15395507
Self-similar Champagne Flows in H II Regions
We consider the idealized expansion of an initially self-gravitating, static, singular, isothermal cloud core. For t ≥ 0, the gas is ionized and heated to a higher uniform temperature by the formation of a luminous but massless star in its center. The approximation that the mass and gravity of the central star are negligible for the subsequent motion of the H II region holds for distances r much greater than ~100 AU and for the massive cloud cores that give rise to high-mass stars. If the initial ionization and heating are approximated to occur instantaneously at t = 0, then the subsequent flow (for r 100 AU) caused by the resulting imbalance between self-gravity and thermal pressure is self-similar. Because of the steep density profile (ρ ∝ r-2), pressure gradients produce a shock front that travels into the cloud, accelerating the gas to supersonic velocities in what has been called the "champagne phase." The expansion of the inner region at t > 0 is connected to the outer envelope of the now ionized cloud core through this shock, whose strength depends on the temperature of the H II gas. In particular, we find a modified Larson-Penston (L-P) type of solution as part of the linear sequence of self-similar champagne outflows. The modification involves the proper insertion of a shock and produces the right behavior at infinity (v → 0) for an outflow of finite duration, reconciling the long-standing conflict on the correct (inflow or outflow) interpretation for the original L-P solution. For realistic heating due to a massive young central star that ionizes and heats the gas to ~104 K, we show that even the self-gravity of the ionized gas of the massive molecular cloud core can be neglected. We then study the self-similar solutions of the expansion of H II regions embedded in molecular clouds characterized by more general power-law density distributions: ρ ∝ r-n with 3/2 < n < 3. In these cases, the shock velocity is an increasing function of the exponent n and diverges as n → 3. We show that this happens because the model includes an origin where the pressure driving the shock diverges because the enclosed heated mass is infinite. Our results imply that the continued photoevaporation of massive reservoirs of neutral gas (e.g., surrounding disks and/or globules) near the embedded ionizing source is required in order to maintain over a significant timescale the emission measure observed in champagne flows.
119561246
Formation of OB associations in galaxies
We consider the formation of OB associations from two perspectives: (1) the fractional gas consumption in star formation, , per dynamical timescale tdyn in a galaxy, and (2) the origin of the so-called Kennicutt-Schmidt law, that the rate of star formation per unit area is proportional to a power, α, of the surface density in H I and H2 gas when certain thresholds are crossed. The empirical findings that ≈ 10-2 and α ≈ 1.4 or 1.5 have simple explanations if the rate of star formation is magnetically regulated. An empirical test of the ideas resides in an analysis of why giant OB associations are "strung out like pearls along the arms" of spiral galaxies.
53662238
MAGNETIC INTERACTIONS IN PRE-MAIN-SEQUENCE BINARIES
Young stars typically have strong magnetic fields, so that the magnetospheres of newly formed close binaries can interact, dissipate energy, and produce synchrotron radiation. The V773 Tau A binary system, a pair of T Tauri stars with a 51 day orbit, displays such a signature, with peak emission taking place near periastron. This paper proposes that the observed emission arises from the change in energy stored in the composite magnetic field of the system. We model the fields using the leading order (dipole) components and show that this picture is consistent with current observations. In this model, the observed radiation accounts for a fraction of the available energy of interaction between the magnetic fields from the two stars. Assuming antisymmetry, we compute the interaction energy E int as a function of the stellar radii, the stellar magnetic field strengths, the binary semimajor axis, and orbital eccentricity, all of which can be measured independently of the synchrotron radiation. The variability in time and energetics of the synchrotron radiation depend on the details of the annihilation of magnetic fields through reconnection events, which generate electric fields that accelerate charged particles, and how those charged particles, especially fast electrons, are removed from the interaction region. However, the major qualitative features are well described by the background changes in the global magnetic configuration driven by the orbital motion. The theory can be tested by observing a collection of pre-main-sequence binary systems.
14748555
Possible signature of hypernova nucleosynthesis in a beryllium‐rich halo dwarf★
As part of a large survey of halo and thick disc stars, we found one halo star, HD 106038, exceptionally overabundant in beryllium. In spite of its low metallicity, [Fe/H]=−1.26, the star has log(Be/H) =−10.60, which is similar to the solar meteoritic abundance, log(Be/H) =−10.58. This abundance is more than 10 times higher the abundance of stars with similar metallicity and cannot be explained by models of chemical evolution of the Galaxy that include the standard theory of cosmic ray spallation. No other halo star exhibiting such a beryllium overabundance is known. In addition, overabundances of Li, Si, Ni, Y and Ba are also observed. We suggest that all these chemical peculiarities, excepting the Ba abundance, can be simultaneously explained if the star was formed in the vicinity of a hypernova.
