A magnetohydrodynamical model for the formation of episodic jets

Episodic ejection of plasma blobs has been observed in many black hole systems. While steady, continuous jets are believed to be associated with large-scale open magnetic fields, what causes the episodic ejection of blobs remains unclear. Here by analogy with the coronal mass ejection on the Sun, we propose a magnetohydrodynamical model for episodic ejections from black holes associated with the closed magnetic fields in an accretion flow. Shear and turbulence of the accretion flow deform the field and result in the formation of a flux rope in the disc corona. Energy and helicity are accumulated and stored until a threshold is reached. The system then loses its equilibrium and the flux rope is thrust outward by the magnetic compression force in a catastrophic way. Our calculations show that for parameters appropriate for the black hole in our Galactic centre, the plasmoid can attain relativistic speeds in about 35 min.     

A new mechanism of ring formation in barred galaxies

In this paper we establish the possibility of a new mechanism for the formation of ring-like structures in barred galaxies. We study the stability of periodic orbits with respect to perturbations perpendicular (vertical stability) or tangent (plane stability) to the plane of motion and we find that matter can be trapped in the case of a relatively strong and fast bar, in a narrow annular region around the bar. The periodic orbits inside the annulus are totally stable—i.e., both vertically and plane. The region outside the annulus is depleted of matter by the action of vertical or plane instability. The resulting ring-like structure has the geometrical characteristics of the true inner rings observed in barred galaxies. In this way the formation of inner rings seems to be a result of combined action ofvertical and plane instability. A similar study of stability in the outer parts of the Galaxy, where outer rings are observed, shows that the above mechanism is absent there.     

A dynamical study of the frequency of ring galaxies

An investigation of the expected frequency of ring galaxies is conducted in the light of the theory of their formation by the collision process involving a disk and a spherical galaxy, using the impulsive approximation. It is found that very favourable collision parametrs (in terms of the impact parameter, orientation, and energy changes) are required for the formation of ring galaxies.Results indicate that if the expected frequency of fairly well-defined ring galaxies is measured with respect to regions of high density (in terms of population of galaxies) and using the average distance between galaxies corresponding to these regions for its determination, then it comes out to be of the order of 0.01% of spirals. An even higher frequency is obtained if we take the messy and ill-defined rings into account. The results obtained are quite compatible with the observational values.But, however, if we consider a region of normal density (where collisions are rare) for frequency determinations, the expected frequency goes down by few orders of magnitude. Thus stray-hyperbolic encounters are too scarce to explain the formation of ring galaxies. This indicates that most of these interacting pairs must have already been bound doubles, whose orbits are such as to have brought about only now the interpenetrating encounters leading to ring formation.     

Two-integral distribution functions for axisymmetric systems

Some formulae are presented for finding two-integral distribution functions (DFs) which depend only on the two classical integrals of the energy and the magnitude of the angular momentum with respect to the axis of symmetry for stellar systems with known axisymmetric densities. They come from a combination of the ideas of Eddington and Fricke and they are also an extension of those shown by Jiang and Ossipkov for finding anisotropic DFs for spherical galaxies. The density of the system is required to be expressed as a sum of products of functions of the potential and of the radial coordinate. The solution corresponding to this type of density is in turn a sum of products of functions of the energy and of the magnitude of the angular momentum about the axis of symmetry. The product of the density and its radial velocity dispersion can be also expressed as a sum of products of functions of the potential and of the radial coordinate. It can be further known that the density multiplied by its rotational velocity dispersion is equal to a sum of products of functions of the potential and of the radial coordinate minus the product of the density and the square of its mean rotational velocity. These formulae can be applied to the Binney and the Lynden-Bell models. An infinity of the odd DFs for the Binney model can be also found under the assumption of the laws of the rotational velocity.     

Two-integral distribution functions for axisymmetric stellar systems with separable densities

We show different expressions of distribution functions (DFs) which depend only on the two classical integrals of the energy and the magnitude of the angular momentum with respect to the axis of symmetry for stellar systems with known axisymmetric densities. The density of the system is required to be a product of functions separable in the potential and the radial coordinates, where the functions of the radial coordinate are powers of a sum of a square of the radial coordinate and its unit scale. The even part of the two-integral DF corresponding to this type of density is in turn a sum or an infinite series of products of functions of the energy and of the magnitude of the angular momentum about the axis of symmetry. A similar expression of its odd part can be also obtained under the assumption of the rotation laws. It can be further shown that these expressions are in fact equivalent to those obtained by using Hunter & Qian's contour integral formulae for the system. This method is generally computationally preferable to the contour integral method. Two examples are given to obtain the even and odd parts of their two-integral DFs. One is for the prolate Jaffe model and the other for the prolate Plummer model.
It can be also found that the Hunter–Qian contour integral formulae of the two-integral even DF for axisymmetric systems can be recovered by use of the Laplace–Mellin integral transformation originally developed by Dejonghe.     

