arXiv subjects

Steinn Sigurdsson

Publications and source records attributed to Steinn Sigurdsson.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Black Hole Growth from Cosmological N-body Simulations

(Abridged) We use high resolution cosmological N-body simulations to study the growth of intermediate to supermassive black holes from redshift 49 to zero. We track the growth of black holes from the seeds of population III stars to black holes in the range of 10^3 < M < 10^7 Msun -- not quasars, but rather IMBH to low-mass SMBHs. These lower mass black holes are the primary observable for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The large-scale dynamics of the black holes are followed accurately within the simulation down to scales of 1 kpc; thereafter, we follow the merger analytically from the last dynamical friction phase to black hole coalescence. We find that the merger rate of these black holes is R~25 per year between 8 < z < 11 and R = 10 per year at z=3. Before the merger occurs the incoming IMBH may be observed with a next generation of X-ray telescopes as a ULX source with a rate of about ~ 3 - 7 per year for 1 < z < 5. We develop an analytic prescription that captures the most important black hole growth mechanisms: galaxy merger-driven gas accretion and black hole coalescence. Using this, we find that SMBH at the center of Milky Way type galaxy was in place with most of its mass by z = 4.7, and most of the growth was driven by gas accretion excited by major mergers. Hundreds of black holes have failed to coalesce with the SMBH by z=0, some with masses of 10000 Msun, orbiting within the dark matter halo with luminosities up to ~ 30000 Lsun. These X-ray sources can easily be observed with Chandra at ~ 100 kpc.

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arXiv2008

Metal Cooling in Simulations of Cosmic Structure Formation

The addition of metals to any gas can significantly alter its evolution by increasing the rate of radiative cooling. In star-forming environments, enhanced cooling can potentially lead to fragmentation and the formation of low-mass stars, where metal-free gas-clouds have been shown not to fragment. Adding metal cooling to numerical simulations has traditionally required a choice between speed and accuracy. We introduce a method that uses the sophisticated chemical network of the photoionization software, Cloudy, to include radiative cooling from a complete set of metals up to atomic number 30 (Zn) that can be used with large-scale three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. Our method is valid over an extremely large temperature range (10 K < T < 10^8 K), up to hydrogen number densities of 10^12 cm^-3. At this density, a sphere of 1 Msun has a radius of roughly 40 AU. We implement our method in the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) hydrodynamic/N-body code, Enzo. Using cooling rates generated with this method, we study the physical conditions that led to the transition from Population III to Population II star formation. While C, O, Fe, and Si have been previously shown to make the strongest contribution to the cooling in low-metallicity gas, we find that up to 40% of the metal cooling comes from fine-structure emission by S, when solar abundance patterns are present. At metallicities, Z > 10^-4 Zsun, regions of density and temperature exist where gas is both thermally unstable and has a cooling time less than its dynamical time. We identify these doubly unstable regions as the most inducive to fragmentation. At high redshifts, the CMB inhibits efficient cooling at low temperatures and, thus, reduces the size of the doubly unstable regions, making fragmentation more difficult.

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arXiv2007

Modeling of Emission Signatures of Massive Black Hole Binaries: I Methods

We model the electromagnetic signatures of massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) with an associated gas component. The method comprises numerical simulations of relativistic binaries and gas coupled with calculations of the physical properties of the emitting gas. We calculate the UV/X-ray and the Halpha light curves and the Halpha emission profiles. The simulations are carried out with a modified version of the parallel tree SPH code Gadget. The heating, cooling, and radiative processes are calculated for two different physical scenarios, where the gas is approximated as a black-body or a solar metallicity gas. The calculation for the solar metallicity scenario is carried out with the photoionization code Cloudy. We focus on sub-parsec binaries which have not yet entered the gravitational radiation phase. The results from the first set of calculations, carried out for a coplanar binary and gas disk, suggest that there are pronounced outbursts in the X-ray light curve during pericentric passages. If such outbursts persist for a large fraction of the lifetime of the system, they can serve as an indicator of this type of binary. The predicted Halpha emission line profiles may be used as a criterion for selection of MBHB candidates from existing archival data. The orbital period and mass ratio of a binary may be inferred after carefully monitoring the evolution of the Halpha profiles of the candidates. The discovery of sub-parsec binaries is an important step in understanding of the merger rates of MBHBs and their evolution towards the detectable gravitational wave window.

