) with halo virial mass (M{sub vir}) as demonstrated here for the first time. We then assign stellar mass profile and velocity dispersion profile parameters to each system in the SEC using their observed correlations with M{sub *} and σ. Simultaneously, we solve for dark matter density profile of each halo using the spherical Jeans equation. Themore » resulting dark matter density profiles deviate in general from the dissipationless profile of Navarro-Frenk-White or Einasto and their mean inner density slope and concentration vary systematically with M{sub vir}. Statistical tests of the distribution of profiles at fixed M{sub vir} rule out the null hypothesis that it follows the distribution predicted by dissipationless N-body simulations for M{sub vir}∼<10{sup 13.5} {sup –} {sup 14.5} M{sub s}un. These dark matter profiles imply that dark matter density is, on average, enhanced significantly in the inner region of halos with M{sub vir}∼<10{sup 13.5} {sup –} {sup 14.5} M{sub s}un supporting halo contraction. The main characteristics of halo contraction are: (1) the mean dark matter density within the effective radius has increased by a factor varying systematically up to ≈ 3–4 at M{sub vir} = 10{sup 12} M{sub s}un, and (2) the inner density slope has a mean of (α) ≈ 1.3 with ρ{sub dm}(r)∝r{sup −α} and a halo-to-halo rms scatter of rms(α) ∼ 0.4–0.5 for 10{sup 12} M{sub s}un∼« less

Halo-independent direct detection analyses without mass assumptions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, Adam J.; Fox, Patrick J.; Kahn, Yonatan

2015-10-01

Results from direct detection experiments are typically interpreted by employing an assumption about the dark matter velocity distribution, with results presented in the m{sub χ}−σ{sub n} plane. Recently methods which are independent of the DM halo velocity distribution have been developed which present results in the v{sub min}− g-tilde plane, but these in turn require an assumption on the dark matter mass. Here we present an extension of these halo-independent methods for dark matter direct detection which does not require a fiducial choice of the dark matter mass. With a change of variables from v{sub min} to nuclear recoil momentummore » (p{sub R}), the full halo-independent content of an experimental result for any dark matter mass can be condensed into a single plot as a function of a new halo integral variable, which we call h-tilde (p{sub R}). The entire family of conventional halo-independent g-tilde (v{sub min}) plots for all DM masses are directly found from the single h-tilde (p{sub R}) plot through a simple rescaling of axes. By considering results in h-tilde (p{sub R}) space, one can determine if two experiments are inconsistent for all masses and all physically possible halos, or for what range of dark matter masses the results are inconsistent for all halos, without the necessity of multiple g-tilde (v{sub min}) plots for different DM masses. We conduct a sample analysis comparing the CDMS II Si events to the null results from LUX, XENON10, and SuperCDMS using our method and discuss how the results can be strengthened by imposing the physically reasonable requirement of a finite halo escape velocity.« less

Halo-independent direct detection analyses without mass assumptions

DOE PAGES

Anderson, Adam J.; Fox, Patrick J.; Kahn, Yonatan; ...

2015-10-06

Results from direct detection experiments are typically interpreted by employing an assumption about the dark matter velocity distribution, with results presented in the m χ – σ n plane. Recently methods which are independent of the DM halo velocity distribution have been developed which present results in the v min – g ~ plane, but these in turn require an assumption on the dark matter mass. Here we present an extension of these halo-independent methods for dark matter direct detection which does not require a fiducial choice of the dark matter mass. With a change of variables from v minmore » to nuclear recoil momentum (p R), the full halo-independent content of an experimental result for any dark matter mass can be condensed into a single plot as a function of a new halo integral variable, which we call tilde h(p R). The entire family of conventional halo-independent tilde g ~(v min) plots for all DM masses are directly found from the single tilde h ~(p R) plot through a simple rescaling of axes. By considering results in tildeh ~(p R) space, one can determine if two experiments are inconsistent for all masses and all physically possible halos, or for what range of dark matter masses the results are inconsistent for all halos, without the necessity of multiple tilde g ~(v min) plots for different DM masses. As a result, we conduct a sample analysis comparing the CDMS II Si events to the null results from LUX, XENON10, and SuperCDMS using our method and discuss how the results can be strengthened by imposing the physically reasonable requirement of a finite halo escape velocity.« less

Grains in galactic haloes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferrara, Andrea; Barsella, Bruno; Ferrini, F.; Greenberg, J. Mayo; Aiello, Santi

1989-01-01

Researchers considered the effect of extensive forces on dust grains subjected to the light and matter distribution of a spiral galaxy (Greenberg et al. (1987), Ferrini et al. (1987), Barsella et al (1988). Researchers showed that the combined force on a small particle located above the plane of a galactic disk may be either attractive or repulsive depending on a variety of parameters. They found, for example, that graphite grains from 20 nm to 250 nm radius are expelled from a typical galaxy, while silicates and other forms of dielectrics, after initial expulsion, may settle in potential minimum within the halo. They discuss only the statistical behavior of the forces for 17 galaxies whose luminosity and matter distribution in the disk, bulge and halo components are reasonably well known. The preliminary results of the study of the motion of a dust grain for NGC 3198 are given.

Dark matter haloes: a multistream view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramachandra, Nesar S.; Shandarin, Sergei F.

2017-09-01

Mysterious dark matter constitutes about 85 per cent of all masses in the Universe. Clustering of dark matter plays a dominant role in the formation of all observed structures on scales from a fraction to a few hundreds of Mega-parsecs. Galaxies play a role of lights illuminating these structures so they can be observed. The observations in the last several decades have unveiled opulent geometry of these structures currently known as the cosmic web. Haloes are the highest concentrations of dark matter and host luminous galaxies. Currently the most accurate modelling of dark matter haloes is achieved in cosmological N-body simulations. Identifying the haloes from the distribution of particles in N-body simulations is one of the problems attracting both considerable interest and efforts. We propose a novel framework for detecting potential dark matter haloes using the field unique for dark matter-multistream field. The multistream field emerges at the non-linear stage of the growth of perturbations because the dark matter is collisionless. Counting the number of velocity streams in gravitational collapses supplements our knowledge of spatial clustering. We assume that the virialized haloes have convex boundaries. Closed and convex regions of the multistream field are hence isolated by imposing a positivity condition on all three eigenvalues of the Hessian estimated on the smoothed multistream field. In a single-scale analysis of high multistream field resolution and low softening length, the halo substructures with local multistream maxima are isolated as individual halo sites.

The dust scattering halo of Cygnus X-3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corrales, L. R.; Paerels, F.

2015-10-01

Dust grains scatter X-ray light through small angles, producing a diffuse halo image around bright X-ray point sources situated behind a large amount of interstellar material. We present analytic solutions to the integral for the dust scattering intensity, which allow for a Bayesian analysis of the scattering halo around Cygnus X-3. Fitting the optically thin 4-6 keV halo surface brightness profile yields the dust grain size and spatial distribution. We assume a power-law distribution of grain sizes (n ∝ a-p) and fit for p, the grain radius cut-off amax, and dust mass column. We find that a p ≈ 3.5 dust grain size distribution with amax ≈ 0.2 μm fits the halo profile relatively well, whether the dust is distributed uniformly along the line of sight or in clumps. We find that a model consisting of two dust screens, representative of foreground spiral arms, requires the foreground Perseus arm to contain 80 per cent of the total dust mass. The remaining 20 per cent of the dust, which may be associated with the outer spiral arm of the Milky Way, is located within 1 kpc of Cyg X-3. Regardless of which model was used, we found τ_sca ˜ 2 E_keV^{-2}. We examine the energy resolved haloes of Cyg X-3 from 1 to 6 keV and find that there is a sharp drop in scattering halo intensity when E < 2-3 keV, which cannot be explained with multiple scattering effects. We hypothesize that this may be caused by large dust grains or material with unique dielectric properties, causing the scattering cross-section to depart from the Rayleigh-Gans approximation that is used most often in X-ray scattering studies. The foreground Cyg OB2 association, which contains several evolved stars with large extinction values, is a likely culprit for grains of unique size or composition.

WEIGHING THE GALACTIC DARK MATTER HALO: A LOWER MASS LIMIT FROM THE FASTEST HALO STAR KNOWN

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Przybilla, Norbert; Tillich, Alfred; Heber, Ulrich

2010-07-20

The mass of the Galactic dark matter halo is under vivid discussion. A recent study by Xue et al. revised the Galactic halo mass downward by a factor of {approx}2 relative to previous work, based on the line-of-sight velocity distribution of {approx}2400 blue horizontal-branch (BHB) halo stars. The observations were interpreted with a statistical approach using cosmological galaxy formation simulations, as only four of the six-dimensional phase-space coordinates were determined. Here we concentrate on a close investigation of the stars with the highest negative radial velocity from that sample. For one star, SDSSJ153935.67+023909.8 (J1539+0239 for short), we succeed in measuringmore » a significant proper motion, i.e., full phase-space information is obtained. We confirm the star to be a Population II BHB star from an independent quantitative analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectrum-providing the first non-LTE (NLTE) study of any halo BHB star-and reconstruct its three-dimensional trajectory in the Galactic potential. J1539+0239 turns out to be the fastest halo star known to date, with a Galactic rest-frame velocity of 694{sup +300}{sub -221} km s{sup -1} (full uncertainty range from Monte Carlo error propagation) at its current position. The extreme kinematics of the star allows a significant lower limit to be put on the halo mass in order to keep it bound, of M {sub halo} {>=} 1.7{sup +2.3}{sub -1.1} x 10{sup 12} M{sub sun}. We conclude that the Xue et al. results tend to underestimate the true halo mass as their most likely mass value is consistent with our analysis only at a level of 4%. However, our result confirms other studies that make use of the full phase-space information.« less

The Peculiar Behavior of Halo Coronal Mass Ejections in Solar Cycle 24

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gopalswamy, N.; Xie, H.; Akiyama, S.; Makela, P.; Yashiro, S.; Michalek, G.

2015-01-01

We report on the remarkable finding that the halo coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in cycle 24 are more abundant than in cycle 23, although the sunspot number in cycle 24 has dropped by approx. 40%. We also find that the distribution of halo-CME source locations is different in cycle 24: the longitude distribution of halos is much flatter with the number of halos originating at a central meridian distance greater than or equal to 60deg twice as large as that in cycle 23. On the other hand, the average speed and associated soft X-ray flare size are the same in both cycles, suggesting that the ambient medium into which the CMEs are ejected is significantly different. We suggest that both the higher abundance and larger central meridian longitudes of halo CMEs can be explained as a consequence of the diminished total pressure in the heliosphere in cycle 24. The reduced total pressure allows CMEs to expand more than usual making them appear as halos.

THE EFFECTS OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM ON HALO PROFILES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lentz, Erik W; Rosenberg, Leslie J; Quinn, Thomas R, E-mail: lentze@phys.washington.edu, E-mail: ljrosenberg@phys.washington.edu, E-mail: trq@astro.washington.edu

2016-05-10

The near universality of DM halo density profiles provided by N -body simulations proved to be robust against changes in total mass density, power spectrum, and some forms of initial velocity dispersion. Here we study the effects of coherently spinning up an isolated DM-only progenitor on halo structure. Halos with spins within several standard deviations of the simulated mean ( λ ≲ 0.20) produce profiles with negligible deviations from the universal form. Only when the spin becomes quite large ( λ ≳ 0.20) do departures become evident. The angular momentum distribution also exhibits a near universal form, which is alsomore » independent of halo spin up to λ ≲ 0.20. A correlation between these epidemic profiles and the presence of a strong bar in the virialized halo is also observed. These bar structures bear resemblance to the radial orbit instability in the rotationless limit.« less

Following the Cosmic Evolution of Pristine Gas. I. Implications for Milky Way Halo Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarmento, Richard; Scannapieco, Evan; Pan, Liubin

2017-01-01

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}{crit} stars formed even in regions in which the gas’s average metallicity is well above {Z}{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.

Analytic halo approach to the bispectrum of galaxies in redshift space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamamoto, Kazuhiro; Nan, Yue; Hikage, Chiaki

2017-02-01

We present an analytic formula for the galaxy bispectrum in redshift space on the basis of the halo approach description with the halo occupation distribution of central galaxies and satellite galaxies. This work is an extension of a previous work on the galaxy power spectrum, which illuminated the significant contribution of satellite galaxies to the higher multipole spectrum through the nonlinear redshift space distortions of their random motions. Behaviors of the multipoles of the bispectrum are compared with results of numerical simulations assuming a halo occupation distribution of the low-redshift (LOWZ) sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III baryon oscillation spectroscopic survey (BOSS) survey. Also presented are analytic approximate formulas for the multipoles of the bispectrum, which is useful to understanding their characteristic properties. We demonstrate that the Fingers of God effect is quite important for the higher multipoles of the bispectrum in redshift space, depending on the halo occupation distribution parameters.

Solar Wind Halo Formation by the Scattering of the Strahl via Direct Cluster/PEACE Observations of the 3D Velocity Distribution Function

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Figueroa-Vinas, Adolfo; Gurgiolo, Chris A.; Nieves-Chinchilla, Teresa; Goldstein, Melvyn L.

2010-01-01

It has been suggested by a number of authors that the solar wind electron halo can be formed by the scattering of the strahl. On frequent occasions we have observed in electron angular skymaps (Phi/Theta-plots) of the electron 3D velocity distribution functions) a bursty-filament of particles connecting the strahl to the solar wind core-halo. These are seen over a very limited energy range. When the magnetic field is well off the nominal solar wind flow direction such filaments are inconsistent with any local forces and are probably the result of strong scattering. Furthermore, observations indicates that the strahl component is frequently and significantly anisotropic (Tper/Tpal approx.2). This provides a possible free energy source for the excitation of whistler waves as a possible scattering mechanism. The empirical observational evidence between the halo and the strahl suggests that the strahl population may be, at least in part, the source of the halo component.

The Prolate Dark Matter Halo of the Andromeda Galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayashi, Kohei; Chiba, Masashi

2014-07-01

We present new limits on the global shape of the dark matter halo in the Andromeda galaxy using and generalizing non-spherical mass models developed by Hayashi & Chiba and compare our results with theoretical predictions of cold dark matter (CDM) models. This is motivated by the fact that CDM models predict non-spherical virialized dark halos, which reflect the process of mass assembly in the galactic scale. Applying our models to the latest kinematic data of globular clusters and dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Andromeda halo, we find that the most plausible cases for Andromeda yield a prolate shape for its dark halo, irrespective of assumed density profiles. We also find that this prolate dark halo in Andromeda is consistent with theoretical predictions in which the satellites are distributed anisotropically and preferentially located along major axes of their host halos. It is a reflection of the intimate connection between galactic dark matter halos and the cosmic web. Therefore, our result is profound in understanding internal dynamics of halo tracers in Andromeda, such as orbital evolutions of tidal stellar streams, which play important roles in extracting the abundance of CDM subhalos through their dynamical effects on stream structures.

Halo Nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Khalili, Jim

2017-10-01

While neutron halos were discovered 30 years ago, this is the first book written on the subject of this exotic form of nuclei that typically contain many more neutrons than stable isotopes of those elements. It provides an introductory description of the halo and outlines the discovery and evidence for its existence. It also discusses different theoretical models of the halo's structure as well as models and techniques in reaction theory that have allowed us to study the halo. This is written at the graduate student (starting at PhD) level. The author of the book, Jim Al-Khalili, is a theoretician who published some of the key papers on the structure of the halo in the mid and late 90s and was the first to determine its true size. This monograph is based on review articles he has written on the mathematical models used to determine the halo structure and the reactions used to model that structure.

6Li in metal-poor halo stars: real or spurious?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steffen, M.; Cayrel, R.; Bonifacio, P.; Ludwig, H.-G.; Caffau, E.

2010-03-01

The presence of convective motions in the atmospheres of metal-poor halo stars leads to systematic asymmetries of the emergent spectral line profiles. Since such line asymmetries are very small, they can be safely ignored for standard spectroscopic abundance analysis. However, when it comes to the determination of the 6Li/7Li isotopic ratio, q(Li)=n(6Li)/n(7Li), the intrinsic asymmetry of the 7Li line must be taken into account, because its signature is essentially indistinguishable from the presence of a weak 6Li blend in the red wing of the 7Li line. In this contribution we quantity the error of the inferred 6Li/7Li isotopic ratio that arises if the convective line asymmetry is ignored in the fitting of the λ6707 Å lithium blend. Our conclusion is that 6Li/7Li ratios derived by Asplund et al. (2006), using symmetric line profiles, must be reduced by typically Δq(Li) ≈ 0.015. This diminishes the number of certain 6Li detections from 9 to 4 stars or less, casting some doubt on the existence of a 6Li plateau.

The bulge-halo conspiracy in massive elliptical galaxies: implications for the stellar initial mass function and halo response to baryonic processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dutton, Aaron A.; Treu, Tommaso

2014-03-01

Recent studies have shown that massive elliptical galaxies have total mass density profiles within an effective radius that can be approximated as ρ_tot∝ r^{-γ^', with mean slope <γ'> = 2.08 ± 0.03 and scatter σ _{γ ^' } }=0.16± 0.02. The small scatter of the slope (known as the bulge-halo conspiracy) is not generic in Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) based models and therefore contains information about the galaxy formation process. We compute the distribution of γ' for ΛCDM-based models that reproduce the observed correlations between stellar mass, velocity dispersion, and effective radius of early-type galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The models have a range of stellar initial mass functions (IMFs) and dark halo responses to galaxy formation. The observed distribution of γ' is well reproduced by a model with cosmologically motivated but uncontracted dark matter haloes, and a Salpeter-type IMF. Other models are on average ruled out by the data, even though they may happen in individual cases. Models with adiabatic halo contraction (and lighter IMFs) predict too small values of γ'. Models with halo expansion, or mass-follows-light predict too high values of γ'. Our study shows that the non-homologous structure of massive early-type galaxies can be precisely reproduced by ΛCDM models if the IMF is not universal and if mechanisms, such as feedback from active galactic nuclei, or dynamical friction, effectively on average counterbalance the contraction of the halo expected as a result of baryonic cooling.

One dark matter mystery: halos in the cosmic web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaite, Jose

2015-01-01

The current cold dark matter cosmological model explains the large scale cosmic web structure but is challenged by the observation of a relatively smooth distribution of matter in galactic clusters. We consider various aspects of modeling the dark matter around galaxies as distributed in smooth halos and, especially, the smoothness of the dark matter halos seen in N-body cosmological simulations. We conclude that the problems of the cold dark matter cosmology on small scales are more serious than normally admitted.

Galaxy power spectrum in redshift space: Combining perturbation theory with the halo model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okumura, Teppei; Hand, Nick; Seljak, Uroš; Vlah, Zvonimir; Desjacques, Vincent

2015-11-01

Theoretical modeling of the redshift-space power spectrum of galaxies is crucially important to correctly extract cosmological information from galaxy redshift surveys. The task is complicated by the nonlinear biasing and redshift space distortion (RSD) effects, which change with halo mass, and by the wide distribution of halo masses and their occupations by galaxies. One of the main modeling challenges is the existence of satellite galaxies that have both radial distribution inside the halos and large virial velocities inside halos, a phenomenon known as the Finger-of-God (FoG) effect. We present a model for the redshift-space power spectrum of galaxies in which we decompose a given galaxy sample into central and satellite galaxies and relate different contributions to the power spectrum to 1-halo and 2-halo terms in a halo model. Our primary goal is to ensure that any parameters that we introduce have physically meaningful values, and are not just fitting parameters. For the lowest order 2-halo terms we use the previously developed RSD modeling of halos in the context of distribution function and perturbation theory approach. This term needs to be multiplied by the effect of radial distances and velocities of satellites inside the halo. To this one needs to add the 1-halo terms, which are nonperturbative. We show that the real space 1-halo terms can be modeled as almost constant, with the finite extent of the satellites inside the halo inducing a small k2R2 term over the range of scales of interest, where R is related to the size of the halo given by its halo mass. We adopt a similar model for FoG in redshift space, ensuring that FoG velocity dispersion is related to the halo mass. For FoG k2 type expansions do not work over the range of scales of interest and FoG resummation must be used instead. We test several simple damping functions to model the velocity dispersion FoG effect. Applying the formalism to mock galaxies modeled after the "CMASS" sample of the

Galaxy power spectrum in redshift space: Combining perturbation theory with the halo model

DOE PAGES

Okumura, Teppei; Hand, Nick; Seljak, Uros; ...

2015-11-19

Theoretical modeling of the redshift-space power spectrum of galaxies is crucially important to correctly extract cosmological information from galaxy redshift surveys. The task is complicated by the nonlinear biasing and redshift space distortion (RSD) effects, which change with halo mass, and by the wide distribution of halo masses and their occupations by galaxies. One of the main modeling challenges is the existence of satellite galaxies that have both radial distribution inside the halos and large virial velocities inside halos, a phenomenon known as the Finger-of-God (FoG) effect. We present a model for the redshift-space power spectrum of galaxies in whichmore » we decompose a given galaxy sample into central and satellite galaxies and relate different contributions to the power spectrum to 1-halo and 2-halo terms in a halo model. Our primary goal is to ensure that any parameters that we introduce have physically meaningful values, and are not just fitting parameters. For the lowest order 2-halo terms we use the previously developed RSD modeling of halos in the context of distribution function and perturbation theory approach. This term needs to be multiplied by the effect of radial distances and velocities of satellites inside the halo. To this one needs to add the 1-halo terms, which are nonperturbative. We show that the real space 1-halo terms can be modeled as almost constant, with the finite extent of the satellites inside the halo inducing a small k 2R 2 term over the range of scales of interest, where R is related to the size of the halo given by its halo mass. Furthermore, we adopt a similar model for FoG in redshift space, ensuring that FoG velocity dispersion is related to the halo mass. For FoG k 2 type expansions do not work over the range of scales of interest and FoG resummation must be used instead. We test several simple damping functions to model the velocity dispersion FoG effect. Applying the formalism to mock galaxies modeled after the

Studying Dust Scattering Halos with Galactic X-ray Binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beeler, Doreen; Corrales, Lia; Heinz, Sebastian

2018-01-01

Dust is an important part of the interstellar medium (ISM) and contributes to the formation of stars and planets. Since the advent of modern X-ray telescopes, Galactic X-ray point sources have permitted a closer look at all phases of the ISM. Interstellar metals from oxygen to iron — in both gas and dust form — are responsible for absorption and scattering of X-ray light. Dust scatters the light in a forward direction and creates a diffuse halo image surrounding many bright Galactic X-ray binaries. We use all the bright X-ray point sources available in the Chandra HETG archive to study dust scattering halos from the local ISM. We have described a data analysis pipeline using a combination of the data reduction software CIAO and Python. We compare our results from Chandra HETG and ACIS-I observations of a well studied dust scattering halo around GX 13+1, in order to characterize any systematic errors associated with the HETG data set. We describe how our data products will be used to measure ISM scaling relations for X-ray extinction, dust abundance, and dust-to-metal ratios.

Spectroscopic decomposition of the galaxy and halo of the cD galaxy NGC 3311

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnston, Evelyn J.; Merrifield, Michael; Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso

2018-05-01

Information on the star-formation histories of cD galaxies and their extended stellar haloes lie in their spectra. Therefore, to determine whether these structures evolved together or through a two-phase formation, we need to spectroscopically separate the light from each component. We present a pilot study to use BUDDI to fit and extract the spectra of the cD galaxy NGC 3311 and its halo in an Integral Field Spectroscopy datacube, and carry out a simple stellar populations analysis to study their star-formation histories. Using MUSE data, we were able to isolate the light of the galaxy and its halo throughout the datacube, giving spectra representing purely the light from each of these structures. The stellar populations analysis of the two components indicates that, in this case, the bulk of the stars in both the halo and the central galaxy are very old, but the halo is more metal poor and less α-enriched than the galaxy. This result is consistent with the halo forming through the accretion of much smaller satellite galaxies with more extended star formation. It is noteworthy that the apparent gradients in age and metallicity indicators across the galaxy are entirely consistent with the radially-varying contributions of galaxy and halo components, which individually display no gradients. The success of this study is promising for its application to a larger sample of cD galaxies that are currently being observed by IFU surveys.

What is the Milky Way outer halo made of?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jablonka, Pascale; Battaglia, G.

2018-06-01

In a framework where galaxies form hierarchically, extended stellar haloes are predicted to be an ubiquitous feature around Milky Way-like galaxies and to consist mainly of the shredded stellar component of smaller galactic systems. The type of accreted stellar systems are expected to vary according to the specific accretion and merging history of a given galaxy, and so is the fraction of stars formed in-situ versus accreted. Analysis of the chemical properties of Milky Way halo stars out to large Galactocentric radii can provide important insights into the properties of the environment in which the stars that contributed to the build-up of different regions of the Milky Way stellar halo formed. In this talk I will focus on the outer regions of the Milky Way stellar halo, and present results from a program aimed at determining chemical abundances of halo stars with large present-day Galactocentric distances, $>$15 kpc. The data-set consists of high resolution spectra for 28 red giant branch stars covering a wide metallicity range.We show that the ratio of $\\alpha$-elements over Fe as a function of [Fe/H] for our sample of outer halo stars is not dissimilar from the pattern shown by MW halo stars from solar neighborhood samples. On the other hand, significant differences appear at [Fe/H]$\\gtrsim -1.5$ when considering chemical abundance ratios such as [Ba/Fe], [Na/Fe], [Ni/Fe], [Eu/Fe], [Ba/Y]. Qualitatively, this type of chemical abundance trends are observed in massive dwarf galaxies, such as Sagittarius and the Large Magellanic Cloud. This appears to suggest a larger contribution in the outer halo of stars formed in an environment with high initial star formation rate and already polluted by asymptotic giant branch stars with respect to inner halo samples.

Remapping dark matter halo catalogues between cosmological simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mead, A. J.; Peacock, J. A.

2014-05-01

We present and test a method for modifying the catalogue of dark matter haloes produced from a given cosmological simulation, so that it resembles the result of a simulation with an entirely different set of parameters. This extends the method of Angulo & White, which rescales the full particle distribution from a simulation. Working directly with the halo catalogue offers an advantage in speed, and also allows modifications of the internal structure of the haloes to account for non-linear differences between cosmologies. Our method can be used directly on a halo catalogue in a self-contained manner without any additional information about the overall density field; although the large-scale displacement field is required by the method, this can be inferred from the halo catalogue alone. We show proof of concept of our method by rescaling a matter-only simulation with no baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) features to a more standard Λ cold dark matter model containing a cosmological constant and a BAO signal. In conjunction with the halo occupation approach, this method provides a basis for the rapid generation of mock galaxy samples spanning a wide range of cosmological parameters.

The prolate dark matter halo of the Andromeda galaxy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hayashi, Kohei; Chiba, Masashi, E-mail: k.hayasi@astr.tohoku.ac.jp, E-mail: chiba@astr.tohoku.ac.jp

We present new limits on the global shape of the dark matter halo in the Andromeda galaxy using and generalizing non-spherical mass models developed by Hayashi and Chiba and compare our results with theoretical predictions of cold dark matter (CDM) models. This is motivated by the fact that CDM models predict non-spherical virialized dark halos, which reflect the process of mass assembly in the galactic scale. Applying our models to the latest kinematic data of globular clusters and dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Andromeda halo, we find that the most plausible cases for Andromeda yield a prolate shape for itsmore » dark halo, irrespective of assumed density profiles. We also find that this prolate dark halo in Andromeda is consistent with theoretical predictions in which the satellites are distributed anisotropically and preferentially located along major axes of their host halos. It is a reflection of the intimate connection between galactic dark matter halos and the cosmic web. Therefore, our result is profound in understanding internal dynamics of halo tracers in Andromeda, such as orbital evolutions of tidal stellar streams, which play important roles in extracting the abundance of CDM subhalos through their dynamical effects on stream structures.« less

One Large Blob and Many Streams Frosting the nearby Stellar Halo in Gaia DR2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koppelman, Helmer; Helmi, Amina; Veljanoski, Jovan

2018-06-01

We explore the phase-space structure of nearby halo stars identified kinematically from the Gaia second data release (DR2). We focus on their distribution in velocity and in “integrals of motion” space, as well as on their photometric properties. Our sample of stars selected to be moving at a relative velocity of at least 210 km s‑1, with respect to the Local Standard of Rest, contains an important contribution from the low rotational velocity tail of the disk(s). The V R -distribution of these stars depicts a small asymmetry similar to that seen for the faster rotating thin disk stars near the Sun. We also identify a prominent, slightly retrograde “blob” that traces the metal-poor halo main sequence reported by Gaia Collaboration et al. We also find many small clumps that are especially noticeable in the tails of the velocity distribution of the stars in our sample. Their Hertzsprung–Russell (HR) diagrams disclose narrow sequences characteristic of simple stellar populations. This stream-frosting confirms predictions from cosmological simulations, namely that substructure is most apparent among the fastest moving stars, typically reflecting more recent accretion events.

PARALLEL HOP: A SCALABLE HALO FINDER FOR MASSIVE COSMOLOGICAL DATA SETS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Skory, Stephen; Turk, Matthew J.; Norman, Michael L.

2010-11-15

Modern N-body cosmological simulations contain billions (10{sup 9}) of dark matter particles. These simulations require hundreds to thousands of gigabytes of memory and employ hundreds to tens of thousands of processing cores on many compute nodes. In order to study the distribution of dark matter in a cosmological simulation, the dark matter halos must be identified using a halo finder, which establishes the halo membership of every particle in the simulation. The resources required for halo finding are similar to the requirements for the simulation itself. In particular, simulations have become too extensive to use commonly employed halo finders, suchmore » that the computational requirements to identify halos must now be spread across multiple nodes and cores. Here, we present a scalable-parallel halo finding method called Parallel HOP for large-scale cosmological simulation data. Based on the halo finder HOP, it utilizes message passing interface and domain decomposition to distribute the halo finding workload across multiple compute nodes, enabling analysis of much larger data sets than is possible with the strictly serial or previous parallel implementations of HOP. We provide a reference implementation of this method as a part of the toolkit {sup yt}, an analysis toolkit for adaptive mesh refinement data that include complementary analysis modules. Additionally, we discuss a suite of benchmarks that demonstrate that this method scales well up to several hundred tasks and data sets in excess of 2000{sup 3} particles. The Parallel HOP method and our implementation can be readily applied to any kind of N-body simulation data and is therefore widely applicable.« less

Halo assembly bias and the tidal anisotropy of the local halo environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paranjape, Aseem; Hahn, Oliver; Sheth, Ravi K.

2018-05-01

We study the role of the local tidal environment in determining the assembly bias of dark matter haloes. Previous results suggest that the anisotropy of a halo's environment (i.e. whether it lies in a filament or in a more isotropic region) can play a significant role in determining the eventual mass and age of the halo. We statistically isolate this effect, using correlations between the large-scale and small-scale environments of simulated haloes at z = 0 with masses between 1011.6 ≲ (m/h-1 M⊙) ≲ 1014.9. We probe the large-scale environment, using a novel halo-by-halo estimator of linear bias. For the small-scale environment, we identify a variable αR that captures the tidal anisotropy in a region of radius R = 4R200b around the halo and correlates strongly with halo bias at fixed mass. Segregating haloes by αR reveals two distinct populations. Haloes in highly isotropic local environments (αR ≲ 0.2) behave as expected from the simplest, spherically averaged analytical models of structure formation, showing a negative correlation between their concentration and large-scale bias at all masses. In contrast, haloes in anisotropic, filament-like environments (αR ≳ 0.5) tend to show a positive correlation between bias and concentration at any mass. Our multiscale analysis cleanly demonstrates how the overall assembly bias trend across halo mass emerges as an average over these different halo populations, and provides valuable insights towards building analytical models that correctly incorporate assembly bias. We also discuss potential implications for the nature and detectability of galaxy assembly bias.

Constraints on baryonic dark matter in the Galactic halo and Local Group

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richstone, Douglas; Gould, Andrew; Guhathakurta, Puragra; Flynn, Chris

1992-01-01

A four-color method and deep CCD data are used to search for very faint metal-poor stars in the direction of the south Galactic pole. The results make it possible to limit the contribution of ordinary old, metal-poor stars to the dynamical halo of the Galaxy or to the Local Group. The ratio of the mass of the halo to its ordinary starlight must be more than about 2000, unless the halo is very small. For the Local Group, this ratio is greater than about 400. If this local dark matter is baryonic, the process of compact-object formation must produce very few 'impurities' in the form of stars similar to those found in globular clusters. The expected number of unbound stars with MV not greater than 6 within 100 pc of the sun is less than 1 based on the present 90-percent upper limit to the Local Group starlight.

Conserved actions, maximum entropy and dark matter haloes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pontzen, Andrew; Governato, Fabio

2013-03-01

We use maximum entropy arguments to derive the phase-space distribution of a virialized dark matter halo. Our distribution function gives an improved representation of the end product of violent relaxation. This is achieved by incorporating physically motivated dynamical constraints (specifically on orbital actions) which prevent arbitrary redistribution of energy. We compare the predictions with three high-resolution dark matter simulations of widely varying mass. The numerical distribution function is accurately predicted by our argument, producing an excellent match for the vast majority of particles. The remaining particles constitute the central cusp of the halo (≲4 per cent of the dark matter). They can be accounted for within the presented framework once the short dynamical time-scales of the centre are taken into account.

Insight into the Formation of the Milky Way Through Cold Halo Substructure. I. The ECHOS of Milky Way Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schlaufman, Kevin C.; Rockosi, Constance M.; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Beers, Timothy C.; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Brewington, Howard; Lee, Young Sun; Malanushenko, Viktor; Malanushenko, Elena; Oravetz, Dan; Pan, Kaike; Simmons, Audrey; Snedden, Stephanie; Yanny, Brian

2009-10-01

We identify 10—seven for the first time—elements of cold halo substructure (ECHOS) in the volume within 17.5 kpc of the Sun in the inner halo of the Milky Way. Our result is based on the observed spatial and radial velocity distribution of metal-poor main-sequence turnoff (MPMSTO) stars in 137 Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration lines of sight. We point out that the observed radial velocity distribution is consistent with a smooth stellar component of the Milky Way's inner halo overall, but disagrees significantly at the radial velocities that correspond to our detections. We show that all of our detections are statistically significant and that we expect no false positives. These ECHOS represent the observable stellar debris of ancient merger events in the stellar accretion history of the Milky Way, and we use our detections and completeness estimates to infer a formal upper limit of 0.34+0.02 -0.02 on the fraction of the MPMSTO population in the inner halo that belong to ECHOS. Our detections and completeness calculations also suggest that there is a significant population of low fractional overdensity ECHOS in the inner halo, and we predict that 1/3 of the inner halo (by volume) harbors ECHOS with MPMSTO star number densities n ≈ 15 kpc-3. In addition, we estimate that there are of order 103 ECHOS in the entire inner halo. ECHOS are likely older than known surface brightness substructure, so our detections provide us with a direct measure of the accretion history of the Milky Way in a region and time interval that has yet to be fully explored. In concert with previous studies, our result suggests that the level of merger activity has been roughly constant over the past few Gyr and that there has been no accretion of single stellar systems more massive than a few percent of a Milky Way mass in that interval.

Unveiling Galaxy Bias via the Halo Model, KiDS and GAMA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dvornik, Andrej; Hoekstra, Henk; Kuijken, Konrad; Schneider, Peter; Amon, Alexandra; Nakajima, Reiko; Viola, Massimo; Choi, Ami; Erben, Thomas; Farrow, Daniel J.; Heymans, Catherine; Hildebrandt, Hendrik; Sifón, Cristóbal; Wang, Lingyu

2018-06-01

We measure the projected galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing signals using the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey and Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) to study galaxy bias. We use the concept of non-linear and stochastic galaxy biasing in the framework of halo occupation statistics to constrain the parameters of the halo occupation statistics and to unveil the origin of galaxy biasing. The bias function Γgm(rp), where rp is the projected comoving separation, is evaluated using the analytical halo model from which the scale dependence of Γgm(rp), and the origin of the non-linearity and stochasticity in halo occupation models can be inferred. Our observations unveil the physical reason for the non-linearity and stochasticity, further explored using hydrodynamical simulations, with the stochasticity mostly originating from the non-Poissonian behaviour of satellite galaxies in the dark matter haloes and their spatial distribution, which does not follow the spatial distribution of dark matter in the halo. The observed non-linearity is mostly due to the presence of the central galaxies, as was noted from previous theoretical work on the same topic. We also see that overall, more massive galaxies reveal a stronger scale dependence, and out to a larger radius. Our results show that a wealth of information about galaxy bias is hidden in halo occupation models. These models should therefore be used to determine the influence of galaxy bias in cosmological studies.

Impact of Neutrinos on Dark Matter Halo Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Court, Travis; Villaescusa-Navarro, Francisco

2018-01-01

The spatial clustering of galaxies is commonly used to infer the shape of the matter power spectrum and therefore to place constraints on the value of the cosmological parameters. In order to extract the maximum information from galaxy surveys it is required to provide accurate theoretical predictions. The first step to model galaxy clustering is to understand the spatial distribution of the structures where they reside: dark matter halos. I will show that the clustering of halos does not depend only on mass, but on other quantities like local matter overdensity. I will point out that halo clustering is also sensitive to the local overdensity of the cosmic neutrino background. I will show that splitting halos according to neutrino overdensity induces a very large scale-dependence bias, an effect that may lead to a new technique to constraint the sum of the neutrino masses.

The FUSE Survey of 0 VI in the Galactic Halo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sonneborn, George; Savage, B. D.; Wakker, B. P.; Sembach, K. R.; Jenkins, E. B.; Moos, H. W.; Shull, J. M.

2003-01-01

This paper summarizes the results of the Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) program to study 0 VI in the Milky Way halo. Spectra of 100 extragalactic objects and two distant halo stars are analyzed to obtain measures of O VI absorption along paths through the Milky Way thick disk/halo. Strong O VI absorption over the velocity range from -100 to 100 km/s reveals a widespread but highly irregular distribution of O VI, implying the existence of substantial amounts of hot gas with T approx. 3 x 10(exp 5) K in the Milky Way thick disk/halo. The overall distribution of O VI is not well described by a symmetrical plane-parallel layer of patchy O VI absorption. The simplest departure from such a model that provides a reasonable fit to the observations is a plane-parallel patchy absorbing layer with an average O VI mid-plane density of n(sub 0)(O VI) = 1.7 x 10(exp -2)/cu cm, a scale height of approx. 2.3 kpc, and a approx. 0.25 dex excess of O VI in the northern Galactic polar region. The distribution of O VI over the sky is poorly correlated with other tracers of gas in the halo, including low and intermediate velocity H I, Ha emission from the warm ionized gas at approx. l0(exp 4) K, and hot X-ray emitting gas at approx. l0(exp 6) K . The O VI has an average velocity dispersion, b approx. 60 km/s and standard deviation of 15 km/s. Thermal broadening alone cannot explain the large observed profile widths. A combination of models involving the radiative cooling of hot fountain gas, the cooling of supernova bubbles in the halo, and the turbulent mixing of warm and hot halo gases is required to explain the presence of O VI and other highly ionized atoms found in the halo. The preferential venting of hot gas from local bubbles and superbubbles into the northern Galactic polar region may explain the enhancement of O VI in the North.

An improved catalog of halo wide binary candidates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Allen, Christine; Monroy-Rodríguez, Miguel A., E-mail: chris@astro.unam.mx

2014-08-01

We present an improved catalog of halo wide binaries compiled from an extensive literature search. Most of our binaries stem from the common proper motion binary catalogs by Allen et al. and Chanamé and Gould, but we have also included binaries from the lists of Ryan and Zapatero-Osorio and Martín. All binaries were carefully checked and their distances and systemic radial velocities are included when available. Probable membership to the halo population was tested by means of reduced proper motion diagrams for 251 candidate halo binaries. After eliminating obvious disk binaries, we ended up with 211 probable halo binaries, 150more » of which have radial velocities available. We compute galactic orbits for these 150 binaries and calculate the time they spend within the galactic disk. Considering the full sample of 251 candidate halo binaries as well as several subsamples, we find that the distribution of angular separations (or expected major semiaxes) follows a power law f(a) ∼ a {sup –1} (Oepik's relation) up to different limits. For the 50 most disk-like binaries, those that spend their entire lives within z = ±500 pc, this limit is found to be 19,000 AU (0.09 pc), while for the 50 most halo-like binaries, those that spend on average only 18% of their lives within z = ±500 pc, the limit is 63,000 AU (0.31 pc). In a companion paper, we employ this catalog to establish limits on the masses of the halo massive perturbers (massive compact halo objects).« less

The halo Boltzmann equation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Biagetti, Matteo; Desjacques, Vincent; Kehagias, Alex

2016-04-01

Dark matter halos are the building blocks of the universe as they host galaxies and clusters. The knowledge of the clustering properties of halos is therefore essential for the understanding of the galaxy statistical properties. We derive an effective halo Boltzmann equation which can be used to describe the halo clustering statistics. In particular, we show how the halo Boltzmann equation encodes a statistically biased gravitational force which generates a bias in the peculiar velocities of virialized halos with respect to the underlying dark matter, as recently observed in N-body simulations.

