arXiv subjects

Pavel Kroupa

Publications and source records attributed to Pavel Kroupa.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Simulating disk galaxies and interactions in Milgromian dynamics

Since its publication 1983, Milgromian dynamics (aka MOND) has been very successful in modeling the gravitational potential of galaxies from baryonic matter alone. However, the dynamical modeling has long been an unsolved issue. In particular, the setup of a stable galaxy for Milgromian N-body calculations has been a major challenge. Here, we show a way to set up disc galaxies in MOND for calculations in the PHANTOM OF RAMSES (PoR) code by Lüghausen (2015) and Teyssier (2002). The method is done by solving the QUMOND Poisson equations based on a baryonic and a phantom dark matter component. The resulting galaxy models are stable after a brief settling period for a large mass and size range. Simulations of single galaxies as well as colliding galaxies are shown.

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arXiv2016

Dynamical ejections of massive stars from young star clusters under diverse initial conditions

We study the effects of initial conditions of star clusters and their massive star population on dynamical ejections of massive stars from star clusters up to an age of 3 Myr. We use a large set of direct N-body calculations for moderately massive star clusters (Mecl=$10^{3.5}$ Msun). We vary the initial conditions of the calculations such as the initial half-mass radius of the clusters, initial binary populations for massive stars and initial mass segregation. We find that the initial density is the most influential parameter for the ejection fraction of the massive systems. The clusters with an initial half-mass radius of 0.1 (0.3) pc can eject up to 50% (30%) of their O-star systems on average. Most of the models show that the average ejection fraction decreases with decreasing stellar mass. For clusters efficient at ejecting O stars, the mass function of the ejected stars is top-heavy compared to the given initial mass function (IMF), while the mass function of stars that remain in the cluster becomes slightly steeper (top-light) than the IMF. The top-light mass functions of stars in 3 Myr old clusters in our N-body models agree well with the mean mass function of young intermediate-mass clusters in M31, as reported previously. We show that the multiplicity fraction of the ejected massive stars can be as high as 60%, that massive high-order multiple systems can be dynamically ejected, and that high-order multiples become common especially in the cluster. We also discuss binary populations of the ejected massive systems. When a large kinematic survey of massive field stars becomes available, for instance through Gaia, our results may be used to constrain the birth configuration of massive stars in star clusters. (Abridged)

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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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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

Formation of Very Young Massive Clusters and implications for globular clusters

How Very Young Massive star Clusters (VYMCs; also known as "starburst" clusters), which typically are of $\gtrsim 10^4M_\odot$ and are a few Myr old, form out of Giant Molecular Clouds is still largely an open question. Increasingly detailed observations of young star clusters and star-forming molecular clouds and computational studies provide clues about their formation scenarios and the underlying physical processes involved. This chapter is focused on reviewing the decade-long studies that attempt to computationally reproduce the well-observed nearby VYMCs, such as the Orion Nebula Cluster, R136 and NGC 3603 young cluster, thereby shedding light on birth conditions of massive star clusters, in general. On this regard, focus is given on direct N-body modeling of real-sized massive star clusters, with a monolithic structure and undergoing residual gas expulsion, which have consistently reproduced the observed characteristics of several VYMCs and also of young star clusters, in general. The connection of these relatively simplified model calculations with the structural richness of dense molecular clouds and the complexity of hydrodynamic calculations of star cluster formation is presented in detail. Furthermore, the connections of such VYMCs with globular clusters, which are nearly as old as our Universe, is discussed. The chapter is concluded by addressing long-term deeply gas-embedded (at least apparently) and substructured systems like W3 Main. While most of the results are quoted from existing and up-to-date literature, in an integrated fashion, several new insights and discussions are provided.

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arXiv2015

The number of tidal dwarf satellite galaxies in dependence of bulge index

We show that a significant correlation (up to 5sigma) emerges between the bulge index, defined to be larger for larger bulge/disk ratio, in spiral galaxies with similar luminosities in the Galaxy Zoo 2 of SDSS and the number of tidal-dwarf galaxies in the catalogue by Kaviraj et al. (2012). In the standard cold or warm dark-matter cosmological models the number of satellite galaxies correlates with the circular velocity of the dark matter host halo. In generalized-gravity models without cold or warm dark matter such a correlation does not exist, because host galaxies cannot capture in-falling dwarf galaxies due to the absence of dark-matter-induced dynamical friction. However, in such models a correlation is expected to exist between the bulge mass and the number of satellite galaxies, because bulges and tidal-dwarf satellite galaxies form in encounters between host galaxies. This is not predicted by dark matter models in which bulge mass and the number of satellites are a priori uncorrelated because higher bulge/disk ratios do not imply higher dark/luminous ratios. Hence, our correlation reproduces the prediction of scenarios without dark matter, whereas an explanation is not found readily from the a priori predictions of the standard scenario with dark matter. Further research is needed to explore whether some application of the standard theory may explain this correlation.

