Rm Tot Research Articles

Surviving the waves: evidence for a dark matter cusp in the tidally disrupting Small Magellanic Cloud

ABSTRACT We use spectroscopic data for ${\sim }6000$ red giant branch stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), together with proper motion data from Gaia Early Data Release 3, to build a mass model of the SMC. We test our Jeans mass modelling method (binulator + gravsphere) on mock data for an SMC-like dwarf undergoing severe tidal disruption, showing that we are able to successfully remove tidally unbound interlopers, recovering the dark matter density and stellar velocity anisotropy profiles within our 95 per cent confidence intervals. We then apply our method to real SMC data, finding that the stars of the cleaned sample are isotropic at all radii (at 95 per cent confidence) and that the inner dark matter density profile is dense, $\rho _{\rm DM}(150\ {\rm pc}) = 1.58_{-0.58}^{+0.80}\times 10^8 \ {\rm M}_{\odot }\, \rm kpc^{-3}$, consistent with a $\Lambda$ cold dark matter cusp. Our model gives a new estimate of the SMC’s total mass within 3 kpc $(M_{\rm tot} \le 3\ {\rm kpc})$ of $2.29\pm 0.46 \times 10^9 \ {\rm M}_{\odot }$. We also derive an astrophysical ‘J-factor’ of $18.99\pm 0.16$ GeV$^2$ cm$^{-5}$ and a ‘D-factor’ of $18.73\pm 0.04$ GeV$^2$ cm$^{-5}$, making the SMC a promising target for dark matter annihilation and decay searches. Finally, we combine our findings with literature measurements to test models in which dark matter is ‘heated up’ by baryonic effects. We find good qualitative agreement with the Di Cintio et al. model but we deviate from the Lazar et al. model at high $M_*/M_{200} > 10^{-2}$. We provide a new, analytical, density profile that reproduces dark matter heating behaviour over the range $10^{-4} < M_*/M_{200} < 10^{-1}$.

Characterizing three-dimensional magnetic field, turbulence, and self-gravity in the star-forming region L1688

ABSTRACT Interaction of three-dimensional magnetic fields, turbulence, and self-gravity in the molecular cloud is crucial in understanding star formation but has not been addressed so far. In this work, we target the low-mass star-forming region L1688 and use the spectral emissions of 12CO, 13CO, C18O, and H i, as well as polarized dust emissions. To obtain the 3D direction of the magnetic field, we employ the novel polarization fraction analysis. In combining with the plane-of-the-sky (POS) magnetic field strength derived from the Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi (DCF) method and the new differential measure analysis (DMA) technique, we present the first measurement of L1688’s three-dimensional magnetic field, including its orientation and strength. We find that L1688’s magnetic field has two statistically different inclination angles. The low-intensity tail has an inclination angle ≈55° on average, while that of the central dense clump is ≈30°. We find the global mean value of total magnetic field strength is Btot ≈ $135 \,\mathrm{\mu }{\rm G}$ from DCF and Btot ≈ $75 \,\mathrm{\mu }{\rm G}$ from DMA. We use the velocity gradient technique (VGT) to separate the magnetic fields’ POS orientation associated with L1688 and its foreground/background. The magnetic fields’ orientations are statistically coherent. The probability density function of H2 column density and VGT reveal that L1688 is potentially undergoing gravitational contraction at large scale ≈1.0 pc and gravitational collapse at small scale ≈0.2 pc. The gravitational contraction mainly along the magnetic field resulting in an approximate power-law relation $B_{\rm tot}\propto n_{\rm H}^{1/2}$ when volume density nH is less than approximately 6.0 × 103 cm−3.

Detection and estimation of the cosmic dipole with the einstein telescope and cosmic explorer

ABSTRACTOne of the open issues of the standard cosmological model is the value of the cosmic dipole measured from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), as well as from the number count of quasars and radio sources. These measurements are currently in tension, with the number count dipole being 2–5 times larger than expected from CMB measurements. This discrepancy has been pointed out as a possible indication that the cosmological principle is not valid. In this paper, we explore the possibility of detecting and estimating the cosmic dipole with gravitational waves (GWs) from compact binary mergers detected by the future next-generation detectors Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer. We model the expected signal and show that for binary black holes, the dipole amplitude in the number count of detections is independent of the characteristics of the population and provides a systematic-free tool to estimate the observer velocity. We introduce techniques to detect the cosmic dipole from number counting of GW detections and estimate its significance. We show that a GW dipole consistent with the amplitude of the dipole in radio galaxies would be detectable with >3σ significance with a few years of observation (106 GW detections) and estimated with a 16 per cent precision, while a GW dipole consistent with the CMB one would require at least 107 GW events for a confident detection. We also demonstrate that a total number Ntot of GW detections would be able to detect a dipole with amplitude $v_o/c \simeq 1/\sqrt{N_{\rm tot}}$.

