arXiv subjects

Vassiliki Kalogera

Publications and source records attributed to Vassiliki Kalogera.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Understanding Compact Object Formation and Natal Kicks. IV. The case of IC 10 X-1

The extragalactic X-ray binary IC 10 X-1 has attracted attention as it is possibly the host of the most massive stellar-mass black-hole (BH) known to date. Here we consider all available observational constraints and construct its evolutionary history up to the instant just before the formation of the BH. Our analysis accounts for the simplest possible history that includes three evolutionary phases: binary orbital dynamics at core collapse, common envelope (CE) evolution, and evolution of the BH--helium star binary progenitor of the observed system. We derive the complete set of constraints on the progenitor system at various evolutionary stages. Specifically: right before the core collapse event, we find the mass of the BH immediate progenitor to be > 31 Msun (at 95% of confidence, same hereafter). The magnitude of the natal kick imparted to the BH is constrained to be < 130 km/s. Furthermore, we find that the "enthalpy" formalism recently suggested by Ivanova & Chaichenets is able to explain the existence of IC 10 X-1 without the need of invoking unreasonably high CE efficiencies. With this physically motivated formalism, we find that the CE efficiency required to explain the system is in the range of 0.6--1.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

The Fallback Mechanisms in Core-Collapse Supernovae

Although the details of the core-collapse supernova mechanism are not fully understood, it is generally accepted that the energy released in the collapse produces a shock that disrupts the star and produces the explosion. Some of the stellar material does not receive enough energy to escape the potential well of the newly formed neutron star and it falls back on to the core. This fallback plays an important role in setting compact remnant masses and has been invoked to explain a number of observed phenomena: late-time neutrino emission, r-process element production, peculiar supernovae, and long-duration gamma-ray bursts. To examine the link between fallback and these observed phenomena, we must understand the nature of fallback and currently, multiple mechanisms have been proposed that lead to different characteristics of the fallback. In this paper, we model a series of three-dimensional explosions by following the fallback for two different massive progenitors to study both the nature of the fallback and the role of asymmetric explosions on this fallback. One of the most-cited mechanisms behind fallback argues that it is caused by the reverse shock produced when the outward moving supernova shock decelerates in the relatively flat density profile of the stellar envelope. We show that this mechanism plays a minor, if any, role in driving fallback and most supernova fallback is produced by prompt mechanisms.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

Reconstructing the sky location of gravitational-wave detected compact binary systems: methodology for testing and comparison

The problem of reconstructing the sky position of compact binary coalescences detected via gravitational waves is a central one for future observations with the ground-based network of gravitational-wave laser interferometers, such as Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. Different techniques for sky localisation have been independently developed. They can be divided in two broad categories: fully coherent Bayesian techniques, which are high-latency and aimed at in-depth studies of all the parameters of a source, including sky position, and "triangulation-based" techniques, which exploit the data products from the search stage of the analysis to provide an almost real-time approximation of the posterior probability density function of the sky location of a detection candidate. These techniques have previously been applied to data collected during the last science runs of gravitational-wave detectors operating in the so-called initial configuration. Here, we develop and analyse methods for assessing the self-consistency of parameter estimation methods and carrying out fair comparisons between different algorithms, addressing issues of efficiency and optimality. These methods are general, and can be applied to parameter estimation problems other than sky localisation. We apply these methods to two existing sky localisation techniques representing the two above-mentioned categories, using a set of simulated inspiral-only signals from compact binary systems with total mass $\le 20\,M_\odot$ and non-spinning components. We compare the relative advantages and costs of the two techniques and show that sky location uncertainties are on average a factor $\approx 20$ smaller for fully coherent techniques than for the specific variant of the "triangulation-based" technique used during the last science runs, at the expense of a factor $\approx 1000$ longer processing time.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2013

Introducing CAFein, a New Computational Tool for Stellar Pulsations and Dynamic Tides

