Theoretical astrophysics and plasma physics at RPC

Abstract:

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) has recently discovered gravitational waves (GWs) emitted by merging black hole binaries. We examine whether future GW detections may identify triple companions of merging binaries. Such a triple companion causes variations in the GW signal due to: (1) the varying path length along the line of sight during the orbit around the center of mass; (2) relativistic beaming, Doppler, and gravitational redshift; (3) the variation of the light-travel time in the gravitational field of the triple companion; and (4) secular variations of the orbital elements. We find that the prospects for detecting a triple companion are the highest for low-mass compact object binaries which spend the longest time in the LIGO frequency band. In particular, for merging neutron star binaries, LIGO may detect a white dwarf or M-dwarf perturber at a signal-to-noise ratio of 8, if it is within 0.4 R⊙ distance from the binary and the system is within a distance of 100 Mpc. Stellar mass (supermassive) black hole perturbers may be detected at a factor 5 × (103×) larger separations. Such pertubers in orbit around a merging binary emit GWs at frequencies above 1 mHz detectable by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna in coincidence.

Abstract:

Data Release 5 (DR5) of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) is the fifth data release from a magnitude-limited (9 < I < 12) survey of stars randomly selected in the Southern Hemisphere. The RAVE medium-resolution spectra (R ~ 7500) covering the Ca-triplet region (8410–8795 Å) span the complete time frame from the start of RAVE observations in 2003 to their completion in 2013. Radial velocities from 520,781 spectra of 457,588 unique stars are presented, of which 255,922 stellar observations have parallaxes and proper motions from the Tycho-Gaia astrometric solution in Gaia DR1. For our main DR5 catalog, stellar parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity, and overall metallicity) are computed using the RAVE DR4 stellar pipeline, but calibrated using recent K2 Campaign 1 seismic gravities and Gaia benchmark stars, as well as results obtained from high-resolution studies. Also included are temperatures from the Infrared Flux Method, and we provide a catalog of red giant stars in the dereddened color - J Ks0 ( ) interval (0.50, 0.85) for which the gravities were calibrated based only on seismology. Further data products for subsamples of the RAVE stars include individual abundances for Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Fe, and Ni, and distances found using isochrones. Each RAVE spectrum is complemented by an error spectrum, which has been used to determine uncertainties on the parameters. The data can be accessed via the RAVE Web site or the VizieR database.

Abstract:

Massive and diffuse haloes of hot gas (coronae) are important intermediaries between cosmology and galaxy evolution, storing mass and angular momentum acquired from the cosmic web until eventual accretion on to star-forming discs. We introduce a method to reconstruct the rotation of a galactic corona, based on its angular momentum distribution (AMD). This allows us to investigate in what conditions the angular momentum acquired from tidal torques can be transferred to star-forming discs and explain observed galaxy-scale processes, such as inside-out growth and the build-up of abundance gradients. We find that a simple model of an isothermal corona with a temperature slightly smaller than virial and a cosmologically motivated AMD is in good agreement with galaxy evolution requirements, supporting hot-mode accretion as a viable driver for the evolution of spiral galaxies in a cosmological context. We predict moderately sub-centrifugal rotation close to the disc and slow rotation close to the virial radius. Motivated by the observation that the Milky Way has a relatively hot corona (T ≃ 2 × 10^6 K), we also explore models with a temperature larger than virial. To be able to drive inside-out growth, these models must be significantly affected by feedback, either mechanical (ejection of low angular momentum material) or thermal (heating of the central regions). However, the agreement with galaxy evolution constraints becomes, in these cases, only marginal, suggesting that our first and simpler model may apply to a larger fraction of galaxy evolution history.