Publications (5) View all
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Article: Size matters: the non-universal density profile of subhaloes in SPH simulations and implications for the Milky Way's dSphs
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ABSTRACT: We use dark matter only and full hydrodynamical Constrained Local UniversE Simulations (CLUES) of the formation of the Local Group to study the density profile of subhaloes of the simulated Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. We show that the Einasto model provides the best description of the subhaloes' density profile, as opposed to the more commonly used NFW profile or any generalisation of it. We further find that the Einasto shape parameter \nEin\ is strongly correlated with the total subhalo mass, pointing towards the notion of a non-universality of the subhaloes' density profile. We observe that the effect of mass loss due to tidal stripping, in both the dark matter only and the hydrodynamical run, is the reduction of the shape parameter \nEin\ between the infall and the present time. Assuming now that the dSphs of our Galaxy follow the Einasto profile and using the maximum and minimum values of \nEin\ from our hydrodynamical simulation as a gauge, we can improve the observational constraints on the \Rmax-\Vmax\ pairs obtained for the brightest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. When considering only the subhaloes with $-13.2\lesssim M_V\lesssim-8.8$, i.e. the range of luminosity of the classical dwarfs, we find that all our simulated objects are consistent with the observed dSphs if their haloes follow the Einasto model with $1.6\lesssim n_{\rm E} \lesssim5.3$. The numerically motivated Einasto profile for the observed dSphs will alleviate the recently presented "massive failures" problem.04/2012; -
Article: Scientific Objectives of Einstein Telescope
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ABSTRACT: The advanced interferometer network will herald a new era in observational astronomy. There is a very strong science case to go beyond the advanced detector network and build detectors that operate in a frequency range from 1 Hz-10 kHz, with sensitivity a factor ten better in amplitude. Such detectors will be able to probe a range of topics in nuclear physics, astronomy, cosmology and fundamental physics, providing insights into many unsolved problems in these areas.06/2012; -
Article: Applying scale-free mass estimators to the Local Group in Constrained Local Universe Simulations
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ABSTRACT: We use the recently proposed scale-free mass estimators to determine the masses of the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31) galaxy in a dark matter only Constrained Local UniversE Simulation (CLUES). While these mass estimators work rather well for isolated spherical host systems, we examine here their applicability to a simulated binary system with a unique satellite population similar to the observed satellites of MW and M31. We confirm that the scale-free estimators work also very well in our simulated Local Group galaxies with the right number of satellites which follow the observed radial distribution. In the isotropic case and under the assumption that the satellites are tracking the total gravitating mass, the power-law index of the radial satellite distribution $N(<r)\propto r^{3-\gamma}$ is directly related to the host's mass profile $M(<r)\propto r^{1-\alpha}$ as $\alpha=\gamma-2$. The use of this relation for any given $\gamma$ leads to highly accurate mass estimations which is a crucial point for observer, since they do not know a priori the mass profile of the MW and M31 haloes. We discuss possible bias in the mass estimators and conclude that the scale-free mass estimators can be satisfactorily applied to the real MW and M31 system.03/2012; -
Article: Too small to succeed? Lighting up massive dark matter subhaloes of the Milky Way
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ABSTRACT: Using Constrained Local UniversE Simulations (CLUES) of the formation of the Local Group in a cosmological context we investigate the recently highlighted problem that the majority of the most massive dark subhaloes of the Milky Way are too dense to host any of its bright satellites. In particular, we examine the influence of baryonic processes and find that they leave a twofold effect on the relation between the peak of the rotation curve and its position (Vmax and Rmax). Satellites with a large baryon fraction experience adiabatic contraction thus decreasing Rmax while leaving Vmax more or less unchanged. Subhaloes with smaller baryon fractions undergo a decrease in Vmax possibly due to outflows of material. Furthermore, the situation of finding subhaloes in simulations that lie outside the confidence interval for possible hosts of the bright MW dwarf spheroidals, appears to be far more prominent in cosmologies with a high sigma8 normalisation and depends on the mass of the host. We conclude that the problem cannot be simply solved by including baryonic processes and hence demands further investigations.07/2011; -
Article: Dislocation movement and hysteresis in Maraging blades
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ABSTRACT: All seismic isolation systems developed for gravitational-wave interferometric detectors, such as LIGO, Virgo and TAMA, make use of Maraging steel blades. The dissipation properties of these blades have been studied at low frequencies, by using a geometric anti-spring (GAS) filter, which allowed the exploration of resonant frequencies below 100 mHz. At this frequency an anomalous transfer function was observed in the GAS filter: this is one of several motivations for this work. The many unexpected effects observed and measured are explainable by the collective movement of dislocations inside the material described with the statistic of self-organised criticality. At low frequencies, below 200 mHz, the dissipation mechanism can subtract elasticity from the system even leading to sudden collapse. While Young's modulus is weaker, excess dissipation is observed. At higher frequencies the applied stress is probably too fast to allow the full growth of dislocation avalanches, and less losses are observed, thus explaining the higher Q-factor in this frequency range. The domino effect that leads to the release of entangled dislocations allows the understanding of the random walk of the Virgo and TAMA inverted pendula, the anomalous GAS filter transfer function as well as the loss of predictability of the ring-down decay in the LIGO seismic attenuation system inverted pendula.Classical and Quantum Gravity 10/2009; 26(20):204018. · 3.32 Impact Factor