Spatial clustering and halo occupation distribution modelling of local AGN via cross-correlation measurements with 2MASS galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krumpe, Mirko; Miyaji, Takamitsu; Coil, Alison L.; Aceves, Hector

2018-02-01

We present the clustering properties and halo occupation distribution (HOD) modelling of very low redshift, hard X-ray-detected active galactic nuclei (AGN) using cross-correlation function measurements with Two-Micron All Sky Survey galaxies. Spanning a redshift range of 0.007 < z < 0.037, with a median z = 0.024, we present a precise AGN clustering study of the most local AGN in the Universe. The AGN sample is drawn from the SWIFT/BAT 70-month and INTEGRAL/IBIS eight year all-sky X-ray surveys and contains both type I and type II AGN. We find a large-scale bias for the full AGN sample of b=1.04^{+0.10}_{-0.11}, which corresponds to a typical host dark matter halo mass of M_h^typ=12.84^{+0.22}_{-0.30} h^{-1} M_{⊙}. When split into low and high X-ray luminosity and type I and type II AGN subsamples, we detect no statistically significant differences in the large-scale bias parameters. However, there are differences in the small-scale clustering, which are reflected in the full HOD model results. We find that low and high X-ray luminosity AGN, as well as type I and type II AGN, occupy dark matter haloes differently, with 3.4σ and 4.0σ differences in their mean halo masses, respectively, when split by luminosity and type. The latter finding contradicts a simple orientation-based AGN unification model. As a by-product of our cross-correlation approach, we also present the first HOD model of 2MASS galaxies.

The outskirts of spiral galaxies: touching stellar halos at z˜0 and z˜1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakos, J.; Trujillo, I.

Taking advantage of ultra-deep imaging of SDSS Stripe82 and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field by HST, we explore the properties of stellar halos at two relevant epochs of cosmic history. At z˜0 we find that the radial surface brightness profiles of disks have a smooth continuation into the stellar halo that starts to affect the surface brightness profiles at mu r'˜28 {mag arcsec-2}, and at a radial distance of gtrsim 4-10 inner scale-lengths. The light contribution of the stellar halo to the total galaxy light varies from ˜1% to ˜5%, but in case of ongoing mergers, the halo light fraction can be as high as ˜10%. The integrated (g'-r') color of the stellar halo of our galaxies range from ˜0.4 to ˜1.2. By confronting these colors with model predictions, these halos can be attributed to moderately aged and metal-poor populations, however the extreme red colors (˜1) cannot be explained by populations of conventional IMFs. Very red halo colors can be attributed to stellar populations dominated by very low mass stars of low to intermediate metallicity produced by bottom-heavy IMFs. At z˜1 stellar halos appear to be ˜2 magnitudes brighter than their local counterparts, meanwhile they exhibit bluer colors ((g'-r')≲0.3 mag), as well. The stellar populations corresponding to these colors are compatible with having ages ≲1 Gyr. This latter observation strongly suggests the possibility that these halos were formed between z˜1 and z˜2. This result matches very well the theoretical predictions that locate most of the formation of the stellar halos at those early epochs. A pure passive evolutionary scenario, where the stellar populations of our high-z haloes simply fade to match the stellar halo properties found in the local universe, is consistent with our data.

Halo correlations in nonlinear cosmic density fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernardeau, F.; Schaeffer, R.

1999-09-01

The question we address in this paper is the determination of the correlation properties of the dark matter halos appearing in cosmic density fields once they underwent a strongly nonlinear evolution induced by gravitational dynamics. A series of previous works have given indications that kind of non-Gaussian features are induced by nonlinear evolution in term of the high-order correlation functions. Assuming such patterns for the matter field, i.e. that the high-order correlation functions behave as products of two-body correlation functions, we derive the correlation properties of the halos, that are assumed to represent the correlation properties of galaxies or clusters. The hierarchical pattern originally induced by gravity is shown to be conserved for the halos. The strength of their correlations at any order varies, however, but is found to depend only on their internal properties, namely on the parameter x~ m/r(3-gamma ) where m is the mass of the halo, r its size and gamma is the power law index of the two-body correlation function. This internal parameter is seen to be close to the depth of the internal potential well of virialized objects. We were able to derive the explicit form of the generating function of the moments of the halo counts probability distribution function. In particular we show explicitly that, generically, S_P(x)-> P(P-2) in the rare halo limit. Various illustrations of our general results are presented. As a function of the properties of the underlying matter field, we construct the count probabilities for halos and in particular discuss the halo void probability. We evaluate the dependence of the halo mass function on the environment: within clusters, hierarchical clustering implies the higher masses are favored. These properties solely arise from what is a natural bias (ie, naturally induced by gravity) between the observed objects and the unseen matter field, and how it manifests itself depending on which selection effects are

A Formation Timescale of the Galactic Halo from Mg Isotopes in Dwarf Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlos, Marília; Karakas, Amanda I.; Cohen, Judith G.; Kobayashi, Chiaki; Meléndez, Jorge

2018-04-01

We determine magnesium isotopic abundances of metal-poor dwarf stars from the galactic halo, to shed light on the onset of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star nucleosynthesis in the galactic halo and constrain the timescale of its formation. We observed a sample of eight new halo K dwarfs in a metallicity range of ‑1.9 < [Fe/H] < ‑0.9 and 4200 < T eff(K) < 4950, using the HIRES spectrograph at the Keck Observatory (R ≈ 105 and 200 ≤ S/N ≤ 300). We obtain magnesium isotopic abundances by spectral synthesis on three MgH features and compare our results with galactic chemical evolution models. With the current sample, we almost double the number of metal-poor stars with Mg isotopes determined from the literature. The new data allow us to determine the metallicity when the 26Mg abundances start to become important, [Fe/H] ∼ ‑1.4 ± 0.1. The data with [Fe/H] > ‑1.4 are somewhat higher (1–3σ) than previous chemical evolution model predictions, indicating perhaps higher yields of the neutron-rich isotopes. Our results using only AGB star enrichment suggest a timescale for formation for the galactic halo of about 0.3 Gyr, but considering also supernova enrichment, the upper limit for the timescale formation is about 1.5 Gyr. The data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

The Galaxy-Halo Connection in High-redshift Universe: Details and Evolution of Stellar-to-halo Mass Ratios of Lyman Break Galaxies on CFHTLS Deep Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishikawa, Shogo; Kashikawa, Nobunari; Toshikawa, Jun; Tanaka, Masayuki; Hamana, Takashi; Niino, Yuu; Ichikawa, Kohei; Uchiyama, Hisakazu

2017-05-01

We present the results of clustering analyses of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z˜ 3, 4, and 5 using the final data release of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). Deep- and wide-field images of the CFHTLS Deep Survey enable us to obtain sufficiently accurate two-point angular correlation functions to apply a halo occupation distribution analysis. The mean halo masses, calculated as < {M}h> ={10}11.7{--}{10}12.8 {h}-1 {M}⊙ , increase with the stellar-mass limit of LBGs. The threshold halo mass to have a central galaxy, {M}\\min , follows the same increasing trend as the low-z results, whereas the threshold halo mass to have a satellite galaxy, M 1, shows higher values at z=3{--}5 than z=0.5{--}1.5, over the entire stellar mass range. Satellite fractions of dropout galaxies, even at less massive halos, are found to drop sharply, from z = 2 down to less than 0.04, at z=3{--}5. These results suggest that satellite galaxies form inefficiently within dark halos at z=3{--}5, even for less massive satellites with {M}\\star < {10}10 {M}⊙ . We compute stellar-to-halo mass ratios (SHMRs) assuming a main sequence of galaxies, which is found to provide SHMRs consistent with those derived from a spectral energy distribution fitting method. The observed SHMRs are in good agreement with model predictions based on the abundance-matching method, within 1σ confidence intervals. We derive observationally, for the first time, {M}{{h}}{pivot}, which is the halo mass at a peak in the star-formation efficiency, at 3< z< 5, and it shows a small increasing trend with cosmic time at z> 3. In addition, {M}{{h}}{pivot} and its normalization are found to be almost unchanged during 0< z< 5. Our study provides observational evidence that galaxy formation is ubiquitously most efficient near a halo mass of {M}{{h}}˜ {10}12 {M}⊙ over cosmic time.

THE PANCHROMATIC HUBBLE ANDROMEDA TREASURY. II. TRACING THE INNER M31 HALO WITH BLUE HORIZONTAL BRANCH STARS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Williams, Benjamin F.; Dalcanton, Julianne J.; Gilbert, Karoline M.

We attempt to constrain the shape of M31's inner stellar halo by tracing the surface density of blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars at galactocentric distances ranging from 2 kpc to 35 kpc. Our measurements make use of resolved stellar photometry from a section of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury survey, supplemented by several archival Hubble Space Telescope observations. We find that the ratio of BHB to red giant stars is relatively constant outside of 10 kpc, suggesting that the BHB is as reliable a tracer of the halo population as the red giant branch. In the inner halo, we domore » not expect BHB stars to be produced by the high-metallicity bulge and disk, making BHB stars a good candidate to be a reliable tracer of the stellar halo to much smaller galactocentric distances. If we assume a power-law profile r {sup -{alpha}} for the two-dimensional (2D) projected surface density BHB distribution, we obtain a high-quality fit with a 2D power-law index of {alpha} = 2.6{sup +0.3} {sub -0.2} outside of 3 kpc, which flattens to {alpha} < 1.2 inside of 3 kpc. This slope is consistent with previous measurements but is anchored to a radial baseline that extends much farther inward. Finally, assuming azimuthal symmetry and a constant mass-to-light ratio, the best-fitting profile yields a total halo stellar mass of 2.1{sup +1.7} {sub -0.4} Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} M {sub Sun }. These properties are comparable with both simulations of stellar halo formation by satellite disruption alone and simulations that include some in situ formation of halo stars.« less

The halo model in a massive neutrino cosmology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Massara, Elena; Villaescusa-Navarro, Francisco; Viel, Matteo, E-mail: emassara@sissa.it, E-mail: villaescusa@oats.inaf.it, E-mail: viel@oats.inaf.it

2014-12-01

We provide a quantitative analysis of the halo model in the context of massive neutrino cosmologies. We discuss all the ingredients necessary to model the non-linear matter and cold dark matter power spectra and compare with the results of N-body simulations that incorporate massive neutrinos. Our neutrino halo model is able to capture the non-linear behavior of matter clustering with a ∼20% accuracy up to very non-linear scales of k = 10 h/Mpc (which would be affected by baryon physics). The largest discrepancies arise in the range k = 0.5 – 1 h/Mpc where the 1-halo and 2-halo terms are comparable and are present also inmore » a massless neutrino cosmology. However, at scales k < 0.2 h/Mpc our neutrino halo model agrees with the results of N-body simulations at the level of 8% for total neutrino masses of < 0.3 eV. We also model the neutrino non-linear density field as a sum of a linear and clustered component and predict the neutrino power spectrum and the cold dark matter-neutrino cross-power spectrum up to k = 1 h/Mpc with ∼30% accuracy. For masses below 0.15 eV the neutrino halo model captures the neutrino induced suppression, casted in terms of matter power ratios between massive and massless scenarios, with a 2% agreement with the results of N-body/neutrino simulations. Finally, we provide a simple application of the halo model: the computation of the clustering of galaxies, in massless and massive neutrinos cosmologies, using a simple Halo Occupation Distribution scheme and our halo model extension.« less

Unified halo-independent formalism from convex hulls for direct dark matter searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gelmini, Graciela B.; Huh, Ji-Haeng; Witte, Samuel J.

2017-12-01

Using the Fenchel-Eggleston theorem for convex hulls (an extension of the Caratheodory theorem), we prove that any likelihood can be maximized by either a dark matter 1- speed distribution F(v) in Earth's frame or 2- Galactic velocity distribution fgal(vec u), consisting of a sum of delta functions. The former case applies only to time-averaged rate measurements and the maximum number of delta functions is (Script N‑1), where Script N is the total number of data entries. The second case applies to any harmonic expansion coefficient of the time-dependent rate and the maximum number of terms is Script N. Using time-averaged rates, the aforementioned form of F(v) results in a piecewise constant unmodulated halo function tilde eta0BF(vmin) (which is an integral of the speed distribution) with at most (Script N-1) downward steps. The authors had previously proven this result for likelihoods comprised of at least one extended likelihood, and found the best-fit halo function to be unique. This uniqueness, however, cannot be guaranteed in the more general analysis applied to arbitrary likelihoods. Thus we introduce a method for determining whether there exists a unique best-fit halo function, and provide a procedure for constructing either a pointwise confidence band, if the best-fit halo function is unique, or a degeneracy band, if it is not. Using measurements of modulation amplitudes, the aforementioned form of fgal(vec u), which is a sum of Galactic streams, yields a periodic time-dependent halo function tilde etaBF(vmin, t) which at any fixed time is a piecewise constant function of vmin with at most Script N downward steps. In this case, we explain how to construct pointwise confidence and degeneracy bands from the time-averaged halo function. Finally, we show that requiring an isotropic Galactic velocity distribution leads to a Galactic speed distribution F(u) that is once again a sum of delta functions, and produces a time-dependent tilde etaBF(vmin, t) function

Population Synthesis Studies of the White Dwarfs of the Galactic Disk and Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cojocaru, Elena-Ruxandra

2016-09-01

ía-Berro et al., 2014). In this thesis we investigate different properties of single and binary white dwarf populations in the Galactic disk and halo. We first study the effect of progenitor metallicity on the thin disk white dwarf luminosity function. Stellar metallicity is an important parameter in computing both main-sequence evolutionary sequences and white dwarf cooling tracks. At the same, studies of the metallicity distribution function for the Galactic disk have shown that both high and low-metallicity stars can be found throughout the entire mass range, although a clear dependence between age and metallicity has yet to be proven and more recent findings actually show little correlation. With this in mind, we test two different age-metallicity relations, one assuming a Gaussian distribution of metallicity around the Solar value, the other one a decreasing relation between age and metallicity. We take into account the influence of metallicity on both main sequence lifetimes and white dwarf s! tellar parameters. Finally, we compute the theoretical white dwarf luminosity function applying the observational selection criteria of two different surveys, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Supercosmos Sky Survey (SSS). Next, we compute the white dwarf luminosity, mass and cumulative age functions derived from a sample of DA white dwarfs obtained from the LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey of the Galactic anti-center (LSS-GAC). We also derive the local space density and the formation rate for DA white dwarf. Given that both the observed mass distribution obtained from this sample and that derived from the local sample of white dwarfs present an apparent excess of massive white dwarfs, we investigate the possibility of accounting for this excess by reproducing the white dwarf population of the thin disk under different sets of initial assumptions, accounting also for selection criteria and observational biases. Another issue that we investigate is the robustness of the halo

Galaxy halo formation in the absence of violent relaxation and a universal density profile of the halo center

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baushev, A. N., E-mail: baushev@gmail.com; Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Potsdam, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm

2014-05-01

While N-body simulations testify to a cuspy profile of the central region of dark matter halos, observations favor a shallow, cored density profile of the central region of at least some spiral galaxies and dwarf spheroidals. We show that a central profile, very close to the observed one, inevitably forms in the center of dark matter halos if we make a supposition about a moderate energy relaxation of the system during the halo formation. If we assume the energy exchange between dark matter particles during the halo collapse is not too intensive, the profile is universal: it depends almost notmore » at all on the properties of the initial perturbation and is very akin, but not identical, to the Einasto profile with a small Einasto index n ∼ 0.5. We estimate the size of the 'central core' of the distribution, i.e., the extent of the very central region with a respectively gentle profile, and show that the cusp formation is unlikely, even if the dark matter is cold. The obtained profile is in good agreement with observational data for at least some types of galaxies but clearly disagrees with N-body simulations.« less

The age of the Milky Way inner halo.

PubMed

Kalirai, Jason S

2012-05-30

The Milky Way galaxy has several components, such as the bulge, disk and halo. Unravelling the assembly history of these stellar populations is often restricted because of difficulties in measuring accurate ages for low-mass, hydrogen-burning stars. Unlike these progenitors, white dwarf stars, the 'cinders' of stellar evolution, are remarkably simple objects and their fundamental properties can be measured with little ambiguity. Here I report observations of newly formed white dwarf stars in the halo of the Milky Way, and a separate analysis of archival data in the well studied 12.5-billion-year-old globular cluster Messier 4. I measure the mass distribution of the remnant stars and invert the stellar evolution process to develop a mathematical relation that links this final stellar mass to the mass of their immediate progenitors, and therefore to the age of the parent population. By applying this technique to a small sample of four nearby and kinematically confirmed halo white dwarf stars, I calculate the age of local field halo stars to be 11.4 ± 0.7 billion years. The oldest globular clusters formed 13.5 billion years ago. Future observations of newly formed white dwarf stars in the halo could be used to reduce the uncertainty, and to probe relative differences between the formation times of the youngest globular clusters and the inner halo.

The Prevalence of the 22 deg Halo in Cirrus Clouds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diedenhoven, vanBastiaan

2014-01-01

Halos at 22 deg from the sun attributed to randomly-orientated, pristine hexagonal crystals are frequently observed through ice clouds. These frequent sightings of halos formed by pristine crystals pose an apparent inconsistency with the dominance of distorted, nonpristine ice crystals indicated by in situ and remote sensing data. Furthermore, the 46 deg halo, which is associated with pristine hexagonal crystals as well, is observed far less frequently than the 22 deg halo. Considering that plausible mechanisms that could cause crystal distortion such as aggregation, sublimation, riming and collisions are stochastic processes that likely lead to distributions of crystals with varying distortion levels, here the presence of the 22 deg and 46 deg halo features in phase functions of mixtures of pristine and distorted hexagonal ice crystals is examined. We conclude that the 22 deg halo feature is generally present if the contribution by pristine crystals to the total scattering cross section is greater than only about 10% in the case of compact particles or columns, and greater than about 40% for plates. The 46 deg halo feature is present only if the mean distortion level is low and the contribution of pristine crystals to the total scattering cross section is above about 20%, 50% and 70%, in the case of compact crystals, plates and columns, respectively. These results indicate that frequent sightings of 22 deg halos are not inconsistent with the observed dominance of distorted, non-pristine ice crystals. Furthermore, the low mean distortion levels and large contributions by pristine crystals needed to produce the 461 halo features provide a potential explanation of the common sighting of the 22 deg halo without any detectable 46 deg halo.

The MICE Grand Challenge lightcone simulation - II. Halo and galaxy catalogues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crocce, M.; Castander, F. J.; Gaztañaga, E.; Fosalba, P.; Carretero, J.

2015-10-01

This is the second in a series of three papers in which we present an end-to-end simulation from the MICE collaboration, the MICE Grand Challenge (MICE-GC) run. The N-body contains about 70 billion dark-matter particles in a (3 h-1 Gpc)3 comoving volume spanning five orders of magnitude in dynamical range. Here, we introduce the halo and galaxy catalogues built upon it, both in a wide (5000 deg2) and deep (z < 1.4) lightcone and in several comoving snapshots. Haloes were resolved down to few 1011 h-1 M⊙. This allowed us to model galaxies down to absolute magnitude Mr < -18.9. We used a new hybrid halo occupation distribution and abundance matching technique for galaxy assignment. The catalogue includes the spectral energy distributions of all galaxies. We describe a variety of halo and galaxy clustering applications. We discuss how mass resolution effects can bias the large-scale two-pt clustering amplitude of poorly resolved haloes at the ≲5 per cent level, and their three-pt correlation function. We find a characteristic scale-dependent bias of ≲6 per cent across the BAO feature for haloes well above M⋆ ˜ 1012 h-1 M⊙ and for luminous red galaxy like galaxies. For haloes well below M⋆ the scale dependence at 100 h-1 Mpc is ≲2 per cent. Lastly, we discuss the validity of the large-scale Kaiser limit across redshift and departures from it towards non-linear scales. We make the current version of the lightcone halo and galaxy catalogue (MICECATv1.0) publicly available through a dedicated web portal to help develop and exploit the new generation of astronomical surveys.

Halo vest instrumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huston, Dryver R.; Krag, Martin

1996-05-01

The halo vest is a head and neck immobilization system that is often used on patients that are recovering from cervical trauma or surgery. The halo vest system consists of a rigid halo that is firmly attached to the skull, an upright support structure for stabilization and immobilization, and a torso-enveloping vest. The main purpose of this study was to measure the forces that are carried by the halo-vest structure as the subject undergoes various activities of daily living and external loading for different vest designs. A tethered strain gage load cell based instrumentation system was used to take these load measurements on ten different subjects. Three different halo-vest systems were evaluated. The primary difference between the vests was the amount of torso coverage and the use of shoulder straps. The loads were measured, analyzed and used to compare the vests and to create a model of halo-vest-neck mechanics. Future applications of this technology to standalone data logging, pin-load measuring and biofeedback applications are discussed.

The growth and structure of dark matter haloes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, D. H.; Mo, H. J.; Jing, Y. P.; Börner, G.

2003-02-01

In this paper, we analyse in detail the mass-accretion histories and structural properties of dark haloes in high-resolution N-body simulations. We model the density distribution in individual haloes using the Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile. For a given halo, there is a tight correlation between its inner-scale radius rs and the mass within it, Ms, for all its main progenitors. Using this correlation, one can predict quite well the structural properties of a dark halo at any time in its history from its mass-accretion history, implying that the structure properties and the mass-accretion history are closely correlated. The predicted growing rate of concentration c with time tends to increase with decreasing mass-accretion rate. The build-up of dark haloes in cold dark matter (CDM) models generally consists of an early phase of fast accretion (where the halo mass Mh increases with time much faster than the expansion rate of the Universe) and a late phase of slow accretion (where Mh increases with time approximately as the expansion rate). These two phases are separated at a time when c~ 4 and the typical binding energy of the halo is approximately equal to that of a singular isothermal sphere with the same circular velocity. Haloes in the two accretion phases show systematically different properties, for example, the circular velocity vh increases rapidly with time in the fast accretion phase but remains almost constant in the slow accretion phase, the inner properties of a halo, such as rs and Ms increase rapidly with time in the fast accretion phase but change only slowly in the slow accretion phase, the inner circular velocity vs is approximately equal to vh in the fast accretion phase but is larger in the slow accretion phase. The potential well associated with a halo is built up mainly in the fast accretion phase, while a large amount of mass can be accreted in the slow accretion phase without changing the potential well significantly. We discuss our results

Very Low-Mass Stars with Extremely Low Metallicity in the Milky Way's Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aoki, Wako; Beers, Timothy C.; Suda, Takuma; Honda, Satoshi; Lee, Young Sun

2016-08-01

Large surveys and follow-up spectroscopic studies in the past few decades have been providing chemical abundance data for a growing number of very metal-poor ([Fe/H] <-2) stars. Most of them are red giants or main-sequence turn-off stars having masses near 0.8 solar masses. Lower mass stars with extremely low metallicity ([Fe/H] <-3) are yet to be explored. Our high-resolution spectroscopic study for very metal-poor stars found with SDSS has identified four cool main-sequence stars with [Fe/H] <-2.5 among 137 objects (Aoki et al. 2013). The effective temperatures of these stars are 4500-5000 K, corresponding to a mass of around 0.5 solar masses. Our standard analysis of the high-resolution spectra based on 1D-LTE model atmospheres has obtained self-consistent chemical abundances for these objects, assuming small values of micro-turbulent velocities compared with giants and turn-off stars. The low temperature of the atmospheres of these objects enables us to measure their detailed chemical abundances. Interestingly, two of the four stars have extreme chemical-abundance patterns: one has the largest excesses of heavy neutron-capture elements associated with the r-process abundance pattern known to date (Aoki et al. 2010), and the other exhibits low abundances of the α-elements and odd-Z elements, suggested to be signatures of the yields of very massive stars (> 100 solar masses; Aoki et al. 2014). Although the sample size is still small, these results indicate the potential of very low-mass stars as probes to study the early stages of the Milky Way's halo formation.

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): halo formation times and halo assembly bias on the cosmic web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tojeiro, Rita; Eardley, Elizabeth; Peacock, John A.; Norberg, Peder; Alpaslan, Mehmet; Driver, Simon P.; Henriques, Bruno; Hopkins, Andrew M.; Kafle, Prajwal R.; Robotham, Aaron S. G.; Thomas, Peter; Tonini, Chiara; Wild, Vivienne

2017-09-01

We present evidence for halo assembly bias as a function of geometric environment (GE). By classifying Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) galaxy groups as residing in voids, sheets, filaments or knots using a tidal tensor method, we find that low-mass haloes that reside in knots are older than haloes of the same mass that reside in voids. This result provides direct support to theories that link strong halo tidal interactions with halo assembly times. The trend with GE is reversed at large halo mass, with haloes in knots being younger than haloes of the same mass in voids. We find a clear signal of halo downsizing - more massive haloes host galaxies that assembled their stars earlier. This overall trend holds independently of GE. We support our analysis with an in-depth exploration of the L-Galaxies semi-analytic model, used here to correlate several galaxy properties with three different definitions of halo formation time. We find a complex relationship between halo formation time and galaxy properties, with significant scatter. We confirm that stellar mass to halo mass ratio, specific star formation rate (SFR) and mass-weighed age are reasonable proxies of halo formation time, especially at low halo masses. Instantaneous SFR is a poor indicator at all halo masses. Using the same semi-analytic model, we create mock spectral observations using complex star formation and chemical enrichment histories, which approximately mimic GAMA's typical signal-to-noise ratio and wavelength range. We use these mocks to assert how well potential proxies of halo formation time may be recovered from GAMA-like spectroscopic data.

Galactic Warps in Triaxial Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeon, Myoungwon; Kim, Sungsoo S.; Ann, Hong Bae

2009-05-01

We study the behavior of galactic disks in triaxial halos both numerically and analytically to see if warps can be excited and sustained in triaxial potentials. We consider the following two scenarios: (1) galactic disks that are initially tilted relative to the equatorial plane of the halo (for a pedagogical purpose), and (2) tilted infall of dark matter relative to the equatorial plane of the disk and the halo. With numerical simulations of 100,000 disk particles in a fixed halo potential, we find that in triaxial halos, warps can be excited and sustained just as in spherical or axisymmetric halos but they show some oscillatory behavior and even can be transformed to a polar-ring system if the halo has a prolate-like triaxiality. The nonaxisymmetric component of the halo causes the disk to nutate, and the differential nutation between the inner and outer parts of the disk generally makes the magnitude of the warp slightly diminish and fluctuate. We also find that warps are relatively weaker in oblate and oblate-like triaxial halos, and since these halos are the halo configurations of disk galaxies inferred by cosmological simulations, our results are consistent with the fact that most of the observed warps are quite weak. We derive approximate formulae for the torques exerted on the disk by the triaxial halo and the dark matter torus, and with these formulae we successfully describe the behavior of the disks in our simulations. The techniques used in deriving these formulae could be applied for realistic halos with more complex structures.

Accurate Modeling of Galaxy Clustering on Small Scales: Testing the Standard ΛCDM + Halo Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinha, Manodeep; Berlind, Andreas A.; McBride, Cameron; Scoccimarro, Roman

2015-01-01

The large-scale distribution of galaxies can be explained fairly simply by assuming (i) a cosmological model, which determines the dark matter halo distribution, and (ii) a simple connection between galaxies and the halos they inhabit. This conceptually simple framework, called the halo model, has been remarkably successful at reproducing the clustering of galaxies on all scales, as observed in various galaxy redshift surveys. However, none of these previous studies have carefully modeled the systematics and thus truly tested the halo model in a statistically rigorous sense. We present a new accurate and fully numerical halo model framework and test it against clustering measurements from two luminosity samples of galaxies drawn from the SDSS DR7. We show that the simple ΛCDM cosmology + halo model is not able to simultaneously reproduce the galaxy projected correlation function and the group multiplicity function. In particular, the more luminous sample shows significant tension with theory. We discuss the implications of our findings and how this work paves the way for constraining galaxy formation by accurate simultaneous modeling of multiple galaxy clustering statistics.

Neutron stars and white dwarfs in galactic halos

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ryu, Dongsu; Olive, Keith A.; Silk, Joseph

1989-01-01

The possibility that galactic halos are composed of stellar remnants such as neutron stars and white dwarfs is discussed. On the basis of a simple model for the evolution of galactic halos, researchers follow the history of halo matter, luminosity, and metal and helium abundances. They assume conventional yields for helium and the heavier elements. By comparing with the observational constraints, which may be considered as fairly conservative, it is found that, for an exponentially decreasing star formation rate (SFR) with e-folding time tau, only values between 6 x 10(8) less than similar to tau less than similar to 2 x 10(9) years are allowed together with a very limited range of masses for the initial mass function (IMF). Star formation is allowed for 2 solar mass less than similar to m less than similar to 8 solar mass if tau = 2 x 10(9) years, and for 4 solar mass less than similar to m less than similar to 6 solar mass if tau = 10(9) years. For tau = 6 x 10(8) years, the lower and upper mass limits merge to similar to 5 solar mass. Researchers conclude that, even though the possibility of neutron stars as halo matter may be ruled out, that of white dwarfs may still be a viable hypothesis, though with very stringent constraints on allowed parameters, that merits further consideration.

The Evolution of Pristine Gas: Implications for Milky Way Halo Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarmento, Richard J.; Scannapieco, Evan; Pan, Liubin

2016-06-01

We implement a new subgrid model for turbulent mixing to accurately follow the cosmological evolution of the first stars, the mixing of their supernova 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. (2013). This allows us to account for the fraction of Z < Zcrit stars formed throughout the simulation volume, even in regions in which the average metallicity is well above Zcrit. Further, as a result of modeling the pristine fraction of gas, we also improve our modeling of the metallicity of the polluted fraction, fpol, of both the gas and stars.Additionally, we track the evolution of the “primordial metals” generated by Pop III supernovae. These metals are taken up by second-generation stars and are likely to lead to unique abundance signatures characteristic of carbon enhanced, metal poor (CEMP) stars. As an illustrative example, we associate primordial metals with abundance ratios used by Keller at al (2014) 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 Milky Way (MW) halo stars.

HALOE Science Investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Benner, D. Chris

1998-01-01

This cooperative agreement has investigated a number of spectroscopic problems of interest to the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE). The types of studies performed are in two parts, namely, those that involve the testing and characterization of correlation spectrometers and those that provide basic molecular spectroscopic information. In addition, some solar studies were performed with the calibration data returned by HALOE from orbit. In order to accomplish this a software package was written as part of this cooperative agreement. The HALOE spectroscopic instrument package was used in various tests of the HALOE flight instrument. These included the spectral response test, the early stages of the gas response test and various spectral response tests of the detectors and optical elements of the instruments. Considerable effort was also expended upon the proper laboratory setup for many of the prelaunch tests of the HALOE flight instrument, including the spectral response test and the gas response test. These tests provided the calibration and the assurance that the calibration was performed correctly.

High-resolution disruption halo current measurements using Langmuir probes in Alcator C-Mod

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tinguely, R. A.; Granetz, R. S.; Berg, A.; Kuang, A. Q.; Brunner, D.; LaBombard, B.

2018-01-01

Halo currents generated during disruptions on Alcator C-Mod have been measured with Langmuir ‘rail’ probes. These rail probes are embedded in a lower outboard divertor module in a closely-spaced vertical (poloidal) array. The dense array provides detailed resolution of the spatial dependence (~1 cm spacing) of the halo current distribution in the plasma scrape-off region with high time resolution (400 kHz digitization rate). As the plasma limits on the outboard divertor plate, the contact point is clearly discernible in the halo current data (as an inversion of current) and moves vertically down the divertor plate on many disruptions. These data are consistent with filament reconstructions of the plasma boundary, from which the edge safety factor of the disrupting plasma can be calculated. Additionally, the halo current ‘footprint’ on the divertor plate is obtained and related to the halo flux width. The voltage driving halo current and the effective resistance of the plasma region through which the halo current flows to reach the probes are also investigated. Estimations of the sheath resistance and halo region resistivity and temperature are given. This information could prove useful for modeling halo current dynamics.

Statistical Aspects of X-Class Halo and Non-Halo Events, 1996-2014

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, Robert M.

2016-01-01

Of the 166 X-class events that occurred during the interval 1996-2014, 80 had associations with halo events, 68 had no associations with halo events, and 18 occurred during LASCO (Large Angle and Spectrometric COronagraph) data gaps. Both the duration and location of the X-class halo events proved to be statistically important parameters with respect to the geo-effectiveness of the events. Forty-four of the 80 X-class halo events occurred within 45 degrees of the Sun's central meridian and 47 of the 80 had duration greater than or equal to 30 minutes, whereas only 28 of the 68 X-class non-halo events occurred within 45 degrees of the Sun's central meridian (2 events have unknown location) and 22 of the 68 had duration greater than or equal to 30 minutes. Ignoring the 4 largest X-class flares greater than or equal to X4.0 during the LASCO data gaps, 17 of the remaining 20 were associated with halo events, and 14 of the 17 had at least one geo-magnetically disturbed day (Ap (i.e. NOAA's Ap* (ApStar)index: the major magnetic storms going back to 1932) greater than or equal to 25 nanotesias) within 1-5 days following the X-class halo event. Based on the hourly Dst (Disturbance storm time) index, the most geo-effective X-class halo event during the interval 1996-2014 was that of an X1.7 flare that occurred on 2001 March 29 at 0957, having an hourly Disturbance storm time minimum equal to minus 387 nanotesias. On average, the X-class halo events (80 events) were found to have a mean duration (42 minutes) slightly longer than the mean duration (29 minutes) of the X-class non-halo events (68 events) with the difference in the means being statistically important at the 1 percent level of significance.

Taking Another Look: Zr and Y abundances in Halo Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burris, Debra L.; Jones, E.

2007-12-01

The elements Zirconium and Yttrium are produced via neutron capture (n-capture). These elements reside in the mass range where there is uncertainty about the production mechanism at early time. The rapid n-capture process (r-process) was believed to be responsible for the production, but no study (Burris et al 2000, Gilroy et al 1988 and others) has been able to successfully use the r-process to reproduce the abundance signature for elements in this mass range for metal-poor halo stars. It has been suggested (Sneden and Cowan 2003) that there may be an undiscovered component to the r-process. New abundance calculations for these elements have been conducted for a sample of metal-poor halo stars. Transition probabilities for Zr II from Malcheva et al (2006) and for YII from Hannaford et al (1982) were utilized in these calculations. This work is supported in part by the AAS Small Grant Program, the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium and the UCA Undergraduate Research Council.

Diffuse gas properties and stellar metallicities in cosmological simulations of disc galaxy formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marinacci, Federico; Pakmor, Rüdiger; Springel, Volker; Simpson, Christine M.

2014-08-01

We analyse the properties of the circumgalactic medium and the metal content of the stars comprising the central galaxy in eight hydrodynamical `zoom-in' simulations of disc galaxy formation. We use these properties as a benchmark for our model of galaxy formation physics implemented in the moving-mesh code AREPO, which succeeds in forming quite realistic late-type spirals in the set of `Aquarius' initial conditions of Milky-Way-sized haloes. Galactic winds significantly influence the morphology of the circumgalactic medium and induce bipolar features in the distribution of heavy elements. They also affect the thermodynamic properties of the circumgalactic gas by supplying an energy input that sustains its radiative losses. Although a significant fraction of the heavy elements are transferred from the central galaxy to the halo, and even beyond the virial radius, enough metals are retained by stars to yield a peak in their metallicity distributions at about Z⊙. All our default runs overestimate the stellar [O/Fe] ratio, an effect that we demonstrate can be rectified by an increase of the adopted Type Ia supernova rate. Nevertheless, the models have difficulty in producing stellar metallicity gradients of the same strength as observed in the Milky Way.

Very Low Mass Stars with Extremely Low Metallicity in the Milky Way's Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aoki, Wako; Beers, Timothy C.; Takuma, Suda; Honda, Satoshi; Lee, Young Sun

2015-08-01

Large surveys and follow-up spectroscopic studies in the past few decades have been providing chemical abundance data for a growing number of very metal-poor ([Fe/H] <-2) stars. Most of them are red giants or main-sequence turn-off stars having masses near 0.8 solar masses. Lower mass stars with extremely low metallicity ([Fe/H] <-3) have yet to be well explored. Our high-resolution spectroscopic study for very metal-poor stars found with SDSS has identified four cool main-sequence stars with [Fe/H] <-2.5 among 137 objects (Aoki et al. 2013, AJ, 145, 13). The effective temperatures of these stars are 4500--5000 K, corresponding to a mass of around 0.5 solar masses. Our standard analysis of the high-resolution spectra based on 1D-LTE model atmospheres have obtained self-consistent chemical abundances for these objects, assuming small values of micro-turbulent velocities compared with giants and turn-off stars. The low temperature of the atmospheres of these objects enables us to measure their detailed chemical abundances. Interestingly, two of the four stars have extreme chemical abundance patterns: one has the largest excesses of heavy neutron-capture elements associated with the r-process abundance pattern known to date (Aoki et al. 2010, ApJL 723, L201), and the other exhibits low abundances of the alpha-elements and odd-Z elements, suggested to be the signatures of the yields of very massive stars ( >100 solar masses; Aoki et al. 2014, Science 345, 912). Although the sample size is still small, these results indicate the potential of very low-mass stars as probes to study the early stages of the Milky Way's halo formation.

Halo ellipticity of GAMA galaxy groups from KiDS weak lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Uitert, Edo; Hoekstra, Henk; Joachimi, Benjamin; Schneider, Peter; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Choi, Ami; Erben, Thomas; Heymans, Catherine; Hildebrandt, Hendrik; Hopkins, Andrew M.; Klaes, Dominik; Kuijken, Konrad; Nakajima, Reiko; Napolitano, Nicola R.; Schrabback, Tim; Valentijn, Edwin; Viola, Massimo

2017-06-01

We constrain the average halo ellipticity of ˜2600 galaxy groups from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, using the weak gravitational lensing signal measured from the overlapping Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS). To do so, we quantify the azimuthal dependence of the stacked lensing signal around seven different proxies for the orientation of the dark matter distribution, as it is a priori unknown which one traces the orientation best. On small scales, the major axis of the brightest group/cluster member (BCG) provides the best proxy, leading to a clear detection of an anisotropic signal. In order to relate that to a halo ellipticity, we have to adopt a model density profile. We derive new expressions for the quadrupole moments of the shear field given an elliptical model surface mass density profile. Modelling the signal with an elliptical Navarro-Frenk-White profile on scales R < 250 kpc, and assuming that the BCG is perfectly aligned with the dark matter, we find an average halo ellipticity of ɛh = 0.38 ± 0.12, in fair agreement with results from cold dark matter only simulations. On larger scales, the lensing signal around the BCGs becomes isotropic and the distribution of group satellites provides a better proxy for the halo's orientation instead, leading to a 3σ-4σ detection of a non-zero halo ellipticity at 250 < R < 750 kpc. Our results suggest that the distribution of stars enclosed within a certain radius forms a good proxy for the orientation of the dark matter within that radius, which has also been observed in hydrodynamical simulations.

Dark energy and extended dark matter halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernin, A. D.; Teerikorpi, P.; Valtonen, M. J.; Dolgachev, V. P.; Domozhilova, L. M.; Byrd, G. G.

