Evolution of the Plasma Universe: II. The Formation of Systems of Galaxies

The model of the plasma universe, inspired by totally unexpected phenomena observed with the advent and application of fully three-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations to filamentary plasmas, consists of studying the interaction between field-aligned current-conducting, galactic-dimensioned plasma sheets or filaments (Birkeland currents). In a preceding paper, the evolution of the interaction spanned some 108-109 years, where simulational analogs of synchrotron-emitting double radio galaxies and quasars were discovered. This paper reports the evolution through the next 109-5 × 109 years. In particular, reconfiguration and compression of tenuous cosmic plasma due to the self-consistent magnetic fields from currents conducted through the filaments leads to the formation of elliptical, peculiar, and barred and normal spiral galaxies. The importance of the electromagnetic pinch in producing condense states and initiating gravitational collapse of dusty galactic plasma to stellisimals, then stars, is discussed. Simulation data are directly compared to galaxy morphology types, synchrotron flux, Hi distributions, and fine detail structure in rotational velocity curves. These comparisons suggest that knowledge obtained from laboratory, simulation, and magnetospheric plasmas offers not only to enhance our understanding of the universe, but also to provide feedback information to laboratory plasma experiments from the unprecedented source of plasma data provided by the plasma universe.     

Technical Report: The Fastest Relativistic Jets from Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei

This workshop was held to gather scientists interested in exploiting beamlines I06 and I10 of the Surface and Interfaces Village at Diamond Light Source from June 10–11, 2009. Sarnjeet Dhesi introduced the meeting with a short explanation of the village structure at Diamond. This village includes the Nanoscience beamline (I06), catering for soft X-rays for Photo-Emission Electron Microscopy (PEEM) and X-ray Magnetic Circular and Linear Dichroism (XMCD and XMLD), and the Beam Line for Advanced Dichroism Experiments (BLADE, beamline I10), which is a polarized soft X-ray beam for XMCD, XMLD, and soft X-ray diffraction. I06 has been operational for over two years, while I10 is scheduled to come on-line in late 2010. In addition, there are two surface science beamlines (I07 and I09) in the village dedicated to surface diffraction and X-ray standing waves.     

A. G. Pacholczyk Radio Astrophysics: Nonthermal Proccesses in Galactic and Extragalactic Sources

Acta physica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae -     

Model of the Plasma Universe

This paper is a review of a number of publications during the last ten years about those changes in our views of the cosmic environment that are the result of advances in plasma physics. To a large extent, these originate from new observational material that space research has supplied. An attempt is made to construct a model of the "plasma universe" which is claimed to be an alternative to the traditional " visual universe" based mainly on observations in the visual octave. Besides the Hubble expansion there is also a "knowledge expansion," which means that knowledge originating from plasma experiments in the laboratory is spreading to the magnetospheres and, it is predicted, sooner or later will also penetrate astrophysics in general. As an example of the usefulness of this model, it is applied to cosmogony, and a review is given of new results from an analysis of the Saturnian rings. The recent reconstruction of certain cosmogonic events with an accuracy better than 1 percent is reviewed and developed.     

The Coevolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes in the Near Universe

A fundamental role is attributed to supermassive black holes (SMBH), and the feedback they generate, in the evolution of galaxies. But theoretical models trying to reproduce the M_SMBH vs. sigma relation (between the SMBH mass and stellar velocity dispersion of the galaxy bulge) make broad assumptions about the physical processes involved. These assumptions are needed due to the scarcity of observational constraints on the relevant physical processes which occur when the SMBH is being fed via mass accretion in active galactic nuclei (AGN). In search for these constraints, our group—AGN integral field spectroscopy (AGNIFS)—has been mapping the gas kinematics as well as the stellar population properties of the inner few hundred parsecs of a sample of nearby AGN hosts. In this contribution, I report on results obtained so far which show gas inflows along nuclear spirals and compact disks in the inner tens to hundreds of pc in nearby AGN hosts which seem to be the sources of fuel to the AGN. As the inflow rates are much larger than the AGN accretion rate, the excess gas must be depleted via formation of new stars in the bulge. Indeed, in many cases, we find ～100 pc circumnuclear rings of recent star formation (ages ～10–500 Myr) that can be interpreted as a signature of coevolution of the host galaxy and its AGN. I also report on the mapping of outflows in ionized gas, which are ubiquitous in Seyfert galaxies, and discuss mass outflow rates and powers.     

