Search results for "GALAXIES"
showing 10 items of 341 documents
Galactic synchrotron emission from WIMPs at radio frequencies
2011
Dark matter annihilations in the Galactic halo inject relativistic electrons and positrons which in turn generate a synchrotron radiation when interacting with the galactic magnetic field. We calculate the synchrotron flux for various dark matter annihilation channels, masses, and astrophysical assumptions in the low-frequency range and compare our results with radio surveys from 22 MHz to 1420 MHz. We find that current observations are able to constrain particle dark matter with "thermal" annihilation cross-sections, i.e. (\sigma v) = 3 x 10^-26 cm^3/s, and masses M_DM < 10 GeV. We discuss the dependence of these bounds on the astrophysical assumptions, namely galactic dark matter distribu…
Disks Around Merging Binary Black Holes: From GW150914 to Supermassive Black Holes
2018
We perform magnetohydrodynamic simulations in full general relativity of disk accretion onto nonspinning black hole binaries with mass ratio 36:29. We survey different disk models which differ in their scale height, total size and magnetic field to quantify the robustness of previous simulations on the initial disk model. Scaling our simulations to LIGO GW150914 we find that such systems could explain possible gravitational wave and electromagnetic counterparts such as the Fermi GBM hard X-ray signal reported 0.4s after GW150915 ended. Scaling our simulations to supermassive binary black holes, we find that observable flow properties such as accretion rate periodicities, the emergence of je…
Dark Matter Fraction in Lens Galaxies: New Estimates from Microlensing
2014
We present a joint estimate of the stellar/dark matter mass fraction in lens galaxies and the average size of the accretion disk of lensed quasars from microlensing measurements of 27 quasar image pairs seen through 19 lens galaxies. The Bayesian estimate for the fraction of the surface mass density in the form of stars is $\alpha=0.21\pm0.14$ near the Einstein radius of the lenses ($\sim 1 - 2$ effective radii). The estimate for the average accretion disk size is $R_{1/2}=7.9^{+3.8}_{-2.6}\sqrt{M/0.3M_\sun}$ light days. The fraction of mass in stars at these radii is significantly larger than previous estimates from microlensing studies assuming quasars were point-like. The corresponding l…
On the accretion history of galaxy clusters: temporal and spatial distribution
2020
We analyse the results of an Eulerian AMR cosmological simulation in order to quantify the mass growth of galaxy clusters, exploring the differences between dark matter and baryons. We have determined the mass assembly histories (MAHs) of each of the mass components and computed several proxies for the instantaneous mass accretion rate (MAR). The mass growth of both components is clearly dominated by the contribution of major mergers, but high MARs can also occur during smooth accretion periods. We explored the correlations between MARs, merger events and clusters' environments, finding the mean densities in $1 \leq r/R_{200m} \leq 1.5$ to correlate strongly with $\Gamma_{200m}$ in massive …
A fresh look into the interacting dark matter scenario
2018
The elastic scattering between dark matter particles and radiation represents an attractive possibility to solve a number of discrepancies between observations and standard cold dark matter predictions, as the induced collisional damping would imply a suppression of small-scale structures. We consider this scenario and confront it with measurements of the ionization history of the Universe at several redshifts and with recent estimates of the counts of Milky Way satellite galaxies. We derive a conservative upper bound on the dark matter-photon elastic scattering cross section of $\sigma_{\gamma \rm{DM}} < 8 \times 10^{-10} \, \sigma_T \, \left(m_{\rm DM}/{\rm GeV}\right)$ at $95\%$~CL, abou…
ESTREMO/WFXRT: Extreme phySics in the TRansient and Evolving COsmos
2006
We present a mission designed to address two main themes of the ESA Cosmic Vision Programme: the Evolution of the Universe and its Violent phenomena. ESTREMO/WFXRT is based on innovative instrumental and observational approaches, out of the mainstream of observatories of progressively increasing area, i.e.: Observing with fast reaction transient sources, like GRB, at their brightest levels, thus allowing high resolution spectroscopy. Observing and surveying through a X-ray telescope with a wide field of view and with high sensitivity extended sources, like cluster and Warm Hot Intragalactic Medium (WHIM). ESTREMO/WFXRT will rely on two cosmological probes: GRB and large scale X-ray structur…
Structure of the Accretion Disk in the Lensed Quasar Q2237+0305 from Multi-Epoch and Multi-Wavelength Narrow Band Photometry
2015
We present estimates for the size and the logarithmic slope of the disk temperature profile of the lensed quasar Q2237+0305, independent of the component velocities. These estimates are based on six epochs of multi-wavelength narrowband images from the Nordic Optical Telescope. For each pair of lensed images and each photometric band, we determine the microlensing amplitude and chromaticity using pre-existing mid-IR photometry to define the baseline for no microlensing magnification. A statistical comparison of the combined microlensing data (6 epochs $\times$ 5 narrow bands $\times$ 6 image pairs) with simulations based on microlensing magnification maps gives Bayesian estimates for the ha…
Troubled cosmic flows: turbulence, enstrophy and helicity from the assembly history of the intracluster medium
2021
Both simulations and observations have shown that turbulence is a pervasive phenomenon in cosmic scenarios, yet it is particularly difficult to model numerically due to its intrinsically multiscale character which demands high resolutions. Additionally, turbulence is tightly connected to the dynamical state and the formation history of galaxies and galaxy clusters, producing a diverse phenomenlogy which requires large samples of such structures to attain robust conclusions. In this work, we use an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) cosmological simulation to explore the generation and dissipation of turbulence in galaxy clusters, in connection to its assembly history. We find that major mergers…
Ionization of atoms by slow heavy particles, including dark matter
2016
Atoms and molecules can become ionized during the scattering of a slow, heavy particle off a bound electron. Such an interaction involving leptophilic weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is a promising possible explanation for the anomalous 9 sigma annual modulation in the DAMA dark matter direct detection experiment [R. Bernabei et al., Eur. Phys. J. C 73, 2648 (2013)]. We demonstrate the applicability of the Born approximation for such an interaction by showing its equivalence to the semiclassical adiabatic treatment of atomic ionization by slow-moving WIMPs. Conventional wisdom has it that the ionization probability for such a process should be exponentially small. We show, howe…
REMARKS ON THE METHODS OF INVESTIGATIONS OF ALIGNMENT OF GALAXIES
2011
In the 1975 Hawley and Peebles gave the proposal to use three statistical tests for investigations of the galaxies orientation in the large structures. Nowadays, it has been considered as the standard method of searching for galactic alignments. In the present paper we analyzed the tests in details and proposed a few improvements. Basing on the improvements, the new method of analysis of the alignment of galaxies in clusters is proposed. The power of this method is demonstrated on the sample of 247 Abell clusters with at least 100 objects in each. The distributions of the position angles for galaxies in each cluster are analyzed using statistical tests: $\chi^2$, Fourier, autocorrelation an…