On the application of Cramér's theorem to axisymmetric,incompressible turbulence

In the theory of homogeneous, stationary, axisymmetric, incompressible velocity turbulence there arise four scalar functions. The incompressibility condition provides two relations between these four functions.We will demonstrate here that application of Cramér's theorem imposes two additional constraints on the four functions. These constraints do not uniquely define the allowed functional form but they do provide very powerful criteria for limiting the class of functions which are permitted. In view of the growing use of velocity turbulence in kinematic dynamo theory and its importance in astrophysical situations (e.g., Earth, Sun, Galaxy) to maintain or regenerate a large scale magnetic field, we believe that the present constraints are of more than academic interest. In particular, application of the constraints to a form of velocity turbulence used by Steenbeck, Krause and Rädler when computing kinematic dynamo action, shows that their assumed turbulence is not physically realizable in nature.     

Stability of bidimensional stellar systems for axisymmetric modes

We consider bidimensional stellar systems with distribution functionF depending both on the energy and on the angular momentumI. Using the Bartholomew formalism, we present in a new form the demonstration of the sufficient condition of stability F/<0 when these systems are submitted to axisymmetric modes.     

Disk galaxies and dynamical systems with non-negative curvature

The stochastic and regular properties of disk stellar systems being dynamical systems with non-negative curvature are investigated. It is shown that the existence of regions of regular (ordered) and stochastic motion is their typical property (RS-systems). The stochastic regions of two-dimensional systems consisting of ergodic components with positive KS-entropy is shown not to be AnosovU-systems and to have no transversal fibers. As an example the Hénon-Heiles system is studied: the existence ofstrongly stable solutions is proved. The results indicate the crucial role of chaos and order in the dynamics of spiral galaxies of different classes.     

A search for the submillimetre counterparts to Lyman break galaxies

We have carried out targeted submillimetre observations as part of a programme to explore the connection between the rest-frame ultraviolet and far-infrared properties of star-forming galaxies at high redshift, which is currently poorly understood. On the one hand, the Lyman break technique is very effective at selecting     galaxies. On the other, 'blank-field' imaging in the submillimetre seems to turn up sources routinely, amongst which some are star-forming galaxies at similar redshifts. Already much work has been done searching for optical identifications of objects detected using the SCUBA instrument. Here we have taken the opposite approach, performing submillimetre photometry for a sample of Lyman break galaxies, the ultraviolet properties of which imply high star formation rates. The total signal from our Lyman break sample is undetected in the submillimetre, at an rms level of ∼0.5 mJy, which implies that the population of Lyman break galaxies does not constitute a large part of the recently detected blank-field submillimetre sources. However, our one detection suggests that with reasonable SCUBA integrations we might expect to detect those few Lyman break galaxies that are far-infrared brightest.     

Extended gas in Seyfert 2 galaxies: implications for the nuclear source

We use long-slit spectroscopic optical data to derive the properties of the extended emitting gas and the nuclear luminosity of a sample of 18 Seyfert 2 galaxies. From the emission-line luminosities and ratios we derive the density, reddening and mass of the ionized gas as a function of distance up to 2–4 kpc from the nucleus. Taking into account the geometric dilution of the nuclear radiation, we derive the radial distribution of covering factors and the minimum rate of ionizing photons emitted by the nuclear source. This number is an order of magnitude larger than that obtained from the rate of ionizing photons 'intercepted' by the gas and measured from the Hα luminosity. A calibration is proposed to recover this number from the observed luminosity. The He  ii λ4686/Hβ line ratio was used to calculate the slope of the ionizing spectral energy distribution (SED), which in combination with the number of ionizing photons allows the calculation of the hard X-ray luminosities. These luminosities are consistent with those derived from X-ray spectra in the eight cases for which such data are available and recover the intrinsic X-ray emission in Compton-thick cases. Our method can thus provide reliable estimates of the X-ray fluxes in Seyfert 2 galaxies for the cases where it is not readily available. We also use the ionizing SED and luminosity to predict the infrared luminosity under the assumption that it is dominated by reprocessed radiation from a dusty torus, and find a good agreement with the observed IRAS luminosities.     