Scaling relations of X-ray luminous clusters in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program field

ABSTRACT We present the XMM–Newton X-ray analysis of 19 X-ray luminous galaxy clusters of low- to mid-redshift (<0.4) selected from the MCXC (Meta-Catalog of X-Ray Detected Clusters of Galaxies) cluster catalogue in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Programme field. We derive the hydrostatic equilibrium mass and study scaling relations using (i) the whole sample, (ii) only relaxed clusters, and (iii) only disturbed clusters. When considering the whole sample, the YX–Mtot and Mgas–Mtot relations agree with self-similarity. In terms of morphology, relaxed clusters show a flatter relation in LX,ce–Mtot, LX,bol–Mtot, LX,ce–T, Lbol,ce–T, Mgas–Mtot, and YX–Mtot. The Lbol,ce–Mtot, LX,ce–Mtot Lbol,ce–T, and LX,ce–T relations show a slope ∼3σ steeper. The residuals in the Mgas–Mtot and T–Mtot relations and the intrinsic covariance between Mgas and T show hints of positive correlation, casting doubt on whether the YX parameter is a truly low-scatter mass proxy. The Mgas–Mtot and T–Mtot plots colour coded with the offset of the LX,ce–Mtot relation show these two relations to be brightness dependent but not the LX,ce–T relation, suggesting that relations involving Mtot are biased due to sample selection based on luminosity. Following the work that studied an optical sample and combining our result with literature studies, we find that Mtot derived not using mass proxies deviates from LX ∝ $M_{\rm gas}^{2}M_{\rm tot}^{-1}$ and Mtot based on hydrostatic equilibrium is more massive than what is expected by their relation using caustic masses. This indicates that mass bias plays an important role in scaling relations.

The impact of two massive early accretion events in a Milky Way-like galaxy: repercussions for the buildup of the stellar disc and halo

ABSTRACT We identify and characterize a Milky Way-like realization from the Auriga simulations with two consecutive massive mergers $\sim 2$ Gyr apart at high redshift, comparable to the reported Kraken and Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus. The Kraken-like merger (z = 1.6, $M_{\rm Tot}=8\times 10^{10}\, \rm {M_{\odot }}$) is gas-rich, deposits most of its mass in the inner $10\,$ kpc, and is largely isotropic. The Sausage-like merger (z = 1.14, $M_{\rm Tot}=1\times 10^{11}\, \rm {M_{\odot }}$) leaves a more extended mass distribution at higher energies, and has a radially anisotropic distribution. For the higher-redshift merger, the stellar mass ratio of the satellite to host galaxy is high (1:3). As a result, the chemistry of the remnant is indistinguishable from contemporaneous in situ populations, making it challenging to identify through chemical abundances. This naturally explains why all abundance patterns attributed so far to Kraken are in fact fully consistent with the metal-poor in situ so-called Aurora population and thick disc. However, our model makes a falsifiable prediction: if the Milky Way underwent a gas-rich double merger at high redshift, then this should be imprinted on its star formation history with bursts about $\sim 2\,$ s apart. This may offer constraining power on the highest-redshift massive mergers.

