Can simulations reproduce the observed temperature–mass relation for clusters of galaxies?

It has become increasingly apparent that traditional hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy clusters are unable to reproduce the observed properties of galaxy clusters, in particular overpredicting the mass corresponding to a given cluster temperature. Such overestimation may lead to systematic errors in results using galaxy clusters as cosmological probes, such as constraints on the density perturbation normalization σ ₈. In this paper we demonstrate that inclusion of additional gas physics, namely radiative cooling and a possible pre-heating of gas prior to cluster formation, is able to bring the temperature–mass relation in the innermost parts of clusters into good agreement with recent determinations by Allen, Schmidt & Fabian using Chandra data.     

The role of laboratory experiments in the characterisation of silicon–based cosmic material

Abstract. Silicate grains in space have attracted recently a wide interest of astrophysicists due to the increasing amount and quality of observational data, especially thanks to the results obtained by the Infrared Space Observatory. The observations have shown that the presence of silicates is ubiquitous in space and that their properties vary with environmental characteristics. Silicates, together with carbon, are the principal components of solid matter in space. Since their formation, silicate grains cross many environments characterised by different physical and chemical conditions which can induce changes to their nature. Moreover, the transformations experienced in the interplay of silicate grains and the medium where they are dipped, are part of a series of processes which are the subject of possible changes in the nature of the space environment itself. Then, chemical and physical changes of silicate grains during their life play a key role in the chemical evolution of the entire Galaxy. The knowledge of silicate properties related to the conditions where they are found in space is strictly related to the study in the laboratory of the possible formation and transformation mechanisms they experience. The application of production and processing methods, capable to reproduce actual space conditions, together with the use of analytical techniques to investigate the nature of the material samples, form a subject of a complex laboratory experimental approach directed to the understanding of cosmic matter. The goal of the present paper is to review the experimental methods applied in various laboratories to the simulation and characterisation of cosmic silicate analogues. The paper describes also laboratory studies of the chemical reactions undergone and induced by silicate grains. The comparison of available laboratory results with observational data shows the essential constraints imposed by astronomical observations and, at the same time, indicates the most puzzling problems that deserve particular attention for the future. The outstanding open problems are reported and discussed. The final purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the present stage of knowledge about silicates in space and to provide to the reader some indication of the future developments in the field. Received 25 April 2002 / Published online 14 November 2002 Send offprint requests to: L. Colangeli e–mail: colangeli@na.astro.it     

赖曼α森林的研究进展(Ⅱ):模型

简要介绍了赖曼α森林的各种模型，宇宙流体力学模拟成功地再现了赖曼α森林的大部分观测结果，并使人们认识到：产生赖曼α森林的吸收体实际上是星系际介质中延伸的过密区，这种密度起伏是宇宙结构形成过程的自然结果。赖曼α森林己成为宇宙学研究的有力工具。     

Gravitational Mesoscopic Constraints in Cosmological Dark Matter Halos

We present an analysis of the behaviour of the ‘coarse-grained’ (‘mesoscopic’) rank partitioning of the mean energy of collections of particles composing virialized dark matter halos in a Λ-CDM cosmological simulation. We find evidence that rank preservation depends on halo mass, in the sense that more massive halos show more rank preservation than less massive ones. We find that the most massive halos obey Arnold’s theorem (on the ordering of the characteristic frequencies of the system) more frequently than less massive halos. This method may be useful to evaluate the coarse-graining level (minimum number of particles per energy cell) necessary to reasonably measure signatures of ‘mesoscopic’ rank orderings in a gravitational system.     

Warm dark matter versus bumpy power spectra

In this paper we explore the differences between a warm dark matter (WDM) model and a cold dark matter (CDM) model where the power on a certain scale is reduced by introducing a narrow negative feature ('dip'). This dip is placed in a way so as to mimic the loss of power in the WDM model: both models have the same integrated power out to the scale where the power of the dip model rises to the level of the unperturbed CDM spectrum again.
Using N -body simulations we show that some of the large-scale clustering patterns of this new model follow more closely the usual CDM scenario while simultaneously suppressing small-scale structures (within galactic haloes) even more efficiently than WDM. The analysis in the paper shows that the new Dip model appears to be a viable alternative to WDM, but it is based on different physics. Where WDM requires the introduction of a new particle species, the Dip model is based on a non-standard inflationary period. If we are looking for an alternative to the currently challenged standard ΛCDM structure formation scenario, neither the ΛWDM nor the new Dip model can be ruled out based on the analysis presented in this paper. They both make very similar predictions and the degeneracy between them can only be broken with observations yet to come.