Gamma-rays and cosmic rays from a pulsar in Cygnus OB2

We argue that γ-ray sources observed in the direction of the Cygnus OB2 association in the GeV and TeV energy range are due to a pulsar that was created by a supernova a few tens of thousands of years ago. The GeV emission is produced by a middle-aged pulsar, a factor of 2 older than the Vela pulsar. The TeV emission is produced by high-energy hadrons and/or leptons accelerated in pulsar wind nebulae. We suggest, moreover, that the excess of cosmic rays at ∼10¹⁸ eV observed from the direction of the Cygnus region can also be related to the appearance of this very energetic pulsar in the Cyg OB2 association. Some of the relativistic hadrons, captured in strong magnetic fields of a high-density region of Cyg OB2, produce neutrons and γ-rays in collisions with matter. These neutrons can arrive from Cyg OB2, creating an excess of cosmic rays.     

Evolution of the mass function of dark matter haloes

We use a high-resolution ΛCDM numerical simulation to calculate the mass function of dark matter haloes down to the scale of dwarf galaxies, back to a redshift of 15, in a  50 h ⁻¹ Mpc  volume containing 80 million particles. Our low-redshift results allow us to probe low-σ density fluctuations significantly beyond the range of previous cosmological simulations. The Sheth & Tormen mass function provides an excellent match to all of our data except for redshifts of 10 and higher, where it overpredicts halo numbers increasingly with redshift, reaching roughly 50 per cent for the  10¹⁰–10¹¹ M_⊙  haloes sampled at redshift 15. Our results confirm previous findings that the simulated halo mass function can be described solely by the variance of the mass distribution, and thus has no explicit redshift dependence. We provide an empirical fit to our data that corrects for the overprediction of extremely rare objects by the Sheth & Tormen mass function. This overprediction has implications for studies that use the number densities of similarly rare objects as cosmological probes. For example, the number density of high-redshift  ( z ≃ 6) QSOs  , which are thought to be hosted by haloes at 5σ peaks in the fluctuation field, are likely to be overpredicted by at least a factor of 50 per cent. We test the sensitivity of our results to force accuracy, starting redshift and halo-finding algorithm.     

Notes on Hori Method for Canonical Systems

In this paper a slightly different approach is proposed for the process of determining the functions S _m and H _m ^* of the algorithm of the canonical version of Hori method. This process will be referred to as integration theory of the mth order equation of the method. It will be shown that the ordinary differential equation with an auxiliary parameter t ^* as independent variable, introduced through Hori auxiliary system, can be replaced by a partial differential equation in the time t. In this way, the mth order equation of the algorithm assumes a form very similar to the one of other perturbation methods. In virtue of this new approach of the integration theory for Hori method, Lagrange's variational equations introduced by Sessin are revised. As an example, the Duffing equation is solved through this new approach.     

Galaxy formation: Warm dark matter, missing satellites, and the angular momentum problem

We present warm dark matter (WDM) as a possible solution to the missing satellites and angular momentum problem in galaxy formation and introduce improved initial conditions for numerical simulations of WDM models, which avoid the formation of unphysical haloes found in earlier simulations. There is a hint, that because of that the mass function of satellite haloes has been overestimated so far, pointing to higher values for the WDM particle mass. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Planetary theories with the aid of the expansions of elliptic functions

For coplanar circular orbits, the mutual perturbations between two bodies can be expressed in term of the argument of Jacobian elliptic functions instead of the difference of the mean longitudes. For a given pair of planets, such a change of time variable improves the convergence of the developments. At the first order of planetary masses an integration of Lagrange's equations for the osculating elements is performed. When compared to classical developments the results are reduced by an important factor. The method is then extended to the mutual perturbations of Jupiter and Saturn, at any order of planetary masses, either with Fourier series with two arguments, or with one argument solely, taking advantage of the close commensurability of the mean motions.     