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arXiv2007

Role of Dynamical Research in the Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets

(Abridged) The discovery of extrasolar planetary systems revealed an unexpected diversity of planetary systems that has revolutionized planet formation theory. A strong program of theoretical research is essential to maximize both the discovery potential and the scientific returns of future observational programs, so as to achieve a deeper understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary systems. We outline three broad categories of theoretical research: detailed studies of specific planetary systems, testing planet formation models by comparing their predictions to the observed exoplanet population, and detailed modeling of specific physical processes. We describe how such theoretical research plays an important role in analyzing observations for a wide range detection methods and contributes to understanding the Earth's place in the universe and the potential for Earth-like life beyond our solar system. In this white paper, we suggest how to maximize the scientific return of future exoplanet observations. Our recommendations include a strong theory program, support for multiple observational programs that will study a diverse set of planets and stars, significant observing time devoted to follow-up observations, and healthy collaboration between observers and theorists.

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arXiv2007

Terrestrial and Habitable Planet Formation in Binary and Multi-star Systems

One of the most surprising discoveries of extrasolar planets is the detection of planets in moderately close binary star systems. The Jovian-type planets in the two binaries of Gamma Cephei and GJ 86 have brought to the forefront questions on the formation of giant planets and the possibility of the existence of smaller bodies in such dynamically complex environments. The diverse dynamical characteristics of these objects have made scientists wonder to what extent the current theories of planet formation can be applied to binaries and multiple star systems. At present, the sensitivity of the detection techniques does not allow routine discovery of Earth-sized bodies in binary systems. However, with the advancement of new techniques, and with the recent launch of CoRoT and the launch of Kepler in late 2008, the detection of more planets (possibly terrestrial-class objects) in such systems is on the horizon. Theoretical studies and numerical modeling of terrestrial and habitable planet formation are, therefore, necessary to gain fundamental insights into the prospects for life in such systems and have great strategic impact on NASA science and missions.

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arXiv2007

The Transition from the First Stars to the Second Stars in the Early Universe

We observe a sharp transition from a singular, high-mass mode of star formation, to a low-mass dominated mode, in numerical simulations, at a metallicity of 10^-3 Zsolar. We incorporate a new method for including the radiative cooling from metals into adaptive mesh-refinement hydrodynamic simulations. Our results illustrate how metals, produced by the first stars, led to a transition from the high-mass star formation mode of Pop III stars, to the low-mass mode that dominates today. We ran hydrodynamic simulations with cosmological initial conditions in the standard LambdaCDM model, with metallicities, from zero to 10^-2 Zsolar, beginnning at redshift, z = 99. The simulations were run until a dense core forms at the center of a 5 x 10^5 Msolar dark matter halo, at z ~ 18. Analysis of the central 1 Msolar core reveals that the two simulations with the lowest metallicities, Z = 0 and 10^-4 Zsolar, contain one clump with 99% of the mass, while the two with metallicities, Z = 10^-3 and 10^-2 Zsolar, each contain two clumps that share most of the mass. The Z = 10^-3 Zsolar simulation also produced two low-mass proto-stellar objects with masses between 10^-2 and 10^-1 Msolar. Gas with Z >= 10^-3 Zsolar is able to cool to the temperature of the CMB, which sets a lower limit to the minimum fragmentation mass. This suggests that the second generation stars produced a spectrum of lower mass stars, but were still more massive on average than stars formed in the local universe.

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arXiv2007

Supermassive Black Hole Growth and Merger Rates from Cosmological N-body Simulations

Understanding how seed black holes grow into intermediate and supermassive black holes (IMBHs and SMBHs, respectively) has important implications for the duty-cycle of active galactic nuclei (AGN), galaxy evolution, and gravitational wave astronomy. Most studies of the cosmological growth and merger history of black holes have used semianalytic models and have concentrated on SMBH growth in luminous galaxies. Using high resolution cosmological N-body simulations, we track the assembly of black holes over a large range of final masses -- from seed black holes to SMBHs -- over widely varying dynamical histories. We used the dynamics of dark matter halos to track the evolution of seed black holes in three different gas accretion scenarios. We have found that growth of Sagittarius A* - size SMBH reaches its maximum mass M_{SMBH}~10^6Msun at z~6 through early gaseous accretion episodes, after which it stays at near constant mass. At the same redshift, the duty-cycle of the host AGN ends, hence redshift z=6 marks the transition from an AGN to a starburst galaxy which eventually becomes the Milky Way. By tracking black hole growth as a function of time and mass, we estimate that the IMBH merger rate reaches a maximum of R_{max}=55 yr^-1 at z=11. From IMBH merger rates we calculate N_{ULX}=7 per Milky Way type galaxy per redshift in redshift range 2<z<6.

