arXiv subjects

Andrea Ferrara

Publications and source records attributed to Andrea Ferrara.

260 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

arXiv1996

The absence of diffuse gas around the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo I

We have obtained spectra of three QSO/AGNs with the GHRS aboard the Hubble Space Telescope to search for absorption from low column density gas in the halo of the dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy Leo I. The probe sightlines pass 2.1, 3.7, and 8.1 kpc from the center of the galaxy, but no CIV, SiII, or SiIV absorption is found at the velocity of Leo I. The absence of low ionization species suggests that the column density of neutral hydrogen which exists within 2-4 kpc of the galaxy is N(HI) < 10^{17} cm^{-2}; assuming that the high ionization lines of SiIV and CIV dominate the ionization fraction of silicon and carbon, the limit to the total hydrogen column is N(H) < 10^{18} cm^{-2}. Our results demonstrate that there are no dense flows of gas in or out of Leo I, and that there is no evidence for tidally disrupted gas which might have accompanied the galaxy's formation or evolution. However, our detection limits are insufficient to rule out the existence of a sphere or shell of ionized gas around the dSph, with a mass up to that constituting the entire galaxy. Our models show that dSph galaxies similar to Leo I are not massive enough to have halos which can contribute significantly to the metal line absorption cross-section of QSO absorbers seen at high redshift.

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arXiv1996

The Effect of Light Scattering by Dust in Galactic Halos on Emission Line Ratios

We present results from Monte Carlo simulations describing the radiation transfer of $Hα$ line emission, produced both by HII regions in the disk and in the diffuse ionized gas (DIG), through the dust layer of the galaxy NGC891. This allows us to calculate the amount of light originating in the HII regions of the disk and scattered by dust at high $z$, and compare it with the emission produced by recombinations in the DIG. The cuts of photometric and polarimetric maps along the $z$-axis show that scattered light from HII regions is still 10\% of that of the DIG at $z\sim 600$~pc, whereas the the degree of linear polarization is small ($<1$\%). The importance of these results for the determination of intrinsic emission line ratios is emphasized, and the significance and possible implications of dust at high $z$ are discussed.

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arXiv1996

Cosmological Conductive/Cooling Fronts as Lyman Alpha Forest Clouds

We propose a simple model for the origin and evolution of \lya clouds based on cosmological conductive/cooling fronts. In this model the \lya arises in the interfaces between the IGM and cold clouds that could be tentatively identified with protogalaxies. Most of the properties of the \lya absorbers are reproduced with a very restricted number of assumptions. Among these are the correct range of HI column density, cloud sizes and redshift and HI column density distributions for the absorbers. Several predictions and implications of the model are briefly discussed.

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arXiv1996

The Turbulent Interstellar Medium: Generalizing to a Scale-dependent Phase Continuum

We discuss the likely sources of turbulence in the ISM and explicitly calculate the detailed grand source function for the conventional sources of turbulence from supernovae, superbubbles, stellar winds and HII regions. We find that the turbulent pumping due to the grand source function is broad band, consequently expanding the inertial range of the cascade. We investigate the general properties of the turbulent spectrum using a simple approach based on a spectral transfer equation derived from the hydrodynamic Kovasznay approximation. There are two major findings in this paper: I. The turbulent pressure is calculated from the grand source function II. With the scale dependent energy dissipation from a turbulent cascade the multi-phase medium concept can be generalized to a more natural continuum description where density and temperature are functions of scale. Approximate power-law behavior is seen over a large dynamic range. We discuss some of the implications of models for the ISM, particularly addressing the energy balance of the warm neutral phase.

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arXiv1995

Monte Carlo simulations of dusty spiral galaxies: extinction and polarization properties