Submillimetre-wave gravitational lenses and cosmology

One of the most direct routes for investigating the geometry of the Universe is provided by the numbers of strongly magnified gravitationally lensed galaxies as compared with those that are either weakly magnified or de-magnified. In the submillimetre waveband the relative abundance of strongly lensed galaxies is expected to be larger as compared with the optical or radio wavebands, both in the field and in clusters of galaxies. The predicted numbers depend on the properties of the population of faint galaxies in the submillimetre waveband, which was formerly very uncertain; however, recent observations of lensing clusters have reduced this uncertainty significantly and confirm that a large sample of galaxy–galaxy lenses could be detected and investigated using forthcoming facilities, including the FIRST and Planck Surveyor space missions and a large ground-based millimetre/submillimetre-wave interferometer array (MIA). We discuss how this sample could be used to impose limits on the values of cosmological parameters and the total density and form of evolution of the mass distribution of bound structures, even in the absence of detailed lens modelling for individual members of the sample. The effects of different world models on the form of the magnification bias expected in sensitive submillimetre-wave observations of clusters are also discussed, because an MIA could resolve and investigate images in clusters in detail.     

On the physical connections between galaxies of different types

Galaxies can be classified in two broad sequences which are likely to reflect their formation mechanism. The 'main sequence', consisting of spirals, irregulars and all dwarf galaxies, is probably produced by gas settling within dark matter haloes. We show that the sizes and surface densities along this sequence are primarily determined by the distributions of the angular momentum and formation time of dark haloes. They are well reproduced by current cosmogonies provided that galaxies form late, at z  ≲ 2. In this scenario, dwarf ellipticals were small 'discs' at z  ∼ 1 and become 'ellipticals' after they fall into cluster environments. The strong clustering of dwarf ellipticals is then a natural by-product of the merging and transformation process. The number of dwarf galaxies predicted in a cluster such as Virgo is in good agreement with the observed number. On the other hand, the 'giant branch', consisting of giant ellipticals and bulges, is probably produced by the merging of disc galaxies. Based on the observed phase-space densities of galaxies, we show that the main bodies of all giant ellipticals can be produced by dissipationless mergers of high-redshift discs. However, high-redshift discs, although denser than present-day ones, are still not compact enough to produce the high central phase-space density of some low-luminosity ellipticals. Dissipation must have occurred in the central parts of these galaxies during the merger which formed them.     

Gamma-ray emission from individual classical novae

Classical novae are important producers of radioactive nuclei, such as ⁷Be, ¹³N, ¹⁸F, ²²Na and ²⁶Al. The disintegration of these nuclei produces positrons (except for ⁷Be) that through annihilation with electrons produce photons of energies 511 keV and below. Furthermore, ⁷Be and ²²Na decay producing photons with energies of 478 and 1275 keV, respectively, well in the γ-ray domain. Therefore, novae are potential sources of γ-ray emission. We have developed two codes in order to analyse carefully the γ-ray emission of individual classical novae: a hydrodynamical one, which follows both the accretion and the explosion stages, and a Monte Carlo one, able to treat both production and transfer of γ-ray photons. Both codes have been coupled in order to simulate realistic explosions. The properties of γ-ray spectra and γ-ray light curves (for the continuum and for the lines at 511, 478 and 1275 keV) have been analysed, with a special emphasis on the difference between carbon–oxygen and oxygen–neon novae. Predictions of detectability of individual novae by the future SPI spectrometer on board the INTEGRAL satellite are made. Concerning ²⁶Al, its decay produces photons of 1809 keV but this occurs on a time-scale much longer than the typical time interval between nova outbursts in the Galaxy, making it undetectable in individual novae. The accumulated emission of ²⁶Al from many Galactic novae has not been modelled in this paper.     

Clustering of galaxies at high redshifts

Recent observations show a large concentration of galaxies at high redshift. At first sight, strong clustering of galaxies at high redshifts seems to be in contradiction with the models of structure formation. In this paper we show that such structures are a manifestation of the strong clustering of rare peaks in the density field. We compute the frequency of occurrence of such large concentrations of galaxies in some models of structure formation.