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At least 1,477 records · Page 82
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DOE OSTI2017

Possible Evolution of the Pulsar Braking Index from Larger than Three to About One

The coupled evolution of pulsar rotation and inclination angle in the wind braking model is calculated. The oblique pulsar tends to align. The pulsar alignment affects its spin-down behavior. As a pulsar evolves from the magneto-dipole radiation dominated case to the particle wind dominated case, the braking index first increases and then decreases. In the early time, the braking index may be larger than three. During the following long time, the braking index is always smaller than three. The minimum braking index is about one. This can explain the existence of a high braking index larger than three and a low braking index simultaneously. The pulsar braking index is expected to evolve from larger than three to about one. The general trend is for the pulsar braking index to evolve from the Crab-like case to the Vela-like case.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Evolution of Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Rotating Nuclei

The interaction of a binary supermassive black hole with stars in a galactic nucleus can result in changes to all the elements of the binary’s orbit, including the angles that define its orientation. If the nucleus is rotating, the orientation changes can be large, causing large changes in the binary’s orbital eccentricity as well. We present a general treatment of this problem based on the Fokker–Planck equation for f , defined as the probability distribution for the binary’s orbital elements. First- and second-order diffusion coefficients are derived for the orbital elements of the binary using numerical scattering experiments, and analytic approximations are presented for some of these coefficients. Solutions of the Fokker–Planck equation are then derived under various assumptions about the initial rotational state of the nucleus and the binary hardening rate. We find that the evolution of the orbital elements can become qualitatively different when we introduce nuclear rotation: (1) the orientation of the binary’s orbit evolves toward alignment with the plane of rotation of the nucleus and (2) binary orbital eccentricity decreases for aligned binaries and increases for counteraligned ones. We find that the diffusive (random-walk) component of a binary’s evolution is small in nuclei with non-negligible rotation, and we derive the time-evolution equations for the semimajor axis, eccentricity, and inclination in that approximation. The aforementioned effects could influence gravitational wave production as well as the relative orientation of host galaxies and radio jets.

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DOE OSTI2017

L483: Warm Carbon-chain Chemistry Source Harboring Hot Corino Activity

The Class 0 protostar, L483, has been observed in various molecular lines in the 1.2 mm band at a subarcsecond resolution with ALMA. An infalling–rotating envelope is traced by the CS line, while a very compact component with a broad velocity width is observed for the CS, SO, HNCO, NH{sub 2}CHO, and HCOOCH{sub 3} lines. Although this source is regarded as the warm carbon-chain chemistry (WCCC) candidate source at a 1000 au scale, complex organic molecules characteristic of hot corinos such as NH{sub 2}CHO and HCOOCH{sub 3} are detected in the vicinity of the protostar. Thus, both hot corino chemistry and WCCC are seen in L483. Although such a mixed chemical character source has been recognized as an intermediate source in previous single-dish observations, we here report the first spatially resolved detection. A kinematic structure of the infalling–rotating envelope is roughly explained by a simple ballistic model with a protostellar mass of 0.1–0.2 M{sub ⊙} and a radius of the centrifugal barrier (half of the centrifugal radius) of 30–200 au, assuming an inclination angle of 80° (0° for face-on). The broad-line emission observed in the above molecules most likely comes from the disk component inside the centrifugal barrier. Thus, a drastic chemical change is seen around the centrifugal barrier.