Cold dust in nearby galaxies: implications for observing the high-redshift universe

The distribution of dust in nearby spiral galaxies not only affects our perceptions of disc morphology but will both redden and extinguish our view of the more distant Universe. In this paper, we present remarkable evidence for a population of cold grains (15–20 K) which is ten times more massive than the dust detected by IRAS and extends at least 50% beyond the present-day stellar disc. This conclusion is based chiefly on recent imaging observations carried out with the far-infrared/submillimetre arrays ISOPHOT and SCUBA. Our initial inference for visibility of the high-redshift Universe is that 40% of the light emitted at z = 2fails to reach the present-day observer due to intervening, foreground spirals. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A proof of Nekhoroshev's theorem for the stability times in nearly integrable Hamiltonian systems

In the present paper we give a proof of Nekhoroshev's theorem, which is concerned with an exponential estimate for the stability times in nearly integrable Hamiltonian systems. At variance with the already published proof, which refers to the case of an unperturbed Hamiltonian having the generic property of steepness, we consider here the particular case of a convex unperturbed Hamiltonian. The corresponding simplification in the proof might be convenient for an introduction to the subject.     

Radio galaxies with a 'double-double' morphology – II. The evolution of double-double radio galaxies and implications for the alignment effect in FRII sources

A double-double radio galaxy (DDRG) is defined as consisting of a pair of double radio sources with a common centre. In this paper we present an analytical model in which the peculiar radio structure of DDRGs is caused by an interruption of the jet flow in the central AGN. The new jets emerging from the restarted AGN give rise to an inner source structure within the region of the old, outer cocoon. Standard models of the evolution of FRII sources predict gas densities within the region of the old cocoon that are insufficient to explain the observed properties of the inner source structure. Therefore additional material must have passed from the environment of the source through the bow shock surrounding the outer source structure into the cocoon. We propose that this material is warm clouds (∼10⁴ K) of gas embedded in the hot IGM which are eventually dispersed over the cocoon volume by surface instabilities induced by the passage of cocoon material. The derived lower limits for the volume filling factors of these clouds are in good agreement with results obtained from optical observations. The long time-scales for the dispersion of the clouds (∼10⁷ yr) are consistent with the apparently exclusive occurrence of the DDRG phenomenon in large (≳700 kpc) radio sources, and with the observed correlation of the strength of the optical/UV alignment effect in z ∼1 FRII sources with their linear size.     

A dispersion relation for open spiral galaxies

The Lin-Shu dispersion relation is applicable in the (asymptotic) case of tight spirals (large wave numberk _R). Here we reconsider the various steps leading to the Lin-Shu dispersion relation in higher approximation, under the assumption that the wave numberk _R is not large [(k _Rr) =O(1)], and derive a new dispersion relation. This is valid for open spiral waves and bars. We prove that this dispersion relation is the appropriate limit of the nonlinear self-consistency condition in the case where the linear theory is applicable.     

A simple approach to the high-redshift sub-millimeter galaxies

We aim at understanding the statistical properties of luminous sub-millimeter (submm) galaxies (SMGs) in the context of cosmological structure formation. By utilizing a cosmological N-body simulation to calculate the distribution of dark halos in the Universe, we consider the dust enrichment in individual halos by Type II supernovae (SNe II). The SN II rate is estimated under a star formation activity which is assumed to occur on a dynamical timescale in the dark matter potential. Our simple framework successfully explains the luminosity function, the typical star formation rate, and the typical dust mass of an observational SMG sample at z～3. We also examine the clustering properties of SMGs, since a positive cross correlation between SMGs and Lyα emitters (LAEs) is indeed observed by a recent observation. In the simulation, we select SMGs by FIR dust luminosity >10¹² L _⊙, while LAEs are chosen such that the age and the virial mass are consistent with the observed LAE properties. The SMGs and LAEs selected in this way show a spatial cross correlation whose strength is consistent with the observation. This confirms that the SMGs really trace the most clustered regions at z～3 and that their luminosities can be explained by the dust accumulation as a result of their star formation activities. We extend our prediction to higher redshifts, finding that a statistical sample of submm galaxies at z≥6 can be obtained by ALMA with a 100 arcmin² survey. With the same survey, a few submm galaxies at z～10 may be detected.     

A new model for barred spiral galaxies

Computer simulations are used to demonstrate that normal spiral galaxies with symmetrically warped arms can appear to have bar and bar-within-ring structures when viewed from appropriate position angles.     

A spectrophotometric study of galaxies with UV excess

We present the results of a spectral study of 17 galaxies with UV excess from the lists of [1–3]. We determine the equivalent widths of lines, the relative intensities of emission lines for 3 galaxies, the electron densities of the gas components of 9 galaxies, and the gas masses of 2 galaxies. It is shown that the gas component of Galaxy No. 235 has extremely low excitability. In the spectrum of this galaxy the lines [Fell] 4951, 4947 are seen to be distinct, not merging with the line [OIII] 4959. The line H in the spectrum of Galaxy No. 128 has two emission peaks, which seem to have been formed by an absorption component midway between the lines. The line H in the spectrum of Galaxy No. 350 is detected both in emission and absorption, the absorption component lying in the longwave part of the line.Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 37, No. 3, 1994.