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arXiv2007

Formation of Earth-like Planets During and After Giant Planet Migration

Close-in giant planets are thought to have formed in the cold outer regions of planetary systems and migrated inward, passing through the orbital parameter space occupied by the terrestrial planets in our own Solar System. We present dynamical simulations of the effects of a migrating giant planet on a disk of protoplanetary material and the subsequent evolution of the planetary system. We numerically investigate the dynamics of post-migration planetary systems over 200 million years using models with a single migrating giant planet, one migrating and one non-migrating giant planet, and excluding the effects of a gas disk. Material that is shepherded in front of the migrating giant planet by moving mean motion resonances accretes into "hot Earths", but survival of these bodies is strongly dependent on dynamical damping. Furthermore, a significant amount of material scattered outward by the giant planet survives in highly excited orbits; the orbits of these scattered bodies are then damped by gas drag and dynamical friction over the remaining accretion time. In all simulations Earth-mass planets accrete on approximately 100 Myr timescales, often with orbits in the Habitable Zone. These planets range in mass and water content, with both quantities increasing with the presence of a gas disk and decreasing with the presence of an outer giant planet. We use scaling arguments and previous results to derive a simple recipe that constrains which giant planet systems are able to form and harbor Earth-like planets in the Habitable Zone, demonstrating that roughly one third of the known planetary systems are potentially habitable.

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arXiv2006

The Resolved Stellar Populations of a Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy in the Virgo Cluster

We report on the discovery of a faint (M_V ~ -10.6 +/- 0.2) dwarf spheroidal galaxy on deep F606W and F814W Hubble Space Telescope images of a Virgo intracluster field. The galaxy is easily resolved in our images, as our color magnitude diagram (CMD) extends > 1 magnitude beyond the tip of the red giant branch (RGB). Thus, it is the deepest CMD for a small dwarf galaxy inside a cluster environment. Using the colors of the RGB stars, we derive a metal abundance for the dwarf of [M/H]= -2.3 +/- 0.3, and show that the metallicity dispersion is less than 0.6 dex at 95% confidence. We also use the galaxy's lack of AGB stars and the absence of objects brighter than M_bol ~ -4.1 +/- 0.2 to show that the system is old (t >~10 Gyr). Finally, we derive the object's structural parameters, and show that the galaxy displays no obvious evidence of tidal threshing. Since the tip of the red giant branch distance ((m-M)_0 = 31.23 +/- 0.17 or D = 17.6 +/- 1.4 Mpc) puts the galaxy near the core of the Virgo cluster, one might expect the object to have undergone some tidal processing. Yet the chemical and morphological similarity between the dwarf and the dSph galaxies of the Local and M81 Group demonstrates that the object is indeed pristine, and not the shredded remains of a much larger galaxy. We discuss the possible origins of this galaxy, and suggest that it is just now falling into Virgo for the first time.

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arXiv2006

The Metallicity Distribution of Intracluster Stars in Virgo

We have used the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) to detect and measure ~5300 stars in a single intracluster field in the Virgo Cluster. By performing F606W and F814W photometry on these stars, we have determined their metallicity distribution function, and constrained the types of stars present in this portion of Virgo's intracluster space. Based on the small number of stars detected brighter than the red giant branch (RGB) tip, we suggest that in this region, Virgo's intracluster stars are mostly old (>~10 Gyr). Through analysis of the RGB stars themselves, we determine that the population contains the full range of metallicities probed (-2.3<[M/H]<0.0). We also present evidence that the younger (<10 Gyr) component of the population is more metal-rich, with [M/H]>-0.5. The spatial distribution of the most metal-poor stars in the field shows significantly more structure than that of the metal-rich stars, indicating that the intracluster population is not well-mixed. We discuss the implications these observations have for the production of intracluster stars and the dynamical evolution of the Virgo Cluster.

