A three-dimensional model of moist convection for the giant planets II: Saturn's water and ammonia moist convective storms

Moist convective storms constitute a key aspect in the global energy budget of the atmospheres of the giant planets. Among them, Saturn is known to develop the largest scale convective storms in the Solar System, the Great White Spots (GWS) which occur rarely and have been detected once every 30 years approximately. On the average, Saturn seems to show much less convective storms than Jupiter with smaller size and reduced frequency and intensity. Here we present detailed simulations of the onset and development of storms at the Equator and mid-latitudes of Saturn. These are the regions where most of the recent convective activity of the planet has been observed. We use a 3D anelastic model with parameterized microphysics (Hueso and Sánchez-Lavega, 2001, Icarus 151, 257) studying the onset and evolution of water and ammonia moist convective storms up to sizes of a few hundred km. Water storms, while more difficult to initiate than in Jupiter, can be very energetic, arriving to the 150 mbar level and developing vertical velocities on the order of 150 m s⁻¹. Ammonia storms develop easier but with a much smaller intensity unless very large abundances of ammonia (10 times solar) are present in Saturn's atmosphere. The Coriolis forces play a major role in the morphology and properties of water based storms.     

Cuspy dark matter haloes and the Galaxy

The microlensing optical depth to Baade's Window constrains the minimum total mass in baryonic matter within the Solar circle to be greater than ∼     , assuming the inner Galaxy is barred with viewing angle ∼20°. From the kinematics of solar neighbourhood stars, the local surface density of dark matter is ∼     . We construct cuspy haloes normalized to the local dark matter density and calculate the circular-speed curve of the halo in the inner Galaxy. This is added in quadrature to the rotation curve provided by the stellar and ISM discs, together with a bar sufficiently massive so that the baryonic matter in the inner Galaxy reproduces the microlensing optical depth. Such models violate the observational constraint provided by the tangent-velocity data in the inner Galaxy (typically at radii     . The high baryonic contribution required by the microlensing is consistent with implications from hydrodynamical modelling and the pattern speed of the Galactic bar. We conclude that the cuspy haloes favoured by the cold dark matter cosmology (and its variants) are inconsistent with the observational data on the Galaxy.     

Modelling line profiles in infalling cores

Results are presented from a model of molecular line formation in collapsing star-forming cores. The study includes, for the first time, a self-consistent chemical and dynamical model which is then directly coupled to an appropriate radiative transfer model. The assumptions of chemical uniformity or simple monotonic variations within such cores are shown to be unacceptable. The results show that the abundance variations and the line profiles are highly sensitive to the assumed values of the free parameters in the chemical model. Extreme caution is therefore advised in the quantitative analysis of emission-line profiles from infall sources. The implied degeneracy can be overcome by multiple line-of-sight observations of many species and transitions.     

Hydrodynamics of photoionized columns in the Eagle Nebula, M 16

We present hydrodynamical simulations of the formation, structure and evolution of photoionized columns, with parameters based on those observed in the Eagle Nebula. On the basis of these simulations we argue that there is no unequivocal evidence that the dense neutral clumps at heads of the columns were cores in the pre-existing molecular cloud. In our simulations, a variety of initial conditions leads to the formation and maintenance of near-equilibrium columns. Therefore, it is likely that narrow columns will often occur in regions with large-scale inhomogeneities, but that observations of such columns can tell us little about the processes by which they formed. The manner in which the columns in our simulations develop suggests that their evolution may result in extended sequences of radiation-induced star formation.     

On the mass of M31

Recent work by several groups has established the properties of the dwarf satellites to M31. We reexamine the reported kinematics of this group employing a fresh technique we have developed previously. By calculating the distribution of a χ statistic (which we define in the paper) for the M31 system, we conclude that the total mass (disc plus halo) of the primary is unlikely to be as great as that of our own Milky Way. In fact the χ distribution for M31 indicates that, like NGC 3992, it does not have a massive halo. In contrast, the analysis of the satellites of NGC 1961 and NGC 5084 provides strong evidence for massive haloes surrounding both spiral galaxies.     

Dark matter in dwarf spheroidals – II. Observations and modelling of Draco

We present stellar radial velocity data for the Draco dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy obtained using the AF2/WYFFOS instrument combination on the William Herschel Telescope. Our data set consists of 186 member stars, 159 of which have good quality velocities, extending to a magnitude   V ≈19.5  with a mean velocity precision of ≈2 km s⁻¹. As this survey is based on a high-precision photometric target list, it contains many more Draco members at large radii. For the first time, this allows a robust determination of the radial behaviour of the velocity dispersion in a dSph.
We find statistically strong evidence of a rising velocity dispersion consistent with a dark matter halo that has a gently rising rotation curve. There is a <2 σ signature of rotation about the long axis, inconsistent with tidal disruption as the source of the rising dispersion. By comparing our data set with earlier velocities, we find that Draco probably has a binary distribution and fraction comparable to those in the solar neighbourhood.
We apply a novel maximum likelihood algorithm and fit the velocity data to a two parameter spherical model with an adjustable dark matter content and velocity anisotropy. Draco is best fit by a weakly tangentially anisotropic distribution of stellar orbits in a dark matter halo with a very slowly rising rotation law  ( v _circ∝ r ^0.17)  . We are able to rule out both a mass-follows-light distribution and an extended halo with a harmonic core at the 2.5 to 3 σ significance level, depending on the details of our assumptions about Draco's stellar binary population. Our modelling lends support to the idea that the dark matter in dwarf spheroidals is distributed in the form of massive, nearly isothermal haloes.