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arXiv2015

On the persistence of two small-scale problems in ΛCDM

We investigate the degree to which the inclusion of baryonic physics can overcome two long-standing problems of the standard cosmological model on galaxy scales: (i) the problem of satellite planes around Local Group galaxies, and (ii) the "too big to fail" problem. By comparing dissipational and dissipationless simulations, we find no indication that the addition of baryonic physics results in more flattened satellite distributions around Milky-Way-like systems. Recent claims to the contrary are shown to derive in part from a non-standard metric for the degree of flattening, which ignores the satellites' radial positions. If the full 3D positions of the satellite galaxies are considered, none of the simulations we analyse reproduce the observed flattening nor the observed degree of kinematic coherence of the Milky Way satellite system. Our results are consistent with the expectation that baryonic physics should have little or no influence on the structure of satellite systems on scales of hundreds of kiloparsecs. Claims that the "too big to fail" problem can be resolved by the addition of baryonic physics are also shown to be problematic.

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arXiv2015

How can young massive clusters reach their present-day sizes?

The classic question that how young massive star clusters attain their shapes and sizes, as we find them today, remains to be a challenge. Both observational and computational studies of star-forming massive molecular gas clouds infer that massive cluster formation is primarily triggered along the small-scale ($\lesssim0.3$ pc) filamentary substructures within the clouds. The present study is intended to investigate the possible ways in which a filament-like-compact, massive star cluster (effective radius 0.1-0.3 pc) can expand $\gtrsim10$ times, still remaining massive enough ($\gtrsim10^4 M_\odot$), to become a young massive star cluster, as we observe today. To that end, model massive clusters (of initially $10^4 M_\odot-10^5 M_\odot$) are evolved using Sverre Aarseth's state-of-the-art N-body code NBODY7. All the computed clusters expand with time, whose sizes (effective radii) are compared with those observed for young massive clusters, of age $\lesssim100$ Myr, in the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies. It is found that beginning from the above compact sizes, a star cluster cannot expand by its own, i.e., due to two-body relaxation, stellar-evolutionary mass loss, dynamical heating by primordial binaries and stellar-mass black holes, up to the observed sizes of young massive clusters; they always remain much more compact compared to the observed ones. This calls for additional mechanisms that can boost the expansion of a massive cluster after its assembly. Using further N-body calculations, it is shown that a substantial residual gas expulsion, with $\approx30$% star formation efficiency, can indeed swell the newborn embedded cluster adequately. The limitations of the present calculations and their consequences are discussed.

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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

Probing the isotropy of cosmic acceleration traced by Type Ia supernovae

We present a method to test the isotropy of the magnitude-redshift relation of Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) and single out the most discrepant direction (in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio) with respect to the all-sky data. Our technique accounts for possible directional variations of the corrections for SNe Ia and yields all-sky maps of the best-fit cosmological parameters with arbitrary angular resolution. To show its potential, we apply our method to the recent Union2.1 compilation, building maps with three different angular resolutions. We use a Monte Carlo method to estimate the statistical significance with which we could reject the null hypothesis that the magnitude-redshift relation is isotropic based on the properties of the observed most discrepant directions. We find that, based on pure signal-to-noise arguments, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected at any meaningful confidence level. However, if we also consider that the strongest deviations in the Union2.1 sample closely align with the dipole temperature anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background, we find that the null hypothesis should be rejected at the $95-99$ per cent confidence level, slightly depending on the angular resolution of the study. If this result is not due to a statistical fluke, it might either indicate that the SN data have not been cleaned from all possible systematics or even point towards new physics. We finally discuss future perspectives in the field for achieving larger and more uniform data sets that will vastly improve the quality of the results and optimally exploit our method.

