arXiv subjects

L. Hernquist

Publications and source records attributed to L. Hernquist.

45 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2003

A pulsar-atmosphere model for PSR 0656+14

We present a pulsar-atmosphere (PA) model for modulated thermal X-ray emission from cooling magnetized neutron stars. The model synthesizes the spectral properties of detailed stellar atmosphere calculations with the non-uniform surface properties anticipated for isolated, aging radio pulsars, and general relativistic effects on photon trajectories. We analyze the archival Chandra observations of the middle-aged radio pulsar PSR 0656+14 with the PA model and find it is an excellent representation of the phase-averaged X-ray spectrum for a broad range of polar effective temperature T_p and column density N_H ~ 10^{20} cm^{-2}. The spectral fits favor a sub-solar neutron star mass M < 1.0 M_{\sun}, a large radius R=15-16 km for a source distance d ~ 190 pc, while retaining consistency with theoretical neutron star equations-of-state. The modulated spectrum constrains the angular displacement of the pulsar spin axis to 30 +/- 2 \arcdeg with respect to the line of sight.

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arXiv2001

Enrichment of the High-Redshift IGM by Galactic Winds

This paper discusses a semi-numerical method of investigating the enrichment of the intergalactic medium by galactic winds. We find that most galaxies at z >~ 3 should be driving winds, and that (if these winds are similar to those at low-z) these winds should escape to large distances. Our calculations -- which permit exploration of a large region of model parameter space -- indicate that the wind velocity, the mass of the wind-driving galaxies, the fraction of ambient material entrained, and the available time (between wind launch and the observed redshift) all affect wind propagation significantly; other physical effects can be important but are sub-dominant. We find that under reasonable assumptions, the enrichment by 3 <~ z <~ 6 galaxies could account for the quantity of metals seen in the Ly-alpha forest, though it is presently unclear whether this enrichment is compatible with the intergalactic medium's detailed metal distribution or relative quiescence.

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arXiv2001

HST observations of NGC 6240

WFPC2 images and STIS spectroscopic observations are presented of the double nucleus in the merger system NGC 6240. We find that: (a) the kinematics of the ionized gas is similar to that of the molecular gas, despite a different morphology; (b) the gaseous and stellar kinematics are quite different, suggesting an early merger stage; (c) neither the gaseous nor the stellar kinematics show an obvious sign of the supermassive black hole believed to be responsible for the X-ray emission of NGC 6240; and (d) the steep off-nuclear velocity gradient is not due to a 10E11 solar mass black hole, in contrast to earlier suggestions.

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arXiv2000

The Effects of Gas Dynamics, Cooling, Star Formation, and Numerical Resolution in Simulations of Cluster Formation

We present the analysis of a suite of simulations of a Virgo mass galaxy cluster. Undertaken within the framework of standard cold dark matter cosmology, these simulations were performed at differing resolutions and with increasingly complex physical processes, with the goal of identifying the effects of each on the evolution of the cluster. We focus on the cluster at the present epoch and examine properties including the radial distributions of density, temperature, entropy and velocity. We also map `observable' projected properties such as the surface mass density, X-ray surface brightness and SZ signature. We identify significant differences between the simulations, which highlights the need for caution when comparing numerical simulations to observations of galaxy clusters. While resolution affects the inner density profile in dark matter simulations, the addition of a gaseous component, especially one that cools and forms stars, affects the entire cluster. We conclude that both resolution and included physical processes play an important role in simulating the formation and evolution of galaxy clusters. Therefore, physical inferences drawn from simulations that do not include a gaseous component that can cool and form stars present a poor representation of reality. (Abridged)

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arXiv1997

New Statistical Measures of the Lya Forest Spectra for Accurate Comparison to Theoretical Models

We propose a new method of analysis for the \lya forest, namely to measure the 1-point and 2-point joint probability distribution of the transmitted flux. The results for a sample of seven observed quasars and from two simulations of structure formation are shown and compared. Statistically significant differences in the 2-point function between the results of the numerical simulations and the observations are easily found. The analysis we suggest is very simple to apply to observed data sets, and we discuss its superiority over the traditional Voigt-profile fitting algorithms for accurate comparison to the predictions of theoretical models.

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arXiv1997

Dynamical stability of N-body models for M32 with a central black hole

We study the stability of stellar dynamical equilibrium models for M32. Kinematic observations show that M32 has a central black hole of 3x10^6 solar masses, and a phase-space distribution function that is close to the `two-integral' form f=f(E,L_z). M32 is also rapidly rotating; 85-90% of the stars have the same sense of rotation around the symmetry axis. Previous work has shown that flattened, rapidly rotating two-integral models can be bar-unstable. We have performed N-body simulations to test whether this is the case for M32. Particle realizations with N=512,000 were studied for two representative inclinations, i=90 (edge-on) and i=55, corresponding to intrinsic axial ratios of q=0.73 and q=0.55, respectively. The time evolution of the models was calculated with a `self-consistent field' code on a Cray T3D parallel supercomputer. We find both models to be dynamically stable. This implies that they provide a physically meaningful description of M32, and that the inclination of M32 (and hence its intrinsic flattening) cannot be strongly constrained through stability arguments. Previous work on the stability of f(E,L_z) models has shown that the bar-mode is the only possibly unstable mode for systems rounder than q=0.3, and that the likelihood for this mode to be unstable increases with flattening and rotation rate. The f(E,L_z) models studied for M32 are stable, and M32 has a higher rotation rate than nearly all other elliptical galaxies. This suggests that f(E,L_z) models constructed to fit data for real elliptical galaxies will generally be stable for q>0.55, and possibly for flatter systems as well.

