513 research outputs found
Massive black hole factories: Supermassive and quasi-star formation in primordial halos
No full textContext. Supermassive stars and quasi-stars (massive stars with a central black hole) are both considered as potential progenitors for the formation of supermassive black holes. They are expected to form from rapidly accreting protostars in massive primordial halos. Aims. We explore how long rapidly accreting protostars remain on the Hayashi track, implying large protostellar radii and weak accretion luminosity feedback. We assess the potential role of energy production in the nuclear core, and determine what regulates the evolution of such protostars into quasi-stars or supermassive stars. Methods. We followed the contraction of characteristic mass shells in rapidly accreting protostars, and inferred the timescales for them to reach nuclear densities. We compared the characteristic timescales for nuclear burning with those for which the extended protostellar envelope can be maintained. Results. We find that the extended envelope can be maintained up to protostellar masses of 3.6 x 10(8) m(3) M-circle dot, where m. denotes the accretion rate in solar masses per year. We expect the nuclear core to exhaust its hydrogen content in 7 x 106 yr. If accretion rates m >> 0.14 can still be maintained at this point, a black hole may form within the accreting envelope, leading to a quasi-star. Alternatively, the accreting object will gravitationally contract to become a main-sequence supermassive star. Conclusions. Due to the limited gas reservoir in typical 10(7) M-circle dot dark matter halos, the accretion rate onto the central object may drop at late times, implying the formation of supermassive stars as the typical outcome of direct collapse. However, if high accretion rates are maintained, a quasi-star with an interior black hole may form
The implications of dust for high-redshift protogalaxies and the formation of binary disks
No full textNumerical simulations suggest that the first galaxies are formed in protogalactic halos with virial temperatures >= 10(4) K. It is likely that such halos are polluted with trace amounts of metals produced by the first generation of stars. The presence of dust can significantly change the chemistry and dynamics of early galaxies. In this article, we aim to assess the role of dust on the thermal and dynamical evolution of the first galaxies in the presence of a background UV flux, and its implications for the observability of Lyman-alpha emitters and sub-mm sources. We have performed high resolution cosmological simulations using the adaptive mesh refinement code FLASH to accomplish this goal. We have developed a chemical network appropriate for these conditions and coupled it with the FLASH code. The main ingredients of our chemical model include the formation of molecules (both in the gas phase and on dust grains), a multi-level treatment of atomic hydrogen, line trapping of Ly-alpha photons and, photoionization and photodissociation processes in a UV background. We found that the formation of molecules (H-2 and HD) is significantly enhanced in the presence of dust grains as compared to only gas phase reactions by up to two orders of magnitude. The presence of dust may thus establish a molecular ISM in high-redshift galaxies. The presence of a background UV flux strongly influences the formation of molecules by photodissociating them. We explore the evolution after a major merger, leading to the formation of a binary disk. These disks have gas masses of similar to 10(7) M-circle dot at a redshift of 5.4. Each disk lies in a separate subhalo as a result of the merger event. The disks are supported by turbulent pressure due to the highly supersonic turbulence present in the halo. For values of J(21) = 1000 (internal flux), we find that fragmentation may be enhanced due to thermal instabilities in the hot gas. The presence of dust does not significantly reduce the Ly-alpha emission. The emission of Ly-alpha is extended and originates from the envelope of the halo due to line trapping effects. We also find that dust masses of a few x10(8) M-circle dot are required to observe the dust continuum emission from z similar to 5 galaxies with ALMA
Effects of turbulence and rotation on protostar formation as a precursor of massive black holes
No full textContext. The seeds of the first supermassive black holes may have resulted from the direct collapse of hot primordial gas in greater than or similar to 10(4) K haloes, forming a supermassive or quasi- star as an intermediate stage. Aims. We explore the formation of a protostar resulting from the collapse of primordial gas in the presence of a strong Lyman- Werner radiation background. Particularly, we investigate the impact of turbulence and rotation on the fragmentation behaviour of the gas cloud. We accomplish this goal by varying the initial turbulent and rotational velocities. Methods. We performed 3D adaptive mesh refinement simulations with a resolution of 64 cells per Jeans length using the ENZO code, simulating the formation of a protostar up to unprecedentedly high central densities of 10(21) cm(-3) and spatial scales of a few solar radii. To achieve this goal, we employed the KROME package to improve modelling of the chemical and thermal processes. Results. We find that the physical properties of the simulated gas clouds become similar on small scales, irrespective of the initial amount of turbulence and rotation. After the highest level of refinement was reached, the simulations have been evolved for an additional similar to 5 freefall times. A single bound clump with a radius of 2 x 10(-2) AU and a mass of similar to 7 x 10(-2) M fi is formed at the end of each simulation, marking the onset of protostar formation. No strong fragmentation is observed by the end of the simulations, regardless of the initial amount of turbulence or rotation, and high accretion rates of a few solar masses per year are found. Conclusions. Given such high accretion rates, a quasi- star of 105 M fi is expected to form within 105 years.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) [SFB 963 / 1
Exploring excited states of the nucleon in 2+1 flavor lattice QCD