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arXiv2015

Mass distributions of star clusters for different star formation histories in a galaxy cluster environment

Clusters of galaxies usually contain rich populations of globular clusters (GCs). We investigate how different star formation histories (SFHs) shape the final mass distribution of star clusters. We assume that every star cluster population forms during a formation epoch of length dt at a constant star-formation rate (SFR). The mass distribution of such a population is described by the embedded cluster mass function (ECMF), which is a pure power law extending to an upper limit M_max. Since the SFR determines M_max, the ECMF implicitly depends on the SFR. Starting with different SFHs, each SFH is divided into formation epochs of length dt at different SFRs. The requested mass function arises from the superposition of the star clusters of all formation epochs. An improved optimal sampling technique is introduced that allows generating number and mass distributions, both of which accurately agree with the ECMF. Moreover, for each SFH the distribution function of all involved SFRs, F(SFR), is computed. For monotonically decreasing SFHs, F(SFR) always follows a power law. With F(SFR), we develope the theory of the integrated galactic embedded cluster mass function (IGECMF). It describes the distribution function of birth stellar masses of star clusters that accumulated over a formation episode much longer than dt. The IGECMF indeed reproduces the mass distribution of star clusters created according to the superposition principle. Interestingly, all considered SFHs lead to a turn-down with increasing star cluster mass in their respective IGECMFs. In the past, a turn-down at the high-mass end has been observed for GC systems in different galaxy clusters and in the cluster initial mass function. This behavior can be explained naturally if the observed star cluster ensembles are superpositions of several individual star cluster populations that formed at different times at different SFRs.

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arXiv2015

M-dwarf binaries as tracers of star and brown dwarf formation

The separation distribution for M-dwarf binaries in the ASTRALUX survey is narrower and peaking at smaller separations than the distribution for solar-type binaries. This is often interpreted to mean that M-dwarfs constitute a continuous transition from brown dwarfs (BDs) to stars. Here a prediction for the M-dwarf separation distribution is presented, using a dynamical population synthesis (DPS) model in which "star-like" binaries with late-type primaries ($\lesssim1.5 M_{\rm sun}$) follow universal initial distribution functions and are dynamically processed in their birth embedded clusters. A separate "BD-like" population has both its own distribution functions for binaries and initial mass function (IMF), which overlaps in mass with the IMF for stars. Combining these two formation modes results in a peak on top of a wider separation distribution for late M-dwarfs consistent with the late ASTRALUX sample. The DPS separation distribution for early M-dwarfs shows no such peak and is in agreement with the M-dwarfs in Multiples (MinMS) data. We note that the latter survey is potentially in tension with the early ASTRALUX data. Concluding, the ASTRALUX and MinMS data are unable to unambiguously distinguish whether or not BDs are a continuous extension of the stellar IMF. Future observational efforts are needed to fully answer this interesting question. The DPS model predicts that binaries outside the sensitivity range of the ASTRALUX survey remain to be detected. For application to future data, we present a means to observationally measure the overlap of the putative BD-like branch and the stellar branch. We discuss the meaning of universal star formation and distribution functions.

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arXiv2015

Comment on "Evidence for dark matter in the inner Milky Way"

This is a brief rebuttal to arXiv:1502.03821, which claims to provide the first observational proof of dark matter interior to the solar circle. We point out that this result is not new, and can be traced back at least a quarter century.

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arXiv2015

Dependency of dynamical ejections of O stars on the masses of very young star clusters

Massive stars can be efficiently ejected from their birth clusters through encounters with other massive stars. We study how the dynamical ejection fraction of O star systems varies with the masses of very young star clusters, Mecl, by means of direct N -body calculations. We include diverse initial conditions by varying the half-mass radius, initial mass-segregation, initial binary fraction and orbital parameters of the massive binaries. The results show robustly that the ejection fraction of O star systems exhibits a maximum at a cluster mass of $10^{3.5}$ Msun for all models, even though the number of the ejected systems increases with cluster mass. We show that lower mass clusters (Mecl ~ 400 Msun ) are the dominant sources for populating the Galactic field with O stars by dynamical ejections, considering the mass function of embedded clusters. About 15 per cent (up to 38 per cent, depending on the cluster models) of O stars of which a significant fraction are binaries, and which would have formed in a 10 Myr epoch of star formation in a distribution of embedded clusters, will be dynamically ejected to the field. Individual clusters may eject 100 per cent of their original O star content. A large fraction of such O stars have velocities up to only 10 km/s. Synthesising a young star cluster mass function it follows, given the stellar-dynamical results presented here, that the observed fractions of field and runaway O stars, and the binary fractions among them can be well understood theoretically if all O stars form in embedded clusters.