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DOE OSTI2017

The Herschel Orion Protostar Survey: Luminosity and Envelope Evolution

The Herschel Orion Protostar Survey obtained well-sampled 1.2–870 μm spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of over 300 protostars in the Orion molecular clouds, home to most of the young stellar objects (YSOs) in the nearest 500 pc. We plot the bolometric luminosities and temperatures for 330 Orion YSOs, 315 of which have bolometric temperatures characteristic of protostars. The histogram of the bolometric temperature is roughly flat; 29% of the protostars are in Class 0. The median luminosity decreases by a factor of four with increasing bolometric temperature; consequently, the Class 0 protostars are systematically brighter than the Class I protostars, with a median luminosity of 2.3 L{sub ⊙} as opposed to 0.87 L{sub ⊙}. At a given bolometric temperature, the scatter in luminosities is three orders of magnitude. Using fits to the SEDs, we analyze how the luminosities corrected for inclination and foreground reddening relate to the mass in the inner 2500 au of the best-fit model envelopes. The histogram of the envelope mass is roughly flat, while the median-corrected luminosity peaks at 15 L{sub ⊙} for young envelopes and falls to 1.7 L{sub ⊙} for late-stage protostars with remnant envelopes. The spread in luminosity at each envelope mass is three orders of magnitude. Envelope masses that decline exponentially with time explain the flat mass histogram and the decrease in luminosity, while the formation of a range of stellar masses explains the dispersion in luminosity.

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DOE OSTI2017

Isotropic–Nematic Phase Transitions in Gravitational Systems

We examine dense self-gravitating stellar systems dominated by a central potential, such as nuclear star clusters hosting a central supermassive black hole. Different dynamical properties of these systems evolve on vastly different timescales. In particular, the orbital-plane orientations are typically driven into internal thermodynamic equilibrium by vector resonant relaxation before the orbital eccentricities or semimajor axes relax. We show that the statistical mechanics of such systems exhibit a striking resemblance to liquid crystals, with analogous ordered-nematic and disordered-isotropic phases. The ordered phase consists of bodies orbiting in a disk in both directions, with the disk thickness depending on temperature, while the disordered phase corresponds to a nearly isotropic distribution of the orbit normals. We show that below a critical value of the total angular momentum, the system undergoes a first-order phase transition between the ordered and disordered phases. At a critical point, the phase transition becomes second order, while for higher angular momenta there is a smooth crossover. We also find metastable equilibria containing two identical disks with mutual inclinations between 90° and 180°.

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DOE OSTI2017

A Complete ALMA Map of the Fomalhaut Debris Disk

We present ALMA mosaic observations at 1.3 mm (223 GHz) of the Fomalhaut system with a sensitivity of 14 μ Jy/beam. These observations provide the first millimeter map of the continuum dust emission from the complete outer debris disk with uniform sensitivity, enabling the first conclusive detection of apocenter glow. We adopt an MCMC modeling approach that accounts for the eccentric orbital parameters of a collection of particles within the disk. The outer belt is radially confined with an inner edge of 136.3 ± 0.9 au and width of 13.5 ± 1.8 au. We determine a best-fit eccentricity of 0.12 ± 0.01. Assuming a size distribution power-law index of q = 3.46 ± 0.09, we constrain the dust absorptivity power-law index β to be 0.9 < β < 1.5. The geometry of the disk is robustly constrained with inclination 65.°6 ± 0.°3, position angle 337.°9 ± 0.°3, and argument of periastron 22.°5 ± 4.°3. Our observations do not confirm any of the azimuthal features found in previous imaging studies of the disk with Hubble Space Telescope , SCUBA, and ALMA. However, we cannot rule out structures ≤10 au in size or that only affect smaller grains. The central star is clearly detected with a flux density of 0.75 ± 0.02 mJy, significantly lower than predicted by current photospheric models. We discuss the implications of these observations for the directly imaged Fomalhaut b and the inner dust belt detected at infrared wavelengths.