Here we present CAFein, a new computational tool for investigating radiative dissipation of dynamic tides in close binaries and of non-adiabatic, non-radial stellar oscillations in isolated stars in the linear regime. For the latter, CAFein computes the non-adiabatic eigenfrequencies and eigenfunctions of detailed stellar models. The code is based on the so-called Riccati method, a numerical algorithm that has been successfully applied to a variety of stellar pulsators, and which doesn't suffer of the major drawbacks of commonly used shooting and relaxation schemes. Here we present an extension of the Riccati method to investigate dynamic tides in close binaries. We demonstrate CAFein's capabilities as a stellar pulsation code both in the adiabatic and non-adiabatic regime, by reproducing previously published eigenfrequencies of a polytrope, and by successfully identifying the unstable modes of a stellar model in the $β$ Cephei/SPB region of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Finally, we verify CAFein's behavior in the dynamic tides regime by investigating the effects of dynamic tides on the eigenfunctions and orbital and spin evolution of massive Main Sequence stars in eccentric binaries, and of hot Jupiter host stars. The plethora of asteroseismic data provided by the NASA's Kepler satellite, some of which include the direct detection of tidally excited stellar oscillations, make CAFein quite timely. Furthermore, the increasing number of observed short-period detached double white dwarfs (WD) and the observed orbital decay in the tightest of such binaries open up a new possibility of investigating WD interiors through the effects of tides on their orbital evolution

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

X-ray Binary Evolution Across Cosmic Time

High redshift galaxies permit the study of the formation and evolution of X-ray binary populations on cosmological timescales, probing a wide range of metallicities and star-formation rates. In this paper, we present results from a large scale population synthesis study that models the X-ray binary populations from the first galaxies of the universe until today. We use as input to our modeling the Millennium II Cosmological Simulation and the updated semi-analytic galaxy catalog by Guo et al. (2011) to self-consistently account for the star formation history and metallicity evolution of the universe. Our modeling, which is constrained by the observed X-ray properties of local galaxies, gives predictions about the global scaling of emission from X-ray binary populations with properties such as star-formation rate and stellar mass, and the evolution of these relations with redshift. Our simulations show that the X-ray luminosity density (X-ray luminosity per unit volume) from X-ray binaries in our Universe today is dominated by low-mass X-ray binaries, and it is only at z>2.5 that high-mass X-ray binaries become dominant. We also find that there is a delay of ~1.1 Gyr between the peak of X-ray emissivity from low-mass Xray binaries (at z~2.1) and the peak of star-formation rate density (at z~3.1). The peak of the X-ray luminosity from high-mass X-ray binaries (at z~3.9), happens ~0.8 Gyr before the peak of the star-formation rate density, which is due to the metallicity evolution of the Universe.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

A Parallel Monte Carlo Code for Simulating Collisional N-body Systems

We present a new parallel code for computing the dynamical evolution of collisional N-body systems with up to N~10^7 particles. Our code is based on the the Henon Monte Carlo method for solving the Fokker-Planck equation, and makes assumptions of spherical symmetry and dynamical equilibrium. The principal algorithmic developments involve optimizing data structures, and the introduction of a parallel random number generation scheme, as well as a parallel sorting algorithm, required to find nearest neighbors for interactions and to compute the gravitational potential. The new algorithms we introduce along with our choice of decomposition scheme minimize communication costs and ensure optimal distribution of data and workload among the processing units. The implementation uses the Message Passing Interface (MPI) library for communication, which makes it portable to many different supercomputing architectures. We validate the code by calculating the evolution of clusters with initial Plummer distribution functions up to core collapse with the number of stars, N, spanning three orders of magnitude, from 10^5 to 10^7. We find that our results are in good agreement with self-similar core-collapse solutions, and the core collapse times generally agree with expectations from the literature. Also, we observe good total energy conservation, within less than 0.04% throughout all simulations. We analyze the performance of the code, and demonstrate near-linear scaling of the runtime with the number of processors up to 64 processors for N=10^5, 128 for N=10^6 and 256 for N=10^7. The runtime reaches a saturation with the addition of more processors beyond these limits which is a characteristic of the parallel sorting algorithm. The resulting maximum speedups we achieve are approximately 60x, 100x, and 220x, respectively.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2012

Deep Chandra Monitoring Observations of NGC 4649: II. Wide-Field Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of the Globular Clusters

We present g and z photometry and size estimates for globular clusters (GCs) in the massive Virgo elliptical NGC 4649 (M60) using a five-pointing Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys mosaic. The metal-poor GCs show a monotonic negative metallicity gradient of (-0.43 +/- 0.10) dex per dex in radius over the full radial range of the data, out to ~ 24 kpc. There is evidence for substantial color substructure among the metal-rich GCs. The metal-poor GCs have typical sizes ~ 0.4 pc larger than the metal-rich GCs out to large galactocentric distances (~> 20 kpc), favoring an intrinsic explanation for the size difference rather than projection effects. There is no clear relation between half-light radius and galactocentric distance beyond ~ 15 kpc, suggesting that the sizes of GCs are not generically set by tidal limitation. Finally, we identify ~ 20 candidate ultra-compact dwarfs that extend down to surprisingly faint absolute magnitudes (M_z ~ -8.5), and may bridge the gap between this class and "extended clusters" in the Local Group. Three of the brighter candidates have published radial velocities and can be confirmed as bona fide ultra-compact dwarfs; follow-up spectroscopy will determine the nature of the remainder of the candidates.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