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arXiv1996

The Opacity of the Lyman Alpha Forest and Implications for Omega_{baryon} and the Ionizing Background

We have measured the distribution function of the flux decrement caused by Lyman alpha forest absorption in a new sample of high resolution QSO spectra. The observations are compared to the results from two simulations of the Lya forest: an Eulerian Lambda-CDM model, and an SPH standard CDM model. Good agreement between the shapes of simulated and observed distributions is achieved by globally scaling the optical depth to match the mean flux decrements. This procedure amounts to a measurement of the parameter Omega_b^2 h^3 / Gamma (where Omega_b is the baryonic matter density and Gamma is the HI ionization rate). Estimating a lower limit Gamma > 7 10^{-13} s^{-1} from the abundance of known QSOs, we derive a lower limit to the baryon density, Omega_b h^2>0.021(0.017) for the Lambda-CDM (SCDM) model. In both cases the large values are inconsistent with some recent D/H determinations (Rugers & Hogan 1996a,b), favoring a low deuterium abundance as reported by Tytler, Fan & Burles (1996). Adopting a fixed Omega_b, we can determine the evolution of the ionizing radiation field. Our models predict the intensity to be approximately constant with redshift, consistent with the assumption that the ionizing background is produced by known quasars for z < 3. However, additional sources of ionizing photons are required at higher redshift.

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arXiv1996

Extended Perturbation Theory for the Local Density Distribution Function

Perturbation theory makes it possible to calculate the probability distribution function (PDF) of the large scale density field in the small variance limit. For top hat smoothing and scale-free Gaussian initial fluctuations, the result depends only on the linear variance, sigma_linear, and its logarithmic derivative with respect to the filtering scale -(n_linear+3)=dlog sigma_linear^2/dlog L (Bernardeau 1994). In this paper, we measure the PDF and its low-order moments in scale-free simulations evolved well into the nonlinear regime and compare the results with the above predictions, assuming that the spectral index and the variance are adjustable parameters, n_eff and sigma_eff=sigma, where sigma is the true, nonlinear variance. With these additional degrees of freedom, results from perturbation theory provide a good fit of the PDFs, even in the highly nonlinear regime. The value of n_eff is of course equal to n_linear when sigma << 1, and it decreases with increasing sigma. A nearly flat plateau is reached when sigma >> 1. In this regime, the difference between n_eff and n_linear increases when n_linear decreases. For initial power-spectra with n_linear=-2,-1,0,+1, we find n_eff ~ -9,-3,-1,-0.5 when sigma^2 ~ 100.

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arXiv1995

Self-similarity and scaling behavior of scale-free gravitational clustering

We measure the scaling properties of the probability distribution of the smoothed density field in $N$-body simulations of expanding universes with scale-free initial power-spectra, with particular attention to the predictions of the stable clustering hypothesis. We concentrate our analysis on the ratios $S_Q(\ell)\equiv {\bar ξ}_Q/{\bar ξ}_2^{Q-1}$, $Q \leq 5$, where ${\bar ξ}_Q$ is the averaged $Q$-body correlation function over a cell of radius $\ell$. The behavior of the higher order correlations is studied through that of the void probability distribution function. As functions of ${\bar ξ}_2$, the quantities $S_Q$, $3 \leq Q \leq 5$, exhibit two plateaus separated by a smooth transition around ${\bar ξ}_2 \sim 1$. In the weakly nonlinear regime, ${\bar ξ}_2 \la 1$, the results are in reasonable agreement with the predictions of perturbation theory. In the nonlinear regime, ${\bar ξ}_2 > 1$, the function $S_Q({\bar ξ}_2)$ is larger than in the weakly nonlinear regime, and increasingly so with $-n$. It is well-fitted by the expression $S_Q= ({\bar ξ}_2/100)^{0.045(Q-2)}\ {\widetilde S}_Q$ for all $n$. This weak dependence on scale proves {\em a small, but significant departure from the stable clustering predictions} at least for $n=0$ and $n=+1$. The analysis of $P_0$ confirms that the expected scale-invariance of the functions $S_Q$ is not exactly attained in the part of the nonlinear regime we probe, except possibly for $n=-2$ and marginally for $n=-1$. In these two cases, our measurements are not accurate enough to be discriminant.

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