arXiv subjects

Hosein Haghi

Publications and source records attributed to Hosein Haghi.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

A new formulation of the external field effect in MOND and numerical simulations of ultra-diffuse dwarf galaxies $-$ application to NGC 1052-DF2 and NGC 1052-DF4

The ultra-diffuse dwarf galaxy NGC 1052-DF2 (DF2) has ten (eleven) measured globular clusters (GCs) with a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of $σ=7.8^{+5.2}_{-2.2}\,$km/s ($σ=10.6^{+3.9}_{-2.3}\,$km/s). Our conventional statistical analysis of the original ten GCs gives $σ=8.0^{+4.3}_{-3.0}\,$km/s. The overall distribution of velocities agrees well with a Gaussian of this width. Due to the non-linear Poisson equation in MOND, a dwarf galaxy has weaker self-gravity when in close proximity to a massive host. This external field effect is investigated using a new analytic formulation and fully self-consistent live $N$-body models in MOND. Our formulation agrees well with that of Famaey and McGaugh (2012). These new simulations confirm our analytic results and suggest that DF2 may be in a deep-freeze state unique to MOND. The correctly calculated MOND velocity dispersion agrees with our inferred dispersion and that of van Dokkum et al. (2018b) if DF2 is within 150 kpc of NGC 1052 and both are 20 Mpc away. The GCs of DF2 are however significantly brighter and larger than normal GCs, a problem which disappears if DF2 is significantly closer to us. A distance of 10-13 Mpc makes DF2 a normal dwarf galaxy even more consistent with MOND and the 13 Mpc distance reported by Trujillo et. al. (2019). We discuss the similar dwarf DF4, finding good agreement with MOND. We also discuss possible massive galaxies near DF2 and DF4 along with their distances and peculiar velocities, noting that NGC 1052 may lie at a distance near 10 Mpc.

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arXiv2019

Evolution of star clusters on eccentric orbits: semi-analytical approach

We study the dynamical evolution of star clusters on eccentric orbits using a semi-analytical approach. In particular we adapt and extend the equations of EMACSS code, introduced by Gieles et al. (2014), to work with eccentric orbits. We follow the evolution of star clusters in terms of mass, half-mass radius, core radius, Jacobi radius and the total energy over their dissolution time. Moreover, we compare the results of our semi-analytical models against $N$-body computations of clusters with various initial half-mass radius, number of stars and orbital eccentricity to cover both tidally filling and under-filling systems. The evolution profiles of clusters obtained by our semi-analytical approach closely follow those of $N$-body simulations in different evolutionary phases of star clusters, from pre-collapse to post-collapse. Given that the average runtime of our semi-analytical models is significantly less than that of $N$-body models, our approach makes it feasible to study the evolution of large samples of globular clusters on eccentric orbits.

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arXiv2019

Does the galaxy NGC1052-DF2 falsify Milgromian dynamics?

A great challenge in present-day physics is to understand whether the observed internal dynamics of galaxies is due to dark matter matter or due to a modification of the law of gravity. Recently, van Dokkum et al. reported that the ultra-diffuse dwarf galaxy NGC1052-DF2 lacks dark matter, and they claimed that this would -- paradoxically -- be problematic for modified gravity theories like Milgromian dynamics (MOND). However, NGC1052-DF2 is not isolated, so that a valid prediction of its internal dynamics in MOND cannot be made without properly accounting for the external gravitational fields from neighbouring galaxies. Including this external field effect following Haghi et al. shows that NGC1052-DF2 is consistent with MOND.

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arXiv2019

Dark matter-baryon scaling relations from Einasto halo fits to SPARC galaxy rotation curves

Dark matter-baryon scaling relations in galaxies are important in order to constrain galaxy formation models. Here, we provide a modern quantitative assessment of those relations, by modelling the rotation curves of galaxies from the Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves (SPARC) database with the Einasto dark halo model. We focus in particular on the comparison between the original SPARC parameters, with constant mass-to-light ratios for bulges and disks, and the parameters for which galaxies follow the tightest radial acceleration relation. We show that fits are improved in the second case, and that the pure halo scaling relations also become tighter. We report that the density at the radius where the slope is -2 is strongly anticorrelated to this radius, and to the Einasto index. The latter is close to unity for a large number of galaxies, indicative of large cores. In terms of dark matter-baryon scalings, we focus on relations between the core properties and the extent of the baryonic component, which are relevant to the cusp-core transformation process. We report a positive correlation between the core size of halos with small Einasto index and the stellar disk scale-length, as well as between the averaged dark matter density within 2 kpc and the baryon-induced rotational velocity at that radius. This finding is related to the consequence of the radial acceleration relation on the diversity of rotation curve shapes, quantified by the rotational velocity at 2 kpc. While a tight radial acceleration relation slightly decreases the observed diversity compared to the original SPARC parameters, the diversity of baryon-induced accelerations at 2 kpc is sufficient to induce a large diversity, incompatible with current hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation, while maintaining a tight radial acceleration relation.