The X-ray Star Formation Story as Told by Lyman Break Galaxies in the 4 Ms CDF-S

We present results from deep X-ray stacking of >4000 high redshift galaxies from z~1 to 8 using the 4 Ms Chandra Deep Field South (CDF-S) data, the deepest X-ray survey of the extragalactic sky to date. The galaxy samples were selected using the Lyman break technique based primarily on recent HST ACS and WFC3 observations. Based on such high specific star formation rates (sSFRs): log SFR/M* > -8.7, we expect that the observed properties of these LBGs are dominated by young stellar populations. The X-ray emission in LBGs, eliminating individually detected X-ray sources (potential AGN), is expected to be powered by X-ray binaries and hot gas. We find, for the first time, evidence of evolution in the X-ray/SFR relation. Based on X-ray stacking analyses for z<4 LBGs (covering ~90% of the Universe's history), we find that the 2-10 keV X-ray luminosity evolves weakly with redshift (z) and SFR as log LX = 0.93 log (1+z) + 0.65 log SFR + 39.80. By comparing our observations with sophisticated X-ray binary population synthesis models, we interpret that the redshift evolution of LX/SFR is driven by metallicity evolution in HMXBs, likely the dominant population in these high sSFR galaxies. We also compare these models with our observations of X-ray luminosity density (total 2-10 keV luminosity per Mpc^3) and find excellent agreement. While there are no significant stacked detections at z>5, we use our upper limits from 5<z<8 LBGs to constrain the SMBH accretion history of the Universe around the epoch of reionization.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Mass Measurements of Black Holes in X-Ray Transients: Is There a Mass Gap?

We explore possible systematic errors in the mass measurements of stellar mass black holes. We find that significant errors can arise from the assumption of zero or constant emission from the accretion flow, which is commonly used when determining orbital inclination by modelling ellipsoidal variations. For A0620-00, the system with the best available data, we show that typical data sets and analysis procedures can lead to systematic underestimates of the inclination by ten degrees or more. A careful examination of the available data for the 15 other X-ray transients with low-mass donors suggests that this effect may significantly reduce the black hole mass estimates in several other cases, most notably that of GRO J0422+32. With these revisions, our analysis of the black hole mass distribution in soft X-ray transients does not suggest any "mass gap" between the low end of the distribution and the maximum theoretical neutron star mass, as has been identified in previous studies. Nevertheless, we find that the mass distribution retains other previously identified characteristics, namely a peak around 8M\odot, a paucity of sources with masses below 5M\odot, and a sharp drop-off above 10M\odot.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Understanding Compact Object Formation and Natal Kicks. III. The case of Cygnus X-1

In recent years, accurate observational constraints become available for an increasing number of Galactic X-ray binaries. Together with proper motion measurements, we could reconstruct the full evolutionary history of X-ray binaries back to the time of compact object formation. In this paper, we present the first study of the persistent X-ray source Cygnus\;X-1 that takes into account of all available observational constraints. Our analysis accounts for three evolutionary phases: orbital evolution and motion through the Galactic potential after the formation of black hole (BH), and binary orbital dynamics at the time of core collapse. We find that the mass of the BH immediate progenitor is $15.0 - 20.0$ M$_\sun$, and at the time of core collapse, the BH has potentially received a small kick velocity of $\le 77$ km s$^{-1}$ at 95% confidence. If the BH progenitor mass is less than $\sim 17$ M$_\sun$, a non zero natal kick velocity is required to explain the currently observed properties of Cygnus\;X-1. Since the BH has only accreted mass from its companion's stellar wind, the negligible amount of accreted mass is impossible to explain the observationally inferred BH spin of $a_* > 0.95$, and the origin of this extreme BH spin must be connected to the BH formation itself. Right after the BH formation, we find that the BH companion is a $19.8 - 22.6$ M$_\sun$ main sequence star, orbiting the BH at a period of $4.7 - 5.2$ days. Furthermore, recent observations show that the BH companion is currently super-synchronized. This super-synchronism indicates that the strength of tides exerted on the BH companion should be weaker by a factor of at least two compared to the usually adopted strength.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

Estimating parameters of coalescing compact binaries with a detector network including LIGO Australia