No full textOur recent first-principles lattice-QCD exploration of the ground and first eleven excited states of the nucleon in the positive parity channel is presented. Of particular interest is the first positive-parity excitation of the uncleon; the Roper resonance. Using correlation-matrix methods developed by the CSSM Lattice Collaboration, a low-lying Roper state is observed in our full QCD analysis using the PACS-CS gauge fields made available via the ILDG. Our results for the Roper display significant curvature as the chiral regime is approached. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.M. S. Mahbub, W. Kamleh, D. B. Leinweber, P. J. Moran, and A. G. William
Impact of urban traffic and climate change on water quality from road runoff
No full textUrban traffic and climate change are two phenomena that have the potential to degrade urban water quality by influencing the build-up and wash-off of pollutants, respectively. However, limited knowledge has made it difficult to establish any link between pollutant buildup and wash-off under such dynamic conditions. In order to safeguard urban water quality, adaptive water quality mitigation measures are required. In this research, pollutant build-up and wash-off have been investigated from a dynamic point of view which incorporated the impacts of changed urban traffic as well as changes in the rainfall characteristics induced by climate change. The study has developed a dynamic object classification system and thereby, conceptualised the study of pollutant build-up and wash-off under future changes in urban traffic and rainfall characteristics. This study has also characterised the buildup and wash-off processes of traffic generated heavy metals, volatile, semi-volatile and non-volatile hydrocarbons under dynamic conditions which enables the development of adaptive mitigation measures for water quality. Additionally, predictive frameworks for the build-up and wash-off of some pollutants have also been developed
Accessing high momentum states in lattice QCD
No full textTwo measures are defined to evaluate the coupling strength of smeared interpolating operators to hadronic states at a variety of momenta. Of particular interest is the extent to which strong overlap can be obtained with individual high-momentum states. This is vital to exploring hadronic structure at high-momentum transfers on the lattice and addressing interesting phenomena observed experimentally. We consider a novel idea of altering the shape of the smeared operator to match the Lorentz contraction of the probability distribution of the high-momentum state and show a reduction in the relative error of the two-point function by employing this technique. Our most important finding is that the overlap of the states becomes very sharp in the smearing parameters at high momenta, and fine tuning is required to ensure strong overlap with these states.Dale S. Roberts, Waseem Kamleh, Derek B. Leinweber, M. S. Mahbub, and Benjamin J. Menadu
Approach
No full textThis study aims to design epitope-based peptides for the utility of vaccine development by targeting glycoprotein G and envelope protein F of Nipah virus (NiV) that, respectively, facilitate attachment and fusion of NiV with host cells. Using various databases and tools, immune parameters of conserved sequence(s) from G and F proteins of different isolates of NiV were tested to predict probable epitope(s). Binding analyses of the peptides with MHC class-I and class-II molecules, epitope conservancy, population coverage, and linear B cell epitope prediction were analyzed. Predicted peptides interacted with seven or more MHC alleles and illustrated population coverage of more than 99% and 95%, for G and F proteins, respectively. The predicted class-I nonamers, SLIDTSSTI and EWISIVPNF, superimposed on the putative decameric B cell epitopes, were also identified as core sequences of the most probable class-II 15-mer peptides GPKVSLIDTSSTITI and EWISIVPNFILVRNT. These peptides were further validated for their binding to specific HLA alleles using in silico docking technique. Our in silico analysis suggested that the predicted epitopes, either GPKVSLIDTSSTITI or EWISIVPNFILVRNT, could be a better choice as universal vaccine component against NiV irrespective of different isolates which may elicit both humoral and cell-mediated immunity
A numerical approach to drying process of hygroscopic polymeric granulates with different drying configurations and parameter comparison
No full textImpact of baryonic streaming velocities on the formation of supermassive black holes via direct collapse
No full textBaryonic streaming motions produced prior to the epoch of recombination became supersonic during the cosmic dark ages. Various studies suggest that such streaming velocities change the halo statistics and also influence the formation of Population III stars. In this study, we aim to explore the impact of streaming velocities on the formation of supermassive black holes at z>10 via the direct collapse scenario. To accomplish this goal, we perform cosmological large eddy simulations for two halos of a few times with initial streaming velocities of 3, 6 and 9 . These massive primordial halos illuminated by the strong Lyman Werner flux are the potential cradles for the formation of direct collapse seed black holes. To study the evolution for longer times, we employ sink particles and track the accretion for 10,000 years. Our findings show that higher streaming velocities increase the circular velocities from about 14 to 16 . They also delay the collapse of halos for a few million years, but do not have any significant impact on the halo properties such as turbulent energy, radial velocity, density and accretion rates. Sink particles of about are formed at the end of our simulations and no clear distribution of sink masses is observed in the presence of streaming motions. It is further found that the impact of streaming velocities is less severe in massive halos compared to the minihalos as reported in the previous studies
Poverty in South Asia
No full textIn this paper, an attempt is made to document and analyse the poverty situation in South Asia. Available data on poverty levels and trends are discussed in the first section. Major focus of the paper is to examine the progress made during the decade of 1990s. During this decade, it may be noted that all the countries of the region were implementing some variant of structural adjustment and stabilisation programme. Performance of the national economies discussed briefly in the second section of the paper provides some clues regarding the possible effects of the reforms on poverty reduction. The safety-networks and targeting issues to improve their cost effectiveness are discussed in the final section.
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