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DOE OSTI2017

The Disk Physical Conditions of 48 Persei Constrained by Contemporaneous Hα Spectroscopy and Interferometry

We utilize a multi-step modeling process to produce synthetic interferometric and spectroscopic observables, which are then compared to their observed counterparts. Our extensive set of interferometric observations of the Be star 48 Per, totaling 291 data points, were obtained at the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer from 2006 November 07 to 23. Our models were further constrained by comparison with contemporaneous Hα line spectroscopy obtained at the John S. Hall Telescope at the Lowell Observatory on 2006 November 1. Theoretical spectral energy distributions, SEDs, for 48 Per were confirmed by comparison with observations over a wavelength regime of 0.4–60 μm from Touhami et al. and Vieira et al. Our best-fitting combined model from Hα spectroscopy, Hα interferometry, and SED fitting has a power-law density fall off, n, of 2.3 and an initial density at the stellar surface of ρ{sub 0}=1.0×10{sup −11} g cm{sup −3} with an inclination constrained by Hα spectroscopy and interferometry of 45{sup ∘}±5{sup ∘}. The position angle for the system, measured east from north, is 114° ± 18°. Our best-fit model shows that the disk emission originates in a moderately large disk with a radius of 25 R {sub *}, which is consistent with a disk mass of approximately 5 × 10{sup 24} g or 3 × 10{sup −10} M {sub *}. Finally, we compare our results with previous studies of 48 Per by Quirrenbach et al. and find agreement, whereas our disk size does not agree with Delaa et al., based on a much smaller visibility set.

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DOE OSTI2017

Mode Change of a Gamma-Ray Pulsar, PSR J2021+4026

A glitch of a pulsar is known as a sudden increase in the spin frequency and spin-down rate (frequency time derivative), and it can be caused by a sudden release of the stress built up in the solid crust of the star or pinned vortices in the superfluid interior. PSR J2021+4026 is the first pulsar that shows a significant change in the gamma-ray flux and pulse profile at the glitch that occurred around 2011 October 16. We report the results of timing and spectral analysis of PSR J2021+4026 using ∼8 yr Fermi Large Area Telescope data. We find that the pulsar stayed at a high spin-down rate (∼4% higher than the pre-glitch value) and a low gamma-ray state (∼18% lower) for about 3 yr after the glitch. Around 2014 December, the spin-down rate and gamma-ray flux gradually returned to pre-glitch values within a timescale of a few months. The phase-resolved spectra and pulse profiles after the relaxation are also consistent with those before the glitch. The observed long-term evolution of the spin-down rate and the gamma-ray flux indicates that the glitch triggered a mode change in the global magnetosphere. We speculate that the glitch changed the local magnetic field structure around the polar cap and/or the inclination angle of the dipole axis, leading to a change in the electric current circulating in the magnetosphere.

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DOE OSTI2017

The Optical Counterpart to the Accreting Millisecond X-Ray Pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021 in the Globular Cluster NGC 6440

We used a combination of deep optical and Hα images of the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6440, acquired with the Hubble Space Telescope, to identify the optical counterpart to the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021 during quiescence. A strong Hα emission has been detected from a main-sequence star (hereafter COM-SAX J1748.9-2021) located at only 0.″15 from the nominal position of the X-ray source. The position of the star also agrees with the optical counterpart found by Verbunt et al. during an outburst. We propose this star as the most likely optical counterpart to the binary system. By direct comparison with isochrones, we estimated that COM-SAX J1748.9-2021 has a mass of 0.70--0.83 M{sub ⊙}, a radius of 0.88±0.02 R{sub ⊙}, and a superficial temperature of 5250 ± 80 K. These parameters, combined with the orbital characteristics of the binary, suggest that the system is observed at a very low inclination angle (∼8{sup ∘}--14{sup ∘}) and that the star is filling or even overflowing its Roche lobe. This, together with the EW of the Hα emission (∼20 Å), suggests possible ongoing mass transfer. The possible presence of such an ongoing mass transfer during a quiescence state also suggests that the radio pulsar is not active yet and thus this system, despite its similarity with the class of redback millisecond pulsars, is not a transitional millisecond pulsar.