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arXiv2018

A common Milgromian acceleration scale in nature

A central problem of contemporary physics is whether the law of gravity is non-Newtonian on galaxy scales. Rodrigues et al. argue that Milgromian gravitation, which solves the flat rotation curve problem without the need for dark matter particles, is ruled out at > 10σ significance. To a large extent, this conclusion relies on galaxies with very uncertain distances and/or nearly edge-on orientations, where dust obscuration often becomes significant. Applying appropriate quality cuts to the data leaves only a handful of outliers to the predictions of Milgromian gravitation according to the analysis of Rodrigues et al., but even these outliers can be explained with Milgromian gravitation.

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arXiv2018

Rotation curves of galaxies and the stellar mass-to-light ratio

Mass models of a sample of 171 low- and high-surface brightness galaxies are presented in the context of the cold dark matter (CDM) theory using the NFW dark matter halo density distribution to extract a new concentration-viral mass relation ($c-M_{vir}$). The rotation curves (RCs) are calculated from the total baryonic matter based on the 3.6 $μm $-band surface photometry, the observed distribution of neutral hydrogen, and the dark halo, in which the three adjustable parameters are the stellar mass-to-light ratio, halo concentration and virial mass. Although accounting for a NFW dark halo profile can explain rotation curve observations, the implied $c-M_{vir}$ relation from RC analysis strongly disagrees with that resulting from different cosmological simulations. Also, the $M/L-$color correlation of the studied galaxies is inconsistent with that expected from stellar population synthesis models with different stellar initial mass functions. Moreover, we show that the best-fitting stellar $M/L-$ ratios of 51 galaxies (30\% of our sample) have unphysically negative values in the framework of the $Λ$CDM theory. This can be interpreted as a serious crisis for this theory. This suggests either that the commonly used NFW halo profile, which is a natural result of $Λ$CDM cosmological structure formation, is not an appropriate profile for the dark halos of galaxies, or, new dark matter physics or alternative gravity models are needed to explain the rotational velocities of disk galaxies.

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arXiv2017

A Possible Solution for the $M/L-\mathrm{[Fe/H]}$ Relation of Globular Clusters in M31. II. the Age-Metallicity Relation

This is the second of a series of papers in which we present a new solution to reconcile the prediction of single stellar population (SSP) models with the observed stellar mass-to-light ($M/L$) ratios of globular clusters (GCs) in M31 and its trend with respect to $\mathrm{[Fe/H]}$. In the present work our focus is on the empirical relation between age and metallicity for GCs and its effect on the $M/L$ ratio. Assuming that there is an anti-correlation between the age of M31 GCs and their metallicity, we evolve dynamical SSP models of GCs to establish a relation between the $M/L$ ratio (in the $V$ and $K$ band) and metallicity. We then demonstrate that the established $M/L-\mathrm{[Fe/H]}$ relation is in perfect agreement with that of M31 GCs. In our models we consider both the canonical initial mass function (IMF) and the top-heavy IMF depending on cluster birth density and metallicity as derived independently from Galactic GCs and ultra-compact dwarf galaxies by Marks et al. Our results signify that the combination of the density- and metallicity-dependent top-heavy IMF, the anti-correlation between age and metallicity, stellar evolution and standard dynamical evolution yields the best possible agreement with the observed trend of $M/L-\mathrm{[Fe/H]}$ for M31 GCs.

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arXiv2017

Direct N-body simulations of globular clusters -- III. Palomar\,4 on an eccentric orbit