2012-03-01

The cosmological mean matter (dark and baryonic) density measured in the units of the critical density is Ωm = 0.27. Independently, the local mean density is estimated to be Ωloc = 0.08-0.23 from recent data on galaxy groups at redshifts up to z = 0.01-0.03 (as published by Crook et al. 2007, ApJ, 655, 790 and Makarov & Karachentsev 2011, MNRAS, 412, 2498). If the lower values of Ωloc are reliable, as Makarov & Karachentsev and some other observers prefer, does this mean that the Local Universe of 100-300 Mpc across is an underdensity in the cosmic matter distribution? Or could it nevertheless be representative of the mean cosmic density or even be an overdensity due to the Local Supercluster therein. We focus on dark matter halos of groups of galaxies and check how much dark mass the invisible outer layers of the halos are able to host. The outer layers are usually devoid of bright galaxies and cannot be seen at large distances. The key factor which bounds the size of an isolated halo is the local antigravity produced by the omnipresent background of dark energy. A gravitationally bound halo does not extend beyond the zero-gravity surface where the gravity of matter and the antigravity of dark energy balance, thus defining a natural upper size of a system. We use our theory of local dynamical effects of dark energy to estimate the maximal sizes and masses of the extended dark halos. Using data from three recent catalogs of galaxy groups, we show that the calculated mass bounds conform with the assumption that a significant amount of dark matter is located in the invisible outer parts of the extended halos, sufficient to fill the gap between the observed and expected local matter density. Nearby groups of galaxies and the Virgo cluster have dark halos which seem to extend up to their zero-gravity surfaces. If the extended halo is a common feature of gravitationally bound systems on scales of galaxy groups and clusters, the Local Universe could be typical or even

Dynamical Constraints On The Galaxy-Halo Connection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Desmond, Harry

2017-07-01

Dark matter halos comprise the bulk of the universe's mass, yet must be probed by the luminous galaxies that form within them. A key goal of modern astrophysics, therefore, is to robustly relate the visible and dark mass, which to first order means relating the properties of galaxies and halos. This may be expected not only to improve our knowledge of galaxy formation, but also to enable high-precision cosmological tests using galaxies and hence maximise the utility of future galaxy surveys. As halos are inaccessible to observations - as galaxies are to N-body simulations - this relation requires an additional modelling step.The aim of this thesis is to develop and evaluate models of the galaxy-halo connection using observations of galaxy dynamics. In particular, I build empirical models based on the technique of halo abundance matching for five key dynamical scaling relations of galaxies - the Tully-Fisher, Faber-Jackson, mass-size and mass discrepancy-acceleration relations, and Fundamental Plane - which relate their baryon distributions and rotation or velocity dispersion profiles. I then develop a statistical scheme based on approximate Bayesian computation to compare the predicted and measured values of a number of summary statistics describing the relations' important features. This not only provides quantitative constraints on the free parameters of the models, but also allows absolute goodness-of-fit measures to be formulated. I find some features to be naturally accounted for by an abundance matching approach and others to impose new constraints on the galaxy-halo connection; the remainder are challenging to account for and may imply galaxy-halo correlations beyond the scope of basic abundance matching.Besides providing concrete statistical tests of specific galaxy formation theories, these results will be of use for guiding the inputs of empirical and semi-analytic galaxy formation models, which require galaxy-halo correlations to be imposed by hand. As

Self-similar infall models for cold dark matter haloes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Delliou, Morgan Patrick

2002-04-01

How can we understand the mechanisms for relaxation and the constitution of the density profile in CDM halo formation? Can the old Self-Similar Infall Model (SSIM) be made to contain all the elements essential for this understanding? In this work, we have explored and improved the SSIM, showing it can at once explain large N-body simulations and indirect observations of real haloes alike. With the use of a carefully-crafted simple shell code, we have followed the accretion of secondary infalls in different settings, ranging from a model for mergers to a distribution of angular momentum for the shells, through the modeling of a central black hole. We did not assume self-similar accretion from initial conditions but allowed for it to develop and used coordinates that make it evident. We found self-similar accretion to appear very prominently in CDM halo formation as an intermediate stable (quasi-equilibrium) stage of Large Scale Structure formation. Dark Matter haloes density profiles are shown to be primarily influenced by non-radial motion. The merger paradigm reveals itself through the SSIM to be a secondary but non-trivial factor in those density profiles: it drives the halo profile towards a unique attractor, but the main factor for universality is still the self-similarity. The innermost density cusp flattening observed in some dwarf and Low Surface Brightness galaxies finds a natural and simple explanation in the SSIM embedding a central black hole. Relaxation in cold collisionless collapse is clarified by the SSIM. It is a continuous process involving only the newly-accreted particles for just a few dynamical times. All memory of initial energy is not lost so relaxation is only moderately violent. A sharp cut off, or population inversion, originates in initial conditions and is maintained through relaxation. It characterises moderately violent relaxation in the system's Distribution Function. Finally, the SSIM has shown this relaxation to arise from phase

Solar Radiation Measurements Onboard the Research Aircraft HALO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lohse, I.; Bohn, B.; Werner, F.; Ehrlich, A.; Wendisch, M.

2014-12-01

Airborne measurements of the separated upward and downward components of solar spectral actinic flux densities for the determination of photolysis frequencies and of upward nadir spectral radiance were performed with the HALO Solar Radiation (HALO-SR) instrument package onboard the High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO). The instrumentation of HALO-SR is characterized and first measurement data from the Next-generation Aircraft Remote-Sensing for Validation Studies (NARVAL) campaigns in 2013 and 2014 are presented. The measured data are analyzed in the context of the retrieved microphysical and optical properties of clouds which were observed underneath the aircraft. Detailed angular sensitivities of the two optical actinic flux receivers were determined in the laboratory. The effects of deviations from the ideal response are investigated using radiative transfer calculations of atmospheric radiance distributions under various atmospheric conditions and different ground albedos. Corresponding correction factors are derived. Example photolysis frequencies are presented, which were sampled in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere over the Atlantic Ocean during the 2013/14 HALO NARVAL campaigns. Dependencies of photolysis frequencies on cloud cover, flight altitude and wavelength range of the photolysis process are investigated. Calculated actinic flux densities in the presence of clouds benefit from the measured spectral radiances. Retrieved cloud optical thicknesses and effective droplet radii are used as model input for the radiative transfer calculations. By comparison with the concurrent measurements of actinic flux densities the retrieval approach is validated. Acknowledgements: Funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within the priority program HALO (BO 1580/4-1, WE 1900/21-1) is gratefully acknowledged.

First Attempts at using Active Halo Control at the LHC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wagner, Joschka; Bruce, Roderik; Garcia Morales, Hector

2016-06-01

The beam halo population is a non-negligible factor for the performance of the LHC collimation system and the machine protection. In particular this could become crucial for aiming at stored beam energies of 700 MJ in the High Luminosity (HL-LHC) project, in order to avoid beam dumps caused by orbit jitter and to ensure safety during a crab cavity failure. Therefore several techniques to safely deplete the halo, i.e. active halo control, are under development. In a first attempt a novel way for safe halo depletion was tested with particle narrow-band excitation employing the LHC Transverse Damper (ADT). At anmore » energy of 450 GeV a bunch selective beam tail scraping without affecting the core distribution was attempted. This paper presents the first measurement results, as well as a simple simulation to model the underlying dynamics.« less

Cosmic web type dependence of halo clustering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, J. D.; Faltenbacher, A.

2018-01-01

We use the Millennium Simulation to show that halo clustering varies significantly with cosmic web type. Haloes are classified as node, filament, sheet and void haloes based on the eigenvalue decomposition of the velocity shear tensor. The velocity field is sampled by the peculiar velocities of a fixed number of neighbouring haloes, and spatial derivatives are computed using a kernel borrowed from smoothed particle hydrodynamics. The classification scheme is used to examine the clustering of haloes as a function of web type for haloes with masses larger than 1011 h- 1 M⊙. We find that node haloes show positive bias, filament haloes show negligible bias and void and sheet haloes are antibiased independent of halo mass. Our findings suggest that the mass dependence of halo clustering is rooted in the composition of web types as a function of halo mass. The substantial fraction of node-type haloes for halo masses ≳ 2 × 1013 h- 1 M⊙ leads to positive bias. Filament-type haloes prevail at intermediate masses, 1012-1013 h- 1 M⊙, resulting in unbiased clustering. The large contribution of sheet-type haloes at low halo masses ≲ 1012 h- 1 M⊙ generates antibiasing.

Suppression of Space Charge Induced Beam Halo in Nonlinear Focusing Channel

DOE PAGES

Batygin, Yuri Konstantinovich; Scheinker, Alexander; Kurennoy, Sergey; ...

2016-01-29

An intense non-uniform particle beam exhibits strong emittance growth and halo formation in focusing channels due to nonlinear space charge forces of the beam. This phenomenon limits beam brightness and results in particle losses. The problem is connected with irreversible distortion of phase space volume of the beam in conventional focusing structures due to filamentation in phase space. Emittance growth is accompanied by halo formation in real space, which results in inevitable particle losses. We discuss a new approach for solving a self-consistent problem for a matched non-uniform beam in two-dimensional geometry. The resulting solution is applied to the problemmore » of beam transport, while avoiding emittance growth and halo formation by the use of nonlinear focusing field. Conservation of a beam distribution function is demonstrated analytically and by particle-in-cell simulation for a beam with a realistic beam distribution.« less

Improving fast generation of halo catalogues with higher order Lagrangian perturbation theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munari, Emiliano; Monaco, Pierluigi; Sefusatti, Emiliano; Castorina, Emanuele; Mohammad, Faizan G.; Anselmi, Stefano; Borgani, Stefano

2017-03-01

We present the latest version of PINOCCHIO, a code that generates catalogues of dark matter haloes in an approximate but fast way with respect to an N-body simulation. This code version implements a new on-the-fly production of halo catalogue on the past light cone with continuous time sampling, and the computation of particle and halo displacements are extended up to third-order Lagrangian perturbation theory (LPT), in contrast with previous versions that used Zel'dovich approximation. We run PINOCCHIO on the same initial configuration of a reference N-body simulation, so that the comparison extends to the object-by-object level. We consider haloes at redshifts 0 and 1, using different LPT orders either for halo construction or to compute halo final positions. We compare the clustering properties of PINOCCHIO haloes with those from the simulation by computing the power spectrum and two-point correlation function in real and redshift space (monopole and quadrupole), the bispectrum and the phase difference of halo distributions. We find that 2LPT and 3LPT give noticeable improvement. 3LPT provides the best agreement with N-body when it is used to displace haloes, while 2LPT gives better results for constructing haloes. At the highest orders, linear bias is typically recovered at a few per cent level. In Fourier space and using 3LPT for halo displacements, the halo power spectrum is recovered to within 10 per cent up to kmax ∼ 0.5 h Mpc-1. The results presented in this paper have interesting implications for the generation of large ensemble of mock surveys for the scientific exploitation of data from big surveys.

The r-process Pattern of a Bright, Highly r-process-enhanced Metal-poor Halo Star at [Fe/H] ∼ ‑2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakari, Charli M.; Placco, Vinicius M.; Hansen, Terese; Holmbeck, Erika M.; Beers, Timothy C.; Frebel, Anna; Roederer, Ian U.; Venn, Kim A.; Wallerstein, George; Davis, Christopher Evan; Farrell, Elizabeth M.; Yong, David

2018-02-01

A high-resolution spectroscopic analysis is presented for a new highly r-process-enhanced ([Eu/Fe] = 1.27, [Ba/Eu] = ‑0.65), very metal-poor ([Fe/H] = ‑2.09), retrograde halo star, RAVE J153830.9–180424, discovered as part of the R-Process Alliance survey. At V = 10.86, this is the brightest and most metal-rich r-II star known in the Milky Way halo. Its brightness enables high-S/N detections of a wide variety of chemical species that are mostly created by the r-process, including some infrequently detected lines from elements like Ru, Pd, Ag, Tm, Yb, Lu, Hf, and Th, with upper limits on Pb and U. This is the most complete r-process census in a very metal-poor r-II star. J1538–1804 shows no signs of s-process contamination, based on its low [Ba/Eu] and [Pb/Fe]. As with many other r-process-enhanced stars, J1538–1804's r-process pattern matches that of the Sun for elements between the first, second, and third peaks, and does not exhibit an actinide boost. Cosmo-chronometric age-dating reveals the r-process material to be quite old. This robust main r-process pattern is a necessary constraint for r-process formation scenarios (of particular interest in light of the recent neutron star merger, GW170817), and has important consequences for the origins of r-II stars. Additional r-I and r-II stars will be reported by the R-Process Alliance in the near future.

Testing approximate predictions of displacements of cosmological dark matter halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munari, Emiliano; Monaco, Pierluigi; Koda, Jun; Kitaura, Francisco-Shu; Sefusatti, Emiliano; Borgani, Stefano

2017-07-01

We present a test to quantify how well some approximate methods, designed to reproduce the mildly non-linear evolution of perturbations, are able to reproduce the clustering of DM halos once the grouping of particles into halos is defined and kept fixed. The following methods have been considered: Lagrangian Perturbation Theory (LPT) up to third order, Truncated LPT, Augmented LPT, MUSCLE and COLA. The test runs as follows: halos are defined by applying a friends-of-friends (FoF) halo finder to the output of an N-body simulation. The approximate methods are then applied to the same initial conditions of the simulation, producing for all particles displacements from their starting position and velocities. The position and velocity of each halo are computed by averaging over the particles that belong to that halo, according to the FoF halo finder. This procedure allows us to perform a well-posed test of how clustering of the matter density and halo density fields are recovered, without asking to the approximate method an accurate reconstruction of halos. We have considered the results at z=0,0.5,1, and we have analysed power spectrum in real and redshift space, object-by-object difference in position and velocity, density Probability Distribution Function (PDF) and its moments, phase difference of Fourier modes. We find that higher LPT orders are generally able to better reproduce the clustering of halos, while little or no improvement is found for the matter density field when going to 2LPT and 3LPT. Augmentation provides some improvement when coupled with 2LPT, while its effect is limited when coupled with 3LPT. Little improvement is brought by MUSCLE with respect to Augmentation. The more expensive particle-mesh code COLA outperforms all LPT methods, and this is true even for mesh sizes as large as the inter-particle distance. This test sets an upper limit on the ability of these methods to reproduce the clustering of halos, for the cases when these objects are

Chemical Compositions of Kinematically Selected Outer Halo Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lan; Ishigaki, Miho; Aoki, Wako; Zhao, Gang; Chiba, Masashi

2009-12-01

Chemical abundances of 26 metal-poor dwarfs and giants are determined from high-resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio spectra obtained with the Subaru/High Dispersion Spectrograph. The sample is selected so that most of the objects have outer-halo kinematics. Self-consistent atmospheric parameters were determined by an iterative procedure based on spectroscopic analysis. Abundances of 13 elements, including α-elements (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti), odd-Z light elements (Na, Sc), iron-peak elements (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Zn), and neutron-capture elements (Y, Ba), are determined by two independent data reduction and local thermodynamic equillibrium analysis procedures, confirming the consistency of the stellar parameters and abundances results. We find a decreasing trend of [α/Fe] with increasing [Fe/H] for the range of -3.5< [Fe/H] <-1, as found by Stephens & Boesgaard. [Zn/Fe] values of most objects in our sample are slightly lower than the bulk of halo stars previously studied. These results are discussed as possible chemical properties of the outer halo in the Galaxy. Based on data collected at the Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

The chemistry and mineralogy of haloed burrows in pelagic sediment at DOMES Site A: The equatorial North Pacific

USGS Publications Warehouse

Piper, D.Z.; Rude, P.D.; Monteith, S.

1987-01-01

The chemical and mineralogical composition of burrowed sediment, recovered in 66 box cores at latitude 9??25???N and longitude 151??15???W in the equatorial Pacific, demonstrates the important role of infauna in determining the geochemistry of pelagic sediment. Haloed burrows, approximately 3 cm across, were present in many of the cores. Within early Tertiary sediment that was covered by less than 5 cm of surface Quaternary sediment in several cores, the burrows in cross-section consist of three units: (1) a dark yellowish-brown central zone of Quaternary sediment surrounded, by (2) a pale yellowish-orange zone (the halo) of Tertiary sediment, which is surrounded by (3) a metal-oxide precipitate; the enclosing Tertiary sediment is dusky brown. Several elements - Mn, Ni, Cu, Co, Zn, Sb and Ce - have been leached from the light-colored halo, whereas Cr, Cs, Hf, Rb, Sc, Ta, Th, U, the rare earth elements exclusive of Ce, and the major oxides have not been leached. The metal-oxide zone, 1-5 mm thick, contains as much as 16% MnO2, as the mineral todorokite. The composition of the todorokite, exclusive of the admixed Tertiary sediment, resembles the composition of the metal deficit of the halo and also the composition of surface ferromanganese nodules that have been interpreted as having a predominantly diagenetic origin. Thus bioturbation contributes not only to the redistribution of metals within pelagic sediment, but also to the accretion of ferromanganese nodules on the sea floor. ?? 1987.

How to get cool in the heat: comparing analytic models of hot, cold, and cooling gas in haloes and galaxies with EAGLE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stevens, Adam R. H.; Lagos, Claudia del P.; Contreras, Sergio; Croton, Darren J.; Padilla, Nelson D.; Schaller, Matthieu; Schaye, Joop; Theuns, Tom

2017-05-01

We use the hydrodynamic, cosmological EAGLE simulations to investigate how the hot gas in haloes condenses to form and grow galaxies. We select haloes from the simulations that are actively cooling and study the temperature, distribution and metallicity of their hot, cold and transitioning 'cooling' gas, placing these in the context of semi-analytic models. Our selection criteria lead us to focus on Milky Way-like haloes. We find that the hot-gas density profiles of the haloes form a progressively stronger core over time, the nature of which can be captured by a β profile that has a simple dependence on redshift. In contrast, the hot gas that will cool over a time-step is broadly consistent with a singular isothermal sphere. We find that cooling gas carries a few times the specific angular momentum of the halo and is offset in spin direction from the rest of the hot gas. The gas loses ˜60 per cent of its specific angular momentum during the cooling process, generally remaining greater than that of the halo, and it precesses to become aligned with the cold gas already in the disc. We find tentative evidence that angular-momentum losses are slightly larger when gas cools on to dispersion-supported galaxies. We show that an exponential surface density profile for gas arriving on a disc remains a reasonable approximation, but a cusp containing ˜20 per cent of the mass is always present, and disc scale radii are larger than predicted by a vanilla Fall & Efstathiou model. These scale radii are still closely correlated with the halo spin parameter, for which we suggest an updated prescription for galaxy formation models.

HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPY OF EXTREMELY METAL-POOR STARS IN THE LEAST EVOLVED GALAXIES: BOÖTES II

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ji, Alexander P.; Frebel, Anna; Simon, Joshua D.

2016-01-20

We present high-resolution Magellan/MIKE spectra of the four brightest confirmed red giant stars in the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Boötes II (Boo II). These stars all inhabit the metal-poor tail of the Boo II metallicity distribution function. The chemical abundance pattern of all detectable elements in these stars is consistent with that of the Galactic halo. However, all four stars have undetectable amounts of neutron-capture elements Sr and Ba, with upper limits comparable to the lowest ever detected in the halo or in other dwarf galaxies. One star exhibits significant radial velocity variations over time, suggesting it to be in a binary system. Itsmore » variable velocity has likely increased past determinations of the Boo II velocity dispersion. Our four stars span a limited metallicity range, but their enhanced α-abundances and low neutron-capture abundances are consistent with the interpretation that Boo II has been enriched by very few generations of stars. The chemical abundance pattern in Boo II confirms the emerging trend that the faintest dwarf galaxies have neutron-capture abundances distinct from the halo, suggesting the dominant source of neutron-capture elements in halo stars may be different than in ultra-faint dwarfs.« less

"Invisible" Galactic Halos.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lugt, Karel Vander

1993-01-01

Develops a simple core-halo model of a galaxy that exhibits the main features of observed rotation curves and quantitatively illustrates the need to postulate halos of dark matter. Uses only elementary mechanics. (Author/MVL)

The Correspondence between Convergence Peaks from Weak Lensing and Massive Dark Matter Haloes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Chengliang; Li, Guoliang; Kang, Xi; Liu, Xiangkun; Fan, Zuhui; Yuan, Shuo; Pan, Chuzhong

2018-05-01

The convergence peaks, constructed from galaxy shape measurement in weak lensing, is a powerful probe of cosmology as the peaks can be connected with the underlined dark matter haloes. However the capability of convergence peak statistic is affected by the noise in galaxy shape measurement, signal to noise ratio as well as the contribution from the projected mass distribution from the large-scale structures along the line of sight (LOS). In this paper we use the ray-tracing simulation on a curved sky to investigate the correspondence between the convergence peak and the dark matter haloes at the LOS. We find that, in case of no noise and for source galaxies at zs = 1, more than 65% peaks with SNR ≥ 3 (signal to noise ratio) are related to more than one massive haloes with mass larger than 1013M⊙. Those massive haloes contribute 87.2% to high peaks (SNR ≥ 5) with the remaining contributions are from the large-scale structures. On the other hand, the peaks distribution is skewed by the noise in galaxy shape measurement, especially for lower SNR peaks. In the noisy field where the shape noise is modelled as a Gaussian distribution, about 60% high peaks (SNR ≥ 5) are true peaks and the fraction decreases to 20% for lower peaks (3 ≤ SNR < 5). Furthermore, we find that high peaks (SNR ≥ 5) are dominated by very massive haloes larger than 1014M⊙.

Evolution and statistics of non-sphericity of dark matter halos from cosmological N-body simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suto, Daichi; Kitayama, Tetsu; Nishimichi, Takahiro; Sasaki, Shin; Suto, Yasushi

2016-12-01

We revisit the non-sphericity of cluster-mass-scale halos from cosmological N-body simulation on the basis of triaxial modeling. In order to understand the difference between the simulation results and the conventional ellipsoidal collapse model (EC), we first consider the evolution of individual simulated halos. The major difference between EC and the simulation becomes appreciable after the turnaround epoch. Moreover, it is sensitive to the individual evolution history of each halo. Despite such strong dependence on individual halos, the resulting non-sphericity of halos exhibits weak but robust mass dependence in a statistical fashion; massive halos are more spherical up to the turnaround, but gradually become less spherical by z = 0. This is clearly inconsistent with the EC prediction: massive halos are usually more spherical. In addition, at z = 0, inner regions of the simulated halos are less spherical than outer regions; that is, the density distribution inside the halos is highly inhomogeneous and therefore not self-similar (concentric ellipsoids with the same axis ratio and orientation). This is also inconsistent with the homogeneous density distribution that is commonly assumed in EC. Since most of previous fitting formulae for the probability distribution function (PDF) of the axis ratio of triaxial ellipsoids have been constructed under the self-similarity assumption, they are not accurate. Indeed, we compute the PDF of the projected axis ratio a1/a2 directly from the simulation data without the self-similarity assumption, and find that it is very sensitive to the assumption. The latter needs to be carefully taken into account in direct comparison with observations, and therefore we provide an empirical fitting formula for the PDF of a1/a2. Our preliminary analysis suggests that the derived PDF of a1/a2 roughly agrees with the current weak-lensing observations. More importantly, the present results will be useful for future exploration of the non

Measuring the Dust Grains and Distance to X Persei Via Its X-ray Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Randall

2006-09-01

We propose to observe the X-ray halo of the high mass X-ray binary pulsar X Per to measure interstellar dust grains along the line of sight (LOS) and to determine the distance to X Per. The X-ray halo is formed by scattering from grains along the LOS, which for X Per appear to be concentrated in one molecular cloud. Unlike many other X-ray halo observations, this low-absorption high-latitude sightline is well-characterized from absorption spectroscopy done with HST, Copernicus, and FUSE. This halo observation will measure the distance to the cloud and the dust size distribution in it. We will also be able to determine the distance to X Per by measuring the time delayed pulses in the X-ray halo.

Evaluation of beam halo from beam-gas scattering at the KEK Accelerator Test Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, R.; Naito, T.; Bai, S.; Aryshev, A.; Kubo, K.; Okugi, T.; Terunuma, N.; Zhou, D.; Faus-Golfe, A.; Kubytskyi, V.; Liu, S.; Wallon, S.; Bambade, P.

2018-05-01

In circular colliders, as well as in damping rings and synchrotron radiation light sources, beam halo is one of the critical issues limiting the performance as well as potentially causing component damage and activation. It is imperative to clearly understand the mechanisms that lead to halo formation and to test the available theoretical models. Elastic beam-gas scattering can drive particles to large oscillation amplitudes and be a potential source of beam halo. In this paper, numerical estimation and Monte Carlo simulations of this process at the ATF of KEK are presented. Experimental measurements of beam halo in the ATF2 beam line using a diamond sensor detector are also described, which clearly demonstrate the influence of the beam-gas scattering process on the transverse halo distribution.

Duration of the Early Galactic Formation Epoch: HST Photometry for Red-Horizontal Branch Clusters in the Outer Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hesser, J. E.; Stetson, P. B.; McClure, R. D.; van den Bergh, S.; Bolte, M.; Harris, W. E.; van den Berg, D. A.; Bell, R. A.; Fahlman, G. G.; Richer, H. B.; Bond, H. E.

1997-12-01

Last year we presented evidence from HST photometry of the low-metallicity cluster NGC 2419 (M_V = -9.5, R_⊙ ~ 90 kpc, [Fe/H] = -2.2) that globular cluster formation began at essentially the same time throughout a region of the Galactic halo now almost 200 kpc in diameter (Harris et al. 1997 AJ 114, 1030). We now turn to the time spread of halo formation, with the ultimate aim of addressing the relative roles of mergers over the first 4 or more Gyrs (Searle & Zinn 1978, ApJ, 225, 357; Lee, Demarque & Zinn 1994 ApJ, 423, 248) versus models favoring a rapid collapse (Eggen, Lynden-Bell & Sandage 1962, ApJ, 236, 748; Stetson, VandenBerg & Bolte 1996, PASP, 108, 560), or some combination of those and other processes. We provide the first reliable measurements from the giant branch through the main-sequence turnoffs of red-horizontal-branch clusters in the outer halo, which are frequently postulated to be younger than most other globular clusters. From WFPC2 F555W (`V') and F814W (`I') photometry for Pal 3 (M_V = -5.2, R_⊙ ~ 87 kpc), Pal 4 (M_V = -5.8, R_⊙ ~ 98 kpc), and Eridanus (M_V = -4.8, R_⊙ ~ 78 kpc), all with [Fe/H] ~ -1.5, we estimate their relative ages by making differential comparisons among them and with respect to inner-halo objects of, presumably, comparable chemical compositions. It seems likely at this stage of our analysis that (a) the three clusters are the same age to our measurement precision of ~ 1 Gyr, and, (b) the CMDs of all three outer halo clusters differ from those of M 3 and M 5 (our template clusters of similar metallicity), in the sense that the outer halo clusters are younger by ~ 3 Gyr, or they are ~ 0.5 dex more metal-rich than currently thought. Large uncertainties in chemical compositions (He, [alpha /Fe], [CNO/Fe]) for outer halo and template clusters alike mask the true interpretation.

The Impact of Assembly Bias on the Galaxy Content of Dark Matter Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zehavi, Idit; Contreras, Sergio; Padilla, Nelson; Smith, Nicholas J.; Baugh, Carlton M.; Norberg, Peder

2018-01-01

We study the dependence of the galaxy content of dark matter halos on large-scale environment and halo formation time using semi-analytic galaxy models applied to the Millennium simulation. We analyze subsamples of halos at the extremes of these distributions and measure the occupation functions for the galaxies they host. We find distinct differences among these occupation functions. The main effect with environment is that central galaxies (and in one model, also the satellites) in denser regions start populating lower-mass halos. A similar, but significantly stronger, trend exists with halo age, where early-forming halos are more likely to host central galaxies at lower halo mass. We discuss the origin of these trends and the connection to the stellar mass–halo mass relation. We find that, at fixed halo mass, older halos and to some extent also halos in dense environments tend to host more massive galaxies. Additionally, we see a reverse trend for the occupation of satellite galaxies where early-forming halos have fewer satellites, likely due to having more time for them to merge with the central galaxy. We describe these occupancy variations in terms of the changes in the occupation function parameters, which can aid in constructing realistic mock galaxy samples. Finally, we study the corresponding galaxy auto- and cross-correlation functions of the different samples and elucidate the impact of assembly bias on galaxy clustering. Our results can inform theoretical modeling of galaxy assembly bias and attempts to detect it in the real universe.

The 6dF Galaxy Survey: dependence of halo occupation on stellar mass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beutler, Florian; Blake, Chris; Colless, Matthew; Jones, D. Heath; Staveley-Smith, Lister; Campbell, Lachlan; Parker, Quentin; Saunders, Will; Watson, Fred

2013-03-01

In this paper we study the stellar mass dependence of galaxy clustering in the 6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS). The near-infrared selection of 6dFGS allows more reliable stellar mass estimates compared to optical bands used in other galaxy surveys. Using the halo occupation distribution model, we investigate the trend of dark matter halo mass and satellite fraction with stellar mass by measuring the projected correlation function, wp(rp). We find that the typical halo mass (M1) as well as the satellite power-law index (α) increases with stellar mass. This indicates (1) that galaxies with higher stellar mass sit in more massive dark matter haloes and (2) that these more massive dark matter haloes accumulate satellites faster with growing mass compared to haloes occupied by low stellar mass galaxies. Furthermore, we find a relation between M1 and the minimum dark matter halo mass (Mmin) of M1 ≈ 22 Mmin, in agreement with similar findings for Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies. The satellite fraction of 6dFGS galaxies declines with increasing stellar mass from 21 per cent at Mstellar = 2.6 × 1010 h-2 M⊙ to 12 per cent at Mstellar = 5.4 × 1010 h-2 M⊙ indicating that high stellar mass galaxies are more likely to be central galaxies. We compare our results to two different semi-analytic models derived from the Millennium Simulation, finding some disagreement. Our results can be used for placing new constraints on semi-analytic models in the future, particularly the behaviour of luminous red satellites. Finally, we compare our results to studies of halo occupation using galaxy-galaxy weak lensing. We find good overall agreement, representing a valuable cross-check for these two different tools of studying the matter distribution in the Universe.

The Spin and Orientation of Dark Matter Halos Within Cosmic Filaments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Youcai; Yang, Xiaohu; Faltenbacher, Andreas; Springel, Volker; Lin, Weipeng; Wang, Huiyuan

2009-11-01

Clusters, filaments, sheets, and voids are the building blocks of the cosmic web. Forming dark matter halos respond to these different large-scale environments, and this in turn affects the properties of galaxies hosted by the halos. It is therefore important to understand the systematic correlations of halo properties with the morphology of the cosmic web, as this informs both about galaxy formation physics and possible systematics of weak lensing studies. In this study, we present and compare two distinct algorithms for finding cosmic filaments and sheets, a task which is far less well established than the identification of dark matter halos or voids. One method is based on the smoothed dark matter density field and the other uses the halo distributions directly. We apply both techniques to one high-resolution N-body simulation and reconstruct the filamentary/sheet like network of the dark matter density field. We focus on investigating the properties of the dark matter halos inside these structures, in particular, on the directions of their spins and the orientation of their shapes with respect to the directions of the filaments and sheets. We find that both the spin and the major axes of filament halos with masses lsim1013 h -1 M sun are preferentially aligned with the direction of the filaments. The spins and major axes of halos in sheets tend to lie parallel to the sheets. There is an opposite mass dependence of the alignment strength for the spin (negative) and major (positive) axes, i.e. with increasing halo mass the major axis tends to be more strongly aligned with the direction of the filament, whereas the alignment between halo spin and filament becomes weaker with increasing halo mass. The alignment strength as a function of the distance to the most massive node halo indicates that there is a transit large-scale environment impact: from the two-dimensional collapse phase of the filament to the three-dimensional collapse phase of the cluster/node halo at

Hot Gas Halos in Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mulchaey, John

Most galaxy formation models predict that massive low-redshift disk galaxies are embedded in extended hot halos of externally accreted gas. Such gas appears necessary to maintain ongoing star formation in isolated spirals like the Milky Way. To explain the large population of red galaxies in rich groups and clusters, most galaxy evolution models assume that these hot gas halos are stripped completely when a galaxy enters a denser environment. This simple model has been remarkably successful at reproducing many observed properties of galaxies. Although theoretical arguments suggest hot gas halos are an important component in galaxies, we know very little about this gas from an observational standpoint. In fact, previous observations have failed to detect soft X-ray emission from such halos in disk galaxies. Furthermore, the assumption that hot gas halos are stripped completely when a galaxy enters a group or cluster has not been verified. We propose to combine proprietary and archival XMM-Newton observations of galaxies in the field, groups and clusters to study how hot gas halos are impacted by environment. Our proposed program has three components: 1) The deepest search to date for a hot gas halo in a quiescent spiral galaxy. A detection will confirm a basic tenet of disk galaxy formation models, whereas a non-detection will seriously challenge these models and impose new constraints on the growth mode and feedback history of disk galaxies. 2) A detailed study of the hot gas halos properties of field early-type galaxies. As environmental processes such as stripping are not expected to be important in the field, a study of hot gas halos in this environment will allow us to better understand how feedback and other internal processes impact hot gas halos. 3) A study of hot gas halos in the outskirts of groups and clusters. By comparing observations with our suite of simulations we can begin to understand what role the stripping of hot gas halos plays in galaxy

Evidence of lensing of the cosmic microwave background by dark matter halos.

PubMed

Madhavacheril, Mathew; Sehgal, Neelima; Allison, Rupert; Battaglia, Nick; Bond, J Richard; Calabrese, Erminia; Caligiuri, Jerod; Coughlin, Kevin; Crichton, Devin; Datta, Rahul; Devlin, Mark J; Dunkley, Joanna; Dünner, Rolando; Fogarty, Kevin; Grace, Emily; Hajian, Amir; Hasselfield, Matthew; Hill, J Colin; Hilton, Matt; Hincks, Adam D; Hlozek, Renée; Hughes, John P; Kosowsky, Arthur; Louis, Thibaut; Lungu, Marius; McMahon, Jeff; Moodley, Kavilan; Munson, Charles; Naess, Sigurd; Nati, Federico; Newburgh, Laura; Niemack, Michael D; Page, Lyman A; Partridge, Bruce; Schmitt, Benjamin; Sherwin, Blake D; Sievers, Jon; Spergel, David N; Staggs, Suzanne T; Thornton, Robert; Van Engelen, Alexander; Ward, Jonathan T; Wollack, Edward J

2015-04-17

We present evidence of the gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background by 10(13) solar mass dark matter halos. Lensing convergence maps from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol) are stacked at the positions of around 12 000 optically selected CMASS galaxies from the SDSS-III/BOSS survey. The mean lensing signal is consistent with simulated dark matter halo profiles and is favored over a null signal at 3.2σ significance. This result demonstrates the potential of microwave background lensing to probe the dark matter distribution in galaxy group and galaxy cluster halos.

Galactic Halo Stars in Phase Space: A Hint of Satellite Accretion?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brook, Chris B.; Kawata, Daisuke; Gibson, Brad K.; Flynn, Chris

2003-03-01

The present-day chemical and dynamical properties of the Milky Way bear the imprint of the Galaxy's formation and evolutionary history. One of the most enduring and critical debates surrounding Galactic evolution is that regarding the competition between ``satellite accretion'' and ``monolithic collapse'' the apparent strong correlation between orbital eccentricity and metallicity of halo stars was originally used as supporting evidence for the latter. While modern-day unbiased samples no longer support the claims for a significant correlation, recent evidence has been presented by Chiba & Beers for the existence of a minor population of high-eccentricity metal-deficient halo stars. It has been suggested that these stars represent the signature of a rapid (if minor) collapse phase in the Galaxy's history. Employing velocity and integrals of motion phase-space projections of these stars, coupled with a series of N-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamic chemodynamical simulations, we suggest that an alternative mechanism for creating such stars may be the recent accretion of a polar orbit dwarf galaxy.

The sagittarius tidal stream and the shape of the galactic stellar halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newby, Matthew T.

The stellar halo that surrounds our Galaxy contains clues to understanding galaxy formation, cosmology, stellar evolution, and the nature of dark matter. Gravitationally disrupted dwarf galaxies form tidal streams, which roughly trace orbits through the Galactic halo. The Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf tidal debris is the most dominant of these streams, and its properties place important constraints on the distribution of mass (including dark matter) in the Galaxy. Stars not associated with substructures form the "smooth" component of the stellar halo, the origin of which is still under investigation. Characterizing halo substructures such as the Sgr stream and the smooth halo provides valuable information on the formation history and evolution of our galaxy, and places constraints on cosmological models. This thesis is primarily concerned with characterizing the 3-dimensional stellar densities of the Sgr tidal debris system and the smooth stellar halo, using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). F turnoff stars are used to infer distances, as they are relatively bright, numerous, and distributed about a single intrinsic brightness (magnitude). The inherent spread in brightnesses of these stars is overcome through the use of the recently-developed technique of statistical photometric parallax, in which the bulk properties of a stellar population are used to create a probability distribution for a given star's distance. This was used to build a spatial density model for the smooth stellar halo and tidal streams. The free parameters in this model are then fit to SDSS data with a maximum likelihood technique, and the parameters are optimized by advanced computational methods. Several computing platforms are used in this study, including the RPI SUR Bluegene and the Milkyway home volunteer computing project. Fits to the Sgr stream in 18 SDSS data stripes were performed, and a continuous density profile is found for the major Sgr stream. The stellar halo is found to

The Segue K giant survey. II. A catalog of distance determinations for the Segue K giants in the galactic halo

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xue, Xiang-Xiang; Rix, Hans-Walter; Ma, Zhibo

2014-04-01

We present an online catalog of distance determinations for 6036 K giants, most of which are members of the Milky Way's stellar halo. Their medium-resolution spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey/Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration are used to derive metallicities and rough gravity estimates, along with radial velocities. Distance moduli are derived from a comparison of each star's apparent magnitude with the absolute magnitude of empirically calibrated color-luminosity fiducials, at the observed (g – r){sub 0} color and spectroscopic [Fe/H]. We employ a probabilistic approach that makes it straightforward to properly propagate the errors in metallicities, magnitudes,more » and colors into distance uncertainties. We also fold in prior information about the giant-branch luminosity function and the different metallicity distributions of the SEGUE K-giant targeting sub-categories. We show that the metallicity prior plays a small role in the distance estimates, but that neglecting the luminosity prior could lead to a systematic distance modulus bias of up to 0.25 mag, compared to the case of using the luminosity prior. We find a median distance precision of 16%, with distance estimates most precise for the least metal-poor stars near the tip of the red giant branch. The precision and accuracy of our distance estimates are validated with observations of globular and open clusters. The stars in our catalog are up to 125 kpc from the Galactic center, with 283 stars beyond 50 kpc, forming the largest available spectroscopic sample of distant tracers in the Galactic halo.« less

Spatial clustering of dark matter haloes: secondary bias, neighbour bias, and the influence of massive neighbours on halo properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salcedo, Andrés N.; Maller, Ariyeh H.; Berlind, Andreas A.; Sinha, Manodeep; McBride, Cameron K.; Behroozi, Peter S.; Wechsler, Risa H.; Weinberg, David H.

2018-04-01

We explore the phenomenon commonly known as halo assembly bias, whereby dark matter haloes of the same mass are found to be more or less clustered when a second halo property is considered, for haloes in the mass range 3.7 × 1011-5.0 × 1013 h-1 M⊙. Using the Large Suite of Dark Matter Simulations (LasDamas) we consider nine commonly used halo properties and find that a clustering bias exists if haloes are binned by mass or by any other halo property. This secondary bias implies that no single halo property encompasses all the spatial clustering information of the halo population. The mean values of some halo properties depend on their halo's distance to a more massive neighbour. Halo samples selected by having high values of one of these properties therefore inherit a neighbour bias such that they are much more likely to be close to a much more massive neighbour. This neighbour bias largely accounts for the secondary bias seen in haloes binned by mass and split by concentration or age. However, haloes binned by other mass-like properties still show a secondary bias even when the neighbour bias is removed. The secondary bias of haloes selected by their spin behaves differently than that for other halo properties, suggesting that the origin of the spin bias is different than of other secondary biases.

Stellar Streams in the Andromeda Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fardal, Mark A.; PAndAS Collaboration

2011-05-01

The PAndAS survey detects RGB and AGB stars in our neighbor galaxy M31, out to 150 kpc from the galaxy center with an extension to M33. Maps of this survey display a spectacular collection of stellar streams extending tens to hundreds of kpc in length. Many of these streams overlap with each other or with M31's central regions, making it difficult to disentangle the different streams. I discuss what is currently known about the nature, origin, significance, and eventual fate of these stellar streams. Photometric observations from the PAndAS survey and follow-up work constrain the metallicity, age, luminosity, and stellar mass of the stellar population. I discuss scenarios for how some of these streams formed, while for others their origin remains a mystery. I present observationally constrained numerical simulations for the formation of some of the streams. The streams also are probes of the mass profile and lumpiness of M31's dark matter halo. Spectroscopic samples are used to constrain M31's halo mass at large radius.

Angular momentum properties of haloes and their baryon content in the Illustris simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zjupa, Jolanta; Springel, Volker

2017-04-01

The angular momentum properties of virialized dark matter haloes have been measured with good statistics in collisionless N-body simulations, but an equally accurate analysis of the baryonic spin is still missing. We employ the Illustris simulation suite, one of the first simulations of galaxy formation with full hydrodynamics that produces a realistic galaxy population in a sizeable volume, to quantify the baryonic spin properties for more than ˜320 000 haloes. We first compare the systematic differences between different spin parameter and halo definitions, and the impact of sample selection criteria on the derived properties. We confirm that dark-matter-only haloes exhibit a close to self-similar spin distribution in mass and redshift of lognormal form. However, the physics of galaxy formation radically changes the baryonic spin distribution. While the dark matter component remains largely unaffected, strong trends with mass and redshift appear for the spin of diffuse gas and the formed stellar component. With time, the baryons staying bound to the halo develop a misalignment of their spin vector with respect to dark matter, and increase their specific angular momentum by a factor of ˜1.3 in the non-radiative case and ˜1.8 in the full physics setup at z = 0. We show that this enhancement in baryonic spin can be explained by the combined effect of specific angular momentum transfer from dark matter on to gas during mergers and from feedback expelling low specific angular momentum gas from the halo. Our results challenge certain models for spin evolution and underline the significant changes induced by baryonic physics in the structure of haloes.

Revealing the Cosmic Web-dependent Halo Bias

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Xiaohu; Zhang, Youcai; Lu, Tianhuan; Wang, Huiyuan; Shi, Feng; Tweed, Dylan; Li, Shijie; Luo, Wentao; Lu, Yi; Yang, Lei

2017-10-01

Halo bias is the one of the key ingredients of the halo models. It was shown at a given redshift to be only dependent, to the first order, on the halo mass. In this study, four types of cosmic web environments—clusters, filaments, sheets, and voids—are defined within a state-of-the-art high-resolution N-body simulation. Within these environments, we use both halo-dark matter cross correlation and halo-halo autocorrelation functions to probe the clustering properties of halos. The nature of the halo bias differs strongly between the four different cosmic web environments described here. With respect to the overall population, halos in clusters have significantly lower biases in the {10}11.0˜ {10}13.5 {h}-1 {M}⊙ mass range. In other environments, however, halos show extremely enhanced biases up to a factor 10 in voids for halos of mass ˜ {10}12.0 {h}-1 {M}⊙ . Such a strong cosmic web environment dependence in the halo bias may play an important role in future cosmological and galaxy formation studies. Within this cosmic web framework, the age dependency of halo bias is found to be only significant in clusters and filaments for relatively small halos ≲ {10}12.5 {h}-1 {M}⊙ .