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DOE OSTI2017

Strongly Misaligned Triple System in SR 24 Revealed by ALMA

We report the detection of the 1.3 mm continuum and the molecular emission of the disks of the young triple system SR24 by analyzing ALMA (The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimter Array) subarcsecond archival observations. We estimate the mass of the disks (0.025 M {sub ☉} and 4 × 10{sup −5} M {sub ⊕} for SR24S and SR24N, respectively) and the dynamical mass of the protostars (1.5 M {sub ☉} and 1.1 M {sub ☉}). A kinematic model of the SR24S disk to fit its C{sup 18}O (2-1) emission allows us to develop an observational method to determine the tilt of a rotating and accreting disk. We derive the size, inclination, position angle, and sense of rotation of each disk, finding that they are strongly misaligned (108{sup ∘}) and possibly rotate in opposite directions as seen from Earth, in projection. We compare the ALMA observations with {sup 12}CO SMA archival observations, which are more sensitive to extended structures. We find three extended structures and estimate their masses: a molecular bridge joining the disks of the system, a molecular gas reservoir associated with SR24N, and a gas streamer associated with SR24S. Finally, we discuss the possible origin of the misaligned SR24 system, concluding that a closer inspection of the northern gas reservoir is needed to better understand it.

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DOE OSTI2017

The Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. V. Statistical Study of Bars and Buckled Bars

Simulations have shown that bars are subject to a vertical buckling instability that transforms thin bars into boxy or peanut-shaped structures, but the physical conditions necessary for buckling to occur are not fully understood. We use the large sample of local disk galaxies in the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey to examine the incidence of bars and buckled bars across the Hubble sequence. Depending on the disk inclination angle ( i ), a buckled bar reveals itself as either a boxy/peanut-shaped bulge (at high i ) or as a barlens structure (at low i ). We visually identify bars, boxy/peanut-shaped bulges, and barlenses, and examine the dependence of bar and buckled bar fractions on host galaxy properties, including Hubble type, stellar mass, color, and gas mass fraction. We find that the barred and unbarred disks show similar distributions in these physical parameters. The bar fraction is higher (70%–80%) in late-type disks with low stellar mass ( M {sub *} < 10{sup 10.5} M {sub ⊙}) and high gas mass ratio. In contrast, the buckled bar fraction increases to 80% toward massive and early-type disks ( M {sub *} > 10{sup 10.5} M {sub ⊙}), and decreases with higher gas mass ratio. These results suggest that bars are more difficult to grow in massive disks that are dynamically hotter than low-mass disks. However, once a bar forms, it can easily buckle in the massive disks, where a deeper potential can sustain the vertical resonant orbits. We also find a probable buckling bar candidate (ESO 506−G004) that could provide further clues to understand the timescale of the buckling process.

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DOE OSTI2017

Star Formation of Merging Disk Galaxies with AGN Feedback Effects

Using a numerical hydrodynamics code, we perform various idealized galaxy merger simulations to study the star formation (SF) of two merging disk galaxies. Our simulations include gas accretion onto supermassive black holes and active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback. By comparing AGN simulations with those without AGNs, we attempt to understand when the AGN feedback effect is significant. Using ∼70 simulations, we investigate SF with the AGN effect in mergers with a variety of mass ratios, inclinations, orbits, galaxy structures, and morphologies. Using these merger simulations with AGN feedback, we measure merger-driven SF using the burst efficiency parameter introduced by Cox et al. We confirm previous studies which demonstrated that, in galaxy mergers, AGN suppresses SF more efficiently than in isolated galaxies. However, we also find that the effect of AGNs on SF is larger in major than in minor mergers. In minor merger simulations with different primary bulge-to-total ratios, the effect of bulge fraction on the merger-driven SF decreases due to AGN feedback. We create models of Sa-, Sb-, and Sc-type galaxies and compare their SF properties while undergoing mergers. With the current AGN prescriptions, the difference in merger-driven SF is not as pronounced as in the recent observational study of Kaviraj. We discuss the implications of this discrepancy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

