Interesting Astrophysics: Mar 02 to Mar 06

Another week's worth of interesting preprints. Of particular note this week are a number of papers on numerical utilities for astrophysics, e.g. XIM and GALEV, and quite a few star-related papers, in particular Claus Leitherer's discussion of stellar wind mass loss rates.

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Galaxies and Starbursts

Do blue compact galaxies have red halos?
E. Zackrisson, G. Micheva, N. Bergvall, G. Ostlin, arXiv:0902.4695 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 5 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the proceedings of "Star-forming Dwarf Galaxies: Ariadne's Thread in the Cosmic Labyrinth", Crete, 2008

The SINS Survey: Broad H-alpha Emission in High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies
Kristen L. Shapiro, Reinhard Genzel, Eliot Quataert, Natascha M. Förster Schreiber, Richard Davies, Linda Tacconi, Lee Armus, Nicolas Bouché, Peter Buschkamp, Andrea Cimatti, Giovanni Cresci, Emanuele Daddi, Frank Eisenhauer, Dawn K. Erb, Shy Genel, Erin K. S. Hicks, Simon J. Lilly, Dieter Lutz, Alvio Renzini, Alice Shapley, Charles C. Steidel, Amiel Sternberg, arXiv:0902.4704 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 11 pages, 6 figures; submitted to ApJ

Broad (FWHM > 1500 km/s) H-alpha emission in stacked spectra of z~2 galaxies, caused by AGN or starburst-driven winds? Such a velocities is at or beyond the highest velocities observed in the H-alpha emission line or Na I absorption line in z << 1 starburst-driven winds, so personally I would not rush to attribute their observational result to superwinds.

What Are S0 Galaxies?
Sidney van den Bergh, arXiv:0902.4718 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: ApJ (Letters), in press; 1 postscript figure

On the Early Evolution of Young Starbursts
Daniel Rosa-Gonzalez, Henrique Schmitt, Elena Terlevich, Roberto Terlevich, arXiv:0903.0552 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Comments: 6 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of "A Long Walk Through Astronomy: A Celebration of Luis Carrasco's 60th Birthday", Huatulco, Mexico, October 2008, ed. E. Recillas, L. Aguilar, A. Luna, and J.R. Valdes; RevMexAA (Serie de Conferencias)

Did the Milky Way dwarf satellites enter the halo as a group?
Manuel Metz, Pavel Kroupa, Christian Theis, Gerhard Hensler, Helmut Jerjen, arXiv:0903.0375 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: acc ApJ

The spiral structure of our Milky Way Galaxy
L. G. Hou, J. L. Han, W. B. Shi, arXiv:0903.0721 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 34 Pages, 10 Figures, 5 Tables. Accepted for publication in A&A

They argue that 2, 3 and 4 spiral arm models for the Milky Way all have problems. Maybe I'm reading it incorrectly, but their best model has five arms.

Elemental Abundances in the X-Ray Gas of Early-Type Galaxies with XMM and Chandra Observations
Jun Ji, Jimmy A. Irwin, Alex Athey, Joel N. Bregman, Edward J. Lloyd-Davies, arXiv:0903.0429 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 35 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal

Hot gas halos around disk galaxies: Confronting cosmological simulations with observations
Jesper Rasmussen, Jesper Sommer-Larsen, Kristian Pedersen, Sune Toft, Andrew Benson, Richard G. Bower, Lisbeth F. Grove, arXiv:0903.0665 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 16 pages, 8 figures, ApJ accepted. Supersedes arXiv:astro-ph/0610893

Reanalysis of the NGC 5746 and NGC 5170 Chandra observations, along with new cosmological simulations. The older NGC 5746 observation was notable as the first claimed detection for a hot gaseous halo around a spiral galaxy that was not actively star forming. On reanalysis its a non-detection, the problem being the OBF contamination on Chandra ACIS.

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Numerical Astrophysics and Hydrodynamics

Hydrodynamical simulations of Galactic fountains II: evolution of multiple fountains
Claudio Melioli, Fabrizio Brighenti, Annibale D'Ercole, E.M. de Gouveia Dal Pino, arXiv:0903.0720 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 19 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

XIM: A virtual X-ray observatory for hydrodynamic simulations
S. Heinz, M. Brüggen, arXiv:0903.0043 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Submitted to ApJ Supplements, 6 pages, 6 figures

GALEV evolutionary synthesis models - I. Code, input physics and web-interface
Ralf Kotulla, Uta Fritze, Peter Weilbacher, Peter Anders, arXiv:0903.0378 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: accepted for publication in MNRAS; 26 pages, 25 figures; The GALEV web-page and the model interface can be found at this http URL; The appendix includes a pictorial introduction into evolutionary synthesis models.

What is Driving the HI Velocity Dispersion?
D. Tamburro, H.-W. Rix, A.K. Leroy, M.-M. Mac Low, F. Walter, R.C. Kennicutt, E. Brinks, W.J.G. de Blok, arXiv:0903.0183 [ps, pdf, other]

SN efficiency must be >= 0.1 within R_25 to account for HI line widths. Exterior to R_25 the main driver of turbulence must be the MRI, not SNe.

Hacking the Sky
R. J. Simpson, arXiv:0903.0484 [pdf]
Comments: 15 pages, conference" Astronomy: Networked Astronomy and the New Media", 2009, edited by R. J. Simpson, D. Ward-Thompson

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Astronomical Instrumentation

Introduction to Millimeter/Sub-Millimeter Astronomy
T. L. Wilson, arXiv:0903.0562 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: To be published in the Saas Fee Winter School 2008. 106 pages, 22 figures

Gamma-Ray Line Studies of Nuclei in the Cosmos
M. Leising, R. Diehl, arXiv:0903.0772 [pdf, other]
Comments: 17 pages, 5 figures, submitted to proceedings of Nuclei in the Cosmos X on 29 October 2008

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Interstellar Medium

The Cycle of Dust in the Milky Way: Clues from the High-Redshift and Local Universe
Eli Dwek, Frederic Galliano, Anthony Jones, arXiv:0903.0006 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 16 pages, 9 figures. To be published in the Heidelberg 2008 Conference on "Cosmic Dust Near and Far"

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Stars, Supernovae and Planets

Dust in Supernovae; Formation and Evolution
Takashi Kozasa, Takaya Nozawa, Nozomu Tominaga, Hideyuki Umeda, Keiichi Maeda, Ken'ichi Nomoto, arXiv:0903.0217 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: To be published in the proceedings of "Cosmic Dust - Near and Far," eds Th. Henning, E. Grun, J. Steinacker, (Astronomical Society of the Pacific), held September 8 - 12, 2008, 21 pages, 12 figures

The lost siblings of the Sun
S. Portegies Zwart, arXiv:0903.0237 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Submitted to ApJ Letters

Altair - the 'hottest' magnetically active star in X-rays
J. Robrade, J.H.M.M. Schmitt, arXiv:0903.0966 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Accepted by A&A, 10 pages, 7 figures

Young Massive Clusters as probes of stellar evolution

Ben Davies, arXiv:0903.0979 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 8 pages, 3 figures. Review article to appear in the proceedings of "Hot and Cool: bridging the gaps in massive star evolution" - updated reference list

Empirical Mass-Loss Rates across the Upper Hertzsprung-Russell-Diagram
Claus Leitherer, arXiv:0903.0608 [pdf]
Comments: To appear in "Hot And Cool: Bridging Gaps in Massive Star Evolution", eds. C. Leitherer, Ph. D. Bennett, P. W. Morris & J. Th. van Loon (San Francisco: ASP)