Building the Galactic halo from globular clusters: evidence from chemically unusual red giants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martell, S. L.; Smolinski, J. P.; Beers, T. C.; Grebel, E. K.

2011-10-01

We present a spectroscopic search for halo field stars that originally formed in globular clusters. Using moderate-resolution SDSS-III/SEGUE-2 spectra of 561 red giants with typical halo metallicities (-1.8 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ -1.0), we identify 16 stars, 3% of the sample, with CN and CH bandstrength behavior indicating depleted carbon and enhanced nitrogen abundances relative to the rest of the data set. Since globular clusters are the only environment known in which stars form with this pattern of atypical light-element abundances, we claim that these stars are second-generation globular cluster stars that have been lost to the halo field via normal cluster mass-loss processes. Extrapolating from theoretical models of two-generation globular cluster formation, this result suggests that globular clusters contributed significant numbers of stars to the construction of the Galactic halo: we calculate that a minimum of 17% of the present-day mass of the stellar halo was originally formed in globular clusters. The ratio of CN-strong to CN-normal stars drops with Galactocentric distance, suggesting that the inner-halo population may be the primary repository of these stars. Full Tables 1 and 3 are available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/534/A136

A HIGH-VELOCITY BULGE RR LYRAE VARIABLE ON A HALO-LIKE ORBIT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kunder, Andrea; Storm, J.; Rich, R. M.

2015-07-20

We report on the RR Lyrae variable star, MACHO 176.18833.411, located toward the Galactic bulge and observed within the data from the ongoing Bulge RR Lyrae Radial Velocity Assay, which has the unusual radial velocity of −372 ± 8 km s{sup −1} and true space velocity of −482 ± 22 km s{sup −1} relative to the Galactic rest frame. Located less than 1 kpc from the Galactic center and toward a field at (l, b) = (3, −2.5), this pulsating star has properties suggesting it belongs to the bulge RR Lyrae star population, yet a velocity indicating it is abnormal,more » at least with respect to bulge giants and red clump stars. We show that this star is most likely a halo interloper and therefore suggest that halo contamination is not insignificant when studying metal-poor stars found within the bulge area, even for stars within 1 kpc of the Galactic center. We discuss the possibility that MACHO 176.18833.411 is on the extreme edge of the bulge RR Lyrae radial velocity distribution, and also consider a more exotic scenario in which it is a runaway star moving through the Galaxy.« less

Spatial clustering of dark matter haloes: secondary bias, neighbour bias, and the influence of massive neighbours on halo properties

DOE PAGES

Salcedo, Andres N.; Maller, Ariyeh H.; Berlind, Andreas A.; ...

2018-01-15

Here, we explore the phenomenon commonly known as halo assembly bias, whereby dark matter haloes of the same mass are found to be more or less clustered when a second halo property is considered, for haloes in the mass range 3.7 × 10 11–5.0 × 10 13 h –1 M ⊙. Using the Large Suite of Dark Matter Simulations (LasDamas) we consider nine commonly used halo properties and find that a clustering bias exists if haloes are binned by mass or by any other halo property. This secondary bias implies that no single halo property encompasses all the spatial clusteringmore » information of the halo population. The mean values of some halo properties depend on their halo's distance to a more massive neighbour. Halo samples selected by having high values of one of these properties therefore inherit a neighbour bias such that they are much more likely to be close to a much more massive neighbour. This neighbour bias largely accounts for the secondary bias seen in haloes binned by mass and split by concentration or age. However, haloes binned by other mass-like properties still show a secondary bias even when the neighbour bias is removed. The secondary bias of haloes selected by their spin behaves differently than that for other halo properties, suggesting that the origin of the spin bias is different than of other secondary biases.« less

Spatial clustering of dark matter haloes: secondary bias, neighbour bias, and the influence of massive neighbours on halo properties

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Salcedo, Andres N.; Maller, Ariyeh H.; Berlind, Andreas A.

Here, we explore the phenomenon commonly known as halo assembly bias, whereby dark matter haloes of the same mass are found to be more or less clustered when a second halo property is considered, for haloes in the mass range 3.7 × 10 11–5.0 × 10 13 h –1 M ⊙. Using the Large Suite of Dark Matter Simulations (LasDamas) we consider nine commonly used halo properties and find that a clustering bias exists if haloes are binned by mass or by any other halo property. This secondary bias implies that no single halo property encompasses all the spatial clusteringmore » information of the halo population. The mean values of some halo properties depend on their halo's distance to a more massive neighbour. Halo samples selected by having high values of one of these properties therefore inherit a neighbour bias such that they are much more likely to be close to a much more massive neighbour. This neighbour bias largely accounts for the secondary bias seen in haloes binned by mass and split by concentration or age. However, haloes binned by other mass-like properties still show a secondary bias even when the neighbour bias is removed. The secondary bias of haloes selected by their spin behaves differently than that for other halo properties, suggesting that the origin of the spin bias is different than of other secondary biases.« less

Testing approximate predictions of displacements of cosmological dark matter halos

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Munari, Emiliano; Monaco, Pierluigi; Borgani, Stefano

We present a test to quantify how well some approximate methods, designed to reproduce the mildly non-linear evolution of perturbations, are able to reproduce the clustering of DM halos once the grouping of particles into halos is defined and kept fixed. The following methods have been considered: Lagrangian Perturbation Theory (LPT) up to third order, Truncated LPT, Augmented LPT, MUSCLE and COLA. The test runs as follows: halos are defined by applying a friends-of-friends (FoF) halo finder to the output of an N-body simulation. The approximate methods are then applied to the same initial conditions of the simulation, producing formore » all particles displacements from their starting position and velocities. The position and velocity of each halo are computed by averaging over the particles that belong to that halo, according to the FoF halo finder. This procedure allows us to perform a well-posed test of how clustering of the matter density and halo density fields are recovered, without asking to the approximate method an accurate reconstruction of halos. We have considered the results at z =0,0.5,1, and we have analysed power spectrum in real and redshift space, object-by-object difference in position and velocity, density Probability Distribution Function (PDF) and its moments, phase difference of Fourier modes. We find that higher LPT orders are generally able to better reproduce the clustering of halos, while little or no improvement is found for the matter density field when going to 2LPT and 3LPT. Augmentation provides some improvement when coupled with 2LPT, while its effect is limited when coupled with 3LPT. Little improvement is brought by MUSCLE with respect to Augmentation. The more expensive particle-mesh code COLA outperforms all LPT methods, and this is true even for mesh sizes as large as the inter-particle distance. This test sets an upper limit on the ability of these methods to reproduce the clustering of halos, for the cases when these

On planetary nebulae as sources of carbon dust: Infrared emission from planetary nebulae of the galactic halo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dinerstein, Harriet L.; Lester, Daniel F.

1990-01-01

Planetary nebulae of the galactic disk are generally seen to emit a thermal continuum due to dust grains heated by stellar and nebular photons. This continuum typically peaks between 25 and 60 micron m, so that the total power emitted by the dust is sampled well by the broad-band measurements made by IRAS. Researchers examine here the characteristics of the infrared emission from the four planetary nebulae which are believed on the basis of their low overall metallicities to belong to the halo population. These nebulae are of particular interest because they are the most metal-poor ionized nebulae known in our Galaxy, and offer the opportunity to probe possible dependences of the dust properties on nebular composition. Researchers present fluxes extracted from co-addition of the IRAS data, as well as ground-based near infrared measurements. Each of the four halo objects, including the planetary nebula in the globular cluster M15, is detected in at least one infrared band. Researchers compare the estimated infrared excesses of these nebulae (IRE, the ratio of measured infrared power to the power available in the form of resonantly-trapped Lyman alpha photons) to those of disk planetary nebulae with similar densities but more normal abundances. Three of the halo planetaries have IRE values similar to those of the disk nebulae, despite the fact that their Fe- and Si-peak gas phase abundances are factors of 10 to 100 lower. However, these halo nebulae have normal or elevated C/H ratios, due to nuclear processing and mixing in their red giant progenitors. Unlike the other halo planetaries, DDDM1 is deficient in carbon as well as in the other light metals. This nebula has a substantially lower IRE than the other halo planetaries, and may be truly dust efficient. Researchers suggest that the deficiency is due to a lack of the raw material for producing carbon-based grains, and that the main bulk constituent of the dust in these planetary nebulae is carbon.

Sun-Earth L1 Region Halo-To-Halo Orbit and Halo-To-LisaJous Orbit Transfers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roberts, Craig E.; DeFazio, Robert

2004-01-01

Practical techniques for designing transfer trajectories between Libration Point Orbits (LPOs) are presented. Motivation for development of these techniques was provided by a hardware contingency experienced by the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) orbiting the L1 point of the Sun-Earth system. A potential solution to the problem involved a transfer from SOHO s periodic halo orbit to a new LPO of substantially different dimensions. Assuming the SOHO halo orbit as the departure orbit, several practical LPO transfer techniques were developed to obtain new Lissajous or periodic halo orbits that satisfy mission requirements and constraints. While not implemented for the SOHO mission, practical LPO transfer techniques were devised that are generally applicable to current and future LPO missions.

Evidence for halo kinematics among cool carbon-rich dwarfs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farihi, J.; Arendt, A. R.; Machado, H. S.; Whitehouse, L. J.

2018-07-01

This paper reports preliminary, yet compelling, kinematical inferences for N≳ 600 carbon-rich dwarf stars that demonstrate around 30-60 per cent are members of the Galactic halo. The study uses a spectroscopically and non-kinematically selected sample of stars from the SDSS, and cross-correlates these data with three proper motion catalogues based on Gaia DR1 astrometry to generate estimates of their 3D space velocities. The fraction of stars with halo-like kinematics is roughly 30 per cent for distances based on a limited number of parallax measurements, with the remainder dominated by the thick disc, but close to 60 per cent of the sample lies below an old, metal-poor disc isochrone in reduced proper motion. An ancient population is consistent with an extrinsic origin for C/O >1 in cool dwarfs, where a fixed mass of carbon pollution more readily surmounts lower oxygen abundance and with a lack of detectable ultraviolet-blue flux from younger white dwarf companions. For an initial stellar mass function that favours low-mass stars as in the Galactic disc, the dC stars are likely to be the dominant source of carbon-enhanced, metal-poor stars in the Galaxy.

Evidence for halo kinematics among cool carbon-rich dwarfs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farihi, J.; Arendt, A. R.; Machado, H. S.; Whitehouse, L. J.

2018-04-01

This paper reports preliminary yet compelling kinematical inferences for N ≳ 600 carbon-rich dwarf stars that demonstrate around 30% to 60% are members of the Galactic halo. The study uses a spectroscopically and non-kinematically selected sample of stars from the SDSS, and cross-correlates these data with three proper motion catalogs based on Gaia DR1 astrometry to generate estimates of their 3-D space velocities. The fraction of stars with halo-like kinematics is roughly 30% for distances based on a limited number of parallax measurements, with the remainder dominated by the thick disk, but close to 60% of the sample lie below an old, metal-poor disk isochrone in reduced proper motion. An ancient population is consistent with an extrinsic origin for C/O >1 in cool dwarfs, where a fixed mass of carbon pollution more readily surmounts lower oxygen abundances, and with a lack of detectable ultraviolet-blue flux from younger white dwarf companions. For an initial stellar mass function that favors low-mass stars as in the Galactic disk, the dC stars are likely to be the dominant source of carbon-enhanced, metal-poor stars in the Galaxy.

The Scale Sizes of Globular Clusters: Tidal Limits, Evolution, and the Outer Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, William

2011-10-01

The physical factors that determine the linear sizes of massive star clusters are not well understood. Their scale sizes were long thought to be governed by the tidal field of the parent galaxy, but major questions are now emerging. Globular clusters, for example, have mean sizes nearly independent of location in the halo. Paradoxically, the recently discovered "anomalous extended clusters" in M31 and elsewhere have scale sizes that fit much better with tidal theory, but they are puzzlingly rare. Lastly, the persistent size difference between metal-poor and metal-rich clusters still lacks a quantitative explanation. Many aspects of these observations call for better modelling of dynamical evolution in the outskirts of clusters, and also their conditions of formation including the early rapid mass loss phase of protoclusters. A new set of accurate measurements of scale sizes and structural parameters, for a large and homogeneous set of globular clusters, would represent a major advance in this subject. We propose to carry out a {WFC3+ACS} imaging survey of the globular clusters in the supergiant Virgo elliptical M87 to cover the complete run of the halo. M87 is an optimum target system because of its huge numbers of clusters and HST's ability to resolve the cluster profiles accurately. We will derive cluster effective radii, central concentrations, luminosities, and colors for more than 4000 clusters using PSF-convolved King-model profile fitting. In parallel, we are developing theoretical tools to model the expected distribution of cluster sizes versus galactocentric distance as functions of cluster mass, concentration, and orbital anisotropy.

THE CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES OF STARS IN THE HALO (CASH) PROJECT. II. A SAMPLE OF 14 EXTREMELY METAL-POOR STARS ,

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hollek, Julie K.; Sneden, Christopher; Shetrone, Matthew

2011-11-20

We present a comprehensive abundance analysis of 20 elements for 16 new low-metallicity stars from the Chemical Abundances of Stars in the Halo (CASH) project. The abundances have been derived from both Hobby-Eberly Telescope High Resolution Spectrograph snapshot spectra (R {approx}15, 000) and corresponding high-resolution (R {approx}35, 000) Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle spectra. The stars span a metallicity range from [Fe/H] from -2.9 to -3.9, including four new stars with [Fe/H] < -3.7. We find four stars to be carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars, confirming the trend of increasing [C/Fe] abundance ratios with decreasing metallicity. Two of these objects can bemore » classified as CEMP-no stars, adding to the growing number of these objects at [Fe/H]< - 3. We also find four neutron-capture-enhanced stars in the sample, one of which has [Eu/Fe] of 0.8 with clear r-process signatures. These pilot sample stars are the most metal-poor ([Fe/H] {approx}< -3.0) of the brightest stars included in CASH and are used to calibrate a newly developed, automated stellar parameter and abundance determination pipeline. This code will be used for the entire {approx}500 star CASH snapshot sample. We find that the pipeline results are statistically identical for snapshot spectra when compared to a traditional, manual analysis from a high-resolution spectrum.« less

Tests and consequences of disk plus halo models of gamma-ray burst sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, I. A.

1995-01-01

The gamma-ray burst observations made by the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) and by previous experiments are still consistent with a combined Galactic disk (or Galactic spiral arm) plus extended Galactic halo model. Testable predictions and consequences of the disk plus halo model are discussed here; tests performed on the expanded BATSE database in the future will constrain the allowed model parameters and may eventually rule out the disk plus halo model. Using examples, it is shown that if the halo has an appropriate edge, BATSE will never detect an anisotropic signal from the halo of the Andromeda galaxy. A prediction of the disk plus halo model is that the fraction of the bursts observed to be in the 'disk' population rises as the detector sensitivity improves. A careful reexamination of the numbers of bursts in the two populations for the pre-BATSE databases could rule out this class of models. Similarly, it is predicted that different satellites will observe different relative numbers of bursts in the two classes for any model in which there are two different spatial distribiutions of the sources, or for models in which there is one spatial distribution of the sources that is sampled to different depths for the two classes. An important consequence of the disk plus halo model is that for the birthrate of the halo sources to be small compared to the birthrate of the disk sources, it is necessary for the halo sources to release many orders of magnitude more energy over their bursting lifetime than the disk sources. The halo bursts must also be much more luminous than the disk bursts; if this disk-halo model is correct, it is necessary to explain why the disk sources do not produce halo-type bursts.

A DISTANT RADIO MINI-HALO IN THE PHOENIX GALAXY CLUSTER

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Van Weeren, R. J.; Andrade-Santos, F.; Forman, W. R.

We report the discovery of extended radio emission in the Phoenix cluster (SPT-CL J2344-4243, z = 0.596) with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 610 MHz. The diffuse emission extends over a region of at least 400-500 kpc and surrounds the central radio source of the Brightest Cluster Galaxy, but does not appear to be directly associated with it. We classify the diffuse emission as a radio mini-halo, making it the currently most distant mini-halo known. Radio mini-halos have been explained by synchrotron emitting particles re-accelerated via turbulence, possibly induced by gas sloshing generated from a minor merger event. Chandra observationsmore » show a non-concentric X-ray surface brightness distribution, which is consistent with this sloshing interpretation. The mini-halo has a flux density of 17 ± 5 mJy, resulting in a 1.4 GHz radio power of (10.4 ± 3.5) × 10{sup 24} W Hz{sup –1}. The combined cluster emission, which includes the central compact radio source, is also detected in a shallow GMRT 156 MHz observation and together with the 610 MHz data we compute a spectral index of –0.84 ± 0.12 for the overall cluster radio emission. Given that mini-halos typically have steeper radio spectra than cluster radio galaxies, this spectral index should be taken as an upper limit for the mini-halo.« less

The ellipticity of galaxy cluster haloes from satellite galaxies and weak lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Tae-hyeon; Clampitt, Joseph; Jain, Bhuvnesh; Bernstein, Gary; Neil, Andrew; Rozo, Eduardo; Rykoff, Eli

2018-04-01

We study the ellipticity of galaxy cluster haloes as characterized by the distribution of cluster galaxies and as measured with weak lensing. We use Monte Carlo simulations of elliptical cluster density profiles to estimate and correct for Poisson noise bias, edge bias and projection effects. We apply our methodology to 10 428 Sloan Digital Sky Survey clusters identified by the redMaPPer algorithm with richness above 20. We find a mean ellipticity =0.271 ± 0.002 (stat) ±0.031 (sys) corresponding to an axis ratio = 0.573 ± 0.002 (stat) ±0.039 (sys). We compare this ellipticity of the satellites to the halo shape, through a stacked lensing measurement using optimal estimators of the lensing quadrupole based on Clampitt and Jain (2016). We find a best-fitting axis ratio of 0.56 ± 0.09 (stat) ±0.03 (sys), consistent with the ellipticity of the satellite distribution. Thus, cluster galaxies trace the shape of the dark matter halo to within our estimated uncertainties. Finally, we restack the satellite and lensing ellipticity measurements along the major axis of the cluster central galaxy's light distribution. From the lensing measurements, we infer a misalignment angle with an root-mean-square of 30° ± 10° when stacking on the central galaxy. We discuss applications of halo shape measurements to test the effects of the baryonic gas and active galactic nucleus feedback, as well as dark matter and gravity. The major improvements in signal-to-noise ratio expected with the ongoing Dark Energy Survey and future surveys from Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Euclid, and Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope will make halo shapes a useful probe of these effects.

The Haunted Halos of Andromeda and Triangulum: A Panorama of Galaxy Formation in Action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibata, R.; Martin, N. F.; Irwin, M.; Chapman, S.; Ferguson, A. M. N.; Lewis, G. F.; McConnachie, A. W.

2007-12-01

We present a deep photometric survey of the Andromeda galaxy, conducted with the wide-field cameras of CFHT and INT, that covers the inner 50 kpc of the galaxy and the southern quadrant out to ~150 kpc and includes an extension to M33 at >200 kpc. This is the first systematic panoramic study of this very outermost region of galaxies. We detect a multitude of large-scale structures of low surface brightness, including several streams, and two new relatively luminous (MV~-9) dwarf galaxies: And XV and And XVI. Significant variations in stellar populations due to intervening stream-like structures are detected in the inner halo, which is particularly important in shedding light on the mixed and sometimes conflicting results reported in previous studies. Underlying the many substructures lies a faint, smooth, and extremely extended halo component, reaching out to 150 kpc, whose stellar populations are predominantly metal-poor. We find that the smooth halo component in M31 has a radially decreasing profile that can be fitted with a Hernquist model of immense scale radius ~55 kpc, almost 4 times larger than theoretical predictions. Alternatively a power law with ΣV~R-1.91+/-0.11 can be fitted to the projected profile, similar to the density profile in the Milky Way. If it is symmetric, the total luminosity of this structure is ~109 Lsolar, again similar to the stellar halo of the Milky Way. This vast, smooth, underlying halo is reminiscent of a classical ``monolithic'' model and completely unexpected from modern galaxy formation models. M33 is also found to have an extended metal-poor halo component, which can be fitted with a Hernquist model also of scale radius ~55 kpc. These extended slowly decreasing halos will provide a challenge and strong constraints for further modeling. Based on observations obtained with MegaPrime/MegaCam, a joint project of CFHT and CEA/DAPNIA, at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), which is operated by the National Research Council

Alignments of Dark Matter Halos with Large-scale Tidal Fields: Mass and Redshift Dependence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Sijie; Wang, Huiyuan; Mo, H. J.; Shi, Jingjing

2016-07-01

Large-scale tidal fields estimated directly from the distribution of dark matter halos are used to investigate how halo shapes and spin vectors are aligned with the cosmic web. The major, intermediate, and minor axes of halos are aligned with the corresponding tidal axes, and halo spin axes tend to be parallel with the intermediate axes and perpendicular to the major axes of the tidal field. The strengths of these alignments generally increase with halo mass and redshift, but the dependence is only on the peak height, ν \\equiv {δ }{{c}}/σ ({M}{{h}},z). The scaling relations of the alignment strengths with the value of ν indicate that the alignment strengths remain roughly constant when the structures within which the halos reside are still in a quasi-linear regime, but decreases as nonlinear evolution becomes more important. We also calculate the alignments in projection so that our results can be compared directly with observations. Finally, we investigate the alignments of tidal tensors on large scales, and use the results to understand alignments of halo pairs separated at various distances. Our results suggest that the coherent structure of the tidal field is the underlying reason for the alignments of halos and galaxies seen in numerical simulations and in observations.

10 AU scale halo structure around DG Tauri

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Wen P.; Howell, R. R.; Simon, M.; Benson, J. A.

1992-01-01

Lunar occultation observations of the active T Tauri star DG Tau show that in the infrared K band it has a core-halo structure: 20-25 percent of the flux comes from a region 10 AU in extent and the rest from an unresolved core smaller than an AU. These results are consistent with those reported by Leinert et al. from a separate observation. The results obtained here and those of Leinert et al., measuring the intensity distribution projected along directions spanning roughly 40 deg, indicate that the resolved structure is not highly elongated. The extended emission is interpreted as star light scattered by optically thin dust located in a halo surrounding the star.

On the Evolution of Dark Matter Halo Properties Following Major and Minor Mergers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Peter; Zhang, Shawn; Lee, Christoph; Primack, Joel

2018-01-01

We conducted an analysis on dark matter halo properties following major and minor mergers to advance our understanding of halo evolution. In this work, we analyzed ~80,000 dark matter halos from the Bolshoi-Planck cosmological simulation and studied halo evolution during relaxation after major mergers. We then applied a Gaussian filter to the property evolutions and characterized peak distributions, frequencies, and variabilities for several halo properties, including centering, spin, shape (prolateness), scale radius, and virial ratio. However, there were also halos that experienced relaxation without the presence of major mergers. We hypothesized that this was due to minor mergers unrecorded by the simulation analysis. By using property peaks to create a novel merger detection algorithm, we attempted to find minor mergers and match them to the unaccounted relaxed halos. Not only did we find evidence that minor mergers were the causes, but we also found similarities between major and minor merger effects, showing the significance of minor mergers for future studies. Through our dark matter merger statistics, we expect our work to ultimately serve as vital parameters towards better understanding galaxy formation and evolution. Most of this work was carried out by high school students working under the auspices of the Science Internship Program (SIP) at UC Santa Cruz.

A Comparative Analysis of Chemical Abundances in Andromeda's Stellar Halo and Dwarf Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gilbert, Karoline; Kirby, Evan N.; Escala, Ivanna; Wojno, Jennifer

2018-06-01

Stellar halos provide a record of the earliest stages of a galaxy’s formation as well as the mass growth of later epochs. All stages of accretion are represented in the halo: (1) fully phase-mixed stars accreted at early times, (2) stars in distinct tidal streams, and (3) stars in satellite galaxies that will eventually be tidally incorporated into the halo. Chemical abundances encode information about the environment in which a star formed: specifically, the relative abundances of [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] provide an indication of the amount and duration of star formation. While these abundances have been measured for statistically significant samples of halo and dwarf galaxy stars in the Milky Way, they remain largely unknown in Andromeda. We have undertaken a systematic survey to measure [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] in fields throughout the M31 system, including the halo, tidal streams, satellite galaxies, and the disk. I will provide an overview of the survey and its goals and present first results, including the abundance distributions for five M31 dSphs, measurements of [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] of stars in M31's halo, and comparisons to existing measurements of Milky Way dSph and halo stars.

Evidence for a Significant Intermediate-Age Population in the M31 Halo from Main Sequence Photometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Thomas M.; Ferguson, Henry C.; Smith, Ed; Kimble, Randy A.; Sweigart, Allen V.; Renzini, Alvio; Rich, R. Michael; Vandenberg, Don A.

2003-01-01

We present a color-magnitude diagram (CMD) for a minor-axis field in the halo of the Andromeda galaxy (M3l), 51 arcmin (11 kpc) from the nucleus. These observations, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope, are the deepest optical images yet obtained, attaining 50% completeness at m(sub v) = 30.7 mag. The CMD, constructed from approx. 3 x 10(exp 5) stars, reaches more than 1.5 mag fainter than the old main-sequence turnoff. Our analysis is based on direct comparisons to ACS observations of four globular clusters through the same filters, as well as chi square fitting to a finely-spaced grid of calibrated stellar-population models. We find that the M31 halo contains a major (approx. 30% by mass) intermediate-age (6-8 Gyr) metal-rich ([Fe/H] greater than -0.5) population, as well as a significant globular-cluster age (11-13.5 Gyr) metal-poor population. These findings support the idea that galaxy mergers played an important role in the formation of the M31 halo.

Simulating Halos with the Caterpillar Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-04-01

The Caterpillar Project is a beautiful series of high-resolution cosmological simulations. The goal of this project is to examine the evolution of dark-matter halos like the Milky Ways, to learn about how galaxies like ours formed. This immense computational project is still in progress, but the Caterpillar team is already providing a look at some of its first results.Lessons from Dark-Matter HalosWhy simulate the dark-matter halos of galaxies? Observationally, the formation history of our galaxy is encoded in galactic fossil record clues, like the tidal debris from disrupted satellite galaxies in the outer reaches of our galaxy, or chemical abundance patterns throughout our galactic disk and stellar halo.But to interpret this information in a way that lets us learn about our galaxys history, we need to first test galaxy formation and evolution scenarios via cosmological simulations. Then we can compare the end result of these simulations to what we observe today.This figure illustrates the difference that mass resolution makes. In the left panel, the mass resolution is 1.5*10^7 solar masses per particle. In the right panel, the mass resolution is 3*10^4 solar masses per particle [Griffen et al. 2016]A Computational ChallengeDue to how computationally expensive such simulations are, previous N-body simulations of the growth of Milky-Way-like halos have consisted of only one or a few halos each. But in order to establish a statistical understanding of how galaxy halos form and find out whether the Milky Ways halo is typical or unusual! it is necessary to simulate a larger number of halos.In addition, in order to accurately follow the formation and evolution of substructure within the dark-matter halos, these simulations must be able to resolve the smallest dwarf galaxies, which are around a million solar masses. This requires an extremely high mass resolution, which adds to the computational expense of the simulation.First OutcomesThese are the challenges faced by

Flickering AGN can explain the strong circumgalactic O VI observed by COS-Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oppenheimer, Benjamin D.; Segers, Marijke; Schaye, Joop; Richings, Alexander J.; Crain, Robert A.

2018-03-01

Proximity zone fossils (PZFs) are ionization signatures around recently active galactic nuclei (AGNs) where metal species in the circumgalactic medium remain overionized after the AGNs have shut off due to their long recombination time scales. We explore cosmological zoom hydrodynamic simulations, using the EAGLE (Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments) model paired with a non-equilibrium ionization and cooling module including time-variable AGN radiation to model PZFs around star-forming disc galaxies in the z ˜ 0.2 Universe. Previous simulations typically underestimated the O VI content of galactic haloes, but we show that plausible PZF models increase O VI column densities by 2 - 3 × to achieve the levels observed around COS-Halos star-forming galaxies out to 150 kpc. Models with AGN bolometric luminosities ≳ 1043.6erg s- 1, duty cycle fractions ≲ 10 per cent, and AGN lifetimes ≲ 106 yr are the most promising, because their supermassive black holes grow at the cosmologically expected rate and they mostly appear as inactive AGN, consistent with COS-Halos. The central requirement is that the typical star-forming galaxy hosted an active AGN within a time-scale comparable to the recombination time of a high metal ion, which for circumgalactic O VI is ≈107 yr. H I, by contrast, returns to equilibrium much more rapidly due to its low neutral fraction and does not show a significant PZF effect. O VI absorption features originating from PZFs appear narrow, indicating photoionization, and are often well aligned with lower metal ion species. PZFs are highly likely to affect the physical interpretation of circumgalactic high ionization metal lines if, as expected, normal galaxies host flickering AGN.

Testing galaxy quenching theories with scatter in the stellar-to-halo mass relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tinker, Jeremy L.

2017-05-01

We use the scatter in the stellar-to-halo mass relation to constrain galaxy evolution models. If the efficiency of converting accreted baryons into stars varies with time, haloes of the same present-day mass but different formation histories will have different z = 0 galaxy stellar mass. This is one of the sources of scatter in stellar mass at fixed halo mass, σlog M*. For massive haloes that undergo rapid quenching of star formation at z ˜ 2, different mechanisms that trigger this quenching yield different values of σlog M*. We use this framework to test various models in which quenching begins after a galaxy crosses a threshold in one of the following physical quantities: redshift, halo mass, stellar mass and stellar-to-halo mass ratio. Our model is highly idealized, with other sources of scatter likely to arise as more physics is included. Thus, our test is whether a model can produce scatter lower than observational bounds, leaving room for other sources. Recent measurements find σlog M* = 0.16 dex for 1011 M⊙ galaxies. Under the assumption that the threshold is constant with time, such a low value of σlog M* rules out all of these models with the exception of quenching by a stellar mass threshold. Most physical quantities, such as metallicity, will increase scatter if they are uncorrelated with halo formation history. Thus, to decrease the scatter of a given model, galaxy properties would correlate tightly with formation history, creating testable predictions for their clustering. Understanding why σlog M* is so small may be key to understanding the physics of galaxy formation.

SPHERES HALO

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-06-23

iss052e006482 (6/23/2017) --- Astronaut Peggy Whitson is photographed during a test session of the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) Halo investigation in the Kibo module. The SPHERES Halo investigation studies the possibility of launching several separate components and then attaching them once they are in space. The investigation upgrades the International Space Station’s fleet of SPHERES to enable each SPHERE to communicate with six external objects at the same time, testing new control and remote assembly methods.

THE INNER STRUCTURE OF DWARF-SIZED HALOS IN WARM AND COLD DARK MATTER COSMOLOGIES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

González-Samaniego, A.; Avila-Reese, V.; Colín, P.

2016-03-10

By means of N-body + hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations we study the evolution of the inner dark matter and stellar mass distributions of central dwarf galaxies formed in halos of virial masses M{sub v} = (2–3) × 10{sup 10} h{sup −1} M{sub ⊙} at z = 0, both in a warm dark matter (WDM) and cold dark matter (CDM) cosmology. The half-mode mass in the WDM power spectrum of our simulations is M{sub f} = 2 × 10{sup 10} h{sup −1} M{sub ⊙}. In the dark matter (DM) only simulations halo density profiles are well described by the Navarro–Frenk–White parametric fit in both cosmologies, though the WDM halos have concentrations lower bymore » factors of 1.5–2.0 than their CDM counterparts. In the hydrodynamic simulations, the effects of baryons significantly flatten the inner density, velocity dispersion, and pseudo phase space density profiles of the WDM halos but not of the CDM ones. The density slope, measured at ≈0.02R{sub v}, α{sub 0.02}, becomes shallow in periods of 2–5 Gyr in the WDM runs. We explore whether this flattening process correlates with the global star formation (SF), M{sub s}/M{sub v} ratio, gas outflow, and internal specific angular momentum histories. We do not find any clear trends, but when α{sub 0.02} is shallower than −0.5, M{sub s}/M{sub v} is always between 0.25% and 1%. We conclude that the main reason for the formation of the shallow core is the presence of strong gas mass fluctuations inside the inner halo, which are a consequence of the feedback driven by a very bursty and sustained SF history in shallow gravitational potentials. Our WDM halos, which assemble late and are less concentrated than the CDM ones, obey these conditions. There are also (rare) CDM systems with extended mass assembly histories that obey these conditions and form shallow cores. The dynamical heating and expansion processes behind the DM core flattening apply also to the stars in such a way that the stellar age and metallicity gradients

A New Determination of the Luminosity Function of the Galactic Halo.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dawson, Peter Charles

The luminosity function of the galactic halo is determined by subtracting from the observed numbers of proper motion stars in the LHS Catalogue the expected numbers of main-sequence, degenerate, and giant stars of the disk population. Selection effects are accounted for by Monte Carlo simulations based upon realistic colour-luminosity relations and kinematic models. The catalogue is shown to be highly complete, and a calibration of the magnitude estimates therein is presented. It is found that, locally, the ratio of disk to halo material is close to 950, and that the mass density in main sequence and subgiant halo stars with 3 < M(,v) < 14 is about 2 x 10('-5) M(,o) pc('-3). With due allowance for white dwarfs and binaries, and taking into account the possibility of a moderate rate of halo rotation, it is argued that the total density does not much exceed 5 x 10('-5) M(,o) pc('-3), in which case the total mass interior to the sun is of the order of 5 x 10('8) M(,o) for a density distribution which projects to a de Vaucouleurs r(' 1/4) law. It is demonstrated that if the Wielen luminosity function is a faithful representation of the stellar distribution in the solar neighbourhood, then the observed numbers of large proper motion stars are inconsistent with the presence of an intermediate popula- tion at the level, and with the kinematics advocated recently by Gilmore and Reid. The initial mass function (IMF) of the halo is considered, and weak evidence is presented that its slope is at least not shallower than that of the disk population IMF. A crude estimate of the halo's age, based on a comparison of the main sequence turnoff in the reduced proper motion diagram with theoretical models is obtained; a tentative lower limit is 15 Gyr with a best estimate of between 15 and 18 Gyr. Finally, the luminosity function obtained here is compared with those determined in other investigations.

Metallicity Evolution of Damped Lyα Systems Out to z ~ 5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rafelski, Marc; Wolfe, Arthur M.; Prochaska, J. Xavier; Neeleman, Marcel; Mendez, Alexander J.

2012-08-01

We present chemical abundance measurements for 47 damped Lyα (DLA) systems, 30 at z > 4, observed with the Echellette Spectrograph and Imager and the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer on the Keck telescopes. H I column densities of the DLAs are measured with Voigt profile fits to the Lyα profiles, and we find an increased number of false DLA identifications with Sloan Digital Sky Survey at z > 4 due to the increased density of the Lyα forest. Ionic column densities are determined using the apparent optical depth method, and we combine our new metallicity measurements with 195 from previous surveys to determine the evolution of the cosmic metallicity of neutral gas. We find the metallicity of DLAs decreases with increasing redshift, improving the significance of the trend and extending it to higher redshifts, with a linear fit of -0.22 ± 0.03 dex per unit redshift from z = 0.09-5.06. The metallicity "floor" of ≈1/600 solar continues out to z ~ 5, despite our sensitivity for finding DLAs with much lower metallicities. However, this floor is not statistically different from a steep tail to the distribution. We also find that the intrinsic scatter of metallicity among DLAs of ~0.5 dex continues out to z ~ 5. In addition, the metallicity distribution and the α/Fe ratios of z > 2 DLAs are consistent with being drawn from the same parent population with those of halo stars. It is therefore possible that the halo stars in the Milky Way formed out of gas that commonly exhibits DLA absorption at z > 2.

Temporal control of bidirectional lipid-droplet motion in Drosophila depends on the ratio of kinesin-1 and its co-factor Halo

PubMed Central

Arora, Gurpreet K.; Tran, Susan L.; Rizzo, Nicholas; Jain, Ankit; Welte, Michael A.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT During bidirectional transport, individual cargoes move continuously back and forth along microtubule tracks, yet the cargo population overall displays directed net transport. How such transport is controlled temporally is not well understood. We analyzed this issue for bidirectionally moving lipid droplets in Drosophila embryos, a system in which net transport direction is developmentally controlled. By quantifying how the droplet distribution changes as embryos develop, we characterize temporal transitions in net droplet transport and identify the crucial contribution of the previously identified, but poorly characterized, transacting regulator Halo. In particular, we find that Halo is transiently expressed; rising and falling Halo levels control the switches in global distribution. Rising Halo levels have to pass a threshold before net plus-end transport is initiated. This threshold level depends on the amount of the motor kinesin-1: the more kinesin-1 is present, the more Halo is needed before net plus-end transport commences. Because Halo and kinesin-1 are present in common protein complexes, we propose that Halo acts as a rate-limiting co-factor of kinesin-1. PMID:26906417

The role of Dark Matter sub-halos in the non-thermal emission of galaxy clusters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marchegiani, Paolo; Colafrancesco, Sergio, E-mail: Paolo.Marchegiani@wits.ac.za, E-mail: Sergio.Colafrancesco@wits.ac.za

2016-11-01

Annihilation of Dark Matter (DM) particles has been recognized as one of the possible mechanisms for the production of non-thermal particles and radiation in galaxy clusters. Previous studies have shown that, while DM models can reproduce the spectral properties of the radio halo in the Coma cluster, they fail in reproducing the shape of the radio halo surface brightness because they produce a shape that is too concentrated towards the center of the cluster with respect to the observed one. However, in previous studies the DM distribution was modeled as a single spherically symmetric halo, while the DM distribution inmore » Coma is found to have a complex and elongated shape. In this work we calculate a range of non-thermal emissions in the Coma cluster by using the observed distribution of DM sub-halos. We find that, by including the observed sub-halos in the DM model, we obtain a radio surface brightness with a shape similar to the observed one, and that the sub-halos boost the radio emission by a factor between 5 and 20%, thus allowing to reduce the gap between the annihilation cross section required to reproduce the radio halo flux and the upper limits derived from other observations, and that this gap can be explained by realistic values of the boosting factor due to smaller substructures. Models with neutralino mass of 9 GeV and composition τ{sup +} τ{sup −}, and mass of 43 GeV and composition b b-bar can fit the radio halo spectrum using the observed properties of the magnetic field in Coma, and do not predict a gamma-ray emission in excess compared to the recent Fermi-LAT upper limits. These findings make these DM models viable candidate to explain the origin of radio halos in galaxy clusters, avoiding the problems connected to the excessive gamma-ray emission expected from proton acceleration in most of the currently proposed models, where the acceleration of particles is directly or indirectly connected to events related to clusters merging

Massive Halos in Millennium Gas Simulations: Multivariate Scaling Relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanek, R.; Rasia, E.; Evrard, A. E.; Pearce, F.; Gazzola, L.

2010-06-01

The joint likelihood of observable cluster signals reflects the astrophysical evolution of the coupled baryonic and dark matter components in massive halos, and its knowledge will enhance cosmological parameter constraints in the coming era of large, multiwavelength cluster surveys. We present a computational study of intrinsic covariance in cluster properties using halo populations derived from Millennium Gas Simulations (MGS). The MGS are re-simulations of the original 500 h -1 Mpc Millennium Simulation performed with gas dynamics under two different physical treatments: shock heating driven by gravity only (GO) and a second treatment with cooling and preheating (PH). We examine relationships among structural properties and observable X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) signals for samples of thousands of halos with M 200 >= 5 × 1013 h -1 M sun and z < 2. While the X-ray scaling behavior of PH model halos at low redshift offers a good match to local clusters, the model exhibits non-standard features testable with larger surveys, including weakly running slopes in hot gas observable-mass relations and ~10% departures from self-similar redshift evolution for 1014 h -1 M sun halos at redshift z ~ 1. We find that the form of the joint likelihood of signal pairs is generally well described by a multivariate, log-normal distribution, especially in the PH case which exhibits less halo substructure than the GO model. At fixed mass and epoch, joint deviations of signal pairs display mainly positive correlations, especially the thermal SZ effect paired with either hot gas fraction (r = 0.88/0.69 for PH/GO at z = 0) or X-ray temperature (r = 0.62/0.83). The levels of variance in X-ray luminosity, temperature, and gas mass fraction are sensitive to the physical treatment, but offsetting shifts in the latter two measures maintain a fixed 12% scatter in the integrated SZ signal under both gas treatments. We discuss halo mass selection by signal pairs, and find a minimum mass

Comparative analysis of proton- and neutron-halo breakups

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukeru, B.