The Circumestellar Disk of the B0 Protostar Powering the HH 80-81 Radio Jet

We present subarcsecond angular resolution observations carried out with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) at 880 μm centered at the B0-type protostar GGD27 MM1, the driving source of the parsec scale HH 80-81 jet. We constrain its polarized continuum emission to ≲0.8% at this wavelength. Its submillimeter spectrum is dominated by sulfur-bearing species tracing a rotating-disk-like structure (SO and SO{sub 2} isotopologues mainly), but also shows HCN-bearing and CH{sub 3}OH lines, which trace the disk and the outflow cavity walls excavated by the HH 80-81 jet. The presence of many sulfurated lines could indicate the presence of shocked gas at the disk’s centrifugal barrier or that MM1 is a hot core at an evolved stage. The resolved SO{sub 2} emission traces the disk kinematics very well and we fit the SMA observations using a thin-disk Keplerian model, which gives the inclination (47°), the inner (≲170 au) and outer (∼950–1300 au) radii, and the disk’s rotation velocity (3.4 km s{sup −1} at a putative radius of 1700 au). We roughly estimate a protostellar dynamical mass of 4–18 M{sub ⊙}. MM2 and WMC cores show, comparatively, an almost empty spectra, suggesting that they are associated with extended emission detected in previous low-angular resolution observations, and therefore indicating youth (MM2) or the presence of a less massive object (WMC).

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DOE OSTI2017

Gas Dynamics of a Luminous z = 6.13 Quasar ULAS J1319+0950 Revealed by ALMA High-resolution Observations

We present new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the dust continuum and [C ii] 158 μm fine structure line emission toward a far-infrared-luminous quasar, ULAS J131911.29+095051.4 at z = 6.13, and combine the new Cycle 1 data with ALMA Cycle 0 data. The combined data have an angular resolution of ∼0.″3, and resolve both the dust continuum and the [C ii] line emission on a few kiloparsec scales. The [C ii] line emission is more irregular than that of the dust continuum emission, which suggests different distributions between the dust and the [C ii]-emitting gas. The combined data confirm the [C ii] velocity gradient that we had previously detected in a lower-resolution ALMA image from the Cycle 0 data alone. We apply a tilted ring model to the [C ii] velocity map to obtain a rotation curve, and constrain the circular velocity to be 427 ± 55 km s{sup −1} at a radius of 3.2 kpc with an inclination angle of 34°. We measure the dynamical mass within the 3.2 kpc region to be 13.4{sub −5.3}{sup +7.8} × 10{sup 10} M{sub ⊙}. This yields a black-hole and host galaxy mass ratio of 0.020{sub −0.007}{sup +0.013}, which is about 4{sub −2}{sup +3} times higher than that of the present-day M{sub BH}/M{sub bulge} ratio. This suggests that the supermassive black hole grows the bulk of its mass before the formation of most of the stellar mass in this quasar host galaxy in the early universe.

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DOE OSTI2017

Double-peaked Emission Lines Due to a Radio Outflow in KISSR 1219

We present the results from 1.5 and 5 GHz phase-referenced VLBA and 1.5 GHz Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the Seyfert 2 galaxy KISSR 1219, which exhibits double-peaked emission lines in its optical spectrum. The VLA and VLBA data reveal a one-sided core-jet structure at roughly the same position angles, providing evidence of an active galactic nucleus outflow. The absence of dual parsec-scale radio cores puts the binary black-hole picture in doubt for the case of KISSR 1219. The high brightness temperatures of the parsec-scale core and jet components (>10{sup 6} K) are consistent with this interpretation. Doppler boosting with jet speeds of ≳0.55 c to ≳0.25 c , going from parsec to kiloparsec scales, at a jet inclination ≳50° can explain the jet one-sidedness in this Seyfert 2 galaxy. A blueshifted broad emission line component in [O iii] is also indicative of an outflow in the emission line gas at a velocity of ∼350 km s{sup −1}, while the [O i] doublet lines suggest the presence of shock-heated gas. A detailed line ratio study using the MAPPINGS III code further suggests that a shock+precursor model can explain the line ionization data well. Overall, our data suggest that the radio outflow in KISSR 1219 is pushing the emission line clouds, both ahead of the jet and in a lateral direction, giving rise to the double peak emission line spectra.