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arXiv2006

Electromagnetic Signatures of Massive Black Hole Binaries

We model the electromagnetic emission signatures of massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) with an associated gas component. The method comprises numerical simulations of relativistic binaries and gas coupled with calculations of the physical properties of the emitting gas. We calculate the accretion powered UV/X-ray and Halpha light curves and the Halpha emission line profiles. The simulations have been carried out with a modified version of the parallel tree SPH code Gadget. The heating, cooling, and radiative processes for the solar metallicity gas have been calculated with the photoionization code Cloudy. We investigate gravitationally bound, sub-parsec binaries which have not yet entered the gravitational radiation phase. The results from the first set of calculations, carried out for a coplanar binary and gas disk, suggest that the outbursts in the X-ray light curve are pronounced during pericentric passages and can serve as a fingerprint for this type of binaries if periodic outbursts are a long lived signature of the binary. The Halpha emission-line profiles also offer strong indications of a binary presence and may be used as a criterion for selection of MBHB candidates for further monitoring from existing archival data. The orbital period and mass ratio of a binary could be determined from the Halpha light curves and profiles of carefully monitored candidates. Although systems with the orbital periods studied here are not within the frequency band of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), their discovery is important for understanding of the merger rates of MBHBs and the evolution of such binaries through the last parsec and towards the detectable gravitational wave window.

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arXiv2006

Virgo's Intracluster Globular Clusters as Seen by the Advanced Camera for Surveys

We report the discovery of 4 candidate intracluster globular clusters (IGCs) in a single deep HST ACS field of the Virgo Cluster. We show that each cluster is roughly spherical, has a magnitude near the peak of the Virgo globular cluster luminosity function, has a radial profile that is best-fit by a King model, and is surrounded by an excess of point sources which have the colors and magnitudes of cluster red giant stars. Despite the fact that two of our IGC candidates have integrated colors redder than the mean of the M87 globular cluster system, we propose that all of the objects are metal-poor with [M/H] < -1. We show that the tidal radii of our intracluster globulars are all larger than the mean for Milky Way clusters, and suggest that the clusters have undergone less tidal stress than their Galactic counterparts. Finally, we normalize our globular cluster observations to the luminosity of intracluster stars, and derive a value of S_N ~ 6 for the specific frequency of Virgo intracluster globular clusters. We use these data to constrain the origins of Virgo's intracluster population, and suggest that globular clusters in our intracluster field have a different origin than globular clusters in the vicinity of M87. In particular, we argue that dwarf elliptical galaxies may be an important source of intracluster stars.

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arXiv2006

Exotic Earths: Forming Habitable Worlds with Giant Planet Migration

Close-in giant planets (e.g. ``Hot Jupiters'') are thought to form far from their host stars and migrate inward, through the terrestrial planet zone, via torques with a massive gaseous disk. Here we simulate terrestrial planet growth during and after giant planet migration. Several-Earth mass planets also form interior to the migrating Jovian planet, analogous to recently-discovered ``Hot Earths''. Very water-rich, Earth-mass planets form from surviving material outside the giant planet's orbit, often in the Habitable Zone and with low orbital eccentricities. More than a third of the known systems of giant planets may harbor Earth-like planets.

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arXiv2006

The Role of Primordial Kicks on Black Hole Merger Rates

Primordial stars are likely to be very massive $\geq30\Msun$, form in isolation, and will likely leave black holes as remnants in the centers of their host dark matter halos in the mass range $10^{6}-10^{10}\Ms$. Such early black holes, at redshifts z$\gtsim10$, could be the seed black holes for the many supermassive black holes found in galaxies in the local universe. If they exist, their mergers with nearby supermassive black holes may be a prime signal for long wavelength gravitational wave detectors. We simulate formation of black holes in the center of high redshift dark matter halos and explore implications of initial natal kick velocities conjectured by some formation models. The central concentration of early black holes in present day galaxies is reduced if they are born even with moderate kicks of tens of km/s. The modest kicks allow the black holes to leave their parent halo, which consequently leads to dynamical friction being less effective on the lower mass black holes as compared to those still embedded in their parent halos. Therefore, merger rates may be reduced by more than an order of magnitude. Using analytical and illustrative cosmological N--body simulations we quantify the role of natal kicks of black holes formed from massive metal free stars on their merger rates with supermassive black holes in present day galaxies. Our results also apply to black holes ejected by the gravitational slingshot mechanism.