2018-06-01

A detailed analysis of the proton- and neutron-halo breakup cross sections is presented. Larger neutron-halo breakup cross sections than proton-halo breakup cross sections are obtained. This is found to be mainly due to the projectile structure, namely the ground state wave function and the dipole electric response function. It is also found that the continuum–continuum couplings are stronger in the proton-halo breakup than in the neutron-halo breakup. The increase of proton- and neutron-halo ground state separation energy slightly strengthens these couplings in the proton- and neutron-halo total and nuclear breakups, while they are weakened in the proton- and neutron-halo Coulomb breakups. The Coulomb-nuclear interference remains strongly destructive in both proton- and neutron-halo breakups and this is independent of the ground state separation energy. The results also show that the increase of the neutron-halo ground state separation energy decreases significantly the agreement between the proton- and neutron-halo breakup cross sections, both qualitatively and quantitatively. It is obtained that when the proton-halo ground state separation energy is increased by a factor of 4.380, the proton-halo breakup cross section is reduced by a factor of 4.392, indicating a clear proportionality. However, when the neutron-halo ground state separation energy is increased by the same factor, the neutron-halo total breakup cross section is reduced by a factor of 8.522.

The outer regions of the giant Virgo galaxy M 87 Kinematic separation of stellar halo and intracluster light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Longobardi, Alessia; Arnaboldi, Magda; Gerhard, Ortwin; Hanuschik, Reinhard

2015-07-01

Aims: We present a spectroscopic study of a sample of 287 planetary nebulas (PNs) around the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) M 87 in Virgo A, of which 211 are located between 40 kpc and 150 kpc from the galaxy centre. With these data we can distinguish the stellar halo from the co-spatial intracluster light (ICL) and study both components separately. Methods: We obtained PN velocities with a high resolution FLAMES/VLT survey targeting eight fields in a total area of ~0.4 deg2. We identified PNs from their narrow and symmetric redshifted λ5007 Å [OIII] emission line, the presence of the second λ4959 Å [OIII] emission line, and the absence of significant continuum. We implement a robust technique to measure the halo velocity dispersion from the projected phase-space to identify PNs associated with the M 87 halo and ICL. Using photometric magnitudes, we construct PN luminosity functions (PNLFs), which are complete down to m5007 = 28.8. Results: The velocity distribution of the spectroscopically confirmed PNs is bimodal, containing a narrow component centred on the systemic velocity of the BCG and an off-centred broader component, which we identify as halo and ICL, respectively. We find that 243 PNs are part of the velocity distribution of the M 87 halo, while the remaining subsample of 44 PNs are intracluster PNs (ICPNs). Halo and ICPNs have different spatial distributions: the number density of halo PNs follow the galaxy's surface brightness profile, whereas the ICPNs are characterised by a shallower power-law profile, IICL ∝ Rγ with γ in the range [-0.34, -0.04 ]. No evidence is found for an asymmetry in the halo and ICPN density distributions when the NW and SE fields are studied separately. A study of the composite PN number density profile confirms the superposition of different PN populations associated with the M 87 halo and the ICL, characterised by different PN specific numbers α. We derive αhalo = 1.06 × 10-8NPN L⊙,bol-1 and αICL = 2.72 × 10

Observing halos through airplane windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaw, Joseph A.

2017-09-01

A halo is one of the most frequent and impressive optical phenomena easily observable in the sky. It is also one of the natural optical phenomena most often visible through an airplane window. Halos and related phenomena vary from a single spot of light formed by reflection of the sun from the tops of plate-shaped ice crystals to large rings with splashes of colors, caused by a combination of reflection and refraction in ice crystals. Even with extreme heat at the ground, an airplane quickly rises through sufficient altitude to find ice crystals in the clouds, enabling an alert passenger (or pilot) to see ice-crystal optical phenomena. This paper briefly reviews these phenomena with photographs and diagrams. Photographs include commonly seen halos, as well as Bottlinger's rings, a rare halo that is still not fully explained. Tips are given for enhancing your chances of seeing and understanding halos.

Halo-free Phase Contrast Microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Tan H.; Kandel, Mikhail; Shakir, Haadi M.; Best-Popescu, Catherine; Arikkath, Jyothi; Do, Minh N.; Popescu, Gabriel

2017-03-01

We present a new approach for retrieving halo-free phase contrast microscopy (hfPC) images by upgrading the conventional PC microscope with an external interferometric module, which generates sufficient data for reversing the halo artifact. Acquiring four independent intensity images, our approach first measures haloed phase maps of the sample. We solve for the halo-free sample transmission function by using a physical model of the image formation under partial spatial coherence. Using this halo-free sample transmission, we can numerically generate artifact-free PC images. Furthermore, this transmission can be further used to obtain quantitative information about the sample, e.g., the thickness with known refractive indices, dry mass of live cells during their cycles. We tested our hfPC method on various control samples, e.g., beads, pillars and validated its potential for biological investigation by imaging live HeLa cells, red blood cells, and neurons.

Radiation damage-controlled localization of alteration haloes in albite: implications for alteration types and patterns vis-à-vis mineralization and element mobilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pal, D. C.; Chaudhuri, T.

2016-12-01

Uraninite, besides occurring in other modes, occurs as inclusions in albite in feldspathic schist in the Bagjata uranium deposits, Singhbhum shear zone, India. The feldspathic schist, considered the product of Na-metasomatism, witnessed multiple hydrothermal events, the signatures of which are preserved in the alteration halo in albite surrounding uraninite. Here we report radiation damage-controlled localization of alteration halo in albite and its various geological implications. Microscopic observation and SRIM/TRIM simulations reveal that the dimension of the alteration halo is dependent collectively on the zone of maximum cumulative α dose that albite was subjected to and by the extent of dissolution of uraninite during alteration. In well-preserved alteration haloes, from uraninite to the unaltered part of albite, the alteration minerals are systematically distributed in different zones; zone-1: K-feldspar; zone-2: chlorite; zone-3: LREE-phase/pyrite/U-Y-silicate. Based on textures of alteration minerals in the alteration microdomain, we propose a generalized Na+➔K+➔H+ alteration sequence, which is in agreement with the regional-scale alteration pattern. Integrating distribution of ore and alteration minerals in the alteration zone and their geochemistry, we further propose multiple events of U, REE, and sulfide mineralization/mobilization in the Bagjata deposit. The alteration process also involved interaction of the hydrothermal fluid with uraninite inclusions resulting in resorption of uraninite, redistribution of elements, including U and Pb, and resetting of isotopic clock. Thus, our study demonstrates that alteration halo is a miniature scale-model of the regional hydrothermal alteration types and patterns vis-à-vis mineralization/mobilization. This study further demonstrates that albite is vulnerable to radiation damage and damage-controlled fluid-assisted alteration, which may redistribute metals, including actinides, from radioactive minerals

The connection between the host halo and the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way

DOE PAGES

Lu, Yu; Benson, Andrew; Mao, Yao -Yuan; ...

2016-10-11

Many properties of the Milky Way's (MW) dark matter halo, including its mass-assembly history, concentration, and subhalo population, remain poorly constrained. We explore the connection between these properties of the MW and its satellite galaxy population, especially the implication of the presence of the Magellanic Clouds for the properties of the MW halo. Using a suite of high-resolution N-body simulations of MW-mass halos with a fixed finalmore » $${M}_{\\mathrm{vir}}\\sim {10}^{12.1}\\,{M}_{\\odot }$$, we find that the presence of Magellanic Cloud-like satellites strongly correlates with the assembly history, concentration, and subhalo population of the host halo, such that MW-mass systems with Magellanic Clouds have lower concentration, more rapid recent accretion, and more massive subhalos than typical halos of the same mass. Using a flexible semi-analytic galaxy formation model that is tuned to reproduce the stellar mass function of the classical dwarf galaxies of the MW with Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo, we show that adopting host halos with different mass-assembly histories and concentrations can lead to different best-fit models for galaxy-formation physics, especially for the strength of feedback. These biases arise because the presence of the Magellanic Clouds boosts the overall population of high-mass subhalos, thus requiring a different stellar-mass-to-halo-mass ratio to match the data. These biases also lead to significant differences in the mass–metallicity relation, the kinematics of low-mass satellites, the number counts of small satellites associated with the Magellanic Clouds, and the stellar mass of MW itself. Finally, observations of these galaxy properties can thus provide useful constraints on the properties of the MW halo.« less

Halo modelling in chameleon theories

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lombriser, Lucas; Koyama, Kazuya; Li, Baojiu, E-mail: lucas.lombriser@port.ac.uk, E-mail: kazuya.koyama@port.ac.uk, E-mail: baojiu.li@durham.ac.uk

2014-03-01

We analyse modelling techniques for the large-scale structure formed in scalar-tensor theories of constant Brans-Dicke parameter which match the concordance model background expansion history and produce a chameleon suppression of the gravitational modification in high-density regions. Thereby, we use a mass and environment dependent chameleon spherical collapse model, the Sheth-Tormen halo mass function and linear halo bias, the Navarro-Frenk-White halo density profile, and the halo model. Furthermore, using the spherical collapse model, we extrapolate a chameleon mass-concentration scaling relation from a ΛCDM prescription calibrated to N-body simulations. We also provide constraints on the model parameters to ensure viability on localmore » scales. We test our description of the halo mass function and nonlinear matter power spectrum against the respective observables extracted from large-volume and high-resolution N-body simulations in the limiting case of f(R) gravity, corresponding to a vanishing Brans-Dicke parameter. We find good agreement between the two; the halo model provides a good qualitative description of the shape of the relative enhancement of the f(R) matter power spectrum with respect to ΛCDM caused by the extra attractive gravitational force but fails to recover the correct amplitude. Introducing an effective linear power spectrum in the computation of the two-halo term to account for an underestimation of the chameleon suppression at intermediate scales in our approach, we accurately reproduce the measurements from the N-body simulations.« less

CEMP Stars in the Halo and Their Origin in Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beers, Timothy C.

2018-06-01

The very metal-poor (VMP; [Fe/H] < –2.0) and extremely metal-poor (EMP; [Fe/H] < –3.0) stars provide a direct view of Galactic chemical and dynamical evolution; detailed spectroscopic studies of these objects are the best way to identify and distinguish between various scenarios for the enrichment of early star-forming gas clouds soon after the Big Bang. It has been recognized that a large fraction of VMP (15-20%) and EMP stars (30-40%) possess significant over-abundances of carbon relative to iron, [C/Fe] > +0.7. This fraction rises to at least 80% for stars with [Fe/H] < –4.0. Recent studies show that the majority of CEMP stars with [Fe/H] < –3.0 belong to the CEMP-no sub-class, characterized by the lack of strong enhancements in the neutron-capture elements (e.g., [Ba/Fe] < 0.0). The CEMP-no abundance signature is commonly observed among stars ultra-faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies such as SEGUE-1. In addition, kinematic studies of CEMP-no stars strongly suggest an association with the outer-halo population of the Galaxy, which was likely formed from the accretion of low-mass mini-halos. These observations, and other lines of evidence, indicate that the CEMP-no stars of the Milky Way were born in low-mass dwarf galaxies, and later subsumed into the halo.

Chemical Mapping of the Milky Way with The Canada-France Imaging Survey: A Non-parametric Metallicity-Distance Decomposition of the Galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibata, Rodrigo A.; McConnachie, Alan; Cuillandre, Jean-Charles; Fantin, Nicholas; Haywood, Misha; Martin, Nicolas F.; Bergeron, Pierre; Beckmann, Volker; Bernard, Edouard; Bonifacio, Piercarlo; Caffau, Elisabetta; Carlberg, Raymond; Côté, Patrick; Cabanac, Rémi; Chapman, Scott; Duc, Pierre-Alain; Durret, Florence; Famaey, Benoît; Fabbro, Sébastien; Gwyn, Stephen; Hammer, Francois; Hill, Vanessa; Hudson, Michael J.; Lançon, Ariane; Lewis, Geraint; Malhan, Khyati; di Matteo, Paola; McCracken, Henry; Mei, Simona; Mellier, Yannick; Navarro, Julio; Pires, Sandrine; Pritchet, Chris; Reylé, Celine; Richer, Harvey; Robin, Annie C.; Sánchez-Janssen, Rubén; Sawicki, Marcin; Scott, Douglas; Scottez, Vivien; Spekkens, Kristine; Starkenburg, Else; Thomas, Guillaume; Venn, Kim

2017-10-01

We present the chemical distribution of the Milky Way, based on 2900 {\\deg }2 of u-band photometry taken as part of the Canada-France Imaging Survey. When complete, this survey will cover 10,000 {\\deg }2 of the northern sky. By combing the CFHT u-band photometry together with Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Pan-STARRS g,r, and I, we demonstrate that we are able to reliably measure the metallicities of individual stars to ˜0.2 dex, and hence additionally obtain good photometric distance estimates. This survey thus permits the measurement of metallicities and distances of the dominant main-sequence (MS) population out to approximately 30 {kpc}, and provides a much higher number of stars at large extraplanar distances than have been available from previous surveys. We develop a non-parametric distance-metallicity decomposition algorithm and apply it to the sky at 30^\\circ < | b| < 70^\\circ and to the North Galactic Cap. We find that the metallicity-distance distribution is well-represented by three populations whose metallicity distributions do not vary significantly with vertical height above the disk. As traced in MS stars, the stellar halo component shows a vertical density profile that is close to exponential, with a scale height of around 3 {kpc}. This may indicate that the inner halo was formed partly from disk stars ejected in an ancient minor merger.

Baryonic impact on the dark matter orbital properties of Milky Way-sized haloes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Qirong; Hernquist, Lars; Marinacci, Federico; Springel, Volker; Li, Yuexing

2017-04-01

We study the orbital properties of dark matter haloes by combining a spectral method and cosmological simulations of Milky Way-sized Galaxies. We compare the dynamics and orbits of individual dark matter particles from both hydrodynamic and N-body simulations, and find that the fraction of box, tube and resonant orbits of the dark matter halo decreases significantly due to the effects of baryons. In particular, the central region of the dark matter halo in the hydrodynamic simulation is dominated by regular, short-axis tube orbits, in contrast to the chaotic, box and thin orbits dominant in the N-body run. This leads to a more spherical dark matter halo in the hydrodynamic run compared to a prolate one as commonly seen in the N-body simulations. Furthermore, by using a kernel-based density estimator, we compare the coarse-grained phase-space densities of dark matter haloes in both simulations and find that it is lower by ˜0.5 dex in the hydrodynamic run due to changes in the angular momentum distribution, which indicates that the baryonic process that affects the dark matter is irreversible. Our results imply that baryons play an important role in determining the shape, kinematics and phase-space density of dark matter haloes in galaxies.

High-velocity gas toward the LMC resides in the Milky Way halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richter, P.; de Boer, K. S.; Werner, K.; Rauch, T.

2015-12-01

Aims: To explore the origin of high-velocity gas in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud, (LMC) we analyze absorption lines in the ultraviolet spectrum of a Galactic halo star that is located in front of the LMC at d = 9.2+4.1-7.2 kpc distance. Methods: We study the velocity-component structure of low and intermediate metal ions (C ii, Si ii, Si iii) in the spectrum of RX J0439.8-6809, as obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and measure equivalent widths and column densities for these ions. We supplement our COS data with a Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spectrum of the nearby LMC star Sk -69 59 and with H i 21 cm data from the Leiden-Argentina-Bonn (LAB) survey. Results: Metal absorption toward RX J0439.8-6809 is unambiguously detected in three different velocity components near vLSR = 0, + 60, and + 150 km s-1. The presence of absorption proves that all three gas components are situated in front of the star, thus located in the disk and inner halo of the Milky Way. For the high-velocity cloud (HVC) at vLSR = + 150 km s-1, we derive an oxygen abundance of [O/H] =-0.63 (~0.2 solar) from the neighboring Sk -69 59 sight line, in accordance with previous abundance measurements for this HVC. From the observed kinematics we infer that the HVC hardly participates in the Galactic rotation. Conclusions: Our study shows that the HVC toward the LMC represents a Milky Way halo cloud that traces low column density gas with relatively low metallicity. We rule out scenarios in which the HVC represents material close to the LMC that stems from a LMC outflow.

Historical halo displays as past weather indicator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neuhäuser, Dagmar; Neuhäuser, Ralph

2017-04-01

Certain halo displays like the 22° circle were known to indicate specific weather pattern since millennia - as specified in Babylonian omina, Aristotle's Meteorology, farmers' weather lore, etc. Today, it is known that halo phenomena are due to refraction and reflection of sun and moon light in ice crystals in cirrus and cirrostratus, so that halo observations do indicate atmospheric conditions like temperature, humidity, pressure etc. in a few km height. The Astronomical Diaries of Babylonia have recorded both halo phenomena (circles, parhelia, etc.) and weather conditions (rain, clouds, etc.), so that we can use them to show statistically, whether, which and how fast halo phenomena are related to weather - for the last few centuries BC for Babylonia. We can then also compare the observations of Babylonian priests in the given BC epoch (without air and light pollution) with the last few decades of the modern epoch (with air and light pollution), where amateur halo observers have systematically recorded such phenomena (in Europe). Weather and climate are known to be partly driven by solar activity. Hence, one could also consider whether there is an indirect relation between halo displays as weather proxy and aurorae as solar activity proxy - if low solar activity leads to low pressure systems, one could expect more halos, preliminary studies show such a hint. For the last few decades, we have many halo observations, satellite imaging of the aurora oval, and many data on solar activity. A statistically sufficient amount of aurora and halo observations should be available for the historic time to investigate such a possible connection: halos were recorded very often in antiquity and the medieval times (as found in chronicles etc.), and modern scholarly catalogs of aurorae also often contain unrecognized halo displays.

The Lack of Influence of Metallicity on Cooling and Collapse of Ionized Gas in Small Protogalactic Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jappsen, A.-K.; Glover, S. C. O.; Klessen, R. S.; Mac Low, M.-M.

2005-12-01

We study the influence of low levels of metal enrichment on the cooling and collapse of ionized gas in small protogalactic halos. We use three-dimensional, smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations, run with the publicly available parallel code GADGET (Springel et al. 2001). We implement a sink particle algorithm. This allows us to safely represent gas that has collapsed beyond the resolution limit without causing numerical errors within the resolved regions of the simulation. We also include the necessary framework for following the non-equilibrium chemistry of H2 in the protogalactic gas, and a treatment of radiative heating and cooling. Our initial conditions represent protogalaxies forming within a fossil H ii region---a previously ionized H ii region that has not yet had time to cool and recombine. Prior to cosmological reionization, such regions should be relatively common, since the characteristic lifetimes of the likely ionizing sources are significantly shorter than a Hubble time. We show that in these regions, H2 is the dominant and most effective coolant, even in the presence of small amounts of metals. It is the amount of H2 which forms that controls whether or not the gas can collapse and form stars. For metallicities Z ≤ 10-3 Z⊙, we find that metal line cooling alters the density and temperature evolution of the gas by less than 1% compared to the metal-free case at densities below 1 cm-3 and temperatures above 2000 K. However, at higher densities and lower temperatures, metal line cooling does become rather more important, and will affect the ability of the gas to fragment. We also show that an external ultraviolet background delays or suppresses the cooling and collapse of the gas regardless of whether or not it is metal-enriched. RSK and A-KJ acknowledge support from the Emmy Noether Program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant no. KL1358/1). M-MML acknowledges support from NSF grants AST99-85392 and AST03-07854, and NASA grant NAG5

r-process enhanched metal-poor stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cowan, John; Sneden, Christopher; Lawler, James E.; Den Hartog, Elizabeth A.

Abundance observations indicate the presence of rapid-neutron capture (i.e., r-process) elements in old Galactic halo and globular cluster stars. These observations provide insight into the nature of the earliest generations of stars in the Galaxy - the progenitors of the halo stars - responsible for neutron-capture synthesis of the heavy elements. The large star-to-star scatter observed in the abundances of neutron-capture element/iron ratios at low metallicities - which diminishes with in- creasing metallicity or [Fe/H] - suggests the formation of these heavy elements (presumably from certain types of supernovae) was rare in the early Galaxy. The stellar abundances also indicate a change from the r-process to the slow neutron capture (i.e., s-) process at higher metallicities in the Galaxy and provide insight into Galactic chemical evolution. Finally, the detection of thorium and uranium in halo and globular cluster stars offers an independent age-dating technique that can put lower limits on the age of the Galaxy, and hence the Universe.

The first all-sky view of the Milky Way stellar halo with Gaia+2MASS RR Lyrae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iorio, G.; Belokurov, V.; Erkal, D.; Koposov, S. E.; Nipoti, C.; Fraternali, F.

2018-02-01

We exploit the first Gaia data release to study the properties of the Galactic stellar halo as traced by RR Lyrae. We demonstrate that it is possible to select a pure sample of RR Lyrae using only photometric information available in the Gaia+2MASS catalogue. The final sample contains about 21 600 RR Lyrae covering an unprecedented fraction ( ˜ 60 per cent) of the volume of the Galactic inner halo (R < 28 kpc). We study the morphology of the stellar halo by analysing the RR Lyrae distribution with parametric and non-parametric techniques. Taking advantage of the uniform all-sky coverage, we test halo models more sophisticated than usually considered in the literature, such as those with varying flattening, tilts and/or offset of the halo with respect to the Galactic disc. A consistent picture emerges: the inner halo is well reproduced by a smooth distribution of stars settled on triaxial density ellipsoids. The shortest axis is perpendicular to the Milky Way's disc, while the longest axis forms an angle of ˜70° with the axis connecting the Sun and the Galactic Centre. The elongation along the major axis is mild (p = 1.27), and the vertical flattening is shown to evolve from a squashed state with q ≈ 0.57 in the centre to a more spherical q ≈ 0.75 at the outer edge of our data set. Within the radial range probed, the density profile of the stellar halo is well approximated by a single power law with exponent α = -2.96. We do not find evidence of tilt or offset of the halo with respect to the Galaxy's disc.

Spring dehydration in the Antarctic stratospheric vortex observed by HALOE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pierce, R. Bradley; Grose, William L.; Russell, James M., III; Tuck, Adrian F.; Swinbank, Richard; O'Neill, Alan

1994-01-01

The distribution of dehydrated air in the middle and lower stratosphere during the 1992 Southern Hemisphere spring is investigated using Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) observations and trajectory techniques. Comparisons between previously published Version 9 and the improved Version 16 retrievals on the 700-K isentropic surface show very slight (0.05 ppmv) increases in Version 16 CH4 relative to Version 9 within the polar vortex. Version 16 H2O mixing ratios show a reduction of 0.5 ppmv relative to Version 9 within the polar night jet and a reduction of nearly 1.0 ppmv in middle latitudes when compared to Version 9. The version 16 HALOE retrievals show low mixing ratios of total hydrogen (2CH4 + H2O) within the polar vortex on both 700 and 425 K isentropic surfaces relative to typical middle-stratospheric 2CH4 + H2O mixing ratios. The low 2CH4 + H2O mixing ratios are associated with dehydration. Slight reductions in total hydrogen, relative to typical middle-stratospheric values, are found at these levels throughout the Southern Hemisphere during this period. Trajectory calculations show that middle-latitude air masses are composed of a mixture of air from within the polar night jet and air from middle latitudes. A strong kinematic barrier to large-scale exchange is found on the poleward flank of the polar night jet at 700 K. A much weaker kinematic barrier is found at 425 K. The impact of the finite tangent pathlength of the HALOE measurements is investigated using an idealized tracer distribution. This experiment suggests that HALOE should be able to resolve the kinematic barrier, if it exists.

Star formation onset in baryonic disks: The role of a triaxial halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzei, P.; Curir, A.

2001-06-01

We investigate the effects of the onset of star formation on the growth of bar instability using a smooth particle hydrodynamics code implemented to account for chemo-photometric evolution from UV to near-IR wavelengths. We analyze the role of a non axisymmetric dark matter halo on the bar triggering and the feedback due to the ongoing star formation rate in the disk. We find that the dark matter halo plays a very important role in the evolution of the luminous matter. The star formation rate (SFR) depends indeed both on its mass, which leads the total gravitational field, and on its dynamical state. Stronger initial bursts of star formation are triggered in the more massive unrelaxed haloes than in the relaxed ones, which are also the more concentrated at the beginning. We point out further that the dark matter concentration is different in haloes with a different initial triaxiality ratio, suggesting a dependence of the SFR also on the halo geometry. By mapping the predicted B surface brightness of the new stars formed, we find that a luminous bar along the whole disk develops only in the first stages of such an instability, then later, new stars are born in the inner regions and the bar is reduced to the central 3-4 kpc. After 1.7 Gyr the young stellar component shows stronger bars in the presence of the relaxed haloes with a lower initial triaxiality ratio; strong bars still appear in the old star isodensity contours of the same systems, at variance with our results when star formation is switched off. The formation of new stars causes indeed a lower dynamical coupling between dark matter and baryonic particles, which lengthens the life-time of the bar. Colours and metallicity gradients of new stars allow us to understand deeply the observational consequences of initial geometry and dynamical state of the halo on the star formation process.

Charge radius of the 13N* proton halo nucleus with Halo Effective Field Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mosavi Khansari, M.; Khalili, H.; Sadeghi, H.

2018-02-01

We evaluated the charge radius of the first excited state of 13N with halo Effective Field Theory (hEFT) at the low energies. The halo effective field theory without pion is used to examine the halo nucleus bound state with a large S-wave scattering length. We built Lagrangian from the effective core and the valence proton of the fields and obtained the charge form factor at Leading-Order (LO). The charge radius at leading order for the first excited state of the proton halo nucleus, 13N, has been estimated as rc = 2.52 fm. This result is without any finite-size contributions included from the core and the proton. If we consider the contributions of the charge radius of the proton and the core, the result will be [rC]13N* = 5.85 fm.

The Structure and Dark Halo Core Properties of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burkert, A.

2015-08-01

The structure and dark matter halo core properties of dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are investigated. A double-isothermal (DIS) model of an isothermal, non-self-gravitating stellar system embedded in an isothermal dark halo core provides an excellent fit to the various observed stellar surface density distributions. The stellar core scale length a* is sensitive to the central dark matter density ρ0,d. The maximum stellar radius traces the dark halo core radius {r}c,d. The concentration c* of the stellar system, determined by a King profile fit, depends on the ratio of the stellar-to-dark-matter velocity dispersion {σ }*/{σ }d. Simple empirical relationships are derived that allow us to calculate the dark halo core parameters ρ0,d, {r}c,d, and σd given the observable stellar quantities σ*, a*, and c*. The DIS model is applied to the Milky Way’s dSphs. All dSphs closely follow the same universal dark halo scaling relations {ρ }0,d× {r}c,d={75}-45+85 M⊙ pc-2 that characterize the cores of more massive galaxies over a large range in masses. The dark halo core mass is a strong function of core radius, {M}c,d˜ {r}c,d2. Inside a fixed radius of ˜400 pc the total dark matter mass is, however, roughly constant with {M}d=2.6+/- 1.4× {10}7 M⊙, although outliers are expected. The dark halo core densities of the Galaxy’s dSphs are very high, with {ρ }0,d ≈ 0.2 M⊙ pc-3. dSphs should therefore be tidally undisturbed. Evidence for tidal effects might then provide a serious challenge for the CDM scenario.

ULTRAVIOLET HALOS AROUND SPIRAL GALAXIES. I. MORPHOLOGY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hodges-Kluck, Edmund; Cafmeyer, Julian; Bregman, Joel N., E-mail: hodgeskl@umich.edu

2016-12-10

We examine ultraviolet halos around a sample of highly inclined galaxies within 25 Mpc to measure their morphology and luminosity. Despite contamination from galactic light scattered into the wings of the point-spread function, we find that ultraviolet (UV) halos occur around each galaxy in our sample. Around most galaxies the halos form a thick, diffuse disk-like structure, but starburst galaxies with galactic superwinds have qualitatively different halos that are more extensive and have filamentary structure. The spatial coincidence of the UV halos above star-forming regions, the lack of consistent association with outflows or extraplanar ionized gas, and the strong correlationmore » between the halo and galaxy UV luminosity suggest that the UV light is an extragalactic reflection nebula. UV halos may thus represent 10{sup 6}–10{sup 7} M {sub ⊙} of dust within 2–10 kpc of the disk, whose properties may change with height in starburst galaxies.« less

THE DUAL ORIGIN OF STELLAR HALOS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zolotov, Adi; Hogg, David W.; Willman, Beth

2009-09-10

We investigate the formation of the stellar halos of four simulated disk galaxies using high-resolution, cosmological SPH + N-body simulations. These simulations include a self-consistent treatment of all the major physical processes involved in galaxy formation. The simulated galaxies presented here each have a total mass of {approx}10{sup 12} M{sub sun}, but span a range of merger histories. These simulations allow us to study the competing importance of in situ star formation (stars formed in the primary galaxy) and accretion of stars from subhalos in the building of stellar halos in a {lambda}CDM universe. All four simulated galaxies are surroundedmore » by a stellar halo, whose inner regions (r < 20 kpc) contain both accreted stars, and an in situ stellar population. The outer regions of the galaxies' halos were assembled through pure accretion and disruption of satellites. Most of the in situ halo stars formed at high redshift out of smoothly accreted cold gas in the inner 1 kpc of the galaxies' potential wells, possibly as part of their primordial disks. These stars were displaced from their central locations into the halos through a succession of major mergers. We find that the two galaxies with recently quiescent merger histories have a higher fraction of in situ stars ({approx}20%-50%) in their inner halos than the two galaxies with many recent mergers ({approx}5%-10% in situ fraction). Observational studies concentrating on stellar populations in the inner halo of the Milky Way will be the most affected by the presence of in situ stars with halo kinematics, as we find that their existence in the inner few tens of kpc is a generic feature of galaxy formation.« less

Strong bimodality in the host halo mass of central galaxies from galaxy-galaxy lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mandelbaum, Rachel; Wang, Wenting; Zu, Ying; White, Simon; Henriques, Bruno; More, Surhud

2016-04-01

We use galaxy-galaxy lensing to study the dark matter haloes surrounding a sample of locally brightest galaxies (LBGs) selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We measure mean halo mass as a function of the stellar mass and colour of the central galaxy. Mock catalogues constructed from semi-analytic galaxy formation simulations demonstrate that most LBGs are the central objects of their haloes, greatly reducing interpretation uncertainties due to satellite contributions to the lensing signal. Over the full stellar mass range, 10.3 < log [M*/M⊙] < 11.6, we find that passive central galaxies have haloes that are at least twice as massive as those of star-forming objects of the same stellar mass. The significance of this effect exceeds 3σ for log [M*/M⊙] > 10.7. Tests using the mock catalogues and on the data themselves clarify the effects of LBG selection and show that it cannot artificially induce a systematic dependence of halo mass on LBG colour. The bimodality in halo mass at fixed stellar mass is reproduced by the astrophysical model underlying our mock catalogue, but the sign of the effect is inconsistent with recent, nearly parameter-free age-matching models. The sign and magnitude of the effect can, however, be reproduced by halo occupation distribution models with a simple (few-parameter) prescription for type dependence.

Techniques for the measurement of disruption halo currents in the National Spherical Torus Experiment.

PubMed

Gerhardt, S P; Fredrickson, E; Guttadora, L; Kaita, R; Kugel, H; Menard, J; Takahashi, H

2011-10-01

This paper describes techniques for measuring halo currents, and their associated toroidal peaking, in the National Spherical Torus Experiments [M. Ono et al., Nucl. Fusion 40, 557 (2000)]. The measurements are based on three techniques: (1) measurement of the toroidal field created by the poloidal halo current, either with segmented Rogowski coils or discrete toroidal field sensors, (2) the direct measurement of halo currents into specially instrument tiles, and (3) small Rogowski coils placed on the mechanical supports of in-vessel components. For the segmented Rogowski coils and discrete toroidal field detectors, it is shown that the toroidal peaking factor inferred from the data is significantly less than the peaking factor of the underlying halo current distribution, and a simple model is developed to relate the two. For the array of discrete toroidal field detectors and small Rogowski sensors, the compensation steps that are used to isolate the halo current signal are described. The electrical and mechanical design of compact under-tile resistive shunts and mini-Rogowski coils is described. Example data from the various systems are shown.

Using tidal streams to investigate the rotation of the Milky Way's dark matter halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valluri, Monica; Snyder, Sarah Jean; Price-Whelan, Adrian M.

2017-06-01

The dark matter halos surrounding Milky Way-like galaxies that are formed in cosmological simulations are triaxial. These simulated triaxial halos are expected to be slowly rotating with log-normal distribution of pattern speeds centered on ~0.148h km/s/kpc (Bailin & Steinmetz 2004, ApJ., 616, 27). Stellar streams arising from a satellite experiencing tidal disruption inside such a slowly rotating triaxial halo are expected to be subject to additional forces (e.g. Coriolis forces) that affect the structure of the tidal streams. Using the Python Galaxy dynamics package Gala (Price-Whelan, http://gala.adrian.pw) we have generated simulations of tidal streams in a range of triaxial potentials to explore how the structure of Milky Way's tidal streams, especially the structure of stream bifurcations and the stream orbital plane, are altered by a slow figure rotation of the triaxial dark matter halo. We investigate what can be inferred about halo rotation from current and future data including upcoming data from Gaia. This work is supported by NASA-ATP award NNX15AK79G to the University of Michigan.

Double gate graphene nanoribbon field effect transistor with single halo pocket in channel region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naderi, Ali

2016-01-01

A new structure for graphene nanoribbon field-effect transistors (GNRFETs) is proposed and investigated using quantum simulation with a nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method. Tunneling leakage current and ambipolar conduction are known effects for MOSFET-like GNRFETs. To minimize these issues a novel structure with a simple change of the GNRFETs by using single halo pocket in the intrinsic channel region, "Single Halo GNRFET (SH-GNRFET)", is proposed. An appropriate halo pocket at source side of channel is used to modify potential distribution of the gate region and weaken band to band tunneling (BTBT). In devices with materials like Si in channel region, doping type of halo and source/drain regions are different. But, here, due to the smaller bandgap of graphene, the mentioned doping types should be the same to reduce BTBT. Simulations have shown that in comparison with conventional GNRFET (C-GNRFET), an SH-GNRFET with appropriately halo doping results in a larger ON current (Ion), smaller OFF current (Ioff), a larger ON-OFF current ratio (Ion/Ioff), superior ambipolar characteristics, a reduced power-delay product and lower delay time.

Techniques for the measurement of disruption halo currents in the National Spherical Torus Experiment

DOE PAGES

Gerhardt, S. P.; Fredrickson, E.; Guttadora, L.; ...

2011-10-06

This paper describes techniques for measuring halo currents, and their associated toroidal peaking, in the National Spherical Torus Experiments. The measurements are based on three techniques: (i) measurement of the toroidal field created by the poloidal halo current, either with segmented Rogowski coils or discrete toroidal field sensors, (ii) the direct measurement of halo currents into specially instrument tiles, and (iii) small Rogowski coils placed on the mechanical supports of in-vessel components. For the segmented Rogowski coils and discrete toroidal field detectors, it is shown that the toroidal peaking factor inferred from the data is significantly less than the peakingmore » factor of the underlying halo current distribution, and a simple model is developed to relate the two. For the array of discrete toroidal field detectors and small Rogowski sensors, the compensation steps that are used to isolate the halo current signal are described. The electrical and mechanical design of compact under-tile resistive shunts and mini-Rogowski coils is described. Example data from the various systems is shown.« less

Comparison of halo of 11Be, 15C, and 19C

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kharab, R.; Kumar, R.; Singh, P.; Sharma, H. C.

2007-12-01

We have compared the halo of 11Be, 15C, and 19C nuclei by analyzing the one-neutron stripping reaction data on the Be target at 60-, 54-, and 57-MeV/ A beam energies, respectively, within the framework of the eikonal approximation approach. The determination of effective range through the comparison of the total cross section data and prediction has revealed that the halo of 19C is the well developed, while that of 15C is the least and that of 11Be lies in between these two. The longitudinal momentum distribution data also strengthen these observations.

Characteristic time for halo current growth and rotation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boozer, Allen H., E-mail: ahb17@columbia.edu

2015-10-15

A halo current flows for part of its path through the plasma edge and for part through the chamber walls and during tokamak disruptions can be as large as tenths of the plasma current. The primary interest in halo currents is the large force that they can exert on machine components particularly if the toriodal rotation of the halo current resonates with a natural oscillation frequency of the tokamak device. Halo currents arise when required to slow down the growth of a kink that is too unstable to be stabilized by the chamber walls. The width of the current channelmore » in the halo plasma is comparable to the amplitude of the kink, and the halo current grows linearly, not exponentially, in time. The current density in the halo is comparable to that of the main plasma body. The rocket force due to plasma flowing out of the halo and recombining on the chamber walls can cause the non-axisymmetric magnetic structure produced by the kink to rotate toroidally at a speed comparable to the halo speed of sound. Gerhardt's observations of the halo current in NSTX shot 141 687 [Nucl. Fusion 53, 023005 (2013)] illustrate many features of the theory of halo currents and are discussed as a summary of the theory.« less

Dark halos formed via dissipationless collapse. I - Shapes and alignment of angular momentum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warren, Michael S.; Quinn, Peter J.; Salmon, John K.; Zurek, Wojciech H.

1992-11-01

We use N-body simulations on highly parallel supercomputers to study the structure of Galactic dark matter halos. The systems form by gravitational collapse from scale-free and more general Gaussian initial density perturbations in an expanding 400 Mpc-cubed spherical slice of an Einstein-deSitter universe. We analyze the structure and kinematics of about 100 of the largest relaxed halos in each of 10 separate simulations. A typical halo is a triaxial spheroid which tends to be more often prolate than oblate. These shapes are maintained by anisotropic velocity dispersion rather than by angular momentum. Nevertheless, there is a significant tendency for the total angular momentum vector to be aligned with the minor axis of the density distribution.

The ellipticity of galaxy cluster haloes from satellite galaxies and weak lensing

DOE PAGES

Shin, Tae-hyeon; Clampitt, Joseph; Jain, Bhuvnesh; ...

2018-01-04

Here, we study the ellipticity of galaxy cluster haloes as characterized by the distribution of cluster galaxies and as measured with weak lensing. We use Monte Carlo simulations of elliptical cluster density profiles to estimate and correct for Poisson noise bias, edge bias and projection effects. We apply our methodology to 10 428 Sloan Digital Sky Survey clusters identified by the redMaPPer algorithm with richness above 20. We find a mean ellipticity =0.271 ± 0.002 (stat) ±0.031 (sys) corresponding to an axis ratio = 0.573 ± 0.002 (stat) ±0.039 (sys). We compare this ellipticity of the satellites to the halomore » shape, through a stacked lensing measurement using optimal estimators of the lensing quadrupole based on Clampitt and Jain (2016). We find a best-fitting axis ratio of 0.56 ± 0.09 (stat) ±0.03 (sys), consistent with the ellipticity of the satellite distribution. Thus, cluster galaxies trace the shape of the dark matter halo to within our estimated uncertainties. Finally, we restack the satellite and lensing ellipticity measurements along the major axis of the cluster central galaxy's light distribution. From the lensing measurements, we infer a misalignment angle with an root-mean-square of 30° ± 10° when stacking on the central galaxy. We discuss applications of halo shape measurements to test the effects of the baryonic gas and active galactic nucleus feedback, as well as dark matter and gravity. The major improvements in signal-to-noise ratio expected with the ongoing Dark Energy Survey and future surveys from Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Euclid, and Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope will make halo shapes a useful probe of these effects.« less

The ellipticity of galaxy cluster haloes from satellite galaxies and weak lensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shin, Tae-hyeon; Clampitt, Joseph; Jain, Bhuvnesh

Here, we study the ellipticity of galaxy cluster haloes as characterized by the distribution of cluster galaxies and as measured with weak lensing. We use Monte Carlo simulations of elliptical cluster density profiles to estimate and correct for Poisson noise bias, edge bias and projection effects. We apply our methodology to 10 428 Sloan Digital Sky Survey clusters identified by the redMaPPer algorithm with richness above 20. We find a mean ellipticity =0.271 ± 0.002 (stat) ±0.031 (sys) corresponding to an axis ratio = 0.573 ± 0.002 (stat) ±0.039 (sys). We compare this ellipticity of the satellites to the halomore » shape, through a stacked lensing measurement using optimal estimators of the lensing quadrupole based on Clampitt and Jain (2016). We find a best-fitting axis ratio of 0.56 ± 0.09 (stat) ±0.03 (sys), consistent with the ellipticity of the satellite distribution. Thus, cluster galaxies trace the shape of the dark matter halo to within our estimated uncertainties. Finally, we restack the satellite and lensing ellipticity measurements along the major axis of the cluster central galaxy's light distribution. From the lensing measurements, we infer a misalignment angle with an root-mean-square of 30° ± 10° when stacking on the central galaxy. We discuss applications of halo shape measurements to test the effects of the baryonic gas and active galactic nucleus feedback, as well as dark matter and gravity. The major improvements in signal-to-noise ratio expected with the ongoing Dark Energy Survey and future surveys from Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Euclid, and Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope will make halo shapes a useful probe of these effects.« less

Stabilizing properties of the halo apparatus.