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DOE OSTI2017

Quantifying Intrinsic Variability of Sagittarius A∗ Using Closure Phase Measurements of the Event Horizon Telescope

General relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of accretion disks and jets associated with supermassive black holes show variability on a wide range of timescales. On timescales comparable to or longer than the gravitational timescale t{sub G}=GM/c{sup 3}, variation may be dominated by orbital dynamics of the inhomogeneous accretion flow. Turbulent evolution within the accretion disk is expected on timescales comparable to the orbital period, typically an order of magnitude larger than t {sub G}. For Sgr A*, t {sub G} is much shorter than the typical duration of a VLBI experiment, enabling us to study this variability within a single observation. Closure phases, the sum of interferometric visibility phases on a triangle of baselines, are particularly useful for studying this variability. In addition to a changing source structure, variations in observed closure phase can also be due to interstellar scattering, thermal noise, and the changing geometry of projected baselines over time due to Earth rotation. We present a metric that is able to distinguish the latter two from intrinsic or scattering variability. This metric is validated using synthetic observations of GRMHD simulations of Sgr A*. When applied to existing multi-epoch EHT data of Sgr A*, this metric shows that the data are most consistent with source models containing intrinsic variability from source dynamics, interstellar scattering, or a combination of those. The effects of black hole inclination, orientation, spin, and morphology (disk or jet) on the expected closure phase variability are also discussed.

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DOE OSTI2017

Where and When: Optimal Scheduling of the Electromagnetic Follow-up of Gravitational-wave Events Based on Counterpart Light-curve Models

The electromagnetic (EM) follow-up of a gravitational-wave (GW) event requires scanning a wide sky region, defined by the so-called “skymap,” to detect and identify a transient counterpart. We propose a novel method that exploits the information encoded in the GW signal to construct a “detectability map,” which represents the time-dependent (“when”) probability of detecting the transient at each position of the skymap (“where”). Focusing on the case of a neutron star binary inspiral, we model the associated short gamma-ray burst afterglow and macronova emission using the probability distributions of binary parameters (sky position, distance, orbit inclination, mass ratio) extracted from the GW signal as inputs. The resulting family of possible light curves is the basis for constructing the detectability map. As a practical example, we apply the method to a simulated GW signal produced by a neutron star merger at 75 Mpc whose localization uncertainty is very large (∼1500 deg{sup 2}). We construct observing strategies for optical, infrared, and radio facilities based on the detectability maps, taking VST, VISTA, and MeerKAT as prototypes. Assuming limiting fluxes of r∼24.5, J∼22.4 (AB magnitudes), and 500 μJy (1.4 GHz) for ∼1000 s of exposure each, the afterglow and macronova emissions are successfully detected with a minimum observing time of 7, 15, and 5 hr respectively.

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DOE OSTI2017

The Mass Function of GX 339–4 from Spectroscopic Observations of Its Donor Star

We obtained 16 VLT/X-shooter observations of GX 339−4 in quiescence during the period 2016 May–September and detected absorption lines from the donor star in its NIR spectrum. This allows us to measure the radial velocity curve and projected rotational velocity of the donor for the first time. We confirm the 1.76 day orbital period and we find that K {sub 2} = 219 ± 3 km s{sup −1}, γ = 26 ± 2 km s{sup −1}, and vsin i = 64 ± 8 km s{sup −1}. From these values we compute a mass function f(M) = 1.91 ± 0.08 M{sub ⊙}, a factor ∼3 lower than previously reported, and a mass ratio q = 0.18 ± 0.05. We confirm the donor is a K-type star and estimate that it contributes ∼4%--50% of the light in the J- and H-bands. We constrain the binary inclination to 37° < i < 78° and the black hole (BH) mass to 2.3 M{sub ⊙} < M{sub BH} < 9.5 M{sub ⊙}. GX 339−4 may therefore be the first BH to fall in the “mass-gap” of 2–5 M {sub ⊙}.

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