Cosmic radiation backgrounds from primordial black holes

ABSTRACT Recent measurements of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB) and cosmic radio background (CRB) obtained with Chandra and ARCADE2 (Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission) report signals in excess of those expected from known sources, suggesting the presence of a yet undiscovered population of emitters. We investigate the hypothesis that such excesses are due to primordial black holes (PBHs) that may constitute a substantial fraction of dark matter (DM). We present a novel semi-analytical model that predicts X-ray and radio emission due to gas accretion on to PBHs, assuming that they are distributed both inside DM haloes and in the intergalactic medium (IGM). Our model includes a self-consistent treatment of heating/ionization feedback on the surrounding environment. We find that (i) the emission from PBHs accreting in the IGM is subdominant at all times ($1{{\ \rm per\ cent}} \le I_{\rm IGM}/I_{\rm tot} \le 40{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$); (ii) most of the CXB/CRB emission comes from PBHs in DM mini-haloes (Mh ≤ 106 M⊙) at early epochs ($z$ > 6). While a small fraction ($f_{\rm PBH} \simeq 0.3{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) of DM in the form of PBHs can account for the total observed CXB excess, the CRB one cannot be explained by PBHs. Our results set the strongest existing constraint on fPBH ≤ 3 × 10−4 (30/MPBH) in the mass range of $1 \!-\! 1000 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$. Finally, we comment on the implications of our results on the global H i 21 cm signal.

Stars in the local galactic thick disc and halo in Gaia EDR3: a catalogue of half a million local main-sequence stars with photometric metallicities

ABSTRACT We present a catalogue of 551 214 main-sequence stars in the local (d < 2 kpc) Galactic thick disc and halo, based on a search of stars with large proper motions ($\mu _{\rm tot} \gt 40.0~\rm mas\, yr^{-1}$) in the Gaia Early Data Release 3. We derive photometric metallicity calibrated from the colour–luminosity–metallicity distribution of 20 047 stars with spectroscopic metallicities, collected from various spectroscopic surveys, including SDSS SEGUE/APOGEE, GALAH DR3, and LAMOST DR6. We combine these results to construct an empirical colour–magnitude–metallicity grid, which can be used to estimate photometric metallicities for low-mass metal-poor stars of K and M subtypes from their absolute G magnitude and colour values. We find that low-mass, high-velocity stars in our catalogue share similar kinematics as reported in recent studies of more luminous Galactic halo stars. The pseudo-kinematic analysis of our sample recovers the main local halo structures, including the Gaia–Enceladus Stream and the Helmi stream; aside from these, the local halo stars appear to show a remarkably smooth distribution in velocity space. Since the future Gaia data release will provide radial velocity measurements for only a small number of our sample, our catalogue provides targets of high interest for the future spectroscopic observation programs.

Cosmological constraints from the power spectrum of eBOSS emission line galaxies

We present cosmological parameter measurements from the effective field theory-based full-shape analysis of the power spectrum of emission line galaxies (ELGs). First, we perform extensive tests on simulations and determine appropriate scale cuts for the perturbative description of the ELG power spectrum. We study in detail non-linear redshift-space distortions (``fingers-of-God'') for this sample and show that they are somewhat weaker than those of luminous red galaxies. This difference is not significant for current data, but may become important for future surveys like Euclid/DESI. Then we analyze recent measurements of the ELG power spectrum from the extended Baryon acoustic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) within the $\nu\Lambda$CDM model. Combined with the BBN baryon density prior, the ELG pre- and post-reconstructed power spectra alone constrain the matter density $\Omega_m=0.257_{-0.045}^{+0.031}$, the current mass fluctuation amplitude $\sigma_8=0.571_{-0.076}^{+0.052}$, and the Hubble constant $H_0=84.5_{-7}^{+5.8}$ km/s/Mpc (all at 68\% CL). Combining with other full-shape and BAO data we measure $\Omega_m=0.327_{-0.016}^{+0.014}$, $\sigma_8=0.69_{-0.045}^{+0.038}$, and $H_0=68.6_{-1.1}^{+1}$ km/s/Mpc. The total neutrino mass is constrained to be $M_{\rm tot}<0.63$ eV (95\% CL) from the BBN, full-shape and BAO data only. Finally, we discuss the apparent $\sim 3\sigma$ discrepancy in the inferred clustering amplitude between our full shape analysis and the cosmic microwave background data.

The galaxy H i–(sub)halo connection and the H i spatial clustering of local galaxies

