Interesting Astrophysics: Jun 08 - Jun 12

There are many interesting peer-reviewed astrophysics papers and preprints worthy of mention this week.

Of particular note, classic starburst galaxies like M82 and NGC 253 benefit from several papers (Brunthaler et al; Konstantopoulos et al; Rephaeli et al; Kaneda et al), although the unexpected detection of a radio supernova (SN 2008iz) in M82 is perhaps the most exciting. I'll be posting a popular-science-level discussion of this result within a few days.

Somewhat more unusual, but still worth a look, are a paper on gamma-ray emission from thunderclouds (Tsuchiya et al. Apparently not from lightning, but the thunderclouds themselves), along with some interesting history/sociology of astronomy papers by Boffin and Crovisier.

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Galaxies and Starbursts

Discovery of a bright radio transient in M 82: a new radio supernova?
A. Brunthaler
, K. M. Menten, M. J. Reid, C. Henkel, G. C. Bower, and H. Falcke, 2009, A&A, 499, L17

The first believable detection of a supernova explosion within M82 in over 40 years of waiting for one to go off in this galaxy! I will discuss this paper and its implications in more detail in an upcoming post.

A spectroscopic census of the M82 stellar cluster population
I. S. Konstantopoulos, N. Bastian, L. J. Smith, M. S. Westmoquette, G. Trancho, J. S. Gallagher III, arXiv:0906.2006 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

Studying Large and Small Scale Environments of Ultraviolet Luminous Galaxies
Antara R. Basu-Zych, et al, arXiv:0906.1010 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 35 pages, 10 Figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

An OSIRIS study of the gas kinematics in a sample of UV-selected galaxies: Evidence of "Hot and Bothered" starbursts in the local Universe
Antara R. Basu-Zych, Thiago S. Goncalves, Roderik Overzier, David R. Law, David Schiminovich, Tim Heckman, Chris Martin, Ted Wyder, Matt O'Dowd, arXiv:0906.1012 [ps, pdf, other]

The escape of ionizing photons from supernova-dominated primordial galaxies
Hidenobu Yajima, Masayuki Umemura, Masao Mori, Taishi Nakamoto, arXiv:0906.1658 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Star Formation in Massive Clusters via the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and the Spitzer Glimpse Survey
N. W. Murray, M. Rahman, arXiv:0906.1026 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 19 pages, 8 figures, submitted to ApJ

Determining The Galactic Halo's Emission Measure from UV and X-ray Observations
Shijun Lei, Robin L. Shelton, David B. Henley, arXiv:0906.1532 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 35 pages, 4 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Particle Propagation in the Galactic Center and Spatial Distribution of Non-Thermal X-rays
Vladimir Dogiel, Dmitrii Chernyshov, Takayuki Yuasa, Kwong-Sang Cheng, Aya Bamba, Hajime Inoue, Chung-Ming Ko, Motohide Kokubun, Yoshitomo Maeda, Kazuhisa Mitsuda, Kazuhiro Nakazawa, Noriko Y. Yamasaki, arXiv:0906.1712 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: To be published in PASJ, v.61, No.5, 2009

High Energy Emission from the Starburst Galaxy NGC253
Y. Rephaeli, Y. Arieli, M. Persic, arXiv:0906.1921 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 7 pages, 4 figures; submitted to MNRAS

AKARI DETECTION OF FAR-INFRARED DUST EMISSION IN THE HALO OF NGC 253
Hidehiro Kaneda, Mitsuyoshi Yamagishi, Toyoaki Suzuki and Takashi Onaka, 2009, ApJL, 698, L125
PDF (572 KB) | HTML

Confirms the Radovich et al (2001) detection of the wind in FIR emission. Dust temperatures appear to increase with increasing height above the plane of the galaxy.

Search For Companions Of Nearby Isolated Galaxies
O. V. Melnyk, V. E. Karachentseva, I. D. Karachentsev, D. I. Makarov, I. V. Chilingarian, arXiv:0906.1493 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 7 pages, 2 figures
Journal-ref: Astrophysics, Vol. 52, No. 2, 2009

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Black Holes and AGN

Spitzer/IRS 5-35 um Low-Resolution Spectroscopy of the 12 um Seyfert Sample
Yanling Wu, Vassilis Charmandaris, Jiasheng Huang, Luigi Spinoglio, Silvia Tommasin, arXiv:0906.2004 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: accepted for publication in ApJ

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Numerical Astrophysics and Hydrodynamics

The fragmentation of expanding shells I: Limitations of the thin--shell approximation
James E. Dale, Richard Wunsch, Anthony Whitworth, Jan Palous, arXiv:0906.1670 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted by MNRAS

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Stars, Supernovae and Planets

Spectral libraries and their uncertainties
Paula Coelho, arXiv:0906.1020 [ps, pdf, other]
Journal-ref: PROBING STELLAR POPULATIONS OUT TO THE DISTANT UNIVERSE: CEFALU 2008, Proceedings of the International Conference. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 1111, pp. 67-74 (2009)

Tidal Limits to Planetary Habitability
Rory Barnes, Brian Jackson, Richard Greenberg, Sean N. Raymond, arXiv:0906.1785 [ps, pdf, other]

Comments: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted to ApJ Letters. A version with full resolution images is available at this http URL

A new type of stellar explosion
H. B. Perets, A. Gal-Yam, P. Mazzali, D. Arnett, D. Kagan, A. V. Filippenko, W. Li, S. B. Cenko, D. B. Fox, D. C. Leonard, D.-S. Moon, D. J. Sand, A. M. Soderberg, R. J. Foley, M. Ganeshalingam, J. P. Anderson, P. A. James, E. O. Ofek, L. Bildsten, G. Nelemans, K. J. Shen, N. N. Weinberg, B. D. Metzger, A. L. Piro, E. Quataert, M. Kiewe, D. Poznanski, arXiv:0906.2003 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Submitted to Nature on May 18th. Comments are welcome

Big names involved with this paper, but I'd still give it less than even odds of being verified in the long term, but it would be cool if it is true. The host galaxy NGC 1032 is a moderate mass S0 galaxy, of which there is a nice image at AOP.

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Other Interesting Stuff

Science with the Virtual Observatory: the AstroGrid VO Desktop
Jonathan A. Tedds, arXiv:0906.1535 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 8 pages; 7 figures; proceedings of invited talk at "Multi wavelength astronomy and the Virtual Observatory" conference, December 2008, EuroVO-AIDA program, European Space Astronomy Centre, Spain

Observation of an energetic radiation burst from mountain-top thunderclouds
H. Tsuchiya, T. Enoto, T. Torii, K. Nakazawa, T. Yuasa, S. Torii, T. Fukuyama, T. Yamaguchi, H. Kato, M. Okano, M. Takita, K. Makishima, arXiv:0906.0781 (cross-list from physics.geo-ph) [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters

Telescope Time Without Tears: A Distributed Approach to Peer Review
Michael R. Merrifield, Donald G. Saari, arXiv:0906.1943 [pdf]
Comments: 9 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Geophysics

Astronomy and the Media: a love story?
Henri M.J. Boffin, arXiv:0906.1755 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Invited review to appear in The Role of Astronomy in Society and Culture: Proceedings of IAU Symposium No. 260, 2009. D. Valls-Gabaud and A. Boksenberg, eds

Astronomy and astronomers in Jules Verne's novels
Jacques Crovisier, arXiv:0906.1052 (cross-list from physics.hist-ph) [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 6 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of IAU Symposium 260 "The R\^ole of Astronomy in Society and Culture"