One of the goals of gravitational-wave astronomy is simultaneous detection of gravitational-wave signals from merging compact-object binaries and the electromagnetic transients from these mergers. With the next generation of advanced ground-based gravitational wave detectors under construction, we examine the benefits of the proposed extension of the detector network to include a fourth site in Australia in addition to the network of Hanford, Livingston and Cascina sites. Using Bayesian parameter-estimation analyses of simulated gravitational-wave signals from a range of coalescing-binary locations and orientations, we study the improvement in parameter estimation. We find that an Australian detector can break degeneracies in several parameters; in particular, the localization of the source on the sky is improved by a factor of ~4, with more modest improvements in distance and binary inclination estimates. This enhanced ability to localize sources on the sky will be crucial in any search for electromagnetic counterparts to detected gravitational-wave signals.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

Spin Tilts in the Double Pulsar Reveal Supernova Spin Angular-Momentum Production

The system PSR J0737-3039 is the only binary pulsar known to consist of two radio pulsars (PSR J0737-3039 A and PSR J0737-3039 B). This unique configuration allows measurements of spin orientation for both pulsars: pulsar A's spin is tilted from the orbital angular momentum by no more than 14 degrees at 95% confidence; pulsar B's by 130 +/- 1 degrees at 99.7% confidence. This spin-spin misalignment requires that the origin of most of B's present-day spin is connected to the supernova that formed pulsar B. Under the simplified assumption of a single, instantaneous kick during the supernova, the spin could be thought of as originating from the off-center nature of the kick, causing pulsar B to tumble to its misaligned state. With this assumption, and using current constraints on the kick magnitude, we find that pulsar B's instantaneous kick must have been displaced from the center of mass of the exploding star by at least 1 km and probably 5--10 km. Regardless of the details of the kick mechanism and the process that produced pulsar B's current spin, the measured spin-spin misalignment in the double pulsar system provides an empirical, direct constraint on the angular momentum production in this supernova. This constraint can be used to guide core-collapse simulations and the quest for understanding the spins and kicks of compact objects.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

Tidally-Induced Apsidal Precession in Double White Dwarfs: a new mass measurement tool with LISA

Galactic interacting double white dwarfs (DWD) are guaranteed gravitational wave (GW) sources for the GW detector LISA, with more than 10^4 binaries expected to be detected over the mission's lifetime. Part of this population is expected to be eccentric, and here we investigate the potential for constraining the white dwarf (WD) properties through apsidal precession in these binaries. We analyze the tidal, rotational, and general relativistic contributions to apsidal precession by using detailed He WD models, where the evolution of the star's interior is followed throughout the cooling phase. In agreement with previous studies of zero-temperature WDs, we find that apsidal precession in eccentric DWDs can lead to a detectable shift in the emitted GW signal when binaries with cool (old) components are considered. This shift increases significantly for hot (young) WDs. We find that apsidal motion in hot (cool) DWDs is dominated by tides at orbital frequencies above ~10^{-4}Hz (10^{- 3}$Hz). The analysis of apsidal precession in these sources while ignoring the tidal component would lead to an extreme bias in the mass determination, and could lead us to misidentify WDs as neutron stars or black holes. We use the detailed WD models to show that for older, cold WDs, there is a unique relationship that ties the radius and apsidal precession constant to the WD masses, therefore allowing tides to be used as a tool to constrain the source masses.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2011

Twin Binaries: Studies of Stability, Mass Transfer, and Coalescence

Motivated by suggestions that binaries with almost equal-mass components ("twins") play an important role in the formation of double neutron stars and may be rather abundant among binaries, we study the stability of synchronized close and contact binaries with identical components in circular orbits. In particular, we investigate the dependency of the innermost stable circular orbit on the core mass, and we study the coalescence of the binary that occurs at smaller separations. For twin binaries composed of convective main-sequence stars, subgiants, or giants with low mass cores (M_c <~0.15M, where M is the mass of a component), a secular instability is reached during the contact phase, accompanied by a dynamical mass transfer instability at the same or at a slightly smaller orbital separation. Binaries that come inside this instability limit transfer mass gradually from one component to the other and then coalesce quickly as mass is lost through the outer Lagrangian points. For twin giant binaries with moderate to massive cores (M_c >~0.15M), we find that stable contact configurations exist at all separations down to the Roche limit, when mass shedding through the outer Lagrangian points triggers a coalescence of the envelopes and leaves the cores orbiting in a central tight binary. In addition to the formation of binary neutron stars, we also discuss the implications of our results for the production of planetary nebulae with double degenerate central binaries.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2011