ABSTRACT We extend the local stellar galaxy–(sub)halo connection to the atomic hydrogen (H i) component by seeding semi-empirically galaxies into a large N-body dark matter (DM) simulation. The main input to construct the mock galaxy catalogue are: our constrained stellar mass-to-(sub)halo circular velocity (M*–VDM) relation, assuming a scatter independent of any galaxy property, and the empirical $M_{\rm H\, \small {I}}$ conditional probability distributions given M* for central and satellite galaxies. We find that the $\langle \log \mbox{$M_{\rm H\, \small {I}}$}\rangle -\log \mbox{$M_{\rm DM}$}$ relation is not a monotonic increasing function. It increases with mass up to $\mbox{$M_{\rm DM}$}\sim 10^{12}$ M⊙, attaining a maximum of $\langle \log (\mbox{$M_{\rm H\, \small {I}}$}/\mbox{M$_{\odot }$})\rangle \sim 9.2$, and at higher (sub)halo masses, $\langle \log (\mbox{$M_{\rm H\, \small {I}}$})\rangle$ decreases slightly with MDM. The scatter around it is also large and mass dependent. The bivariate $M_{\rm H\, \small {I}}$ and MDM distribution is broad and bimodal, specially at $\mbox{$M_{\rm DM}$}\gtrsim 10^{12}$ M⊙, which is inherited from the input $M_{\rm H\, \small {I}}$ conditional distributions. We also report the total (central+satellites) H i gas mass within haloes, $M^{\rm tot}_{\rm H\, \small {I}}$, as a function of MDM. The mean $\mbox{$M^{\rm tot}_{\rm H\, \small {I}}$}$–$\mbox{$M_{\rm DM}$}$ relation is an increasing monotonic function. The galaxy spatial clustering increases weakly as the $M_{\rm H\, \small {I}}$ threshold increases. Our H i mock galaxies cluster more in comparison to the blind H i ALFALFA (Arecibo Fast Legacy ALFA) survey but we show that it is mainly due to the selection effects. We discuss the implications of our results in the light of predictions from semi-analytical models and hydrodynamics simulations of galaxy evolution.

Observing the inspiral of coalescing massive black hole binaries with LISA in the era of multimessenger astrophysics

Massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) of $10^5 \, \rm M_\odot - 3 \times 10^7 \, \rm M_\odot $ merging in low redshift galaxies ($z\le4$) are sufficiently loud to be detected weeks before coalescence with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). This allows us to perform the parameter estimation $on$ $the$ $fly$, i.e. as a function of the time to coalescence during the inspiral phase, relevant for early warning of the planned LISA protected periods and for searches of electromagnetic signals. In this work, we study the evolution of the sky position, luminosity distance, chirp mass and mass ratio uncertainties as function of time left before merger. Overall, light systems with total intrinsic mass $\rm M_{\rm tot} = 3 \times 10^5 \, \rm M_\odot$ are characterized by smaller uncertainties than heavy ones ($\rm M_{\rm tot} = 10^7 \, \rm M_\odot$) during the inspiral. Luminosity distance, chirp mass and mass ratio are well constrained at the end of the inspiral. Concerning sky position, at $z=1$, MBHBs with $\rm M_{\rm tot} = 3 \times 10^5 \, \rm M_\odot$ can be localized with a median precision of $\simeq 10^2 \, \rm deg^2 (\simeq 1 \, \rm deg^2)$ at 1 month (1 hour) from merger, while the sky position of heavy MBHBs can be determined to $10 \, \rm deg^2$ only 1 hour before merger. However the uncertainty around the median values broadens with time, ranging in between 0.04 -- 20 $\rm deg^2$ (0.3 -- 3 $\times 10^3 \, \rm deg^2$) for light (heavy) systems at 1 hour before merger. At merger the sky localization improves down to $\simeq 10^{-1} \, \rm deg^2$ for all masses. For the benefit of the observer community, we provide the full set of data from our simulations and simple and ready-to-use analytical fits to describe the time evolution of uncertainties in the aforementioned parameters, valid for systems with total mass between $10^5$--$10^7 \, \rm M_\odot$ and redshift $0.3$--$3$.

Speed-Ups to Isothermality: Enhanced Quantum Thermal Machines through Control of the System-Bath Coupling

Isothermal transformations are minimally dissipative but slow processes, as the system needs to remain close to thermal equilibrium along the protocol. Here, we show that smoothly modifying the system-bath interaction can significantly speed up such transformations. In particular, we construct protocols where the overall dissipation $W_{\rm diss}$ decays with the total time $\tau_{\rm tot}$ of the protocol as $W_{\rm diss} \propto \tau_{\rm tot}^{-2\alpha-1}$, where each value $\alpha > 0$ can be obtained by a suitable modification of the interaction, whereas $\alpha=0$ corresponds to a standard isothermal process where the system-bath interaction remains constant. Considering heat engines based on such speed-ups, we show that the corresponding efficiency at maximum power interpolates between the Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency for $\alpha =0$ and the Carnot efficiency for $\alpha \to \infty$. Analogous enhancements are obtained for the coefficient of performance of refrigerators. We confirm our analytical results with two numerical examples where $\alpha = 1/2$, namely the time-dependent Caldeira-Leggett and resonant-level models, with strong system-environment correlations taken fully into account. We highlight the possibility of implementing our proposed speed-ups with ultracold atomic impurities and mesoscopic electronic devices.