Palomar 4 is a low-density globular cluster with a current mass $\approx30000 M_{\odot}$ in the outer halo of the Milky Way with a two-body relaxation time of the order of a Hubble time. Yet, it is strongly mass segregated and contains a stellar mass function depleted of low-mass stars. Pal 4 was either born this way or it is a result of extraordinary dynamical evolution. Since two-body relaxation cannot explain these signatures alone, enhanced mass loss through tidal shocking may have had a strong influence on Pal 4. Here, we compute a grid of direct N-body simulations to model Pal 4 on various eccentric orbits within the Milky Way potential to find likely initial conditions that reproduce its observed mass, half-light radius, stellar MF-slope and line-of-sight velocity dispersion. We find that Pal 4 is most likely orbiting on an eccentric orbit with an eccentricity of $e\approx 0.9$ and pericentric distance of $R_p\approx5$ kpc. In this scenario, the required 3D half-mass radius at birth is similar to the average sizes of typical GCs ($R_h\approx4-5$ pc), while its birth mass is about $M_0\approx10^5 M_{\odot}$. We also find a high degree of primordial mass segregation among the cluster stars, which seems to be necessary in every scenario we considered. Thus, using the tidal effect to constrain the perigalactic distance of the orbit of Pal 4, we predict that the proper motion of Pal 4 should be in the range $-0.52\leqμ_δ\leq-0.38$ mas\,yr$^{-1}$ and $-0.30\leqμ_{α\cosδ}\leq-0.15$ mas\,yr$^{-1}$.

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arXiv2016

The velocity dispersion and mass function of the outer halo globular cluster Palomar 4

We obtained precise line-of-sight radial velocities of 23 member stars of the remote halo globular cluster Palomar 4 (Pal 4) using the High Resolution Echelle Spectrograph (HIRES) at the Keck I telescope. We also measured the mass function of the cluster down to a limiting magnitude of V~28 mag using archival HST/WFPC2 imaging. We derived the cluster's surface brightness profile based on the WFPC2 data and on broad-band imaging with the Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS) at the Keck II telescope. We find a mean cluster velocity of 72.55+/-0.22 km/s and a velocity dispersion of 0.87+/-0.18 km/s. The global mass function of the cluster, in the mass range 0.55<=M<=0.85 M_solar, is shallower than a Kroupa mass function and the cluster is significantly depleted in low-mass stars in its center compared to its outskirts. Since the relaxation time of Pal 4 is of the order of a Hubble time, this points to primordial mass segregation in this cluster. Extrapolating the measured mass function towards lower-mass stars and including the contribution of compact remnants, we derive a total cluster mass of 29800 M_solar. For this mass, the measured velocity dispersion is consistent with the expectations of Newtonian dynamics and below the prediction of Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). Pal 4 adds to the growing body of evidence that the dynamics of star clusters in the outer Galactic halo can hardly be explained by MOND.

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arXiv2016

Testing modified gravity with dwarf spheroidal galaxies

The observed velocity dispersion of the classical dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies of the Milky Way (MW) requires the Newtonian stellar mass-to-light ($M_*/L$) ratios in the range of about 10 to more than 100 solar units that are well outside the acceptable limit predicted by stellar population synthesis models. Using Jeans analysis, we calculate the line-of-sight velocity dispersion ($σ_{\emph{los}}$) of stars in eight MW dSphs in the context of the modified gravity (MOG) theory of Moffat, assuming a constant $M_*/L$ ratio without invoking the exotic cold dark matter. First, we use the weak field approximation of MOG and assume the two parameters $ α$ and $ μ$ of the theory to be constant as has already been inferred from fitting to the observed rotational data of The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey catalogue of galaxies. We find that the derived $M_*/L$ ratios for almost all dSphs are too large to be explained by the stellar population values. In order to fit the line-of-sight velocity dispersions of the dSph with reasonable $M_*/L$ values, we must vary $α$ and $μ$ on a case by case basis. A common pair of values cannot be found for all dSphs. Comparing with the values found from rotation curve fitting, it appears that $μ$ correlates strongly with galaxy luminosity, shedding doubt on it as a universal constant.

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arXiv2016

A Possible Solution for the M/L-[Fe/H] Relation of Globular Clusters in M31: A metallicity and density dependent top-heavy IMF

The observed mass-to-light ($M/L$) ratios of a large sample of GCs in M31 show an inverse trend with metallicity compared to what is expected from Simple Stellar Population (SSP) models with an invariant canonical stellar IMF, in the sense that the observed $M/L$ ratios decrease with increasing metallicity. We show that incorporating the effect of dynamical evolution the SSP models with a canonical IMF can not explain the decreasing $M/L$ ratios with increasing metallicity for the M31 GCs. The recently derived top-heavy IMF as a function of metallicity and embedded cluster density is proposed to explain the lower than expected $M/L$ ratios of metal-rich GCs. We find that the SSP models with a top-heavy IMF, retaining a metallicity- and cluster mass- dependent fraction of the remnants within the clusters, and taking standard dynamical evolution into account can successfully explain the observed $M/L-[Fe/H]$ relation of M31 GCs. Thus we propose that the kinematical data of GCs can be used to constrain the top-heaviness of the IMF in GCs.