Angular Momentum Changes Due to Direct Impact Accretion in a Simplified Binary System

We model a circular mass-transferring binary system to calculate the exchange of angular momentum between stellar spins and the orbit due to direct impact of the mass transfer stream onto the surface of the accretor. We simulate mass transfer by calculating the ballistic motion of a point mass ejected from the $L_1$ point of the donor star, conserving the total linear and angular momentum of the system, and treating the stars as uniform density spheres with main sequence radii determined by their masses. We show that, contrary to previous assumptions in the literature, direct impact does not always act as a sink of orbital angular momentum and may in fact increase it by facilitating the transfer of angular momentum from the spin of the donor to the orbit. Here, we show an example of the exchange of angular momentum, as well as a measure of the orbital angular momentum changes for a variety of binary star systems with main sequence components.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

Formation of the black-hole binary M33 X-7 via mass-exchange in a tight massive system

M33 X-7 is among the most massive X-Ray binary stellar systems known, hosting a rapidly spinning 15.65 Msun black hole orbiting an underluminous 70 Msun Main Sequence companion in a slightly eccentric 3.45 day orbit. Although post-main-sequence mass transfer explains the masses and tight orbit, it leaves unexplained the observed X-Ray luminosity, star's underluminosity, black hole's spin, and eccentricity. A common envelope phase, or rotational mixing, could explain the orbit, but the former would lead to a merger and the latter to an overluminous companion. A merger would also ensue if mass transfer to the black hole were invoked for its spin-up. Here we report that, if M33 X-7 started as a primary of 85-99 Msun and a secondary of 28-32 Msun, in a 2.8-3.1 day orbit, its observed properties can be consistently explained. In this model, the Main Sequence primary transferred part of its envelope to the secondary and lost the rest in a wind; it ended its life as a ~16 Msun He star with a Fe-Ni core which collapsed to a black hole (with or without an accompanying supernova). The release of binding energy and, possibly, collapse asymmetries "kicked" the nascent black hole into an eccentric orbit. Wind accretion explains the X-Ray luminosity, while the black hole spin can be natal.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

The intriguing evolutionary history of the massive black hole X-ray binary M33 X-7

Black hole (BH) X-ray binaries (XRBs) are X-ray luminous binary systems comprising a BH accreting matter from a companion star. Understanding their origins sheds light on the still not well understood physics of BH formation. M33 X-7 hosts one of the most massive stellar-mass BH among all XRBs known to date, a 15.65 Msun BH orbiting a 70 Msun companion star in a 3.45 day orbit. The high masses of the two components and the tight orbit relative to the large H-rich stellar component challenge our understanding of the typically invoked BH-XRBs formation channels. The measured underluminosity of the optical component further complicates the picture. A solution to the evolutionary history of this system that can account for all its observed properties has yet to be presented, and here we propose the first scenario that is consistent with the complete set of current observational constraints. In our model, M33 X-7 started its life hosting a 85-99 Msun primary and a 28-32 Msun companion in a Keplerian orbit of 2.8-3.1 days. In order to form a BH of 15.65 Msun, the initially most massive component transferred part of its envelope to the companion star and lost the rest in a strong stellar wind. During this dynamically stable mass transfer phase the companion accreted matter, to become the presently underluminous 70 Msun star.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

Analytical expressions for the envelope binding energy of giants as a function of basic stellar parameters

The common-envelope (CE) phase is an important stage in the evolution of binary stellar populations. The most common way to compute the change in orbital period during a CE is to relate the binding energy of the envelope of the Roche-lobe filling giant to the change in orbital energy. Especially in population-synthesis codes, where the evolution of millions of stars must be computed and detailed evolutionary models are too expensive computationally, simple approximations are made for the envelope binding energy. In this study, we present accurate analytic prescriptions based on detailed stellar-evolution models that provide the envelope binding energy for giants with metallicities between Z = 10-4 and Z = 0.03 and masses between 0.8 Msun and 100 Msun, as a function of the metallicity, mass, radius and evolutionary phase of the star. Our results are also presented in the form of electronic data tables and Fortran routines that use them. We find that the accuracy of our fits is better than 15% for 90% of our model data points in all cases, and better than 10% for 90% of our data points in all cases except the asymptotic giant branches for three of the six metallicities we consider. For very massive stars (M > 50 Msun), when stars lose more than ~20% of their initial mass due to stellar winds, our fits do not describe the models as accurately. Our results are more widely applicable - covering wider ranges of metallicity and mass - and are of higher accuracy than those of previous studies.

astro-ph.SR↗