FOREST unbiased Galactic plane imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope (FUGIN). VII. Molecular fraction of H i clouds

ABSTRACT We analyze molecular-gas formation in neutral atomic hydrogen (H i) clouds using the latest CO data, obtained from the FOREST (four-beam receiver system on the 45 m telescope) unbiased Galactic plane imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope, and using H i data taken from the Very Large Array Galactic plane survey. We applied a dendrogram algorithm to the H i data cube to identify H i clouds, and we calculated the H i mass and molecular-gas mass by summing the CO line intensity within each H i cloud. On the basis of the results, we created a catalog of 5737 identified H i clouds with local standard of rest (LSR) velocity of VLSR ≤ −20 km s−1 in galactic longitude and latitude ranges of 20° ≤ l ≤ 50° and −1° ≤ b ≤ 1°, respectively. We found that most of the H i clouds are distributed within a Galactocentric distance of 16 kpc, and most of them are in the cold neutral medium phase. In addition, we determined that the high-mass end of the H i mass function is fitted well with a power-law function with an index of 2.3. Although two sequences of self-gravitating and diffuse clouds are expected to appear in the M tot–$M_{\,{\rm H}_2}$ diagram according to previous works based on a plane-parallel model, the observational data show only a single sequence with large scattering within these two sequences. This implies that most of the clouds are mixtures of these two types of clouds. Moreover, we suggest the following scenario of molecular-gas formation: an H i-dominant cloud evolved with increasing H2 mass along a path of $M_{\,{\rm H}_2} \propto M_{\,\rm tot}^2$ by collecting diffuse gas before reaching and moving along the curves of the two sequences.

New parton model for the soft interactions at high energies: The odderon

In this paper we discuss the Odderon contribution in our model[19] that gives a fairly good description of $\sigma_{\rm tot}$ $\sigma_{\rm el}$and $B_{\rm el}$ for proton-proton scattering. We show that the shadowing corrections are large, and induce considerable dependence on energy for the Odderon contribution, which in perturbative QCD does not depend on energy. This energy dependence is in agreement with the experimental data for $\rho = {\rm Re}/{\rm Im}$, assuming that the Odderon gives a contribution of about 1 mb at W = 7 TeV. This differs greatly with our estimates for a CGC based model. We reproduce the main features of the $ t$ -dependence that are measured experimentally: the slope of the elastic cross section at small $t$, the existence of the minima in $t$-dependence which is located at $|t|_{min}$ = 0.52 GeV 2 at W= 7 TeV; and the behaviour of the elastic cross section at $ |t| > |t|_{min}$.The real part of the elastic amplitude turns out to be much smaller than the experimental one. Consequently, to achieve a description of the data, it is necessary to add an odderon contribution.

The heavier the better: how to constrain mass ratios and spins of high-mass neutron star mergers

ABSTRACT The first binary neutron star merger event, GW170817, and its bright electromagnetic counterpart have provided a remarkable amount of information. By contrast, the second event, GW190425, with $M_{\rm tot}=3.4^{+0.3}_{-0.1}\, \mathrm{ M}_{\odot }$ and the lack of an electromagnetic counterpart, has hardly improved our understanding of neutron star physics. While GW190425 is compatible with a scenario in which the merger has led to a prompt collapse to a black hole and little ejected matter to power a counterpart, determining the mass ratio and the effective spin $\tilde{\chi }$ of the binary remains difficult. This is because gravitational waveforms cannot yet well constrain the component spins of the binary. However, since the mass of GW190425 is significantly larger than the maximum mass for non-rotating neutron stars, $M_{_{\rm TOV}}$, the mass ratio q cannot be too small, as the heavier star would not be gravitationally stable. Making use of universal relations and a large number of equations of state, we provide limits in the $(\tilde{\chi },q)$ plane for GW190425, namely qmin ≥ 0.38 and $\tilde{\chi }_{\rm max}\le 0.20$, assuming $M_\mathrm{tot} \simeq 3.4\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot$. Finally, we show how future observations of high-mass binaries can provide a lower bound on $M_{_{\rm TOV}}$.