PubMed

Mirza, S K; Moquin, R R; Anderson, P A; Tencer, A F; Steinmann, J; Varnau, D

1997-04-01

A cadaveric cervical spine specimen fixed between a fiberglass torso and a plastic skull was used as a model to determine the effect of halo structural parameters on motion at a lesion simulated at C5-C6. In a second part, nine commercially available halo devices were compared. To define the contributions of the various components of the halo apparatus to reducing motion in an injured cervical spine and to compare the stability offered by a sample of commercially available halo devices. Controversy exists concerning the ability of the halo apparatus to stabilize the injured cervical spine. The halo apparatus has been shown to be the most effective nonsurgical method for stabilizing the fractured spine. Nonetheless, several clinical studies have demonstrated that unacceptably large motions can occur at the injured spinal segment stabilized with a halo apparatus. Each cadaveric cervical spine was mounted onto a fiberglass torso and a rigid plastic skull was attached to the base of the occiput. A posterior ligamentous lesion was created between C5 and C6. The halo ring was fitted to the skull and a vest to the torso. Loads were applied to the skull in flexion, extension, and lateral bending, and relative angulation between C5 and C6 was measured with electroinclinometers. In the first part, the effect of parameters such as vest tightness, vest-thorax friction, vest deformation, and connecting bar rigidity on spinal angulation were measured using one vest. In the second part, the stability offered by each of nine commercially available halo devices was compared. Increasing chest strap tightness and decreasing vest deformation reduced angulation at the spinal lesion. Once connecting bar joints were tightened to 25% of their recommended torque, increased tightening or adding additional bars had no effect on rigidity. Although specific vests permitted significantly greater motion in specific directions, no vest allowed greater angulation consistently in all loading planes

The relationship between galaxy and dark matter halo size from z ˜ 3 to the present

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Somerville, Rachel S.; Behroozi, Peter; Pandya, Viraj; Dekel, Avishai; Faber, S. M.; Fontana, Adriano; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Koo, David C.; Pérez-González, P. G.; Primack, Joel R.; Santini, Paola; Taylor, Edward N.; van der Wel, Arjen

2018-01-01

We explore empirical constraints on the statistical relationship between the radial size of galaxies and the radius of their host dark matter haloes from z ∼ 0.1-3 using the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) and Cosmic Assembly Near Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) surveys. We map dark matter halo mass to galaxy stellar mass using relationships from abundance matching, applied to the Bolshoi-Planck dissipationless N-body simulation. We define SRHR ≡ re/Rh as the ratio of galaxy radius to halo virial radius, and SRHRλ ≡ re/(λRh) as the ratio of galaxy radius to halo spin parameter times halo radius. At z ∼ 0.1, we find an average value of SRHR ≃ 0.018 and SRHRλ ≃ 0.5 with very little dependence on stellar mass. Stellar radius-halo radius (SRHR) and SRHRλ have a weak dependence on cosmic time since z ∼ 3. SRHR shows a mild decrease over cosmic time for low-mass galaxies, but increases slightly or does not evolve for more massive galaxies. We find hints that at high redshift (z ∼ 2-3), SRHRλ is lower for more massive galaxies, while it shows no significant dependence on stellar mass at z ≲ 0.5. We find that for both the GAMA and CANDELS samples, at all redshifts from z ∼ 0.1-3, the observed conditional size distribution in stellar mass bins is remarkably similar to the conditional distribution of λRh. We discuss the physical interpretation and implications of these results.

Comparison of Intra-cluster and M87 Halo Orphan Globular Clusters in the Virgo Cluster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Louie, Tiffany Kaye; Tuan, Jin Zong; Martellini, Adhara; Guhathakurta, Puragra; Toloba, Elisa; Peng, Eric; Longobardi, Alessia; Lim, Sungsoon

2018-01-01

We present a study of “orphan” globular clusters (GCs) — GCs with no identifiable nearby host galaxy — discovered in NGVS, a 104 deg2 CFHT/MegaCam imaging survey. At the distance of the Virgo cluster, GCs are bright enough to make good spectroscopic targets and many are barely resolved in good ground-based seeing. Our orphan GC sample is derived from a subset of NGVS-selected GC candidates that were followed up with Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy. While our primary spectroscopic targets were candidate GC satellites of Virgo dwarf elliptical and ultra-diffuse galaxies, many objects turned out to be non-satellites based on a radial velocity mismatch with the Virgo galaxy they are projected close to. Using a combination of spectral characteristics (e.g., absorption vs. emission), Gaussian mixture modeling of radial velocity and positions, and extreme deconvolution analysis of ugrizk photometry and image morphology, these non-satellites were classified into: (1) intra-cluster GCs (ICGCs) in the Virgo cluster, (2) GCs in the outer halo of M87, (3) foreground Milky Way stars, and (4) background galaxies. The statistical distinction between ICGCs and M87 halo GCs is based on velocity distributions (mean of 1100 vs. 1300 km/s and dispersions of 700 vs. 400 km/s, respectively) and radial distribution (diffuse vs. centrally concentrated, respectively). We used coaddition to increase the spectral SNR for the two classes of orphan GCs and measured the equivalent widths (EWs) of the Mg b and H-beta absorption lines. These EWs were compared to single stellar population models to obtain mean age and metallicity estimates. The ICGCs and M87 halo GCs have <[Fe/H> = –0.6+/–0.3 and –0.4+/–0.3 dex, respectively, and mean ages of >~ 5 and >~ 10 Gyr, respectively. This suggests the M87 halo GCs formed in relatively high-mass galaxies that avoided being tidally disrupted by M87 until they were close to the cluster center, while IGCCs formed in relatively low-mass galaxies that

Concentrations of Simulated Dark Matter Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Child, Hillary

2017-01-01

We present the concentration-mass (c-M) relation of dark matter halos in two new high-volume high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations, Q Continuum and Outer Rim. Concentration describes the density of the central regions of halos; it is highest for low-mass halos at low redshift, decreasing at high mass and redshift. The shape of the c-M relation is an important probe of cosmology. We discuss the redshift dependence of the c-M relation, several different methods to determine concentrations of simulated halos, and potential sources of bias in concentration measurements. To connect to lensing observations, we stack halos, which also allows us to assess the suitability of the Navarro-Frenk-White profile and other profiles, such as Einasto, with an additional shape parameter. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-1144082.

CO-ORBITING PLANES OF SUB-HALOS ARE SIMILARLY UNLIKELY AROUND PAIRED AND ISOLATED HOSTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pawlowski, Marcel S.; McGaugh, Stacy S., E-mail: marcel.pawlowski@case.edu

2014-07-01

Sub-halos in dark-matter-based cosmological simulations tend to be distributed approximately isotropically around their host. The existence of highly flattened, co-orbiting planes of satellite galaxies has therefore been identified as a possible problem for these cosmological models, but so far studies have not considered the hosts' environments. That satellite planes are now known around both major galaxies in the Local Group raises the question whether they are more likely to be found around paired hosts. In a first attempt to investigate this possibility, we focus on the flattening and orbital coherence of the 11 brightest satellite galaxies of the vast polarmore » structure (VPOS) around the Milky Way (MW). We search for VPOS analogs in the ''Exploring the Local Volume in Simulations'' suite of cosmological simulations, which consist of 24 paired and 24 isolated host halos. We do not find significant differences between the properties of sub-halo distributions around paired and isolated hosts. The observed flattening and the observed orbital alignment are each reproduced by only 0.2%-2% of paired and isolated systems incorporating the obscuration of satellites by randomly oriented galactic disks. Only 1 of all 4800 analyzed realizations (0.02%) reproduces both parameters simultaneously, but the average orbital pole of this sub-halo system does not align as well with the normal to the plane fit as observed. That the MW is part of a galaxy pair thus does not help to explain the existence of the VPOS if the satellite galaxies are identified with sub-halos found in dissipationless simulations.« less

Unbound particles in dark matter halos

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Behroozi, Peter S.; Wechsler, Risa H.; Loeb, Abraham, E-mail: behroozi@stanford.edu, E-mail: aloeb@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: rwechsler@stanford.edu

2013-06-01

We investigate unbound dark matter particles in halos by tracing particle trajectories in a simulation run to the far future (a = 100). We find that the traditional sum of kinetic and potential energies is a very poor predictor of which dark matter particles will eventually become unbound from halos. We also study the mass fraction of unbound particles, which increases strongly towards the edges of halos, and decreases significantly at higher redshifts. We discuss implications for dark matter detection experiments, precision calibrations of the halo mass function, the use of baryon fractions to constrain dark energy, and searches formore » intergalactic supernovae.« less

Unbound particles in dark matter halos

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Behroozi, Peter S.; Loeb, Abraham; Wechsler, Risa H.

2013-06-13

We investigate unbound dark matter particles in halos by tracing particle trajectories in a simulation run to the far future (a = 100). We find that the traditional sum of kinetic and potential energies is a very poor predictor of which dark matter particles will eventually become unbound from halos. We also study the mass fraction of unbound particles, which increases strongly towards the edges of halos, and decreases significantly at higher redshifts. We discuss implications for dark matter detection experiments, precision calibrations of the halo mass function, the use of baryon fractions to constrain dark energy, and searches formore » intergalactic supernovae.« less

The Chemical Abundances of Stars in the Halo (CASH) Project. II. A Sample of 14 Extremely Metal-poor Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollek, Julie K.; Frebel, Anna; Roederer, Ian U.; Sneden, Christopher; Shetrone, Matthew; Beers, Timothy C.; Kang, Sung-ju; Thom, Christopher

2011-11-01

We present a comprehensive abundance analysis of 20 elements for 16 new low-metallicity stars from the Chemical Abundances of Stars in the Halo (CASH) project. The abundances have been derived from both Hobby-Eberly Telescope High Resolution Spectrograph snapshot spectra (R ~15, 000) and corresponding high-resolution (R ~35, 000) Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle spectra. The stars span a metallicity range from [Fe/H] from -2.9 to -3.9, including four new stars with [Fe/H] < -3.7. We find four stars to be carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars, confirming the trend of increasing [C/Fe] abundance ratios with decreasing metallicity. Two of these objects can be classified as CEMP-no stars, adding to the growing number of these objects at [Fe/H]< - 3. We also find four neutron-capture-enhanced stars in the sample, one of which has [Eu/Fe] of 0.8 with clear r-process signatures. These pilot sample stars are the most metal-poor ([Fe/H] <~ -3.0) of the brightest stars included in CASH and are used to calibrate a newly developed, automated stellar parameter and abundance determination pipeline. This code will be used for the entire ~500 star CASH snapshot sample. We find that the pipeline results are statistically identical for snapshot spectra when compared to a traditional, manual analysis from a high-resolution spectrum. Based on observations obtained with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is a joint project of the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Based on observations gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

Effect of ion velocity on creation of point defects halos of latent tracks in LiF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Volkov, A. E.; Schwartz, K.; Medvedev, N. A.; Trautmann, C.

2017-09-01

Parameters of point defects halos (F-color centers) created due to decays of self-trapped valence holes generated in nanometric vicinities of trajectories of gold ions of 275 MeV and 2187 MeV in LiF are estimated in absorption spectroscopy experiments. Such ions have approximately the same electronic stopping: 24.6 keV/nm and 22.9 keV/nm, respectively. In contrast to the usual concept of the velocity effect that a slower ion produces larger structure changes due to a higher density of the deposited energy, the opposite effect occurs for the defect halo revealing a larger radius and a larger defect concentration for an ion of the higher velocity realizing the same energy loss. Spatial spreading of generated valence holes before their self-trapping (500 fs) forms the size of the defect halos around the trajectories of the applied ions. Simulations with Monte-Carlo code TREKIS show no significant difference in the initial spatial distributions of these valence holes by the times of finishing of ionization cascades (∼10 fs after the projectile passage) within the radii of the defect halos deduced from the experiments. Using these distributions as initial conditions for spatial spreading of generated valence holes and taking into account the difference between the defect halo radii, the diffusion coefficients of these holes near the trajectories of 275 and 2187 MeV Au ions in LiF are estimated showing about six times larger value in tracks of the faster ion for irradiations at room temperatures. Presence of H-color centers changes considerably the kinetics of the created defect ensemble in the defect halo resulting in differences between the defect halo parameters in LiF crystals irradiated at 8 K vs. 300 K.

The boron-to-beryllium ratio in halo stars - A signature of cosmic-ray nucleosynthesis in the early Galaxy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, T. P.; Steigman, G.; Schramm, D. N.; Olive, K. A.; Fields, B.

1993-01-01

We discuss Galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) spallation production of Li, Be, and B in the early Galaxy with particular attention to the uncertainties in the predictions of this model. The observed correlation between the Be abundance and the metallicity in metal-poor Population II stars requires that Be was synthesized in the early Galaxy. We show that the observations and such Population II GCR synthesis of Be are quantitatively consistent with the big bang nucleosynthesis production of Li-7. We find that there is a nearly model independent lower bound to B/Be of about 7 for GCR synthesis. Recent measurements of B/Be about 10 in HD 140283 are in excellent agreement with the predictions of Population II GCR nucleosynthesis. Measurements of the boron abundance in additional metal-poor halo stars is a key diagnostic of the GCR spallation mechanism. We also show that Population II GCR synthesis can produce amounts of Li-6 which may be observed in the hottest halo stars.

DO NOT FORGET THE FOREST FOR THE TREES: THE STELLAR-MASS HALO-MASS RELATION IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tonnesen, Stephanie; Cen, Renyue, E-mail: stonnes@gmail.com, E-mail: cen@astro.princeton.edu

2015-10-20

The connection between dark matter halos and galactic baryons is often not well constrained nor well resolved in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. Thus, halo occupation distribution models that assign galaxies to halos based on halo mass are frequently used to interpret clustering observations, even though it is well known that the assembly history of dark matter halos is related to their clustering. In this paper we use high-resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulations to compare the halo and stellar mass growth of galaxies in a large-scale overdensity to those in a large-scale underdensity (on scales of about 20 Mpc). The simulation reproduces assemblymore » bias, in which halos have earlier formation times in overdense environments than in underdense regions. We find that the ratio of stellar mass to halo mass is larger in overdense regions in central galaxies residing in halos with masses between 10{sup 11} and 10{sup 12.9} M{sub ⊙}. When we force the local density (within 2 Mpc) at z = 0 to be the same for galaxies in the large-scale over- and underdensities, we find the same results. We posit that this difference can be explained by a combination of earlier formation times, more interactions at early times with neighbors, and more filaments feeding galaxies in overdense regions. This result puts the standard practice of assigning stellar mass to halos based only on their mass, rather than considering their larger environment, into question.« less

Effective field theory description of halo nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammer, H.-W.; Ji, C.; Phillips, D. R.

2017-10-01

Nuclear halos emerge as new degrees of freedom near the neutron and proton driplines. They consist of a core and one or a few nucleons which spend most of their time in the classically-forbidden region outside the range of the interaction. Individual nucleons inside the core are thus unresolved in the halo configuration, and the low-energy effective interactions are short-range forces between the core and the valence nucleons. Similar phenomena occur in clusters of 4He atoms, cold atomic gases near a Feshbach resonance, and some exotic hadrons. In these weakly-bound quantum systems universal scaling laws for s-wave binding emerge that are independent of the details of the interaction. Effective field theory (EFT) exposes these correlations and permits the calculation of non-universal corrections to them due to short-distance effects, as well as the extension of these ideas to systems involving the Coulomb interaction and/or binding in higher angular-momentum channels. Halo nuclei exhibit all these features. Halo EFT, the EFT for halo nuclei, has been used to compute the properties of single-neutron, two-neutron, and single-proton halos of s-wave and p-wave type. This review summarizes these results for halo binding energies, radii, Coulomb dissociation, and radiative capture, as well as the connection of these properties to scattering parameters, thereby elucidating the universal correlations between all these observables. We also discuss how Halo EFT's encoding of the long-distance physics of halo nuclei can be used to check and extend ab initio calculations that include detailed modeling of their short-distance dynamics.

Cosmic Vorticity and the Origin Halo Spins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Libeskind, Noam I.; Hoffman, Yehuda; Steinmetz, Matthias; Gottlöber, Stefan; Knebe, Alexander; Hess, Steffen

2013-04-01

In the standard model of cosmology, structure emerges out of a non-rotational flow and the angular momentum of collapsing halos is induced by tidal torques. The growth of angular momentum in the linear and quasi-linear phases is associated with a shear, curl-free, flow and it is well described within the linear framework of tidal torque theory (TTT). However, TTT ceases to be applicable as halos approach turnaround when their ambient flow field becomes rotational. Subsequently, halos become embedded in a vortical flow field and the growth of their angular momentum is affected by the vorticity of their ambient velocity field. Using a cosmological simulation, we have examined the importance of the curl of the velocity field in determining halo spin, finding a significant alignment between the two: the vorticity tends to be perpendicular to the axis of the fastest collapse of the velocity shear tensor (e 1). This is independent of halo masses and cosmic web environment. Our results agree with previous findings on the tendency of halo spin to be perpendicular to e 1, and of the spin of (simulated) halos and (observed) galaxies to be aligned with the large-scale structure. It follows that angular momentum growth proceeds in two distinct phases. First, the angular momentum emerges out of a shear, curl-free, potential flow, as described by TTT. In the second phase, in which halos approach virialization, the angular momentum emerges out of a vortical flow and halo spin becomes partially aligned with the vorticity of the ambient flow field.

Localized massive halo properties in BAHAMAS and MACSIS simulations: scalings, log-normality, and covariance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farahi, Arya; Evrard, August E.; McCarthy, Ian; Barnes, David J.; Kay, Scott T.

2018-05-01

Using tens of thousands of halos realized in the BAHAMAS and MACSIS simulations produced with a consistent astrophysics treatment that includes AGN feedback, we validate a multi-property statistical model for the stellar and hot gas mass behavior in halos hosting groups and clusters of galaxies. The large sample size allows us to extract fine-scale mass-property relations (MPRs) by performing local linear regression (LLR) on individual halo stellar mass (Mstar) and hot gas mass (Mgas) as a function of total halo mass (Mhalo). We find that: 1) both the local slope and variance of the MPRs run with mass (primarily) and redshift (secondarily); 2) the conditional likelihood, p(Mstar, Mgas| Mhalo, z) is accurately described by a multivariate, log-normal distribution, and; 3) the covariance of Mstar and Mgas at fixed Mhalo is generally negative, reflecting a partially closed baryon box model for high mass halos. We validate the analytical population model of Evrard et al. (2014), finding sub-percent accuracy in the log-mean halo mass selected at fixed property, ⟨ln Mhalo|Mgas⟩ or ⟨ln Mhalo|Mstar⟩, when scale-dependent MPR parameters are employed. This work highlights the potential importance of allowing for running in the slope and scatter of MPRs when modeling cluster counts for cosmological studies. We tabulate LLR fit parameters as a function of halo mass at z = 0, 0.5 and 1 for two popular mass conventions.

The HALO / HALO-2 Supernova Neutrino Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yen, Stanley; HALO Collaboration; HALO-2 Collaboration

2016-09-01

The Helium and Lead Observatory (HALO) is a dedicated supernova neutrino detector in SNOLAB, which is built from 79 tons of surplus lead and the helium-3 neutron detectors from the SNO experiment. It is sensitive primarily to electron neutrinos, and is thus complementary to water Cerenkov and organic scintillation detectors which are primarily sensitive to electron anti-neutrinos. A comparison of the rates in these complementary detectors will enable a flavor decomposition of the neutrino flux from the next galactic core-collapse supernova. We have tentative ideas to build a 1000-ton HALO-2 detector in the Gran Sasso laboratory by using the lead from the decommissioned OPERA detector. We are exploring several neutron detector technologies to supplement the existing helium-3 detectors. We welcome new collaborators to join us. This research is supported by the NRC and NSERC (Canada), the US DOE and NSF, and the German RISE program.

Halo substructure in the SDSS-Gaia catalogue: streams and clumps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myeong, G. C.; Evans, N. W.; Belokurov, V.; Amorisco, N. C.; Koposov, S. E.

2018-04-01

We use the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-Gaia Catalogue to identify six new pieces of halo substructure. SDSS-Gaia is an astrometric catalogue that exploits SDSS data release 9 to provide first epoch photometry for objects in the Gaia source catalogue. We use a version of the catalogue containing 245 316 stars with all phase-space coordinates within a heliocentric distance of ˜10 kpc. We devise a method to assess the significance of halo substructures based on their clustering in velocity space. The two most substantial structures are multiple wraps of a stream which has undergone considerable phase mixing (S1, with 94 members) and a kinematically cold stream (S2, with 61 members). The member stars of S1 have a median position of (X, Y, Z) = (8.12, -0.22, 2.75) kpc and a median metallicity of [Fe/H] = -1.78. The stars of S2 have median coordinates (X, Y, Z) = (8.66, 0.30, 0.77) kpc and a median metallicity of [Fe/H] = -1.91. They lie in velocity space close to some of the stars in the stream reported by Helmi et al. By modelling, we estimate that both structures had progenitors with virial masses ≈1010M⊙ and infall times ≳ 9 Gyr ago. Using abundance matching, these correspond to stellar masses between 106 and 107M⊙. These are somewhat larger than the masses inferred through the mass-metallicity relation by factors of 5 to 15. Additionally, we identify two further substructures (S3 and S4 with 55 and 40 members) and two clusters or moving group (C1 and C2 with 24 and 12) members. In all six cases, clustering in kinematics is found to correspond to clustering in both configuration space and metallicity, adding credence to the reliability of our detections.

Weak-Lensing Determination of the Mass in Galaxy Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, D. R.; Bernstein, G. M.; Fischer, P.; Jarvis, M.

2001-04-01

We detect the weak gravitational lensing distortion of 450,000 background galaxies (20halo in absolute physical units (modulo H0), and to investigate the dependence of halo mass upon galaxy luminosity. This is also the first galaxy-galaxy lensing study for which the calibration errors due to uncertainty in the background galaxy redshift distribution and the seeing correction are negligible. Within a projected radius of 200 h-1 kpc, the shear profile is consistent with an isothermal profile with circular velocity vc=164+/-20 km s-1 for an L* galaxy, consistent with the typical circular velocity for the disks of spirals at this luminosity. This halo mass normalization, combined with the halo profile derived by Fischer and coworkers from a galaxy-galaxy lensing analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, places a lower limit of (2.7+/-0.6)×1012 h-1 Msolar on the mass of an L* galaxy halo, in good agreement with the satellite galaxy studies of Zaritsky et al. Given the known luminosity function of LCRS galaxies, and assuming that M~Lβ for galaxies, we determine that the mass within 260 h-1 kpc of normal galaxies contributes Ω=0.16+/-0.03 to the density of the universe (for β=1) or Ω=0.24+/-0.06 for β=0.5. These lensing data suggest that 0.6<β<2.4 (95% confidence level), only marginally in agreement with the usual β~0.5 Faber-Jackson or Tully-Fisher scaling. This is the most complete direct inventory of the matter content of the universe to date.

DETECTION OF A HOT GASEOUS HALO AROUND THE GIANT SPIRAL GALAXY NGC 1961

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, Michael E.; Bregman, Joel N., E-mail: michevan@umich.edu, E-mail: jbregman@umich.edu

2011-08-10

Hot gaseous halos are predicted around all large galaxies and are critically important for our understanding of galaxy formation, but they have never been detected at distances beyond a few kpc around a spiral galaxy. We used the ACIS-I instrument on board Chandra to search for diffuse X-ray emission around an ideal candidate galaxy: the isolated giant spiral NGC 1961. We observed four quadrants around the galaxy for 30 ks each, carefully subtracting background and point-source emission, and found diffuse emission that appears to extend to 40-50 kpc. We fit {beta}-models to the emission and estimate a hot halo massmore » within 50 kpc of 5 x 10{sup 9} M{sub sun}. When this profile is extrapolated to 500 kpc (the approximate virial radius), the implied hot halo mass is 1-3 x 10{sup 11} M{sub sun}. These mass estimates assume a gas metallicity of Z = 0.5 Z{sub sun}. This galaxy's hot halo is a large reservoir of gas, but falls significantly below observational upper limits set by pervious searches, and suggests that NGC 1961 is missing 75% of its baryons relative to the cosmic mean, which would tentatively place it below an extrapolation of the baryon Tully-Fisher relationship of less massive galaxies. The cooling rate of the gas is no more than 0.4 M{sub sun} yr{sup -1}, more than an order of magnitude below the gas consumption rate through star formation. We discuss the implications of this halo for galaxy formation models.« less

STAR FORMATION HISTORY OF THE MILKY WAY HALO TRACED BY THE OOSTERHOFF DICHOTOMY AMONG GLOBULAR CLUSTERS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jang, Sohee; Lee, Young-Wook, E-mail: ywlee2@yonsei.ac.kr

2015-06-22

In our recent investigation of the Oosterhoff dichotomy in the multiple population paradigm, we have suggested that the RR Lyrae variables in the globular clusters (GCs) of Oosterhoff groups I, II, and III are produced mostly by first, second, and third generation stars (G1, G2, and G3), respectively. Here we show, for the first time, that the observed dichotomies in the inner and outer halo GCs can be naturally reproduced when these models are extended to all metallicity regimes, while maintaining reasonable agreements in the horizontal-branch type versus [Fe/H] correlations. In order to achieve this, however, specific star formation historiesmore » are required for the inner and outer halos. In the inner halo GCs, the star formation commenced and ceased earlier with a relatively short formation timescale between the subpopulations (∼0.5 Gyr), while in the outer halo, the formation of G1 was delayed by ∼0.8 Gyr with a more extended timescale between G1 and G2 (∼1.4 Gyr). This is consistent with the dual origin of the Milky Way halo. Despite the difference in detail, our models show that the Oosterhoff period groups observed in both outer and inner halo GCs are all manifestations of the “population-shift” effect within the instability strip, for which the origin can be traced back to the two or three discrete episodes of star formation in GCs.« less

EVIDENCE FOR AN ACCRETION ORIGIN FOR THE OUTER HALO GLOBULAR CLUSTER SYSTEM OF M31

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mackey, A. D.; Huxor, A. P.; Ferguson, A. M. N.

2010-07-01

We use a sample of newly discovered globular clusters from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PAndAS) in combination with previously cataloged objects to map the spatial distribution of globular clusters in the M31 halo. At projected radii beyond {approx}30 kpc, where large coherent stellar streams are readily distinguished in the field, there is a striking correlation between these features and the positions of the globular clusters. Adopting a simple Monte Carlo approach, we test the significance of this association by computing the probability that it could be due to the chance alignment of globular clusters smoothly distributed in the M31 halo.more » We find that the likelihood of this possibility is low, below 1%, and conclude that the observed spatial coincidence between globular clusters and multiple tidal debris streams in the outer halo of M31 reflects a genuine physical association. Our results imply that the majority of the remote globular cluster system of M31 has been assembled as a consequence of the accretion of cluster-bearing satellite galaxies. This constitutes the most direct evidence to date that the outer halo globular cluster populations in some galaxies are largely accreted.« less

COSMIC VORTICITY AND THE ORIGIN HALO SPINS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Libeskind, Noam I.; Steinmetz, Matthias; Gottloeber, Stefan

2013-04-01

In the standard model of cosmology, structure emerges out of a non-rotational flow and the angular momentum of collapsing halos is induced by tidal torques. The growth of angular momentum in the linear and quasi-linear phases is associated with a shear, curl-free, flow and it is well described within the linear framework of tidal torque theory (TTT). However, TTT ceases to be applicable as halos approach turnaround when their ambient flow field becomes rotational. Subsequently, halos become embedded in a vortical flow field and the growth of their angular momentum is affected by the vorticity of their ambient velocity field.more » Using a cosmological simulation, we have examined the importance of the curl of the velocity field in determining halo spin, finding a significant alignment between the two: the vorticity tends to be perpendicular to the axis of the fastest collapse of the velocity shear tensor (e{sub 1}). This is independent of halo masses and cosmic web environment. Our results agree with previous findings on the tendency of halo spin to be perpendicular to e{sub 1}, and of the spin of (simulated) halos and (observed) galaxies to be aligned with the large-scale structure. It follows that angular momentum growth proceeds in two distinct phases. First, the angular momentum emerges out of a shear, curl-free, potential flow, as described by TTT. In the second phase, in which halos approach virialization, the angular momentum emerges out of a vortical flow and halo spin becomes partially aligned with the vorticity of the ambient flow field.« less

Dynamical Family Properties and Dark Halo Scaling Relations of Giant Elliptical Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerhard, Ortwin; Kronawitter, Andi; Saglia, R. P.; Bender, Ralf

2001-04-01

Based on a uniform dynamical analysis of the line-profile shapes of 21 mostly luminous, slowly rotating, and nearly round elliptical galaxies, we have investigated the dynamical family relations and dark halo properties of ellipticals. Our results include: (i) The circular velocity curves (CVCs) of elliptical galaxies are flat to within ~=10% for R>~0.2Re. (ii) Most ellipticals are moderately radially anisotropic; their dynamical structure is surprisingly uniform. (iii) Elliptical galaxies follow a Tully-Fisher (TF) relation with marginally shallower slope than spiral galaxies, and vmaxc~=300 km s-1 for an L*B galaxy. At given circular velocity, they are ~1 mag fainter in B and ~0.6 mag in R and appear to have slightly lower baryonic mass than spirals, even for the maximum M/LB allowed by the kinematics. (iv) The luminosity dependence of M/LB indicated by the tilt of the fundamental plane (FP) is confirmed. The tilt of the FP is not caused by dynamical or photometric nonhomology, although the latter might influence the slope of M/L versus L. It can also not be due only to an increasing dark matter fraction with L for the range of IMF currently discussed. It is, however, consistent with stellar population models based on published metallicities and ages. The main driver is therefore probably metallicity, and a secondary population effect is needed to explain the K-band tilt. (v) These results make it likely that elliptical galaxies have nearly maximal M/LB (minimal halos). (vi) Despite the uniformly flat CVCs, there is a spread in the luminous to dark matter ratio and in cumulative M/LB(r). Some galaxies have no indication for dark matter within 2Re, whereas for others we obtain local M/LB-values of 20-30 at 2Re. (vii) In models with maximum stellar mass, the dark matter contributes ~10%-40% of the mass within Re. Equal interior mass of dark and luminous matter is predicted at ~2-4Re. (viii) Even in these maximum stellar mass models, the halo core densities and

Halo Intrinsic Alignment: Dependence on Mass, Formation Time, and Environment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xia, Qianli; Kang, Xi; Wang, Peng

In this paper we use high-resolution cosmological simulations to study halo intrinsic alignment and its dependence on mass, formation time, and large-scale environment. In agreement with previous studies using N -body simulations, it is found that massive halos have stronger alignment. For the first time, we find that for a given halo mass older halos have stronger alignment and halos in cluster regions also have stronger alignment than those in filaments. To model these dependencies, we extend the linear alignment model with inclusion of halo bias and find that the halo alignment with its mass and formation time dependence canmore » be explained by halo bias. However, the model cannot account for the environment dependence, as it is found that halo bias is lower in clusters and higher in filaments. Our results suggest that halo bias and environment are independent factors in determining halo alignment. We also study the halo alignment correlation function and find that halos are strongly clustered along their major axes and less clustered along the minor axes. The correlated halo alignment can extend to scales as large as 100 h {sup −1} Mpc, where its feature is mainly driven by the baryon acoustic oscillation effect.« less

Halo vest effect on balance.

PubMed

Richardson, J K; Ross, A D; Riley, B; Rhodes, R L

2000-03-01

To determine the effect of a halo vest, a cervical orthosis, on clinically relevant balance parameters. Subjects performed unipedal stance (with eyes open and closed, on both firm and soft surfaces) and functional reach, with and without the application of a halo vest. A convenience sample of 12 healthy young subjects, with an equal number of men and women. Seconds for unipedal stance (maximum 45); inches for functional reach. Both unipedal stance times and functional reach (mean +/- standard deviation) were significantly decreased with the halo vest as compared to without it (29.1+/-5.8 vs. 32.8+/-6.4 seconds, p = .002; 12.9+/-1.4 vs. 15.1+/-2.1 inches, p<.01). A halo vest causes an acute impairment in balance in the healthy young. It is likely that the impairment would be greater in older or injured patients, thus increasing their risk for a fall, which could have devastating consequences.

The impact of baryonic discs on the shapes and profiles of self-interacting dark matter halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sameie, Omid; Creasey, Peter; Yu, Hai-Bo; Sales, Laura V.; Vogelsberger, Mark; Zavala, Jesús

2018-06-01

We employ isolated N-body simulations to study the response of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) halos in the presence of the baryonic potentials. Dark matter self-interactions lead to kinematic thermalization in the inner halo, resulting in a tight correlation between the dark matter and baryon distributions. A deep baryonic potential shortens the phase of SIDM core expansion and triggers core contraction. This effect can be further enhanced by a large self-scattering cross section. We find the final SIDM density profile is sensitive to the baryonic concentration and the strength of dark matter self-interactions. Assuming a spherical initial halo, we also study evolution of the SIDM halo shape together with the density profile. The halo shape at later epochs deviates from spherical symmetry due to the influence of the non-spherical disc potential, and its significance depends on the baryonic contribution to the total gravitational potential, relative to the dark matter one. In addition, we construct a multi-component model for the Milky Way, including an SIDM halo, a stellar disc and a bulge, and show it is consistent with observations from stellar kinematics and streams.

THE HALO MASS FUNCTION CONDITIONED ON DENSITY FROM THE MILLENNIUM SIMULATION: INSIGHTS INTO MISSING BARYONS AND GALAXY MASS FUNCTIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Faltenbacher, A.; Finoguenov, A.; Drory, N.

2010-03-20

The baryon content of high-density regions in the universe is relevant to two critical unanswered questions: the workings of nurture effects on galaxies and the whereabouts of the missing baryons. In this paper, we analyze the distribution of dark matter and semianalytical galaxies in the Millennium Simulation to investigate these problems. Applying the same density field reconstruction schemes as used for the overall matter distribution to the matter locked in halos, we study the mass contribution of halos to the total mass budget at various background field densities, i.e., the conditional halo mass function. In this context, we present amore » simple fitting formula for the cumulative mass function accurate to {approx}<5% for halo masses between 10{sup 10} and 10{sup 15} h {sup -1} M{sub sun}. We find that in dense environments the halo mass function becomes top heavy and present corresponding fitting formulae for different redshifts. We demonstrate that the major fraction of matter in high-density fields is associated with galaxy groups. Since current X-ray surveys are able to nearly recover the universal baryon fraction within groups, our results indicate that the major part of the so-far undetected warm-hot intergalactic medium resides in low-density regions. Similarly, we show that the differences in galaxy mass functions with environment seen in observed and simulated data stem predominantly from differences in the mass distribution of halos. In particular, the hump in the galaxy mass function is associated with the central group galaxies, and the bimodality observed in the galaxy mass function is therefore interpreted as that of central galaxies versus satellites.« less

Cosmic Ray Propagation through the Magnetic Fields of the Galaxy with Extended Halo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Ming

2005-01-01

In this project we perform theoretical studies of 3-dimensional cosmic ray propagation in magnetic field configurations of the Galaxy with an extended halo. We employ our newly developed Markov stochastic process methods to solve the diffusive cosmic ray transport equation. We seek to understand observations of cosmic ray spectra, composition under the constraints of the observations of diffuse gamma ray and radio emission from the Galaxy. The model parameters are directly are related to properties of our Galaxy, such as the size of the Galactic halo, particle transport in Galactic magnetic fields, distribution of interstellar gas, primary cosmic ray source distribution and their confinement in the Galaxy. The core of this investigation is the development of software for cosmic ray propagation models with the Markov stochastic process approach. Values of important model parameters for the halo diffusion model are examined in comparison with observations of cosmic ray spectra, composition and the diffuse gamma-ray background. This report summarizes our achievement in the grant period at the Florida Institute of Technology. Work at the co-investigator's institution, the University of New Hampshire, under a companion grant, will be covered in detail by a separate report.

THE SHAPE AND PROFILE OF THE MILKY WAY HALO AS SEEN BY THE CANADA-FRANCE-HAWAII TELESCOPE LEGACY SURVEY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sesar, Branimir; Ivezic, Zeljko; Juric, Mario, E-mail: bsesar@astro.caltech.edu

2011-04-10

We use Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey data for 170 deg{sup 2}, recalibrated and transformed to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ugri photometric system, to study the distribution of near-turnoff main-sequence stars in the Galactic halo along four lines of sight to heliocentric distances of {approx}35 kpc. We find that the halo stellar number density profile becomes steeper at Galactocentric distances greater than R{sub gal} {approx} 28 kpc, with the power-law index changing from n{sub inner} = -2.62 {+-} 0.04 to n{sub outer} = -3.8 {+-} 0.1. In particular, we test a series of single power-law models and find them tomore » be strongly disfavored by the data. The parameters for the best-fit Einasto profile are n = 2.2 {+-} 0.2 and R{sub e} = 22.2 {+-} 0.4 kpc. We measure the oblateness of the halo to be q {identical_to} c/a = 0.70 {+-} 0.01 and detect no evidence of it changing across the range of probed distances. The Sagittarius stream is detected in the l = 173 deg. and b = -62 deg. direction as an overdensity of [Fe/H] {approx} -1.5 dex stars at R{sub gal} {approx} 32 kpc, providing a new constraint for the Sagittarius stream and dark matter halo models. We also detect the Monoceros stream as an overdensity of [Fe/H] > -1.5 dex stars in the l = 232 deg. and b = 26 deg. direction at R{sub gal} {approx}< 25 kpc. In the two sight lines where we do not detect significant substructure, the median metallicity is found to be independent of distance within systematic uncertainties ([Fe/H] {approx} -1.5 {+-} 0.1 dex).« less

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: modelling the clustering and halo occupation distribution of BOSS CMASS galaxies in the Final Data Release

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodríguez-Torres, Sergio A.; Chuang, Chia-Hsun; Prada, Francisco; Guo, Hong; Klypin, Anatoly; Behroozi, Peter; Hahn, Chang Hoon; Comparat, Johan; Yepes, Gustavo; Montero-Dorta, Antonio D.; Brownstein, Joel R.; Maraston, Claudia; McBride, Cameron K.; Tinker, Jeremy; Gottlöber, Stefan; Favole, Ginevra; Shu, Yiping; Kitaura, Francisco-Shu; Bolton, Adam; Scoccimarro, Román; Samushia, Lado; Schlegel, David; Schneider, Donald P.; Thomas, Daniel

2016-08-01

We present a study of the clustering and halo occupation distribution of Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) CMASS galaxies in the redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7 drawn from the Final SDSS-III Data Release. We compare the BOSS results with the predictions of a halo abundance matching (HAM) clustering model that assigns galaxies to dark matter haloes selected from the large BigMultiDark N-body simulation of a flat Λ cold dark matter Planck cosmology. We compare the observational data with the simulated ones on a light cone constructed from 20 subsequent outputs of the simulation. Observational effects such as incompleteness, geometry, veto masks and fibre collisions are included in the model, which reproduces within 1σ errors the observed monopole of the two-point correlation function at all relevant scales: from the smallest scales, 0.5 h-1 Mpc, up to scales beyond the baryon acoustic oscillation feature. This model also agrees remarkably well with the BOSS galaxy power spectrum (up to k ˜ 1 h Mpc-1), and the three-point correlation function. The quadrupole of the correlation function presents some tensions with observations. We discuss possible causes that can explain this disagreement, including target selection effects. Overall, the standard HAM model describes remarkably well the clustering statistics of the CMASS sample. We compare the stellar-to-halo mass relation for the CMASS sample measured using weak lensing in the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Stripe 82 Survey with the prediction of our clustering model, and find a good agreement within 1σ. The BigMD-BOSS light cone including properties of BOSS galaxies and halo properties is made publicly available.

Revealing modified gravity signals in matter and halo hierarchical clustering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hellwing, Wojciech A.; Koyama, Kazuya; Bose, Benjamin; Zhao, Gong-Bo

2017-07-01

We use a set of N-body simulations employing a modified gravity (MG) model with Vainshtein screening to study matter and halo hierarchical clustering. As test-case scenarios we consider two normal branch Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (nDGP) gravity models with mild and strong growth rate enhancement. We study higher-order correlation functions ξn(R ) up to n =9 and associated reduced cumulants Sn(R )≡ξn(R )/σ (R )2n -2. We find that the matter probability distribution functions are strongly affected by the fifth force on scales up to 50 h-1 Mpc , and the deviations from general relativity (GR) are maximized at z =0 . For reduced cumulants Sn, we find that at small scales R ≤6 h-1 Mpc the MG is characterized by lower values, with the deviation growing from 7% in the reduced skewness up to even 40% in S5. To study the halo clustering we use a simple abundance matching and divide haloes into thee fixed number density samples. The halo two-point functions are weakly affected, with a relative boost of the order of a few percent appearing only at the smallest pair separations (r ≤5 h-1 Mpc ). In contrast, we find a strong MG signal in Sn(R )'s, which are enhanced compared to GR. The strong model exhibits a >3 σ level signal at various scales for all halo samples and in all cumulants. In this context, we find that the reduced kurtosis to be an especially promising cosmological probe of MG. Even the mild nDGP model leaves a 3 σ imprint at small scales R ≤3 h-1 Mpc , while the stronger model deviates from a GR signature at nearly all scales with a significance of >5 σ . Since the signal is persistent in all halo samples and over a range of scales, we advocate that the reduced kurtosis estimated from galaxy catalogs can potentially constitute a strong MG-model discriminatory as well as GR self-consistency test.

Simulation of halo particles with Simpsons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Machida, Shinji

2003-12-01

Recent code improvements and some simulation results of halo particles with Simpsons will be presented. We tried to identify resonance behavior of halo particles by looking at tune evolution of individual macro particle.