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arXiv2006

LISA Observations of Supermassive Black Hole Growth

Based on a high resolution cosmological n-body simulation, we track the hierarchical growth of black holes in galaxy clusters from z=20 to z=0. We present a census of black holes as function of redshift and will determine their mass assembly history under a variety of assumptions regarding the importance of gas accretion in black hole growth, from early supercritical Eddington accretion to gas-poor hierarchical assembly. Following a galaxy merger, black holes are expected to form, inspiral and merge after strongly radiating energy via gravitational waves. For each binary black hole inspiral and merger, we determine the expected gravitational wave signal for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), and calculate the LISA event rate as a function of time. We will calculate the black hole mass assembly history for several black hole growth scenerios, so that we can explore tests to characterize each model observationally. In particular, we will study how well LISA observations will be able to distinguish between these very different assembly scenarios.

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arXiv2006

A Full Loss Cone For Triaxial Galaxies

Stars and compact objects that plunge toward a black hole are either 1) captured, emitting gravitational waves as the orbit decays, 2) tidally disrupted, leaving a disc of baryonic material, 3) scattered to a large radius, where they may thereafter avoid encounters with the black hole or 4) swallowed whole, contributing to black hole growth. These processes occur on a dynamical time, which implies that for a static spherically symmetric stellar system, the loss cone is quickly emptied. However, most elliptical galaxies and spiral bulges are thought to be triaxial in shape. The centrophilic orbits comprising the backbone of a triaxial galaxy have been suggested as one way to keep the loss cone around a supermassive black hole filled with stars, stellar remnants, and intermediate mass black holes. We investigate the evolution of the loss cone population in a triaxial galaxy model with high resolution N-body simulations. We find that enough regular orbits flow through angular momentum space to maintain a full loss cone for a Hubble time. This increases the astrophysical capture rate by several orders of magnitude. In the Milky Way, for example, we find that the white dwarf capture rate can be as high as $10^{-5}$ per year, 100 times larger than previous estimates based on spherical models for the bulge.

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arXiv2005

Hypervelocity intracluster stars ejected by supermassive black hole binaries

Hypervelocity stars have been recently discovered in the outskirts of galaxies, such as the unbound star in the Milky Way halo, or the three anomalously fast intracluster planetary nebulae (ICPNe) in the Virgo Cluster. These may have been ejected by close 3-body interactions with a binary supermassive black hole (SMBBH), where a star which passes within the semimajor axis of the SMBBH can receive enough energy to eject it from the system. Stars ejected by SMBBHs may form a significant sub-population with very different kinematics and mean metallicity than the bulk of the intracluster stars. The number, kinematics, and orientation of the ejected stars may constrain the mass ratio, semimajor axis, and even the orbital plane of the SMBBH. We investigate the evolution of the ejected debris from a SMBBH within a clumpy and time-dependent cluster potential using a high resolution, self-consistent cosmological N-body simulation of a galaxy cluster. We show that the predicted number and kinematic signature of the fast Virgo ICPNe is consistent with 3-body scattering by a SMBBH with a mass ratio $10:1$ at the center of M87.

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arXiv2005

Observational Signature of Tidal Disruption of a Star by a Massive Black Hole

We have modeled the time-variable profiles of the Balmer alpha emission from the nonaxisymmetric disk and debris tail created in the tidal disruption of a solar-type star by a million solar mass black hole. Two tidal disruption events were simulated using a three dimensional relativistic smoothed particle hydrodynamic code to describe the early evolution of the debris during the first 50-90 days. We have calculated the physical conditions and radiative processes in the debris using the photoionization code CLOUDY. We model the emission-line profiles in the period immediately after the accretion rate onto the black hole becomes significant. We find that the line profiles at these very early stages of the evolution of the postdisruption debris do not resemble the double-peaked profiles expected from a rotating disk, since the debris has not yet settled into such a stable structure. As a result of the uneven distribution of the debris and the existence of a ``tidal tail'' (the stream of returning debris), the line profiles depend sensitively on the orientation of the tail relative to the line of sight. Moreover, the predicted line profiles vary on fairly short time scales (of order hours to days). Given the accretion rate onto the black hole we also model the Balmer alpha light curve from the debris.

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