The tidal stripping of satellites

We present an improved analytic calculation for the tidal radius of satellites and test our results against N -body simulations.
The tidal radius in general depends upon four factors: the potential of the host galaxy, the potential of the satellite, the orbit of the satellite and the orbit of the star within the satellite . We demonstrate that this last point is critical and suggest using three tidal radii to cover the range of orbits of stars within the satellite. In this way we show explicitly that prograde star orbits will be more easily stripped than radial orbits; while radial orbits are more easily stripped than retrograde ones. This result has previously been established by several authors numerically, but can now be understood analytically. For point mass, power-law (which includes the isothermal sphere), and a restricted class of split power-law potentials our solution is fully analytic. For more general potentials, we provide an equation which may be rapidly solved numerically.
Over short times (≲1–2 Gyr ∼1 satellite orbit), we find excellent agreement between our analytic and numerical models. Over longer times, star orbits within the satellite are transformed by the tidal field of the host galaxy. In a Hubble time, this causes a convergence of the three limiting tidal radii towards the prograde stripping radius. Beyond the prograde stripping radius, the velocity dispersion will be tangentially anisotropic.     

On cross-correlating weak lensing surveys

The present generation of weak lensing surveys will be superseded by surveys run from space with much better sky coverage and high level of signal-to-noise ratio, such as the Supernova/Acceleration Probe ( SNAP ). However, removal of any systematics or noise will remain a major cause of concern for any weak lensing survey. One of the best ways of spotting any undetected source of systematic noise is to compare surveys that probe the same part of the sky. In this paper we study various measures that are useful in cross-correlating weak lensing surveys with diverse survey strategies. Using two different statistics – the shear components and the aperture mass – we construct a class of estimators which encode such cross-correlations. These techniques will also be useful in studies where the entire source population from a specific survey can be divided into various redshift bins to study cross-correlations among them. We perform a detailed study of the angular size dependence and redshift dependence of these observables and of their sensitivity to the background cosmology. We find that one-point and two-point statistics provide complementary tools which allow one to constrain cosmological parameters and to obtain a simple estimate of the noise of the survey.     

Alignment between luminous red galaxies and surrounding structures at z∼ 0.5

We analyse a high-redshift sample (0.4 < z < 0.5) of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 4 and their surrounding structures to explore the presence of alignment effects of these bright galaxies with neighbour objects. In order to avoid projection effects, we compute photometric redshifts for galaxies within 3  h ⁻¹ Mpc in projection of LRGs and calculate the relative angle between the LRG major axis and the direction to neighbours within 1000 km s⁻¹. We find a clear signal of alignment between LRG orientations and the distribution of galaxies within 1.5  h ⁻¹ Mpc. The alignment effects are present only for the red population of tracers; LRG orientation is uncorrelated to the blue population of neighbour galaxies. These results add evidence to the alignment effects between primaries and satellites detected at low redshifts. We conclude that such alignments were already present at z ∼ 0.5.     

Photometric distances to nine dark globules

Distances to nine dark globules are determined by a method using optical ( VRI ) and near-infrared (near-IR) ( JHK ) photometry of stars projected towards the field containing the globules. In this method, we compute intrinsic colour indices of stars projected towards the direction of the globule by dereddening the observed colour indices using various trial values of extinction   A _V   and a standard extinction law. These computed intrinsic colour indices for each star are then compared with the intrinsic colour indices of normal main-sequence stars and a spectral type is assigned to the star for which the computed colour indices best match with the standard intrinsic colour indices. Distances ( d ) to the stars are determined using the   A _V   and absolute magnitude  ( M_V )  corresponding to the spectral types thus obtained. A distance versus extinction plot is made and the distance at which   A _V   undergoes a sharp rise is taken to be the distance to the globule. All the clouds studied in this work are in the distance range 160–400 pc. The estimated distances to dark globules LDN 544, LDN 549, LDN 567, LDN 543, LDN 1113, LDN 1031, LDN 1225, LDN 1252 and LDN 1257 are  180 ± 35, 200 ± 40, 180 ± 35, 160 ± 30, 350 ± 70, 200 ± 40, 400 ± 80, 250 ± 50  and 250 ± 50 pc, respectively. Using the distances determined, we have estimated the masses of the globules and the far-IR luminosity of the IRAS sources associated with them. The mass of the clouds studied are in the range  10–200 M_⊙  .     

X-ray synchrotron emission from the oblique shock in the jet of the powerful radio galaxy 3C 346

We report the first detection, with Chandra , of X-ray emission from the jet of the powerful narrow-line radio galaxy 3C 346. X-rays are detected from the bright radio and optical knot at which the jet apparently bends by approximately 70°. The Chandra observation also reveals a bright galaxy-scale atmosphere within the previously known cluster and provides a good X-ray spectrum for the bright core of 3C 346. The X-ray emission from the knot is synchrotron radiation, as seen in lower-power sources. In common with these sources, there is evidence of morphological differences between the radio/optical and X-ray structures, and the spectrum is inconsistent with a one-component continuous-injection model. We suggest that the X-ray-bright knot is associated with a strong oblique shock in a moderately relativistic, light jet, at ∼ 20° to the line of sight, and that this shock is caused by the jet interacting with the wake in the cluster medium behind the companion galaxy of 3C 346. The general jet curvature can result from pressure gradients in the cluster atmosphere.     

Ⅰ型超新星模型——部分燃尽白矮星

本文用完全动力学程式计算了Ⅰ型超新星爆发。这些模型是依据氦或碳和氧构成星核,部分地或全部地产生瞬时完成的核燃烧。计算中将动力学方程、核统计平衡、Rayleigh-Taylor不稳定性等物理过程联合起来求解。重点比较了Rayleigh-Taylor不稳定性的影响,现不能作出完全肯定的结论。计算结果列在表1、表2和图2—6中。     

The 550-au Mission: a critical discussion

We have studied the science rationale, goals and requirements for a mission aimed at using the gravitational lensing from the Sun as a way of achieving high angular resolution and high signal amplification. We find that such a mission concept is compromised by several practical problems. Most severe are the effects due to the plasma in the solar atmosphere which cause refraction and scattering of the propagating rays. These effects either limit the frequencies that can be observed to those above ∼1 THz, or they move the optical point outwards beyond the vacuum value of ≥550 au. (Thus for observing frequency of 300 GHz the optical point is moved outwards to ∼ 680 au.) Density fluctuations in the inner solar atmosphere will further cause random pathlength differences for different rays. The corrections for the radiation from the Sun itself will also be a major challenge at any wavelength used, but could be mitigated with coronographic techniques. Given reasonable constraints on the spacecraft (particularly in terms of size and propulsion), source selection as well as severe navigational constraints further add to the difficulties for a potential mission. Nevertheless, unbiased surveys of small-scale structure on the sky at short wavelengths might be the most promising application of such a mission.