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arXiv2016

Declining rotation curves of galaxies as a test of gravitational theory

Unlike Newtonian dynamics which is linear and obeys the strong equivalence principle, in any nonlinear gravitation such as Milgromian dynamics (MOND), the strong version of the equivalence principle is violated and the gravitational dynamics of a system is influenced by the external gravitational field in which it is embedded. This so called External Field Effect (EFE) is one of the important implications of MOND and provides a special context to test Milgromian dynamics. Here, we study the rotation curves (RCs) of 18 spiral galaxies and find that their shapes constrain the EFE. We show that the EFE can successfully remedy the overestimation of rotation velocities in 80\% of the sample galaxies in Milgromian dynamics fits by decreasing the velocity in the outer part of the RCs. We compare the implied external field with the gravitational field for non-negligible nearby sources of each individual galaxy and find that in many cases it is compatible with the EFE within the uncertainties. We therefore argue that in the framework of Milgromian dynamics, one can constrain the gravitational field induced from the environment of galaxies using their RCs. We finally show that taking into account the EFE yields more realistic values for the stellar mass-to-light ratio in terms of stellar population synthesis than the ones implied without the EFE.

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arXiv2016

The Binary Fraction and Mass Segregation in Alpha Persei Open Cluster

We have obtained membership probabilities of stars within a field of radius $\sim3^\circ$ around the centre of the open cluster Alpha Persei using proper motions and photometry from the PPMXL and WISE catalogues. We have identified 810 possible stellar members of Alpha Persei. We derived the global and radial present-day mass function (MF) of the cluster and found that they are well matched by two-stage power-law relations with different slopes at different radii. The global MF of Alpha Persei shows a turnover at $m=0.62\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ with low and high-mass slopes of $α_\mathrm{low}=0.50\pm0.09$ ($0.1<m/\mathrm{M}_{\odot}<0.62$) and $α_\mathrm{high}=2.32\pm0.14$ ($0.62\leq m/\mathrm{M}_{\odot}<4.68$) respectively. The high-mass slope of the cluster increases from $2.01$ inside $1\hbox{$.\!\!^\circ$}10$ to $2.63$ outside $2\hbox{$.\!\!^\circ$}2$, whereas the mean stellar mass decreases from $0.95$ to $0.57\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ in the same regions, signifying clear evidence of mass segregation in the cluster. From an examination of the high-quality colour-magnitude data of the cluster and performing a series of Monte Carlo simulations we obtained a binary fraction of $f_{\rm bin}=34\pm12$ percent for stars with $0.70<m/\mathrm{M}_{\odot}<4.68$. This is significantly larger than the observed binary fraction, indicating that this open cluster contains a large population of unresolved binaries. Finally, we corrected the mass-function slopes for the effect of unresolved binaries and found low- and high-mass slopes of $α_\mathrm{low}=0.89\pm0.11$ and $α_\mathrm{high}=2.37\pm0.09$ and a total cluster mass of $352\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$.

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arXiv2015

Dynamical Evolution of Outer-Halo Globular Clusters

Outer-halo globular clusters show large half-light radii and flat stellar mass functions, depleted in low-mass stars. Using N-body simulations of globular clusters on eccentric orbits within a Milky Way-like potential, we show how a cluster's half-mass radius and its mass function develop over time. The slope of the central mass function flattens proportionally to the amount of mass a cluster has lost, and the half-mass radius grows to a size proportional to the average strength of the tidal field. The main driver of these processes is mass segregation of dark remnants. We conclude that the extended, depleted clusters observed in the Milky Way must have had small half-mass radii in the past, and that they expanded due to the weak tidal field they spend most of their lifetime in. Moreover, their mass functions must have been steeper in the past but flattened significantly as a cause of mass segregation and tidal mass loss.

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arXiv2015

The Sizes of Globular Clusters as Tracers of Galactic Halo Potentials

We present $N$-body simulations of globular clusters, exploring the effect of different galactic potentials on cluster sizes, $r_h$. For various galactocentric distances, $R_G$, we assess how cluster sizes change when we vary the virial mass and concentration of the host galaxy's dark-matter halo. We show that sizes of GCs are determined by the local galactic mass density rather than the virial mass of the host galaxy. We find that clusters evolving in the inner haloes of less concentrated galaxies are significantly more extended than those evolving in more concentrated ones, while the sizes of those orbiting in the outer halo are almost independent of concentration. Adding a baryonic component to our galaxy models does not change these results much, since its effect is only significant in the very inner halo. Our simulations suggest that there is a relation between $r_h$ and $R_G$, which systematically depends on the physical parameters of the halo. Hence, observing such relations in individual galaxies can put a new observational constraint on dark-matter halo characteristics. However, by varying the halo mass in a wide range of $10^{9}\leq M_{vir}/\msun \leq10^{13}$, we find that the $r_h-R_G$ relationship will be nearly independent of halo mass, if one assumes $M_{vir}$ and $c_{vir}$ as two correlated parameters, as is suggested by cosmological simulations.