Global properties of the growth index: Mathematical aspects and physical relevance

We analyze the global behaviour of the growth index of cosmic inhomogeneities in an isotropic homogeneous universe filled by cold non-relativistic matter and dark energy (DE) with an arbitrary equation of state. Using a dynamical system approach, we find the critical points of the system. That unique trajectory for which the growth index $\gamma$ is finite from the asymptotic past to the asymptotic future is identified as the so-called heteroclinic orbit connecting the critical points $(\Omega_m=0,~\gamma_{\infty})$ in the future and $(\Omega_m=1,~\gamma_{-\infty})$ in the past. The first is an attractor while the second is a saddle point, confirming our earlier results. Further, in the case when a fraction of matter (or DE tracking matter) $\varepsilon \Omega^{\rm tot}_m$ remains unclustered, we find that the limit of the growth index in the past $\gamma_{-\infty}^{\varepsilon}$ does not depend on the equation of state of DE, in sharp contrast with the case $\varepsilon=0$ (for which $\gamma_{-\infty}$ is obtained). We show indeed that there is a mathematical discontinuity: one cannot obtain $\gamma_{-\infty}$ by taking $\lim_{\varepsilon \to 0} \gamma^{\varepsilon}_{-\infty}$ (i.e. the limits $\varepsilon\to 0$ and $\Omega^{\rm tot}_m\to 1$ do not commute). We recover in our analysis that the value $\gamma_{-\infty}^{\varepsilon}$ corresponds to tracking DE in the asymptotic past with constant $\gamma=\gamma_{-\infty}^{\varepsilon}$ found earlier.

Sampling first-passage times of fractional Brownian motion using adaptive bisections.

We present an algorithm to efficiently sample first-passage times for fractional Brownian motion. To increase the resolution, an initial coarse lattice is successively refined close to the target, by adding exactly sampled midpoints, where the probability that they reach the target is non-negligible. Compared to a path of N equally spaced points, the algorithm achieves the same numerical accuracy N_{eff}, while sampling only a small fraction of all points. Though this induces a statistical error, the latter is bounded for each bridge, allowing us to bound the total error rate by a number of our choice, say P_{error}^{tot}=10^{-6}. This leads to significant improvements in both memory and speed. For H=0.33 and N_{eff}=2^{32}, we need 5000 times less CPU time and 10000 times less memory than the classical Davies-Harte algorithm. The gain grows for H=0.25 and N_{eff}=2^{42} to 3×10^{5} for CPU and 10^{6} for memory. We estimate our algorithmic complexity as C^{ABSec}(N_{eff})=O[(lnN_{eff})^{3}], to be compared to Davies-Harte, which has complexity C^{DH}(N)=O(NlnN). Decreasing P_{error}^{tot} results in a small increase in complexity, proportional to ln(1/P_{error}^{tot}). Our current implementation is limited to the values of N_{eff} given above, due to a loss of floating-point precision. Our algorithm can be adapted to other extreme events and arbitrary Gaussian processes. It enables one to numerically validate theoretical predictions that were hitherto inaccessible.

Stellar property statistics of massive haloes from cosmological hydrodynamics simulations: common kernel shapes

ABSTRACT We study stellar property statistics, including satellite galaxy occupation, of haloes in three cosmological hydrodynamics simulations: BAHAMAS + MACSIS, IllustrisTNG, and Magneticum Pathfinder. Applying localized linear regression, we extract halo mass-conditioned normalizations, slopes, and intrinsic covariance for (i) Nsat, the number of stellar mass-thresholded satellite galaxies within radius R200c of the halo; (ii) $M_{\star , \rm tot}$, the total stellar mass within that radius, and (iii) $M_{\star ,\rm BCG}$, the gravitationally bound stellar mass of the central galaxy within a $100 \, \rm kpc$ radius. The parameters show differences across the simulations, in part from numerical resolution, but there is qualitative agreement for the $N_{\rm sat}\!-\! M_{\star ,\rm BCG}$ correlation. Marginalizing over Mhalo, we find the Nsat kernel, $p(\ln N_{\rm sat}\, |\, M_{\rm halo}, z)$ to be consistently skewed left in all three simulations, with skewness parameter γ = −0.91 ± 0.02, while the $M_{\star , \rm tot}$ kernel shape is closer to lognormal. The highest resolution simulations find γ ≃ −0.8 for the z = 0 shape of the $M_{\star ,\rm BCG}$ kernel. We provide a Gaussian mixture fit to the low-redshift Nsat kernel as well as local linear regression parameters tabulated for $M_{\rm halo}\gt 10^{13.5} \, {\rm M}_\odot$ in all simulations.