We present Monte Carlo simulations of dusty spiral galaxies, modelled as bulge + disk systems, aimed to study their extinction and polarization properties. The extinction parameters (absorption and scattering) of dust grains are calculated from Mie's theory for a full distribution of sizes and materials; the radiation transfer is carried on for the four Stokes parameters. Photometric and polarimetric maps of galaxies of different optical depths, inclinations and bulge-to-total ratios have been produced in the B and I bandpasses. As expected, the effect of scattering is to reduce substantially the extinction for a given optical depth, in particular for what concerns the obscuration of bright bulge cores. For the same reason, scattering reduces also the reddening, as evaluated from B-I maps. On the other hand the bluing directly due to forward scattering is hardly appreciable. Radial color gradients are often found. A comparison with ``sandwich'' models shows that they fail dramatically to reproduce the extinction - optical depth relation. The degree of linear polarization produced by scattering is usually of the order of a few percent; it increases with optical depth, and with inclination (less than 80 degrees). The polarization pattern is always perpendicular to the major axis, unless the dust distribution is drastically modified. There is little local correlation between extinction and polarization degree and there is a trend of increasing polarization from the B to the I band. We discuss implications and relevance of the results for studies of the structure and morphology of spiral galaxies and of their interstellar medium.

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arXiv1995

Instabilities in Photoionized Interstellar Gas

We present a linear analysis of acoustic and thermo-reactive instabilities in a diffuse gas, photoionized and heated by a radiation field, cooled by collisional excitation of hydrogen and metal lines. The hydrogen recombination reaction has a stabilizing effect on the thermal mode found by Field (1965) since the condensation instability occurs in a narrower region of the parameter space and grows on longer time scales due to its oscillatory character. This effect is stronger when the mean photon energy is not much larger than the hydrogen ionization energy. Moreover, for fixed values of thermal pressure and photoionization rate, there are thermo- reactive unstable equilibria for which no transition to a stable phase is possible. By extending our analysis of the thermo-reactive modes to the nonlinear regime we show that when no phase transition is possible the medium evolves through a series of nonequilibrium states characterized by large amplitude, nonlinear periodic oscillations of temperature, density and hydrogen ionization fraction. We find also unstable acoustic waves which, for solar metal abundances, are the fastest growing modes in two temperature intervals: around $T\sim 100$~K and $T\sim 8000$~K (i.e. cold and warm phase, respectively), independent of the mean photon energy. Possible implications for the interstellar medium and intergalactic medium are briefly outlined.

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arXiv1993

On the Distance Determination and Ionization of the High Velocity Clouds

We present a study of the ionization and thermal structure of neutral hydrogen clouds located in the Galactic halo, immersed in the extragalactic background radiation field, and supposed to be in pressure equilibrium with the surrounding (presumably) hot medium. The problem is solved numerically, but an useful analytical approximation has been derived as well. We discuss the two main parameters of the problem, \ie the radiation field and the halo pressure, in the framework of the current models for the halo/disk interaction. We find a well defined relation between a critical column density at which the cloud starts to develop a cold central core with the cloud linear size. Making use of this relation, we suggest a straightforward method to derive the distance to the cloud. We discuss the possible sources of error in this determination and it is found that the method is particularly suitable for those clouds which are subsonic with respect to the surrounding medium, while for the supersonic ones, the method can only give a lower limit to the distance. The H$α$ emission from the partially ionized edge of the cloud is calculated and compared with the available observations; this measure is a powerful indicator of the possible presence of a shock in the cloud.

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arXiv1993

Dynamics of Conductive/Cooling Fronts: Cloud Implosion and Thermal Solitons

We investigate the evolution of interfaces among phases of the interstellar medium with different temperature. It is found that, for some initial conditions, the dynamical effects related to conductive fronts are very important even if radiation losses, which tend to decelerate the front propagation, are taken into account. We have also explored the consequences of the inclusion of shear and bulk viscosity, and we have allowed for saturation of the kinetic effects. Numerical simulations of a cloud immersed in a hot medium have been performed; depending on the ratio of conductive to dynamical time, the density is increased by a huge factor and the cloud may become optically thick. Clouds that are highly compressed are able to stop the evaporation process even if their initial size is smaller than the Field length. In addition to the numerical approach, the time dependent evolution has been studied also analytically. Simple techniques have been applied to the problem in order to study the transition stages to a stationary state. The global properties of the solution for static and steady fronts and useful relations among the various physical variables are derived; a mechanical analogy is often used to clarify the physics of the results. It is demonstrated that a class of soliton-like solutions are admitted by the hydrodynamical equations appropriate to describe the conduction/cooling fronts (in the inviscid case) that do not require a heat flux at the boundaries. Some astrophysical consequences are indicated along with some possible applications to the structure of the Galactic ISM and to extragalactic objects.

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