15769380
Modeling the magnetic field in the protostellar source NGC 1333 IRAS 4A
Context. Magnetic fields are believed to play a crucial role in the process of star formation. Aims. We compare high-angular resolution observations of the submillimeter polarized emission of NGC 1333 IRAS 4A, tracing the magnetic field around a low-mass protostar, with models of the collapse of magnetized molecular cloud cores. Methods. Assuming a uniform dust alignment efficiency, we computed the Stokes parameters and synthetic polarization maps from the model density and magnetic field distribution by integrations along the line-of-sight and convolution with the interferometric response. Results. The synthetic maps are in good agreement with the data. The best-fitting models were obtained for a protostellar mass of 0.8 M� ,o f age 9× 10 4 yr, formed in a cloud with an initial mass-to-flux ratio ∼2 times the critical value. Conclusions. The magnetic field morphology in NGC 1333 IRAS 4A is consistent with the standard theoretical scenario for the formation of solar-type stars, where well-ordered, large-scale, rather than turbulent, magnetic fields control the evolution and collapse of the molecular cloud cores from which stars form.
18590
The Chemistry of the early universe
The process of molecule formation in the primor- dial gas is considered in the framework of Friedmann cosmo- logical models from redshift z =1 0 4 to z =0 . First, a com- prehensive analysis of 87 gas phase reaction rates (both col- lisional and radiative) relevant in the physical environment of the expanding universe is presented and critically discussed. On this basis, calculations are carried out of the abundance of 21 molecular species as function of redshift, for different values of the cosmological parameters 0, and H0, evaluating con- sistently the molecular heating and cooling due to H2 ,H D and LiH molecules. One of the major improvements of this work is the use of a better treatment of H recombination that leads to a reduction of a factor 2-3 in the abundance of electrons and H + at freeze-out, with respect to previous studies. The lower residual ionization has a negative effect on the chemistry of the primordial gas in which electrons and protons act as cat- alysts in the formation of the first molecules. We find that in the standard model (h =0 :67, 10 =4 :5, 0 =1 and (D/H) =4 :3 10 5 ), the residual fractional ionization at z =1 is (e= H) =3 :0210 4 , and the main molecular species fractional abundances (H2= H) =1 :1 10 6 , (HD=H 2 )=1 :1 10 3 , (HeH + = H) =6 :2 10 13 , (LiH + = H) =9 :4 10 18 and (LiH=LiH + )=7 :6 10 3 . We devise a reduced chemical network that reproduces with excellent accuracy the numerical results of the complete model and allows to follow the chemical compositions and the thermal properties of a primordial gas in the presence of an external radiation field. Finally, we provide accurate cooling functions of H2, HD and LiH in a wide range of density and temperature that can be conveniently used in a variety of cosmological applications.
109848273
The high-voltage monitor system for the calorimeter of the OBELIX experiment
Abstract We describe the monitor system developed to manage the high voltage power supply for the electromagnetic calorimeter of the OBELIX experiment, installed on the LEAR facility at CERN. The hardware and software characteristics of the system are discussed, as well as the performance of the same.
14310220
Probing quantum gravity effects in black holes at LHC
We study modifications of the Hawking emission in the evaporation of miniature black holes possibly produced in accelerators when their mass approaches the fundamental scale of gravity, set to 1TeV according to some extra dimension models. Back-reaction and quantum gravity corrections are modelled by employing modified relations between the black hole mass and temperature. We release the assumption that black holes explode at 1TeV or leave a remnant, and let them evaporate to much smaller masses. We have implemented such modified decay processes into an existing micro-black hole event generator, performing a study of the decay products in order to search for phenomenological evidence of quantum gravity effects.
122900738
Neutron background determination in the Gran Sasso laboratory by means of a novel coincidence neutron spectrometer
SummaryWe present the results of recent background measurements in the Gran Sasso Laboratory. The measurements were performed by a coincidence neutron spectrometer, allowing neutron identification by means of two different stages of pulse-amplitude analysis.
110405827
Storage management solutions and performance tests at the INFN Tier-1
Performance, reliability and scalability in data access are key issues in the context of HEP data processing and analysis applications. In this paper we present the results of a large scale performance measurement performed at the INFN-CNAF Tier-1, employing some storage solutions presently available for HEP computing, namely CASTOR, GPFS, Scalla/Xrootd and dCache. The storage infrastructure was based on Fibre Channel systems organized in a Storage Area Network, providing 260 TB of total disk space, and 24 disk servers connected to the computing farm (280 worker nodes) via Gigabit LAN. We also describe the deployment of a StoRM SRM instance at CNAF, configured to manage a GPFS file system, presenting and discussing its performances.
27136629
A Comparison of Data-Access Platforms for the Computing of Large Hadron Collider Experiments
Performance, reliability and scalability in data-access are key issues in the context of the computing Grid and High Energy Physics data processing and analysis applications, in particular considering the large data size and I/O load that a Large Hadron Collider data centre has to support. In this paper we present the technical details and the results of a large scale validation and performance measurement employing different data-access platforms-namely CASTOR, dCache, GPFS and Scalla/Xrootd. The tests have been performed at the CNAF Tier-1, the central computing facility of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Research (INFN). Our storage back-end was based on Fibre Channel disk-servers organized in a Storage Area Network, being the disk-servers connected to the computing farm via Gigabit LAN. We used 24 disk-servers, 260 TB of raw-disk space and 280 worker nodes as computing clients, able to run concurrently up to about 1100 jobs. The aim of the test was to perform sequential and random read/write accesses to the data, as well as more realistic access patterns, in order to evaluate efficiency, availability, robustness and performance of the various data-access solutions.