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arXiv2015

Possible smoking-gun evidence for initial mass segregation in re-virialized post-gas expulsion globular clusters

We perform a series of direct $N$-body calculations to investigate the effect of residual gas expulsion from the gas-embedded progenitors of present-day globular clusters (GCs) on the stellar mass function (MF). Our models start either tidally filling or underfilling, and either with or without primordial mass segregation. We cover 100 Myr of the evolution of modeled clusters and show that the expulsion of residual gas from initially mass-segregated clusters leads to a significantly shallower slope of the stellar MF in the low- ($m\leq 0.50 M_\odot$) and intermediate-mass ($\simeq 0.50-0.85 M_\odot$) regime. Therefore, the imprint of residual gas expulsion and primordial mass segregation might be visible in the present-day MF. We find that the strength of the external tidal field, as an essential parameter, influences the degree of flattening, such that a primordially mass-segregated tidally-filling cluster with $r_h/r_t\geq 0.1$ shows a strongly depleted MF in the intermediate stellar mass range. Therefore, the shape of the present-day stellar MF in this mass range probes the birth place of clusters in the Galactic environment. We furthermore find that this flattening agrees with the observed correlation between the concentration of a cluster and its MF slope, as found by de Marchi et al.. We show that if the expansion through the residual gas expulsion in primordial mass segregated clusters is the reason for this correlation then GCs most probably formed in strongly fluctuating local tidal fields in the early proto-Milky Way potential, supporting the recent conclusion by Marks \& Kroupa.

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arXiv2015

Galactic orbital motions of star clusters: static versus semicosmological time-dependent Galactic potentials

In order to understand the orbital history of Galactic halo objects, such as globular clusters, authors usually assume a static potential for our Galaxy with parameters that appear at the present-day. According to the standard paradigm of galaxy formation, galaxies grow through a continuous accretion of fresh gas and a hierarchical merging with smaller galaxies from high redshift to the present day. This implies that the mass and size of disc, bulge, and halo change with time. We investigate the effect of assuming a live Galactic potential on the orbital history of halo objects and its consequences on their internal evolution. We numerically integrate backwards the equations of motion of different test objects located in different Galactocentric distances in both static and time-dependent Galactic potentials in order to see if it is possible to discriminate between them. We show that in a live potential, the birth of the objects, 13 Gyr ago, would have occurred at significantly larger Galactocentric distances, compared to the objects orbiting in a static potential. Based on the direct N-body calculations of star clusters carried out with collisional N-body code, NBODY6, we also discuss the consequences of the time-dependence of a Galactic potential on the early- and long-term evolution of star clusters in a simple way, by comparing the evolution of two star clusters embedded in galactic models, which represent the galaxy at present and 12 Gyr ago, respectively. We show that assuming a static potential over a Hubble time for our Galaxy as it is often done, leads to an enhancement of mass-loss, an overestimation of the dissolution rates of globular clusters, an underestimation of the final size of star clusters, and a shallower stellar mass function.

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arXiv2014

The effect of primordial mass segregation on the size scale of globular clusters

We use direct $N$-body calculations to investigate the impact of primordial mass segregation on the size scale and mass-loss rate of star clusters in a galactic tidal field. We run a set of simulations of clusters with varying degrees of primordial mass segregation at various galactocentric radii and show that, in primordially segregated clusters, the early, impulsive mass-loss from stellar evolution of the most massive stars in the innermost regions of the cluster leads to a stronger expansion than for initially non-segregated clusters. Therefore, models in stronger tidal fields dissolve faster due to an enhanced flux of stars over the tidal boundary. Throughout their lifetimes, the segregated clusters are more extended by a factor of about 2, suggesting that (at least) some of the very extended globular clusters in the outer halo of the Milky Way may have been born with primordial mass segregation. We finally derive a relation between star-cluster dissolution time, $T_{diss}$, and galactocentric radius, $R_G$, and show how it depends on the degree of primordial mass segregation.

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