Constraining cosmic scatter in the Galactic halo through a differential analysis of metal-poor stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reggiani, Henrique; Meléndez, Jorge; Kobayashi, Chiaki; Karakas, Amanda; Placco, Vinicius

2017-12-01

Context. The chemical abundances of metal-poor halo stars are important to understanding key aspects of Galactic formation and evolution. Aims: We aim to constrain Galactic chemical evolution with precise chemical abundances of metal-poor stars (-2.8 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ -1.5). Methods: Using high resolution and high S/N UVES spectra of 23 stars and employing the differential analysis technique we estimated stellar parameters and obtained precise LTE chemical abundances. Results: We present the abundances of Li, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Zn, Sr, Y, Zr, and Ba. The differential technique allowed us to obtain an unprecedented low level of scatter in our analysis, with standard deviations as low as 0.05 dex, and mean errors as low as 0.05 dex for [X/Fe]. Conclusions: By expanding our metallicity range with precise abundances from other works, we were able to precisely constrain Galactic chemical evolution models in a wide metallicity range (-3.6 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ -0.4). The agreements and discrepancies found are key for further improvement of both models and observations. We also show that the LTE analysis of Cr II is a much more reliable source of abundance for chromium, as Cr I has important NLTE effects. These effects can be clearly seen when we compare the observed abundances of Cr I and Cr II with GCE models. While Cr I has a clear disagreement between model and observations, Cr II is very well modeled. We confirm tight increasing trends of Co and Zn toward lower metallicities, and a tight flat evolution of Ni relative to Fe. Our results strongly suggest inhomogeneous enrichment from hypernovae. Our precise stellar parameters results in a low star-to-star scatter (0.04 dex) in the Li abundances of our sample, with a mean value about 0.4 dex lower than the prediction from standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis; we also study the relation between lithium depletion and stellar mass, but it is difficult to assess a correlation due to the limited mass range. We

Globular Cluster Orbits from HST Proper Motions: Constraining the Formation and Mass of the Milky Way Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sohn, S. Tony; Van Der Marel, Roeland P.; Deason, Alis J.; Bellini, Andrea; Besla, Gurtina; Watkins, Laura

2016-06-01

The globular cluster (GC) system of the Milky Way (MW) provides important information on the MW's present structure and past evolution. GCs in the halo are particularly useful tracers; because of their long dynamical timescales, their orbits retain imprints of their origin or accretion history. Full 3D motions are required to calculate past orbits. While most GCs have known line of sight velocities, accurate proper motion (PM) measurements are currently available for only a few halo GCs. Our goal is to create the first high-quality PM database for halo GCs. We have identified suitable 1st-epoch data in the HST Archive for 20 halo GCs at 10-100 kpc from the Galactic Center. We are in the process of obtaining the necessary 2nd-epoch data to determine absolute PMs of the target GCs through our HST program GO-14235. We will use the same advanced astrometric techniques that allowed us to measure the PMs of M31 and Leo I. Previous studies of the halo GC system based on e.g., stellar populations, metallicities, RR Lyrae properties, and structural properties have revealed a dichotomy between old and young halo GCs. This may reflect distinct formation scenarios (in situ vs. accreted). Orbit calculations based on our PMs will directly test this. The PMs will also yield the best handle yet on the velocity anisotropy profile of any tracer population in the halo. This will resolve the mass-anisotropy degeneracy to provide an improved estimate of the MW mass, which is at present poorly known. In summary, our project will deliver the first accurate PMs for halo GCs, and will significantly increase our understanding of the formation, evolution, and mass of the MW.

The Profile of the Galactic Halo from Pan-STARRS1 3π RR Lyrae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernitschek, Nina; Cohen, Judith G.; Rix, Hans-Walter; Sesar, Branimir; Martin, Nicolas F.; Magnier, Eugene; Wainscoat, Richard; Kaiser, Nick; Tonry, John L.; Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter; Hodapp, Klaus; Chambers, Ken; Flewelling, Heather; Burgett, William

2018-05-01

We characterize the spatial density of the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) sample of Rrab stars to study the properties of the old Galactic stellar halo. This sample, containing 44,403 sources, spans galactocentric radii of 0.55 kpc ≤ R gc ≤ 141 kpc with a distance precision of 3% and thus is able to trace the halo out to larger distances than most previous studies. After excising stars that are attributed to dense regions such as stellar streams, the Galactic disk and bulge, and halo globular clusters, the sample contains ∼11,000 sources within 20 kpc ≤ R gc ≤ 131 kpc. We then apply forward modeling using Galactic halo profile models with a sample selection function. Specifically, we use ellipsoidal stellar density models ρ(l, b, R gc) with a constant and a radius-dependent halo flattening q(R gc). Assuming constant flattening q, the distribution of the sources is reasonably well fit by a single power law with n={4.40}-0.04+0.05 and q={0.918}-0.014+0.016 and comparably well fit by an Einasto profile with n={9.53}-0.28+0.27, an effective radius r eff = 1.07 ± 0.10 kpc, and a halo flattening of q = 0.923 ± 0.007. If we allow for a radius-dependent flattening q(R gc), we find evidence for a distinct flattening of q ∼ 0.8 of the inner halo at ∼25 kpc. Additionally, we find that the south Galactic hemisphere is more flattened than the north Galactic hemisphere. The results of our work are largely consistent with many earlier results (e.g., Watkins et al.; Iorio et al.). We find that the stellar halo, as traced in RR Lyrae stars, exhibits a substantial number of further significant over- and underdensities, even after masking all known overdensities.

Halo mass dependence of H I and O VI absorption: evidence for differential kinematics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mathes, Nigel L.; Churchill, Christopher W.; Nielsen, Nikole M.

2014-09-10

We studied a sample of 14 galaxies (0.1 < z < 0.7) using HST/WFPC2 imaging and high-resolution HST/COS or HST/STIS quasar spectroscopy of Lyα, Lyβ, and O VI λλ1031, 1037 absorption. The galaxies, having 10.8 ≤ log (M {sub h}/M {sub ☉}) ≤ 12.2, lie within D = 300 kpc of quasar sightlines, probing out to D/R {sub vir} = 3. When the full range of M {sub h} and D/R {sub vir} of the sample are examined, ∼40% of the H I absorbing clouds can be inferred to be escaping their host halo. The fraction of bound clouds decreasesmore » as D/R {sub vir} increases such that the escaping fraction is ∼15% for D/R {sub vir} < 1, ∼45% for 1 ≤ D/R {sub vir} < 2, and ∼90% for 2 ≤ D/R {sub vir} < 3. Adopting the median mass log M {sub h}/M {sub ☉} = 11.5 to divide the sample into 'higher' and 'lower' mass galaxies, we find a mass dependency for the hot circumgalactic medium kinematics. To our survey limits, O VI absorption is found in only ∼40% of the H I clouds in and around lower mass halos as compared to ∼85% around higher mass halos. For D/R {sub vir} < 1, lower mass halos have an escape fraction of ∼65%, whereas higher mass halos have an escape fraction of ∼5%. For 1 ≤ D/R {sub vir} < 2, the escape fractions are ∼55% and ∼35% for lower mass and higher mass halos, respectively. For 2 ≤ D/R {sub vir} < 3, the escape fraction for lower mass halos is ∼90%. We show that it is highly likely that the absorbing clouds reside within 4R {sub vir} of their host galaxies and that the kinematics are dominated by outflows. Our finding of 'differential kinematics' is consistent with the scenario of 'differential wind recycling' proposed by Oppenheimer et al. We discuss the implications for galaxy evolution, the stellar to halo mass function, and the mass-metallicity relationship of galaxies.« less

Implementation of a 3D halo neutral model in the TRANSP code and application to projected NSTX-U plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medley, S. S.; Liu, D.; Gorelenkova, M. V.; Heidbrink, W. W.; Stagner, L.

2016-02-01

A 3D halo neutral code developed at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and implemented for analysis using the TRANSP code is applied to projected National Spherical Torus eXperiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U plasmas). The legacy TRANSP code did not handle halo neutrals properly since they were distributed over the plasma volume rather than remaining in the vicinity of the neutral beam footprint as is actually the case. The 3D halo neutral code uses a ‘beam-in-a-box’ model that encompasses both injected beam neutrals and resulting halo neutrals. Upon deposition by charge exchange, a subset of the full, one-half and one-third beam energy components produce first generation halo neutrals that are tracked through successive generations until an ionization event occurs or the descendant halos exit the box. The 3D halo neutral model and neutral particle analyzer (NPA) simulator in the TRANSP code have been benchmarked with the Fast-Ion D-Alpha simulation (FIDAsim) code, which provides Monte Carlo simulations of beam neutral injection, attenuation, halo generation, halo spatial diffusion, and photoemission processes. When using the same atomic physics database, TRANSP and FIDAsim simulations achieve excellent agreement on the spatial profile and magnitude of beam and halo neutral densities and the NPA energy spectrum. The simulations show that the halo neutral density can be comparable to the beam neutral density. These halo neutrals can double the NPA flux, but they have minor effects on the NPA energy spectrum shape. The TRANSP and FIDAsim simulations also suggest that the magnitudes of beam and halo neutral densities are relatively sensitive to the choice of the atomic physics databases.

Implementation of a 3D halo neutral model in the TRANSP code and application to projected NSTX-U plasmas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Medley, S. S.; Liu, D.; Gorelenkova, M. V.

2016-01-12

A 3D halo neutral code developed at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and implemented for analysis using the TRANSP code is applied to projected National Spherical Torus eXperiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U plasmas). The legacy TRANSP code did not handle halo neutrals properly since they were distributed over the plasma volume rather than remaining in the vicinity of the neutral beam footprint as is actually the case. The 3D halo neutral code uses a 'beam-in-a-box' model that encompasses both injected beam neutrals and resulting halo neutrals. Upon deposition by charge exchange, a subset of the full, one-half and one-third beam energy components producemore » first generation halo neutrals that are tracked through successive generations until an ionization event occurs or the descendant halos exit the box. The 3D halo neutral model and neutral particle analyzer (NPA) simulator in the TRANSP code have been benchmarked with the Fast-Ion D-Alpha simulation (FIDAsim) code, which provides Monte Carlo simulations of beam neutral injection, attenuation, halo generation, halo spatial diffusion, and photoemission processes. When using the same atomic physics database, TRANSP and FIDAsim simulations achieve excellent agreement on the spatial profile and magnitude of beam and halo neutral densities and the NPA energy spectrum. The simulations show that the halo neutral density can be comparable to the beam neutral density. These halo neutrals can double the NPA flux, but they have minor effects on the NPA energy spectrum shape. The TRANSP and FIDAsim simulations also suggest that the magnitudes of beam and halo neutral densities are relatively sensitive to the choice of the atomic physics databases.« less

The X-ray Halo of GX5-1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Randall K.; Dame, T. M.; Costantini, Elisa; Predehl, Peter

2006-01-01

Using Chandra observations we have measured the energy-resolved dust-scattered X-ray halo around the low-mass X-ray binary GX5-1, detecting for the first time multiply scattered X-rays from interstellar dust. % e compared the observed X-ray halo at various energies to predictions from a range of dust models. These fits used both smoothly-distributed dust as well as dust in clumped clouds, with CO and 21 cm observations helping to determine the position of the clouds along the line of sight. We found that the BARE-GR-B model of Zubko, Dwek & Arendt (2004) generally led to the best results, although inadequacies in both the overall model and the data limit our conclusions. We did find that the composite dust models of Zubko, Dwek & Arendt (2004), especially the "no carbon" models, gave uniformly poor results. Although models using cloud positions and densities derived naively from CO and 21 cm data gave generally poor results, plausible adjustments to the distance of the largest cloud and the mass of a cloud in the expanding 3 kpc Arm lead to significantly improved fits. We suggest that combining X-ray halo, CO, and 21 cm observations will be a fruitful method to improve our understanding of both the gas and dust phases of the interstellar medium.

Exploring the Variable Sky with LINEAR. II. Halo Structure and Substructure Traced by RR Lyrae Stars to 30 kpc

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sesar, Branimir; Ivezić, Željko; Stuart, J. Scott; Morgan, Dylan M.; Becker, Andrew C.; Sharma, Sanjib; Palaversa, Lovro; Jurić, Mario; Wozniak, Przemyslaw; Oluseyi, Hakeem

2013-08-01

We present a sample of ~5000 RR Lyrae stars selected from the recalibrated LINEAR data set and detected at heliocentric distances between 5 kpc and 30 kpc over ~8000 deg2 of sky. The coordinates and light curve properties, such as period and Oosterhoff type, are made publicly available. We analyze in detail the light curve properties and Galactic distribution of the subset of ~4000 type ab RR Lyrae (RRab) stars, including a search for new halo substructures and the number density distribution as a function of Oosterhoff type. We find evidence for the Oosterhoff dichotomy among field RR Lyrae stars, with the ratio of the type II and I subsamples of about 1:4, but with a weaker separation than for globular cluster stars. The wide sky coverage and depth of this sample allow unique constraints for the number density distribution of halo RRab stars as a function of galactocentric distance: it can be described as an oblate ellipsoid with an axis ratio q = 0.63 and with either a single or a double power law with a power-law index in the range -2 to -3. Consistent with previous studies, we find that the Oosterhoff type II subsample has a steeper number density profile than the Oosterhoff type I subsample. Using the group-finding algorithm EnLink, we detected seven candidate halo groups, only one of which is statistically spurious. Three of these groups are near globular clusters (M53/NGC 5053, M3, M13), and one is near a known halo substructure (Virgo Stellar Stream); the remaining three groups do not seem to be near any known halo substructures or globular clusters and seem to have a higher ratio of Oosterhoff type II to Oosterhoff type I RRab stars than what is found in the halo. The extended morphology and the position (outside the tidal radius) of some of the groups near globular clusters are suggestive of tidal streams possibly originating from globular clusters. Spectroscopic follow-up of detected halo groups is encouraged.

Extraplanar H II Regions in Spiral Galaxies. I. Low-metallicity Gas Accreting through the Disk-halo Interface of NGC 4013

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howk, J. Christopher; Rueff, Katherine M.; Lehner, Nicolas; Wotta, Christopher B.; Croxall, Kevin; Savage, Blair D.

2018-04-01

The interstellar thick disks of galaxies serve as the interface between the thin star-forming disk, where feedback-driven outflows originate, and the distant halo, the repository for accreted gas. We present optical emission line spectroscopy of a luminous, thick disk H II region located at z = 860 pc above the plane of the spiral galaxy NGC 4013 taken with the Multi-Object Double Spectrograph on the Large Binocular Telescope. This nebula, with an Hα luminosity ∼4–7 times that of the Orion nebula, surrounds a luminous cluster of young, hot stars that ionize the surrounding interstellar gas of the thick disk, providing a measure of the properties of that gas. We demonstrate that strong emission line methods can provide accurate measures of relative abundances between pairs of H II regions. From our emission line spectroscopy, we show that the metal content of the thick disk H II region is a factor of ≈2 lower than gas in H II regions at the midplane of this galaxy (with the relative abundance of O in the thick disk lower by ‑0.32 ± 0.09 dex). This implies incomplete mixing of material in the thick disk on small scales (hundreds of parsecs) and that there is accretion of low-metallicity gas through the thick disks of spirals. The inclusion of low-metallicity gas this close to the plane of NGC 4013 is reminiscent of the recently proposed “fountain-driven” accretion models.

[Halos and multifocal intraocular lenses: origin and interpretation].

PubMed

Alba-Bueno, F; Vega, F; Millán, M S

2014-10-01

To present the theoretical and experimental characterization of the halo in multifocal intraocular lenses (MIOL). The origin of the halo in a MIOL is the overlaying of 2 or more images. Using geometrical optics, it can be demonstrated that the diameter of each halo depends on the addition of the lens (ΔP), the base power (P(d)), and the diameter of the IOL that contributes to the «non-focused» focus. In the image plane that corresponds to the distance focus, the halo diameter (δH(d)) is given by: δH(d)=d(pn) ΔP/P(d), where d(pn) is the diameter of the IOL that contributes to the near focus. Analogously, in the near image plane the halo diameter (δH(n)) is: δH(n)=d(pd) ΔP/P(d), where d(pd) is the diameter of the IOL that contributes to the distance focus. Patients perceive halos when they see bright objects over a relatively dark background. In vitro, the halo can be characterized by analyzing the intensity profile of the image of a pinhole that is focused by each of the foci of a MIOL. A comparison has been made between the halos induced by different MIOL of the same base power (20D) in an optical bench. As predicted by theory, the larger the addition of the MIOL, the larger the halo diameter. For large pupils and with MIOL with similar aspheric designs and addition (SN6AD3 vs ZMA00), the apodized MIOL has a smaller halo diameter than a non-apodized one in distance vision, while in near vision the size is very similar, but the relative intensity is higher in the apodized MIOL. When comparing lenses with the same diffractive design, but with different spherical-aspheric base design (SN60D3 vs SN6AD3), the halo in distance vision of the spherical MIOL is larger, while in near vision the spherical IOL induces a smaller halo, but with higher intensity due to the spherical aberration of the distance focus in the near image. In the case of a trifocal-diffractive IOL (AT LISA 839MP) the most noticeable characteristic is the double-halo formation due to the 2 non

On physical scales of dark matter halos

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zemp, Marcel, E-mail: mzemp@pku.edu.cn

2014-09-10

It is common practice to describe formal size and mass scales of dark matter halos as spherical overdensities with respect to an evolving density threshold. Here, we critically investigate the evolutionary effects of several such commonly used definitions and compare them to the halo evolution within fixed physical scales as well as to the evolution of other intrinsic physical properties of dark matter halos. It is shown that, in general, the traditional way of characterizing sizes and masses of halos dramatically overpredicts the degree of evolution in the last 10 Gyr, especially for low-mass halos. This pseudo-evolution leads to themore » illusion of growth even though there are no major changes within fixed physical scales. Such formal size definitions also serve as proxies for the virialized region of a halo in the literature. In general, those spherical overdensity scales do not coincide with the virialized region. A physically more precise nomenclature would be to simply characterize them by their very definition instead of calling such formal size and mass definitions 'virial'. In general, we find a discrepancy between the evolution of the underlying physical structure of dark matter halos seen in cosmological structure formation simulations and pseudo-evolving formal virial quantities. We question the importance of the role of formal virial quantities currently ubiquitously used in descriptions, models, and relations that involve properties of dark matter structures. Concepts and relations based on pseudo-evolving formal virial quantities do not properly reflect the actual evolution of dark matter halos and lead to an inaccurate picture of the physical evolution of our universe.« less

Research Progresses of Halo Streams in the Solar Neighborhood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xi-long, Liang; Jing-kun, Zhao; Yu-qin, Chen; Gang, Zhao

2018-01-01

The stellar streams originated from the Galactic halo may be detected when they pass by the solar neighborhood, and they still keep some information at their birth times. Thus, the investigation of halo streams in the solar neighborhood is very important for understanding the formation and evolution of our Galaxy. In this paper, the researches of halo streams in the solar neighborhood are briefly reviewed. We have introduced the methods how to detect the halo streams and identify their member stars, summarized the progresses in the observation of member stars of halo streams and in the study of their origins, introduced in detail how to analyze the origins of halo streams in the solar neighborhood by means of numerical simulation and chemical abundance, and finally discussed the prospects of the LAMOST and GAIA in the research of halo streams in the solar neighborhood.

Detection of lithium in the cool halo dwarfs Groombridge 1830 and HD 134439: Implications for internal stellar mixing and cosmology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deliyannis, Constantine P.; Ryan, Sean G.; Beers, Timothy C.; Thorburn, Julie A.

1994-01-01

Lithium abundances in halo stars, when interpreted correctly, hold the key to uncovering the primordial Li abundance Li(sub p). However, whereas standard stellar evolutionary models imply consistency in standard big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), models with rotationally induced mixing imply a higher Li(sub p), possibly implying an inconsistency in standard BBN. We report here Li detections in two cool halo dwarfs, Gmb 1830 and HD 134439. These are the coolest and lowest Li detections in halo dwarfs to date, and are consistent with the metallicity dependence of Li depletion in published models. If the recent report of a beryllium deficiency in Gmb 1830 represents a real Be depletion, then the rotational models would be favored. We propose tests to reduce critical uncertainties.

Life in the Outer Limits: Insight into Hierarchical Merging from the Outermost Structure of the Andromeda Stellar Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beaton, Rachael; Majewski, S. R.; Patterson, R. J.; Guhathakurta, P.; Gilbert, K.; Kalirai, J. S.; Tollerud, E. J.; SPLASH Team

2014-01-01

Owing to their large dynamical timescales, the stellar haloes of Milky Way (MW) sized galaxies represent ideal environments to test modern theories of galaxy formation in the Lambda-CDM paradigm. Only in stellar haloes can the remnants of hierarchical accretion be preserved over long timescales as in-tact dwarf satellites or as tidal debris and can be easily distinguished from the underlying smooth structure. Stellar haloes, however, remain some of the most difficult galactic structures to constrain due to their large angular extent and extremely low surface brightness. Thus, the basic properties of stellar haloes -- the overall stellar distribution, substructure fraction, global kinematics and detailed stellar content -- remained relatively unconstrained. In this thesis, we present several projects designed to understand the current structure and the the formation of the Andromeda (M31) stellar halo, the only stellar halo -- besides our own -- that is within reach of current ground based facilities on the large scale required to constrain the basic properties of stellar haloes. First, we describe a seven season imaging campaign comprising the backbone of the Spectroscopic and Photometric Landscape of the Andromeda Stellar Halo (SPLASH) program. This survey is unique in its application of the Washington + DDO51 filter system to select individual M31 RGB stars without spectroscopic follow up. Second, we use the SPLASH photometric survey to identify sample of halo stars at projected radii of 120 kpc, for which we have obtained spectroscopic follow-up. Third, we add this large radius sample to the existing spectroscopic results from SPLASH, and use this unique sample to explore the stellar kinematics of the halo at large radii with full azimuthal coverage. Lastly, we preview on-going work to constrain the formation of the Andromeda stellar halo, using both in-tact satellites and resolved M31 halo members as tracers of its accretion history.

The Faber–Jackson relation and Fundamental Plane from halo abundance matching

DOE PAGES

Desmond, Harry; Wechsler, Risa H.

2016-11-02

The Fundamental Plane (FP) describes the relation between the stellar mass, size, and velocity dispersion of elliptical galaxies; the Faber–Jackson relation (FJR) is its projection on to {mass, velocity} space. In this work, we re-deploy and expand the framework of Desmond & Wechsler to ask whether abundance matching-based Λ-cold dark matter models which have shown success in matching the spatial distribution of galaxies are also capable of explaining key properties of the FJR and FP, including their scatter. Within our framework, agreement with the normalization of the FJR requires haloes to expand in response to disc formation. We find thatmore » the tilt of the FP may be explained by a combination of the observed non-homology in galaxy structure and the variation in mass-to-light ratio produced by abundance matching with a universal initial mass function, provided that the anisotropy of stellar motions is taken into account. However, the predicted scatter around the FP is considerably increased by situating galaxies in cosmologically motivated haloes due to the variations in halo properties at fixed stellar mass and appears to exceed that of the data. Finally, this implies that additional correlations between galaxy and halo variables may be required to fully reconcile these models with elliptical galaxy scaling relations.« less

Abundances and Evolution of Lithium in the Galactic Halo and Disk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, Sean G.; Kajino, Toshitaka; Beers, Timothy C.; Suzuki, Takeru Ken; Romano, Donatella; Matteucci, Francesca; Rosolankova, Katarina

2001-03-01

We have measured the Li abundance of 18 stars with -2<~[Fe/H]<~-1 and 6000<~Teff<~6400 K, a parameter range that was poorly represented in previous studies. We examine the Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) of this element, combining these data with previous samples of turnoff stars over the full range of halo metallicities. We find that A(Li) increases from a level of ~2.10 at [Fe/H]=-3.5 to ~2.40 at [Fe/H]=-1.0, where A(Li)=log10(n(Li)/n(H))+12.00. We compare the observations with several GCE calculations, including existing one-zone models and a new model developed in the framework of inhomogeneous evolution of the Galactic halo. We show that Li evolved at a constant rate relative to iron throughout the halo and old disk epochs but that during the formation of young disk stars, the production of Li relative to iron increased significantly. These observations can be understood in the context of models in which postprimordial Li evolution during the halo and old disk epochs is dominated by Galactic cosmic-ray fusion and spallation reactions, with some contribution from the ν-process in supernovae. The onset of more efficient Li production (relative to iron) in the young disk coincides with the appearance of Li from novae and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. The major challenge facing the models is to reconcile the mild evolution of Li during the halo and old disk phases with the more efficient production (relative to iron) at [Fe/H]>-0.5. We speculate that cool-bottom processing (production) of Li in low-mass stars may provide an important late-appearing source of Li, without attendant Fe production, that might explain the Li production in the young disk. Based on observations obtained with the University College London échelle spectrograph (UCLES) on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) and the Utrecht échelle spectrograph (UES) on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT).

Group galaxy number density profiles far out: Is the `one-halo' term NFW out to >10 virial radii?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trevisan, M.; Mamon, G. A.; Stalder, D. H.

2017-10-01

While the density profiles (DPs) of Lambda cold dark matter haloes obey the Navarro, Frenk & White (NFW) law out to roughly one virial radius, rvir, the structure of their outer parts is still poorly understood, because the one-halo term describing the halo itself is dominated by the two-halo term representing the other haloes picked up. Using a semi-analytical model, we measure the real-space one-halo number DP of groups out to 20rvir by assigning each galaxy to its nearest group above mass Ma, in units of the group rvir. If Ma is small (large), the outer DP of groups falls rapidly (slowly). We find that there is an optimal Ma for which the stacked DP resembles the NFW model to 0.1 dex accuracy out to 13 virial radii. We find similar long-range NFW surface DPs (out to 10rvir) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey observations using a galaxy assignment scheme that combines the non-linear virialized regions of groups with their linear outer parts. The optimal Ma scales as the minimum mass of the groups that are stacked to a power 0.25-0.3. The NFW model thus does not solely originate from violent relaxation. Moreover, populating haloes with galaxies using halo occupation distribution models must proceed out to much larger radii than usually done.

The clustering of QSOs and the dark matter halos that host them

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Dong-Yao; Yan, Chang-Shuo; Lu, Youjun

2013-10-01

The spatial clustering of QSOs is an important measurable quantity which can be used to infer the properties of dark matter halos that host them. We construct a simple QSO model to explain the linear bias of QSOs measured by recent observations and explore the properties of dark matter halos that host a QSO. We assume that major mergers of dark matter halos can lead to the triggering of QSO phenomena, and the evolution of luminosity for a QSO generally shows two accretion phases, i.e., initially having a constant Eddington ratio due to the self-regulation of the accretion process when supply is sufficient, and then declining in rate with time as a power law due to either diminished supply or long term disk evolution. Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, the model parameters are constrained by fitting the observationally determined QSO luminosity functions (LFs) in the hard X-ray and in the optical band simultaneously. Adopting the model parameters that best fit the QSO LFs, the linear bias of QSOs can be predicted and then compared with the observational measurements by accounting for various selection effects in different QSO surveys. We find that the latest measurements of the linear bias of QSOs from both the SDSS and BOSS QSO surveys can be well reproduced. The typical mass of SDSS QSOs at redshift 1.5 < z < 4.5 is ~ (3 - 6) × 1012 h-1 Msolar and the typical mass of BOSS QSOs at z ~ 2.4 is ~ 2 × 1012 h-1 Msolar. For relatively faint QSOs, the mass distribution of their host dark matter halos is wider than that of bright QSOs because faint QSOs can be hosted in both big halos and smaller halos, but bright QSOs are only hosted in big halos, which is part of the reason for the predicted weak dependence of the linear biases on the QSO luminosity.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Very metal poor stars in MW halo (Mashonkina+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mashonkina, L.; Jablonka, P.; Sitnova, T.; Pakhomov, Yu; North, P.

2017-10-01

Tables 3 and 4 from the article are presented. They include the LTE and NLTE abundances from individual lines and average abundances of the investigated stars in the dSphs Sculptor (Scl), Ursa Minor (UMi), Fornax (Fnx), Sextans (Sex), Bootes I (Boo), UMa II, and Leo IV and the Milky Way (MW) halo. (3 data files).

Squeezing the halo bispectrum: a test of bias models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dizgah, Azadeh Moradinezhad; Chan, Kwan Chuen; Noreña, Jorge

We study the halo-matter cross bispectrum in the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type. We restrict ourselves to the squeezed limit, for which the calculation are straightforward, and perform the measurements in the initial conditions of N-body simulations, to mitigate the contamination induced by nonlinear gravitational evolution. Interestingly, the halo-matter cross bispectrum is not trivial even in this simple limit as it is strongly sensitive to the scale-dependence of the quadratic and third-order halo bias. Therefore, it can be used to test biasing prescriptions. We consider three different prescription for halo clustering: excursion set peaks (ESP), local biasmore » and a model in which the halo bias parameters are explicitly derived from a peak-background split. In all cases, the model parameters are fully constrained with statistics other than the cross bispectrum. We measure the cross bispectrum involving one halo fluctuation field and two mass overdensity fields for various halo masses and collapse redshifts. We find that the ESP is in reasonably good agreement with the numerical data, while the other alternatives we consider fail in various cases. This suggests that the scale-dependence of halo bias also is a crucial ingredient to the squeezed limit of the halo bispectrum.« less

HALOE test and evaluation software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edmonds, W.; Natarajan, S.

1987-01-01

Computer programming, system development and analysis efforts during this contract were carried out in support of the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) at NASA/Langley. Support in the major areas of data acquisition and monitoring, data reduction and system development are described along with a brief explanation of the HALOE project. Documented listings of major software are located in the appendix.

Proton Distribution Radii of 12-19C Illuminate Features of Neutron Halos

DOE PAGES

Kanungo, R.; Horiuchi, W.; Hagen, Gaute; ...

2016-09-02

We report proton radii of 12-19C densities derived from first accurate charge changing cross section measurements at 900A MeV with a carbon target. A thick neutron surface evolves from ~0.5 fm in 15C to ~1 fm in 19C. Also, the halo radius in 19C is found to be 6.4±0.7 fm as large as 11Li. Ab initio calculations based on chiral nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon forces reproduce the radii well.

Cumulative Neutrino and Gamma-Ray Backgrounds from Halo and Galaxy Mergers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Chengchao; Mészáros, Peter; Murase, Kohta; Jeong, Donghui

2018-04-01

The merger of dark matter halos and the gaseous structures embedded in them, such as protogalaxies, galaxies, and groups and clusters of galaxies, results in strong shocks that are capable of accelerating cosmic rays (CRs) to ≳10 PeV. These shocks will produce high-energy neutrinos and γ-rays through inelastic pp collisions. In this work, we study the contributions of these halo mergers to the diffuse neutrino flux and to the nonblazar portion of the extragalactic γ-ray background. We formulate the redshift dependence of the shock velocity, galactic radius, halo gas content, and galactic/intergalactic magnetic fields over the dark matter halo distribution up to a redshift z = 10. We find that high-redshift mergers contribute a significant amount of the CR luminosity density, and the resulting neutrino spectra could explain a large part of the observed diffuse neutrino flux above 0.1 PeV up to several PeV. We also show that our model can somewhat alleviate tensions with the extragalactic γ-ray background. First, since a larger fraction of the CR luminosity density comes from high redshifts, the accompanying γ-rays are more strongly suppressed through γγ annihilations with the cosmic microwave background and the extragalactic background light. Second, mildly radiative-cooled shocks may lead to a harder CR spectrum with spectral indices of 1.5 ≲ s ≲ 2.0. Our study suggests that halo mergers, a fraction of which may also induce starbursts in the merged galaxies, can be promising neutrino emitters without violating the existing Fermi γ-ray constraints on the nonblazar component of the extragalactic γ-ray background.

Halo-free phase contrast microscopy (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Tan H.; Kandel, Mikhail E.; Shakir, Haadi M.; Best, Catherine; Do, Minh N.; Popescu, Gabriel

2017-02-01

The phase contrast (PC) method is one of the most impactful developments in the four-century long history of microscopy. It allows for intrinsic, nondestructive contrast of transparent specimens, such as live cells. However, PC is plagued by the halo artifact, a result of insufficient spatial coherence in the illumination field, which limits its applicability. We present a new approach for retrieving halo-free phase contrast microscopy (hfPC) images by upgrading the conventional PC microscope with an external interferometric module, which generates sufficient data for reversing the halo artifact. Measuring four independent intensity images, our approach first measures haloed phase maps of the sample. We solve for the halo-free sample transmission function by using a physical model of the image formation under partial spatial coherence. Using this halo-free sample transmission, we can numerically generate artifact-free PC images. Furthermore, this transmission can be further used to obtain quantitative information about the sample, e.g., the thickness with known refractive indices, dry mass of live cells during their cycles. We tested our hfPC method on various control samples, e.g., beads, pillars and validated its potential for biological investigation by imaging live HeLa cells, red blood cells, and neurons.

Large-scale structure after COBE: Peculiar velocities and correlations of cold dark matter halos

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zurek, Wojciech H.; Quinn, Peter J.; Salmon, John K.; Warren, Michael S.

1994-01-01

Large N-body simulations on parallel supercomputers allow one to simultaneously investigate large-scale structure and the formation of galactic halos with unprecedented resolution. Our study shows that the masses as well as the spatial distribution of halos on scales of tens of megaparsecs in a cold dark matter (CDM) universe with the spectrum normalized to the anisotropies detected by Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) is compatible with the observations. We also show that the average value of the relative pairwise velocity dispersion sigma(sub v) - used as a principal argument against COBE-normalized CDM models-is significantly lower for halos than for individual particles. When the observational methods of extracting sigma(sub v) are applied to the redshift catalogs obtained from the numerical experiments, estimates differ significantly between different observation-sized samples and overlap observational estimates obtained following the same procedure.

The Structure of Dark Matter Halos in Dwarf Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burkert, A.

1995-07-01

Recent observations indicate that dark matter halos have flat central density profiles. Cosmological simulations with nonbaryonic dark matter, however, predict self-similar halos with central density cusps. This contradiction has lead to the conclusion that dark matter must be baryonic. Here it is shown that the dark matter halos of dwarf spiral galaxies represent a one-parameter family with self-similar density profiles. The observed global halo parameters are coupled with each other through simple scaling relations which can be explained by the standard cold dark matter model if one assumes that all the halos formed from density fluctuations with the same primordial amplitude. We find that the finite central halo densities correlate with the other global parameters. This result rules out scenarios where the flat halo cores formed subsequently through violent dynamical processes in the baryonic component. These cores instead provide important information on the origin and nature of dark matter in dwarf galaxies.

Subhalo demographics in the Illustris simulation: effects of baryons and halo-to-halo variation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chua, Kun Ting Eddie; Pillepich, Annalisa; Rodriguez-Gomez, Vicente; Vogelsberger, Mark; Bird, Simeon; Hernquist, Lars

2017-12-01

We study the abundance of subhaloes in the hydrodynamical cosmological simulation Illustris, which includes both baryons and dark matter in a cold dark matter volume 106.5 Mpc a side. We compare Illustris to its dark-matter only (DMO) analogue, Illustris-Dark and quantify the effects of baryonic processes on the demographics of subhaloes in the host mass range 1011-3 × 1014 M⊙. We focus on both the evolved (z = 0) subhalo cumulative mass functions (SHMF) and the statistics of subhaloes ever accreted, i.e. infall SHMF. We quantify the variance in subhalo abundance at fixed host mass and investigate the physical reasons responsible for such scatter. We find that in Illustris, baryonic physics impacts both the infall and z = 0 subhalo abundance by tilting the DMO function and suppressing the abundance of low-mass subhaloes. The breaking of self-similarity in the subhalo abundance at z = 0 is enhanced by the inclusion of baryonic physics. The non-monotonic alteration of the evolved subhalo abundances can be explained by the modification of the concentration-mass relation of Illustris hosts compared to Illustris-Dark. Interestingly, the baryonic implementation in Illustris does not lead to an increase in the halo-to-halo variation compared to Illustris-Dark. In both cases, the normalized intrinsic scatter today is larger for Milky Way-like haloes than for cluster-sized objects. For Milky Way-like haloes, it increases from about eight per cent at infall to about 25 per cent at the current epoch. In both runs, haloes of fixed mass formed later host more subhaloes than early formers.

Dopant distributions in n-MOSFET structure observed by atom probe tomography.

PubMed

Inoue, K; Yano, F; Nishida, A; Takamizawa, H; Tsunomura, T; Nagai, Y; Hasegawa, M

2009-11-01

The dopant distributions in an n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) structure were analyzed by atom probe tomography. The dopant distributions of As, P, and B atoms in a MOSFET structure (gate, gate oxide, channel, source/drain extension, and halo) were obtained. P atoms were segregated at the interface between the poly-Si gate and the gate oxide, and on the grain boundaries of the poly-Si gate, which had an elongated grain structure along the gate height direction. The concentration of B atoms was enriched near the edge of the source/drain extension where the As atoms were implanted.

The QUEST RR Lyrae Survey. II. The Halo Overdensities in the First Catalog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vivas, A. Katherina; Zinn, Robert

2006-08-01

The first catalog of the RR Lyrae stars (RRLSs) in the Galactic halo by the Quasar Equatorial Survey Team (QUEST) has been searched for significant overdensities that may be debris from disrupted dwarf galaxies or globular clusters. These RRLSs are contained in a band ~2.3d wide in declination that spans ~165° in right ascension and lie ~4 to ~60 kpc from the Sun. Away from the major overdensities, the distribution of these stars is adequately fitted by a smooth halo model, in which the flattening of the halo decreases with increasing galactocentric distance (as reported by Preston et al.). This model was used to estimate the ``background'' of RRLSs on which the halo overdensities are overlaid. A procedure was developed for recognizing groups of stars that constitute significant overdensities with respect to this background. To test this procedure, a Monte Carlo routine was used to make artificial RRLS surveys that follow the smooth halo model but with Poisson-distributed noise in the numbers of RRLSs and, within limits, random variations in the positions and magnitudes of the artificial stars. The 104 artificial surveys created by this routine were examined for significant groups in exactly the same way as the QUEST survey. These calculations provided estimates of the frequencies with which random fluctuations produce significant groups. In the QUEST survey there are six significant overdensities that contain six or more stars and several smaller ones. The small ones and possibly one or two of the larger ones may be artifacts of statistical fluctuations, and they need to be confirmed by measurements of radial velocity and/or proper motion. The most prominent groups are the northern stream from the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy and a large group in Virgo, formerly known as the ``12.4 hr clump,'' which Duffau and coworkers have recently shown to contain a stellar stream (the Virgo stellar stream). Two other groups lie in the direction of the Monoceros stream

In vacuum diamond sensor scanner for beam halo measurements in the beam line at the KEK Accelerator Test Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, S.; Bogard, F.; Cornebise, P.; Faus-Golfe, A.; Fuster-Martínez, N.; Griesmayer, E.; Guler, H.; Kubytskyi, V.; Sylvia, C.; Tauchi, T.; Terunuma, N.; Bambade, P.

2016-10-01

The investigation of beam halo transverse distributions is important for the understanding of beam losses and the control of backgrounds in Future Linear Colliders (FLC). A novel in vacuum diamond sensor (DSv) scanner with four strips has been designed and developed for the investigation of the beam halo transverse distributions and also for the diagnostics of Compton recoil electrons after the interaction point (IP) of ATF2, a low energy (1.3 GeV) prototype of the final focus system for the ILC and CLIC linear collider projects. Using the DSv, a dynamic range of ∼106 has been successfully demonstrated and confirmed for the first time in simultaneous beam core (∼109 electrons) and beam halo (∼103 electrons) measurements at ATF2. This report presents the characterization, performance studies and tests of diamond sensors using an α source, as well as using the electron beams at PHIL, a low energy < 5 MeV photo-injector at LAL, and at ATF2. First beam halo measurement results using the DSv at ATF2 with different beam intensities and vacuum levels are also presented. Such measurements not only allow one to evaluate the different sources of beam halo generation but also to define the requirements for a suitable collimation system to be installed at ATF2, as well as to optimize its performance during future operation.

Supercharging of the Lunar Surface by Solar Wind Halo Electrons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stubbs, T. J.; Farrell, W. M.; Collier, M. R.; Halekas, J. S.; Delory, G. T.; Holland, M. P.; Vondrak, R. R.

2007-12-01

Lunar surface potentials can reach several kilovolts negative during Solar Energetic Particle (SEPs) events, as indicated by recent analysis of data from the Lunar Prospector Electron Reflectometer (LP/ER). The lunar surface- plasma interactions that result in such extreme surface potentials are poorly characterized and understood. Extreme lunar surface charging, and the associated electrostatic discharges and transport of charged dust, will likely present significant hazards to future human explorers. This is of particular concern near the terminator and polar regions, such as the South Pole/Aiken Basin site planned for NASA's manned outpost. It is the flux of electrons from the ambient plasma that charges the surface of the Moon to negative potentials. In the solar wind, the electron temperature is typically ~10 eV which tends to charge the lunar surface to ~100 V negative in shadow. However, during space weather events the solar wind electrons are often better described by the sum of two Maxwellian distributions, referred to as the "core" and "halo" components. The core electrons are relatively cool and dense (e.g., ~10 eV and ~10/cc), whereas the halo electrons are hot and tenuous (e.g., ~100 eV and ~0.1/cc). Despite, the tenuous nature of the halo electrons, our surface charging model - using core and halo electron data derived from the Solar Wind Experiment (SWE) aboard the Wind spacrcraft - predicts that they are capable of "supercharging" the lunar surface to kilovolt potentials during space weather events, which could explain the LP/ER observations.