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arXiv2015

Characterizing the Brown Dwarf Formation Channels from the Initial Mass Function and Binary-star Dynamics

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a key property of stellar populations. There is growing evidence that the classical star-formation mechanism by the direct cloud fragmentation process has difficulties reproducing the observed abundance and binary properties of brown dwarfs and very-low-mass stars. In particular, recent analytical derivations of the stellar IMF exhibit a deficit of brown dwarfs compared to observational data. Here we derive the residual mass function of brown dwarfs as an empirical measure of the brown dwarf deficiency in recent star-formation models with respect to observations and show that it is compatible with the substellar part of the Thies-Kroupa IMF and the mass function obtained by numerical simulations. We conclude that the existing models may be further improved by including a substellar correction term that accounts for additional formation channels like disk or filament fragmentation. The term "peripheral fragmentation" is introduced here for such additional formation channels. In addition, we present an updated analytical model of stellar and substellar binarity. The resulting binary fraction and the dynamically evolved companion mass-ratio distribution are in good agreement with observational data on stellar and very-low-mass binaries in the Galactic field, in clusters, and in dynamically unprocessed groups of stars if all stars form as binaries with stellar companions. Cautionary notes are given on the proper analysis of mass functions and the companion mass-ratio distribution and the interpretation of the results. The existence of accretion disks around young brown dwarfs does not imply that these form just like stars in direct fragmentation.

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arXiv2015

Galaxies as simple dynamical systems: observational data disfavor dark matter and stochastic star formation

(Abridged) Galaxies are observed to be simple systems but the standard model of cosmology (SMoC) implies a haphazard merger history driven by dynamical friction on dark matter halos. The SMoC is tested here with the results that the dual dwarf galaxy theorem is in contradiction to the data if the SMoC is true, and the action of dynamical friction is not evident in the galaxy population. A consistency test for this conclusion comes from the significantly anisotropic distributions of satellite galaxies. Independently, the long history of failures of the SMoC have the likelihood that it describes the observed Universe to less than 10^-4 per cent. The implication for fundamental physics is that exotic dark matter particles do not exist and that consequently effective gravitational physics on the scales of galaxies and beyond ought to be non-Newtonian/non-Einsteinian. The data imply that scale-invariant dynamics, as discovered by Milgrom, is an excellent description of galaxies in the weak-field regime. Observations of stellar populations in galaxies suggest the galaxy-wide IMF, the IGIMF, to vary with star formation rate and that stochastic descriptions of star formation are inconsistent with the data. A consequence of this understanding of galactic astrophysics is that most dwarf satellite galaxies are formed as tidal dwarf galaxies in galaxy-galaxy encounters, that they follow the mass-metallicity relation, that galactic mergers are rare, that galaxies immersed in external potentials are physically larger than isolated galaxies and that star-forming galaxies form a main sequence. Eight predictions are offered which will allow the concepts raised here to be tested. A very conservative, cold- and warm-dark-matter-free cosmological model may be emerging from these considerations.

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arXiv2015

Globular Cluster Streams as Galactic High-Precision Scales - The Poster Child Palomar 5

Using the example of the tidal stream of the Milky Way globular cluster Palomar 5 (Pal 5), we demonstrate how observational data on streams can be efficiently reduced in dimensionality and modeled in a Bayesian framework. Our approach combines detection of stream overdensities by a Difference-of-Gaussians process with fast streakline models, a continuous likelihood function built from these models, and inference with MCMC. By generating $\approx10^7$ model streams, we show that the geometry of the Pal 5 debris yields powerful constraints on the solar position and motion, the Milky Way and Pal 5 itself. All 10 model parameters were allowed to vary over large ranges without additional prior information. Using only SDSS data and a few radial velocities from the literature, we find that the distance of the Sun from the Galactic Center is $8.30\pm0.25$ kpc, and the transverse velocity is $253\pm16$ km/s. Both estimates are in excellent agreement with independent measurements of these quantities. Assuming a standard disk and bulge model, we determine the Galactic mass within Pal 5's apogalactic radius of 19 kpc to be $(2.1\pm0.4)\times10^{11}$ M$_\odot$. Moreover, we find the potential of the dark halo with a flattening of $q_z = 0.95^{+0.16}_{-0.12}$ to be essentially spherical within the radial range that is effectively probed by Pal 5. We also determine Pal 5's mass, distance and proper motion independently from other methods, which enables us to perform vital cross-checks. We conclude that with more observational data and by using additional prior information, the precision of this method can be significantly increased.

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