Estimating the maximum gravitational mass of nonrotating neutron stars from the GW170817/GRB 170817A/AT2017gfo observation

Assuming that the differential rotation of the massive neutron star (NS) formed in the double NS (DNS) mergers has been effectively terminated by the magnetic braking and a uniform rotation has been subsequently established (i.e., a supramassive NS is formed), we analytically derive in this work an approximated expression for the critical total gravitational mass ($M_{\rm tot,c}$) to form supramassive NS (SMNS) in the DNS mergers, benefited from some equation of state (EoS) insensitive relationships. The maximum gravitational mass of the nonrotating NSs ($M_{\rm TOV}$) as well as the dimensionless angular momentum of the remnant ($j$) play the dominant roles in modifying $M_{\rm tot,c}$, while the radius and mass differences of the premerger NSs do not. The GW170817/GRB 170817A/AT2017gfo observations have provided so far the best opportunity to quantitatively evaluate $M_{\rm TOV}$. Supposing the central engine for GRB 170817A is a black hole quickly formed in the collapse of an SMNS, we find $M_{\rm TOV}=2.13^{+0.09}_{-0.08}M_\odot$ (68.3% credibility interval, including also the uncertainties of the EoS insensitive relationships), which is consistent with the constraints set by current NS mass measurements.

Oscillating scalar fields and the Hubble tension: A resolution with novel signatures

We present a detailed investigation of a sub-dominant oscillating scalar field ('early dark energy', EDE) in the context of resolving the Hubble tension. Consistent with earlier work, but without relying on fluid approximations, we find that a scalar field frozen due to Hubble friction until ${\rm log}_{10}(z_c)\sim3.5$, reaching $\rho_{\rm EDE}(z_c)/\rho_{\rm tot}\sim10$%, and diluting faster than matter afterwards can bring cosmic microwave background (CMB), baryonic acoustic oscillations, supernovae luminosity distances, and the late-time estimate of the Hubble constant from the SH0ES collaboration into agreement. A scalar field potential which scales as $V(\phi) \propto \phi^{2n}$ with $2\lesssim n\lesssim 3.4$ around the minimum is preferred at the 68% confidence level, and the {\em Planck} polarization places additional constraints on the dynamics of perturbations in the scalar field. In particular, the data prefers a potential which flattens at large field displacements. An MCMC analysis of mock data shows that the next-generation CMB observations (i.e., CMB-S4) can unambiguously detect the presence of the EDE at very high significance. This projected sensitivity to the EDE dynamics is mainly driven by improved measurements of the $E$-mode polarization. We also explore new observational signatures of EDE scalar field dynamics: (i) We find that depending on the strength of the tensor-to-scalar ratio, the presence of the EDE might imply the existence of isocurvature perturbations in the CMB. (ii) We show that a strikingly rapid, scale-dependent growth of EDE field perturbations can result from parametric resonance driven by the anharmonic oscillating field for $n\approx 2$. This instability and ensuing potentially nonlinear, spatially inhomogenoues, dynamics may provide unique signatures of this scenario.

Optimization of Stochastic Thermodynamic Machines

The study of stochastic thermodynamic machines is one of the main topics in nonequilibrium thermodynamics. In this study, within the framework of Fokker-Planck equation, and using the method of characteristics of partial differential equation as well as the variational method, performance of stochastic thermodynamic machines is optimized according to the external potential, with the irreversible work $W_{irr}$, or the total entropy production $\Delta S_{\rm tot}$ equivalently, reaching its lower bound. Properties of the optimal thermodynamic machines are discussed, with explicit expressions of upper bounds of work output $W$, power $P$, and energy efficiency $\eta$ are presented. To illustrate the results obtained, typical examples with optimal protocols (external potentials) are also presented.