An order statistics approach to the halo model for galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paul, Niladri; Paranjape, Aseem; Sheth, Ravi K.

2017-04-01

We use the halo model to explore the implications of assuming that galaxy luminosities in groups are randomly drawn from an underlying luminosity function. We show that even the simplest of such order statistics models - one in which this luminosity function p(L) is universal - naturally produces a number of features associated with previous analyses based on the 'central plus Poisson satellites' hypothesis. These include the monotonic relation of mean central luminosity with halo mass, the lognormal distribution around this mean and the tight relation between the central and satellite mass scales. In stark contrast to observations of galaxy clustering; however, this model predicts no luminosity dependence of large-scale clustering. We then show that an extended version of this model, based on the order statistics of a halo mass dependent luminosity function p(L|m), is in much better agreement with the clustering data as well as satellite luminosities, but systematically underpredicts central luminosities. This brings into focus the idea that central galaxies constitute a distinct population that is affected by different physical processes than are the satellites. We model this physical difference as a statistical brightening of the central luminosities, over and above the order statistics prediction. The magnitude gap between the brightest and second brightest group galaxy is predicted as a by-product, and is also in good agreement with observations. We propose that this order statistics framework provides a useful language in which to compare the halo model for galaxies with more physically motivated galaxy formation models.

Isobar analog states (IAS), double isobar analog states (DIAS), configuration states (CS), and double configuration states (DCS) in halo nuclei. Halo isomers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izosimov, I. N.

2015-10-01

It has been shown that IAS, DIAS, CS, and DCS can simultaneously have n-n, n-p, and p-p halo components in their wave functions. Differences in halo structure of the excited and ground states can result in the formation of isomers (halo-isomers). Both the Borromean and tango halo types can be observed for n-p configurations of atomic nuclei. The structure of the ground and excited states with different isospin quantum number in halo like nuclei is discussed. B(Mλ) and B(Eλ) for γ-transitions in 6,7,8Li, 8,9,10Be, 8,10,11B, 10,11,12,13,14C, 13,14,15,16,17N, 15,16,17,19O, and 17F are analyzed. Special attention is given to nuclei whose ground state does not exhibit halo structure but the excited state may have one.

Halo-independent determination of the unmodulated WIMP signal in DAMA: the isotropic case

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gondolo, Paolo; Scopel, Stefano, E-mail: paolo.gondolo@utah.edu, E-mail: scopel@sogang.ac.kr

2017-09-01

We present a halo-independent determination of the unmodulated signal corresponding to the DAMA modulation if interpreted as due to dark matter weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). First we show how a modulated signal gives information on the WIMP velocity distribution function in the Galactic rest frame from which the unmodulated signal descends. Then we describe a mathematically-sound profile likelihood analysis in which the likelihood is profiled over a continuum of nuisance parameters (namely, the WIMP velocity distribution). As a first application of the method, which is very general and valid for any class of velocity distributions, we restrict the analysismore » to velocity distributions that are isotropic in the Galactic frame. In this way we obtain halo-independent maximum-likelihood estimates and confidence intervals for the DAMA unmodulated signal. We find that the estimated unmodulated signal is in line with expectations for a WIMP-induced modulation and is compatible with the DAMA background+signal rate. Specifically, for the isotropic case we find that the modulated amplitude ranges between a few percent and about 25% of the unmodulated amplitude, depending on the WIMP mass.« less

Updating the MACHO fraction of the Milky Way dark halo with improved mass models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calcino, Josh; García-Bellido, Juan; Davis, Tamara M.

2018-05-01

Recent interest in primordial black holes as a possible dark matter candidate has motivated the reanalysis of previous methods for constraining massive astrophysical compact objects in the Milky Way halo and beyond. In order to derive these constraints, a model for the dark matter distribution around the Milky Way must be used. Previous microlensing searches have assumed a semi-isothermal density sphere for this task. We show this model is no longer consistent with data from the Milky Way rotation curve, and test two replacement models, namely NFW and power-law. The power-law model is the most flexible as it can break spherical symmetry, and best fits the data. Thus, we recommend the power-law model as a replacement, although it still lacks the flexibility to fully encapsulate all possible shapes of the Milky Way halo. We then use the power-law model to rederive some previous microlensing constraints in the literature, while propagating the primary halo-shape uncertainties through to our final constraints. Our analysis reveals that the microlensing constraints towards the Large Magellanic Cloud weaken somewhat for MACHO masses around 10 M⊙ when this uncertainty is taken into account, but the constraints tighten at lower masses. Exploring some of the simplifying assumptions of previous constraints we also study the effect of wide mass distributions of compact halo objects, as well as the effect of spatial clustering on microlensing constraints. We find that both effects induce a shift in the constraints towards smaller masses, and can effectively remove the microlensing constraints from M ˜ 1 - 10M⊙ for certain MACHO populations.

Cool carbon stars in the halo and in dwarf galaxies: Hα, colours, and variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mauron, N.; Gigoyan, K. S.; Berlioz-Arthaud, P.; Klotz, A.

2014-02-01

The population of cool carbon (C) stars located far from the galactic plane is probably made of debris of small galaxies such as the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr), which are disrupted by the gravitational field of the Galaxy. We aim to know this population better through spectroscopy, 2MASS photometric colours, and variability data. When possible, we compared the halo results to C star populations in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy, Sgr, and the solar neighbourhood. We first present a few new discoveries of C stars in the halo and in Fornax. The number of spectra of halo C stars is now 125. Forty percent show Hα in emission. The narrow location in the JHK diagram of the halo C stars is found to differ from that of similar C stars in the above galaxies. The light curves of the Catalina and LINEAR variability databases were exploited to derive the pulsation periods of 66 halo C stars. A few supplementary periods were obtained with the TAROT telescopes. We confirm that the period distribution of the halo strongly resembles that of Fornax, and we found that it is very different from the C stars in the solar neighbourhood. There is a larger proportion of short-period Mira/SRa variables in the halo than in Sgr, but the survey for C stars in this dwarf galaxy is not complete, and the study of their variability needs to be continued to investigate the link between Sgr and the cool halo C stars. Based on observations made with the NTT and 3.6 m telescope at the European Southern Observatory (La Silla, Chile; programs 084.D-0302 and 070.D-0203), with the TAROT telescopes at La Silla and at Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur (France), and on the exploitation of the Catalina Sky Survey and the LINEAR variability databases.Appendix A is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

GBT CHANG-ES: Enhancing Radio Halos in Edge-on Galaxies Through Short-Spacing Corrections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trent Braun, Timothy; Kepley, Amanda; Rand, Richard J.; Mason, Brian Scott; CHANG-ES

2018-01-01

We present L- and C-band continuum Stokes I data from the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) of 35 edge-on spiral galaxies that are part of the Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies, an EVLA Survey (CHANG-ES). CHANG-ES is an Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) large program to measure radio continuum emission from the halos of 35 edge-on spiral galaxies in order to address a wide variety of science goals, including constraining the structure of magnetic fields, understanding the origins of radio halos, and probing both cosmic ray transport and cosmic ray driven winds. These goals can be reached by studying radio halo scale heights, spectral index variations with height, and the distribution of intensity and position angle of polarized emission. In particular, we are interested in modeling non-thermal presssure gradients in the gaseous halos of nearby galaxies to predict how they contribute to the decrease in the rotation of extraplanar gas with increasing height off of the galactic midplanes (lagging halos). Ultimately, the study of lagging halos will help us probe the efficacy of gas cycling between the disk and the halo in nearby galaxies. Crucial to this and the rest of the CHANG-ES analysis is the combination of the VLA data (B,C,D configurations in L-band and C,D configurations in C-band) with the GBT data in order to fill in the missing short-spacings in the u-v plane, which increases our sensitivity to large-scale emission and allows us to recover the total flux density. We present preliminary results from two methods of combining single-dish and interferometic data, namely the use of GBT data cubes as a model for the CASA task tclean and combining the Fourier transforms of the images as weighted sums in the u-v plane (feathering). Lastly, we detail our new data reduction pipeline for our wideband GBT continuum data, with an emphasis on the application of a least-squares basket-weaving technique used to remove striping image artifacts that notoriously plague single

BOW TIES IN THE SKY. I. THE ANGULAR STRUCTURE OF INVERSE COMPTON GAMMA-RAY HALOS IN THE FERMI SKY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Broderick, Avery E.; Shalaby, Mohamad; Tiede, Paul

2016-12-01

Extended inverse Compton halos are generally anticipated around extragalactic sources of gamma rays with energies above 100 GeV. These result from inverse Compton scattered cosmic microwave background photons by a population of high-energy electron/positron pairs produced by the annihilation of the high-energy gamma rays on the infrared background. Despite the observed attenuation of the high-energy gamma rays, the halo emission has yet to be directly detected. Here, we demonstrate that in most cases these halos are expected to be highly anisotropic, distributing the upscattered gamma rays along axes defined either by the radio jets of the sources or oriented perpendicularmore » to a global magnetic field. We present a pedagogical derivation of the angular structure in the inverse Compton halo and provide an analytic formalism that facilitates the generation of mock images. We discuss exploiting this fact for the purpose of detecting gamma-ray halos in a set of companion papers.« less

What sets the central structure of dark matter haloes?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogiya, Go; Hahn, Oliver

2018-02-01

Dark matter (DM) haloes forming near the thermal cut-off scale of the density perturbations are unique, since they are the smallest objects and form through monolithic gravitational collapse, while larger haloes contrastingly have experienced mergers. While standard cold dark matter (CDM) simulations readily produce haloes that follow the universal Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) density profile with an inner slope, ρ ∝ r-α, with α = 1, recent simulations have found that when the free-streaming cut-off expected for the CDM model is resolved, the resulting haloes follow nearly power-law density profiles of α ∼ 1.5. In this paper, we study the formation of density cusps in haloes using idealized N-body simulations of the collapse of proto-haloes. When the proto-halo profile is initially cored due to particle free-streaming at high redshift, we universally find ∼r-1.5 profiles irrespective of the proto-halo profile slope outside the core and large-scale non-spherical perturbations. Quite in contrast, when the proto-halo has a power-law profile, then we obtain profiles compatible with the NFW shape when the density slope of the proto-halo patch is shallower than a critical value, αini ∼ 0.3, while the final slope can be steeper for αini ≳ 0.3. We further demonstrate that the r-1.5 profiles are sensitive to small-scale noise, which gradually drives them towards an inner slope of -1, where they become resilient to such perturbations. We demonstrate that the r-1.5 solutions are in hydrostatic equilibrium, largely consistent with a simple analytic model, and provide arguments that angular momentum appears to determine the inner slope.

Halo abundance matching: accuracy and conditions for numerical convergence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klypin, Anatoly; Prada, Francisco; Yepes, Gustavo; Heß, Steffen; Gottlöber, Stefan

2015-03-01

Accurate predictions of the abundance and clustering of dark matter haloes play a key role in testing the standard cosmological model. Here, we investigate the accuracy of one of the leading methods of connecting the simulated dark matter haloes with observed galaxies- the halo abundance matching (HAM) technique. We show how to choose the optimal values of the mass and force resolution in large volume N-body simulations so that they provide accurate estimates for correlation functions and circular velocities for haloes and their subhaloes - crucial ingredients of the HAM method. At the 10 per cent accuracy, results converge for ˜50 particles for haloes and ˜150 particles for progenitors of subhaloes. In order to achieve this level of accuracy a number of conditions should be satisfied. The force resolution for the smallest resolved (sub)haloes should be in the range (0.1-0.3)rs, where rs is the scale radius of (sub)haloes. The number of particles for progenitors of subhaloes should be ˜150. We also demonstrate that the two-body scattering plays a minor role for the accuracy of N-body simulations thanks to the relatively small number of crossing-times of dark matter in haloes, and the limited force resolution of cosmological simulations.

Length dependence of a halo orthosis on cervical immobilization.

PubMed

Triggs, K J; Ballock, R T; Byrne, T; Garfin, S R

1993-02-01

This study was designed to observe the length dependence of a well-molded fiberglass body cast attached to a halo on motion restriction in an unstable cadaveric cervical spine. Also, by using this technique, comparison between the immobilization provided by a body cast and that provided by a standard premolded polyethylene halo vest could be made. Extreme cervical instability was created on adult cadavers. A halo ring was applied and then attached to a fiberglass body cast or to a polyethylene halo vest. Sequential lateral cervical radiographs were obtained during maximum flexion as the body cast was shortened from the level of the iliac crests to the level of the xiphoid process. Radiographic motion was also assessed within the polyethylene halo vest. Results revealed minimal motion difference as the fiberglass body cast was sequentially shortened. In contrast, motions within the polyethylene halo vest were variable. These results suggest that cervical immobilization may be relatively independent of support structure length and that immobilization can be maintained by a well-fitting halo vest extending to the level of the xiphoid process.

RESOLVE and ECO: The Halo Mass-dependent Shape of Galaxy Stellar and Baryonic Mass Functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eckert, Kathleen D.; Kannappan, Sheila J.; Stark, David V.; Moffett, Amanda J.; Berlind, Andreas A.; Norris, Mark A.

2016-06-01

In this work, we present galaxy stellar and baryonic (stars plus cold gas) mass functions (SMF and BMF) and their halo mass dependence for two volume-limited data sets. The first, RESOLVE-B, coincides with the Stripe 82 footprint and is extremely complete down to baryonic mass M bary ˜ 109.1 M ⊙, probing the gas-rich dwarf regime below M bary ˜ 1010 M ⊙. The second, ECO, covers a ˜40× larger volume (containing RESOLVE-A) and is complete to M bary ˜ 109.4 M ⊙. To construct the SMF and BMF we implement a new “cross-bin sampling” technique with Monte Carlo sampling from the full likelihood distributions of stellar or baryonic mass. Our SMFs exhibit the “plateau” feature starting below M star ˜ 1010 M ⊙ that has been described in prior work. However, the BMF fills in this feature and rises as a straight power law below ˜1010 M ⊙, as gas-dominated galaxies become the majority of the population. Nonetheless, the low-mass slope of the BMF is not as steep as that of the theoretical dark matter halo MF. Moreover, we assign group halo masses by abundance matching, finding that the SMF and BMF, separated into four physically motivated halo mass regimes, reveal complex structure underlying the simple shape of the overall MFs. In particular, the satellite MFs are depressed below the central galaxy MF “humps” in groups with mass <1013.5 M ⊙ yet rise steeply in clusters. Our results suggest that satellite destruction and stripping are active from the point of nascent group formation. We show that the key role of groups in shaping MFs enables reconstruction of a given survey’s SMF or BMF based on its group halo mass distribution.

Minimizing the stochasticity of halos in large-scale structure surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamaus, Nico; Seljak, Uroš; Desjacques, Vincent; Smith, Robert E.; Baldauf, Tobias

2010-08-01

In recent work (Seljak, Hamaus, and Desjacques 2009) it was found that weighting central halo galaxies by halo mass can significantly suppress their stochasticity relative to the dark matter, well below the Poisson model expectation. This is useful for constraining relations between galaxies and the dark matter, such as the galaxy bias, especially in situations where sampling variance errors can be eliminated. In this paper we extend this study with the goal of finding the optimal mass-dependent halo weighting. We use N-body simulations to perform a general analysis of halo stochasticity and its dependence on halo mass. We investigate the stochasticity matrix, defined as Cij≡⟨(δi-biδm)(δj-bjδm)⟩, where δm is the dark matter overdensity in Fourier space, δi the halo overdensity of the i-th halo mass bin, and bi the corresponding halo bias. In contrast to the Poisson model predictions we detect nonvanishing correlations between different mass bins. We also find the diagonal terms to be sub-Poissonian for the highest-mass halos. The diagonalization of this matrix results in one large and one low eigenvalue, with the remaining eigenvalues close to the Poisson prediction 1/n¯, where n¯ is the mean halo number density. The eigenmode with the lowest eigenvalue contains most of the information and the corresponding eigenvector provides an optimal weighting function to minimize the stochasticity between halos and dark matter. We find this optimal weighting function to match linear mass weighting at high masses, while at the low-mass end the weights approach a constant whose value depends on the low-mass cut in the halo mass function. This weighting further suppresses the stochasticity as compared to the previously explored mass weighting. Finally, we employ the halo model to derive the stochasticity matrix and the scale-dependent bias from an analytical perspective. It is remarkably successful in reproducing our numerical results and predicts that the

Convergence properties of halo merger trees; halo and substructure merger rates across cosmic history

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poole, Gregory B.; Mutch, Simon J.; Croton, Darren J.; Wyithe, Stuart

2017-12-01

We introduce GBPTREES: an algorithm for constructing merger trees from cosmological simulations, designed to identify and correct for pathological cases introduced by errors or ambiguities in the halo finding process. GBPTREES is built upon a halo matching method utilizing pseudo-radial moments constructed from radially sorted particle ID lists (no other information is required) and a scheme for classifying merger tree pathologies from networks of matches made to-and-from haloes across snapshots ranging forward-and-backward in time. Focusing on SUBFIND catalogues for this work, a sweep of parameters influencing our merger tree construction yields the optimal snapshot cadence and scanning range required for converged results. Pathologies proliferate when snapshots are spaced by ≲0.128 dynamical times; conveniently similar to that needed for convergence of semi-analytical modelling, as established by Benson et al. Total merger counts are converged at the level of ∼5 per cent for friends-of-friends (FoF) haloes of size np ≳ 75 across a factor of 512 in mass resolution, but substructure rates converge more slowly with mass resolution, reaching convergence of ∼10 per cent for np ≳ 100 and particle mass mp ≲ 109 M⊙. We present analytic fits to FoF and substructure merger rates across nearly all observed galactic history (z ≤ 8.5). While we find good agreement with the results presented by Fakhouri et al. for FoF haloes, a slightly flatter dependence on merger ratio and increased major merger rates are found, reducing previously reported discrepancies with extended Press-Schechter estimates. When appropriately defined, substructure merger rates show a similar mass ratio dependence as FoF rates, but with stronger mass and redshift dependencies for their normalization.

Infall of Associations of Dwarf Galaxies into the Milky Way Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benavides, J.; Casas-Miranda, R. A.

2018-01-01

The origin of the satellite disc of the Milky Way (DoS or VPOS) and M31 (GPoA) remains an open problem in astrophysics (Klypling, Kravtsov, & Valenzuela, 1999; Pawlowski, Kroupa, & Jerjen, 2013). This paper presents a study on the possible formation of the Milky Way satellite disc from an association of dwarf galaxies that infall into the Milky Way dark matter halo in parabolic orbits. For this, we performed Newtonian numerical simulations of N-bodies taking values for the initial distances of 4, 2 and 1 Mpc. Morphological properties of dwarfs were analyzed after a simulation time of 10 Gy, proposed for the interaction with the Milky Way, taking into account: the distributions obtained around the plane of the host galaxy, the distances to which the dwarfs are located, their density profiles and their velocity dispersion. One results is that, after 10 Gy of fall, the structures remain compact maintaining their morphological properties, with better results when the halo of dark matter that envelops them is included. Only associations of dwarf galaxies located at distances of 1 Mpc these manage to enter the halo of the galaxy. This is supported by the fact that these closest associations are those that have fallen in towards the halo of the galaxy, which is why no associations of dwarfs are observed at these distances in the Local Group, the closet association being 14+12 at a distance of 1.37 Mpc from the Milky Way (Tully, 2006).

On the stability of satellite planes - I. Effects of mass, velocity, halo shape and alignment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernando, Nuwanthika; Arias, Veronica; Guglielmo, Magda; Lewis, Geraint F.; Ibata, Rodrigo A.; Power, Chris

2017-02-01

The recently discovered vast thin plane of dwarf satellites orbiting the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) adds to the mystery of the small-scale distribution of the Local Group's galaxy population. Such well-defined planar structures are apparently rare occurrences in cold dark matter cosmological simulations, and we lack a coherent explanation of their formation and existence. In this paper, we explore the long-term survivability of thin planes of dwarfs in galactic haloes, focusing, in particular, on systems mimicking the observed Andromeda distribution. The key results show that, in general, planes of dwarf galaxies are fragile, sensitive to the shape of the dark matter halo and other perturbing effects. In fact, long-lived planes of satellites only exist in polar orbits in spherical dark matter haloes, presenting a challenge to the observed Andromeda plane that is significantly tilted with respect to the optical disc. Our conclusion is that, in the standard cosmological models, planes of satellites are generally short lived, and hence we must be located at a relatively special time in the evolution of the Andromeda Plane, lucky enough to see its coherent pattern.

EXPLORING THE VARIABLE SKY WITH LINEAR. II. HALO STRUCTURE AND SUBSTRUCTURE TRACED BY RR LYRAE STARS TO 30 kpc

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sesar, Branimir; Ivezic, Zeljko; Morgan, Dylan M.

We present a sample of {approx}5000 RR Lyrae stars selected from the recalibrated LINEAR data set and detected at heliocentric distances between 5 kpc and 30 kpc over {approx}8000 deg{sup 2} of sky. The coordinates and light curve properties, such as period and Oosterhoff type, are made publicly available. We analyze in detail the light curve properties and Galactic distribution of the subset of {approx}4000 type ab RR Lyrae (RRab) stars, including a search for new halo substructures and the number density distribution as a function of Oosterhoff type. We find evidence for the Oosterhoff dichotomy among field RR Lyraemore » stars, with the ratio of the type II and I subsamples of about 1:4, but with a weaker separation than for globular cluster stars. The wide sky coverage and depth of this sample allow unique constraints for the number density distribution of halo RRab stars as a function of galactocentric distance: it can be described as an oblate ellipsoid with an axis ratio q = 0.63 and with either a single or a double power law with a power-law index in the range -2 to -3. Consistent with previous studies, we find that the Oosterhoff type II subsample has a steeper number density profile than the Oosterhoff type I subsample. Using the group-finding algorithm EnLink, we detected seven candidate halo groups, only one of which is statistically spurious. Three of these groups are near globular clusters (M53/NGC 5053, M3, M13), and one is near a known halo substructure (Virgo Stellar Stream); the remaining three groups do not seem to be near any known halo substructures or globular clusters and seem to have a higher ratio of Oosterhoff type II to Oosterhoff type I RRab stars than what is found in the halo. The extended morphology and the position (outside the tidal radius) of some of the groups near globular clusters are suggestive of tidal streams possibly originating from globular clusters. Spectroscopic follow-up of detected halo groups is encouraged.« less

Isobar analog states (IAS), double isobar analog states (DIAS), configuration states (CS), and double configuration states (DCS) in halo nuclei. Halo isomers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Izosimov, I. N., E-mail: izosimov@jinr.ru

2015-10-15

It has been shown that IAS, DIAS, CS, and DCS can simultaneously have n-n, n-p, and p-p halo components in their wave functions. Differences in halo structure of the excited and ground states can result in the formation of isomers (halo-isomers). Both the Borromean and tango halo types can be observed for n-p configurations of atomic nuclei. The structure of the ground and excited states with different isospin quantum number in halo like nuclei is discussed. B(Mλ) and B(Eλ) for γ-transitions in {sup 6,7,8}Li, {sup 8,9,10}Be, {sup 8,10,11}B, {sup 10,11,12,13,14}C, {sup 13,14,15,16,17}N, {sup 15,16,17,19}O, and {sup 17}F are analyzed. Specialmore » attention is given to nuclei whose ground state does not exhibit halo structure but the excited state may have one.« less

V474 Car: A RARE HALO RS CVn BINARY IN RETROGRADE GALACTIC ORBIT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bubar, Eric J.; Mamajek, Eric E.; Jensen, Eric L. N.

We report the discovery that the star V474 Car is an extremely active, high velocity halo RS CVn system. The star was originally identified as a possible pre-main-sequence star in Carina, given its enhanced stellar activity, rapid rotation (10.3 days), enhanced Li, and absolute magnitude which places it above the main sequence (MS). However, its extreme radial velocity (264 km s{sup -1}) suggested that this system was unlike any previously known pre-MS system. Our detailed spectroscopic analysis of echelle spectra taken with the CTIO 4 m finds that V474 Car is both a spectroscopic binary with an orbital period similarmore » to the photometric rotation period and metal-poor ([Fe/H] {approx_equal}-0.99). The star's Galactic orbit is extremely eccentric (e {approx_equal} 0.93) with a perigalacticon of only {approx}0.3 kpc of the Galactic center-and the eccentricity and smallness of its perigalacticon are surpassed by only {approx}0.05% of local F/G-type field stars. The observed characteristics are consistent with V474 Car being a high-velocity, metal-poor, tidally locked, chromospherically active binary, i.e., a halo RS CVn binary, and one of only a few such specimens known.« less

Stellar Velocity Dispersion and Anisotropy of the Milky Way Inner Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

King, Charles, III; Brown, Warren R.; Geller, Margaret J.; Kenyon, Scott J.

2015-11-01

We measure the three components of velocity dispersion, σR, σθ, σϕ, for stars within 6 < R < 30 kpc of the Milky Way using a new radial velocity sample from the MMT telescope. We combine our measurements with previously published data so that we can more finely sample the stellar halo. We use a maximum likelihood statistical method for estimating mean velocities, dispersions, and covariances assuming only that velocities are normally distributed. The alignment of the velocity ellipsoid is consistent with a spherically symmetric gravitational potential. From the spherical Jeans equation, the mass of the Milky Way is M≤ft(R≤slant 12 {kpc}\\right)=1.3× {10}11 {M}⊙ with an uncertainty of 40%. We also find a region of discontinuity, 15 ≲ R ≲ 25 kpc, where the estimated velocity dispersions and anisotropies diverge from their anticipated values, confirming the break observed by others. We argue that this break in anisotropy is physically explained by coherent stellar velocity structure in the halo, such as the Sgr stream. To significantly improve our understanding of halo kinematics will require combining radial velocities with future Gaia proper motions.

Clouds Dominate the Galactic Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-01-01

Using the exquisite sensitivity of the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT), astronomer Jay Lockman of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, W. Va., has produced the best cross-section ever of the Milky Way Galaxy's diffuse halo of hydrogen gas. This image confirms the presence of discrete hydrogen clouds in the halo, and could help astronomers understand the origin and evolution of the rarefied atmosphere that surrounds our Galaxy. Lockman presented his findings at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle, WA. Hydrogen Clouds Graphic Artist's Rendering of the Milky Way (background) with insert showing GBT image of cross-section of neutral atomic Hydrogen Credit: Kirk Woellert/National Science Foundation Patricia Smiley, NRAO. "The first observations with the Green Bank Telescope suggested that the hydrogen in the lower halo, the transition zone between the Milky Way and intergalactic space, is very clumpy," said Lockman. "The latest data confirm these results and show that instead of trailing away smoothly from the Galactic plane, a significant fraction of the hydrogen gas in the halo is concentrated in discrete clouds. There are even some filaments." Beyond the star-filled disk of the Milky Way, there exists an extensive yet diffuse halo of hydrogen gas. For years, astronomers have speculated about the origin and structure of this gas. "Even the existence of neutral hydrogen in the halo has been somewhat of a puzzle," Lockman remarked. "Unlike the Earth's atmosphere, which is hot enough to hold itself up against the force of gravity, the hydrogen in the halo is too cool to support itself against the gravitational pull of the Milky Way." Lockman points out that some additional factor has to be involved to get neutral hydrogen to such large distances from the Galactic plane. "This force could be cosmic rays, a supersonic wind, the blast waves from supernovae, or something we have not thought of

The f ( R ) halo mass function in the cosmic web

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Braun-Bates, F. von; Winther, H.A.; Alonso, D.

An important indicator of modified gravity is the effect of the local environment on halo properties. This paper examines the influence of the local tidal structure on the halo mass function, the halo orientation, spin and the concentration-mass relation. We use the excursion set formalism to produce a halo mass function conditional on large-scale structure. Our simple model agrees well with simulations on large scales at which the density field is linear or weakly non-linear. Beyond this, our principal result is that f ( R ) does affect halo abundances, the halo spin parameter and the concentration-mass relationship in anmore » environment-independent way, whereas we find no appreciable deviation from \\text(ΛCDM) for the mass function with fixed environment density, nor the alignment of the orientation and spin vectors of the halo to the eigenvectors of the local cosmic web. There is a general trend for greater deviation from \\text(ΛCDM) in underdense environments and for high-mass haloes, as expected from chameleon screening.« less

Observation and analysis of halo current in EAST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Da-Long; Shen, Biao; Qian, Jin-Ping; Sun, You-Wen; Liu, Guang-Jun; Shi, Tong-Hui; Zhuang, Hui-Dong; Xiao, Bing-Jia

2014-06-01

Plasma in a typically elongated cross-section tokamak (for example, EAST) is inherently unstable against vertical displacement. When plasma loses the vertical position control, it moves downward or upward, leading to disruption, and a large halo current is generated helically in EAST typically in the scrape-off layer. When flowing into the vacuum vessel through in-vessel components, the halo current will give rise to a large J × B force acting on the vessel and the in-vessel components. In EAST VDE experiment, part of the eddy current is measured in halo sensors, due to the large loop voltage. Primary experimental data demonstrate that the halo current first lands on the outer plate and then flows clockwise, and the analysis of the information indicates that the maximum halo current estimated in EAST is about 0.4 times the plasma current and the maximum value of TPF × Ih/IP0 is 0.65, furthermore Ih/Ip0 and TPF × Ih/Ip0 tend to increase with the increase of Ip0. The test of the strong gas injection system shows good success in increasing the radiated power, which may be effective in reducing the halo current.

Unmixing the Galactic halo with RR Lyrae tagging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belokurov, V.; Deason, A. J.; Koposov, S. E.; Catelan, M.; Erkal, D.; Drake, A. J.; Evans, N. W.

2018-06-01

We show that tagging RR Lyrae stars according to their location in the period-amplitude diagram can be used to shed light on the genesis of the Galactic stellar halo. The mixture of RR Lyrae of ab type, separated into classes along the lines suggested by Oosterhoff, displays a strong and coherent evolution with Galactocentric radius. The change in the RR Lyrae composition appears to coincide with the break in the halo's radial density profile at ˜25 kpc. Using simple models of the stellar halo, we establish that at least three different types of accretion events are necessary to explain the observed RRab behaviour. Given that there exists a correlation between the RRab class fraction and the total stellar content of a dwarf satellite, we hypothesize that the field halo RRab composition is controlled by the mass of the progenitor contributing the bulk of the stellar debris at the given radius. This idea is tested against a suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations of Milky Way-like stellar halo formation. Finally, we study some of the most prominent stellar streams in the Milky Way halo and demonstrate that their RRab class fractions follow the trends established previously.

Development of an Automatic Detection Program of Halo CMEs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, K.; Park, M. Y.; Kim, J.

2017-12-01

The front-side halo CMEs are the major cause for large geomagnetic storms. Halo CMEs can result in damage to satellites, communication, electrical transmission lines and power systems. Thus automated techniques for detecting and analysing Halo CMEs from coronagraph data are of ever increasing importance for space weather monitoring and forecasting. In this study, we developed the algorithm that can automatically detect and do image processing the Halo CMEs in the images from the LASCO C3 coronagraph on board the SOHO spacecraft. With the detection algorithm, we derived the geometric and kinematical parameters of halo CMEs, such as source location, width, actual CME speed and arrival time at 21.5 solar radii.

Differences in the melanosome distribution within the epidermal melanin units and its association with the impairing background of leukoderma in vitiligo and halo nevi: a retrospective study.

PubMed

Xiong, Xi-Xi; Ding, Gao-Zhong; Zhao, Wen-E; Li, Xue; Ling, Yu-Ting; Sun, Li; Gong, Qing-Li; Lu, Yan

2017-07-01

Skin color is determined by the number of melanin granules produced by melanocytes that are transferred to keratinocytes. Melanin synthesis and the distribution of melanosomes to keratinocytes within the epidermal melanin unit (EMU) within the skin of vitiligo patients have been poorly studied. The ultrastructure and distribution of melanosomes in melanocytes and surrounding keratinocytes in perilesional vitiligo and normal skin were investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Furthermore, we performed a quantitative analysis of melanosome distribution within the EMUs with scatter plot. Melanosome count within keratinocytes increased significantly compared with melanocytes in perilesional stable vitiligo (P < 0.001), perilesional halo nevi (P < 0.01) and the controls (P < 0.01), but not in perilesional active vitiligo. Furthermore, melanosome counts within melanocytes and their surrounding keratinocytes in perilesional active vitiligo skin decreased significantly compared with the other groups. In addition, taking the means-standard error of melanosome count within melanocytes and keratinocytes in healthy controls as a normal lower limit, EMUs were graded into 3 stages (I-III). Perilesional active vitiligo presented a significantly different constitution in stages compared to other groups (P < 0.001). The distribution and constitution of melanosomes were normal in halo nevi. Impaired melanin synthesis and melanosome transfer are involved in the pathogenesis of vitiligo. Active vitiligo varies in stages and in stage II, EMUs are slightly impaired, but can be resuscitated, providing a golden opportunity with the potential to achieve desired repigmentation with an appropriate therapeutic choice. Adverse milieu may also contribute to the low melanosome count in keratinocytes.

Extremely high energy hadron and gamma-ray families(3). Core structure of the halo of superfamily

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yamashita, S.; Ohsawa, A.; Chinellato, J. A.; Shibuya, E. H.

1985-01-01

The study of the core structure seen in the halo of Mini-Andromeda 3(M.A.3), which was observed in the Chacaltaya emulsion chamber, is presented. On the assumption that lateral distribution of darkness of the core is exponential type, i.e., D=D0exp(-R/r0), subtraction of D from halo darkness is performed until the cores are gone. The same quantity on cores obtained by this way are summarized. The analysis is preliminary and is going to be developed.

Substructure of fuzzy dark matter haloes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Xiaolong; Behrens, Christoph; Niemeyer, Jens C.

2017-02-01

We derive the halo mass function (HMF) for fuzzy dark matter (FDM) by solving the excursion set problem explicitly with a mass-dependent barrier function, which has not been done before. We find that compared to the naive approach of the Sheth-Tormen HMF for FDM, our approach has a higher cutoff mass and the cutoff mass changes less strongly with redshifts. Using merger trees constructed with a modified version of the Lacey & Cole formalism that accounts for suppressed small-scale power and the scale-dependent growth of FDM haloes and the semi-analytic GALACTICUS code, we study the statistics of halo substructure including the effects from dynamical friction and tidal stripping. We find that if the dark matter is a mixture of cold dark matter (CDM) and FDM, there will be a suppression on the halo substructure on small scales which may be able to solve the missing satellites problem faced by the pure CDM model. The suppression becomes stronger with increasing FDM fraction or decreasing FDM mass. Thus, it may be used to constrain the FDM model.

Evaluation of SAGE II and Balloon-Borne Stratospheric Aerosol Measurements: Evaluation of Aerosol Measurements from SAGE II, HALOE, and Balloonborne Optical Particle Counters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hervig, Mark; Deshler, Terry; Moddrea, G. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Stratospheric aerosol measurements from the University of Wyoming balloonborne optical particle counters (OPCs), the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) II, and the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) were compared in the period 1982-2000, when measurements were available. The OPCs measure aerosol size distributions, and HALOE multiwavelength (2.45-5.26 micrometers) extinction measurements can be used to retrieve aerosol size distributions. Aerosol extinctions at the SAGE II wavelengths (0.386-1.02 micrometers) were computed from these size distributions and compared to SAGE II measurements. In addition, surface areas derived from all three experiments were compared. While the overall impression from these results is encouraging, the agreement can change with latitude, altitude, time, and parameter. In the broadest sense, these comparisons fall into two categories: high aerosol loading (volcanic periods) and low aerosol loading (background periods and altitudes above 25 km). When the aerosol amount was low, SAGE II and HALOE extinctions were higher than the OPC estimates, while the SAGE II surface areas were lower than HALOE and the OPCS. Under high loading conditions all three instruments mutually agree to within 50%.

Historic halo displays as weather indicator: Criteria and examples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neuhäuser, Dagmar L.; Neuhäuser, Ralph

2016-04-01

There are numerous celestial signs reported in historic records, many of them refer to atmospheric ("sub-lunar") phenomena, such as ice halos and aurorae. In an interdisciplinary collaboration between astrophysics and cultural astronomy, we noticed that celestial observations including meteorological phenomena are often misinterpreted, mostly due to missing genuine criteria: especially ice crystal halos were recorded frequently in past centuries for religious reasons, but are mistaken nowadays often for other phenomena like aurorae. Ice halo displays yield clear information on humidity and temperature in certain atmospheric layers, and thereby indicate certain weather patterns. Ancient so-called rain makers used halo observations for weather forecast; e.g., a connection between certain halo displays and rain a few day later is statistically significant. Ice halos exist around sun and moon and are reported for both (they can stay for several days): many near, middle, and far eastern records from day- and night-time include such observations with high frequency. (Partly based on publications on halos by D.L. Neuhäuser & R. Neuhäuser, available at http://www.astro.uni-jena.de/index.php/terra-astronomy.html)

Testing feedback-modified dark matter haloes with galaxy rotation curves: estimation of halo parameters and consistency with ΛCDM scaling relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katz, Harley; Lelli, Federico; McGaugh, Stacy S.; Di Cintio, Arianna; Brook, Chris B.; Schombert, James M.

2017-04-01

Cosmological N-body simulations predict dark matter (DM) haloes with steep central cusps (e.g. NFW). This contradicts observations of gas kinematics in low-mass galaxies that imply the existence of shallow DM cores. Baryonic processes such as adiabatic contraction and gas outflows can, in principle, alter the initial DM density profile, yet their relative contributions to the halo transformation remain uncertain. Recent high-resolution, cosmological hydrodynamic simulations by Di Cintio et al. (DC14) predict that inner density profiles depend systematically on the ratio of stellar-to-DM mass (M*/Mhalo). Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach, we test the NFW and the M*/Mhalo-dependent DC14 halo models against a sample of 147 galaxy rotation curves from the new Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves data set. These galaxies all have extended H I rotation curves from radio interferometry as well as accurate stellar-mass-density profiles from near-infrared photometry. The DC14 halo profile provides markedly better fits to the data compared to the NFW profile. Unlike NFW, the DC14 halo parameters found in our rotation-curve fits naturally fall within two standard deviations of the mass-concentration relation predicted by Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) and the stellar mass-halo mass relation inferred from abundance matching with few outliers. Halo profiles modified by baryonic processes are therefore more consistent with expectations from ΛCDM cosmology and provide better fits to galaxy rotation curves across a wide range of galaxy properties than do halo models that neglect baryonic physics. Our results offer a solution to the decade long cusp-core discrepancy.

Globular Cluster Contributions to the Galactic Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martell, Sarah; Grebel, Eva; Lai, David

2010-08-01

The goal of this project is to confirm chemically that globular clusters are the source of as much as half the population of the Galactic halo. Using moderate-resolution spectroscopy from the SEGUE survey, we have identified a previously unknown population of halo field giants with distinctly strong CN features. CN variations are typically only observed in globular clusters, so these stars are interpreted as immigrants to the halo that originally formed in globular clusters. In one night of Keck/HIRES time, we will obtain high-quality, high- resolution spectra for five such stars, and determine abundances of O, Na, Mg, Al, alpha, iron-peak and neutron-capture elements. With this information we can state clearly whether these unusual CN-strong halo stars carry the full abundance pattern seen in CN-strong globular cluster stars, with depleted C, O, and Mg and enhanced N, Na, and Al. This type of coarse ``chemical tagging'' will allow a clearer division of the Galactic halo into contributions from globular clusters and from dwarf galaxies, and will place constraints on theoretical models of globular cluster formation and evolution.

Galaxy-halo alignments in the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamical simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chisari, N. E.; Koukoufilippas, N.; Jindal, A.; Peirani, S.; Beckmann, R. S.; Codis, S.; Devriendt, J.; Miller, L.; Dubois, Y.; Laigle, C.; Slyz, A.; Pichon, C.

2017-11-01

Intrinsic alignments of galaxies are a significant astrophysical systematic affecting cosmological constraints from weak gravitational lensing. Obtaining numerical predictions from hydrodynamical simulations of expected survey volumes is expensive, and a cheaper alternative relies on populating large dark matter-only simulations with accurate models of alignments calibrated on smaller hydrodynamical runs. This requires connecting the shapes and orientations of galaxies to those of dark matter haloes and to the large-scale structure. In this paper, we characterize galaxy-halo alignments in the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. We compare the shapes and orientations of galaxies in the redshift range of 0 < z < 3 to those of their embedding dark matter haloes, and to the matching haloes of a twin dark-matter only run with identical initial conditions. We find that galaxy ellipticities, in general, cannot be predicted directly from halo ellipticities. The mean misalignment angle between the minor axis of a galaxy and its embedding halo is a function of halo mass, with residuals arising from the dependence of alignment on galaxy type, but not on environment. Haloes are much more strongly aligned among themselves than galaxies, and they decrease their alignment towards low redshift. Galaxy alignments compete with this effect, as galaxies tend to increase their alignment with haloes towards low redshift. We discuss the implications of these results for current halo models of intrinsic alignments and suggest several avenues for improvement.

Nucleoid halo expansion indirectly measures DNA damage in single cells.

PubMed

Thomas, E A; Thomas, C A

1989-07-01