Evolution of the Early Universe

The evolution of the very early Universe from a vacuum-like state to the epoch of leptoquark decay is investigated.__________Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 33–35, March, 2005.     

Effect of the Global Rotation of the Universe on the Formation of Galaxies

The effect of the global rotation of the universe on the formation of galaxies is investigated. It is found that the global rotation provides a natural origin for the rotation of galaxies, and the morphology of the objects formed from gravitational instability in a rotating and expanding universe depends on the amplitude of the density fluctuation, different values of the amplitude of the fluctuation lead to the formation of elliptical galaxies, spiral galaxies, and walls. The global rotation gives a natural explanation of the empirical relation between the angular momentum and mass of galaxies: J M^5/3. The present angular velocity of the universe is estimated at 10^-13rad yr^-1.     

Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Interactions-Near-Earth Manifestations of the Plasma Universe

As the universe consists almost entirely of plasma, the understanding of astrophysical phenomena must depend critically on our understanding of how matter behaves in the plasma state. In situ observations in the near-earth cosmical plasma offer an excellent opportunity for gaining such understanding. The near-earth cosmical plasma not only covers vast ranges of density and temperature, but is the site of a rich variety of complex plasma physical processes which are activated as a result of the interactions between the magnetosphere and the ionosphere. The geomagnetic field connects the ionosphere, tied by friction to the earth, and the magnetosphere, dynamically coupled to the solar wind. This causes an exchange of energy and momentum between the two regions. The exchange is executed by magnetic-field-aligned electric currents, the so-called Birkeland currents. Both directly and indirectly (through instabilities and particle acceleration) these also lead to an exchange of plasma, which is selective and therefore causes chemical separationi. Another essential aspect of the coupling is the role of electric fields, especially magnetic-field-aligned ("parallel") electric fields, which have important consequences both for the dynamics of the coupling and, especially, for energization of charged particles.     

On the Origin of Spacetime Distribution of Quasars I. The Simplest Model

The assumption that galaxies and massive black holes were both created in an early cosmological era, and allowing that quasars had to be made in their collisions, is tested comparing this theory with the observational data on the distribution of number of quasars N with respect to the cosmological redshift Z. The theoretical model is sensitive to Z_c-value of redshift at creational time, Z_m-value(s) of redshift at peak(s) of the distribution N(Z) and λ - the decay constant of quasars. The peaks of distribution N(Z) are connected with the peaks in the mass spectrum of galaxies.     

The Light/Dark Universe. Light from Galaxies,Dark Matter and Dark Energy,by J.M. Overduin and P.S. Wesson

Metal layers one atom in thickness are the ultimate in ultrathin films. They are the object of intensive study. The preparation, characterization and properties of metal monolayers are reviewed. This field of research provides a sort of common meeting ground for clean-surface physics, chemisorption, and thin-film and surface metallurgy. The topics discussed include: the kinetics and thermodynamics of monolayer formation, monolayer structures and ‘two-dimensional’ phase transformations, desorption and binding energetics, electronic properties and chemical reactivity.     

Evolution of the Horizons for Dark Energy Universe

Recent observational evidences of accelerating phase of the universe strongly demand that the dominating matter in the universe is in the form of dark energy. In this work, we study the evolution of the apparent and event horizons for various dark energy models and examine their behavior across phantom barrier line.     

Multiple and Strong Luminosity Evolution in the Population of Elliptical Galaxies

The traditional single burst and passive evolution model for elliptical galaxies should not be accepted. In this paper we demonstrate further by comparison of the model predictions with the observed B-K color distribution of galaxies, that the internal extinction by dust cannot save the traditional scenario for ellipticals either. Hence we do not agree with Zepf's (S.E. Zepf, Nature 390 (1997) 377) argument that such a scenario could still survive if ellipticals might have formed in dusty starburst environments. Furthermore, we have also found that the luminosity evolution within the population of ellipticals should be strong, complicated or multiple, which is not favored by our previous study of number counts for ellipticals. The conflicting results simply suggest that the pure luminosity evolution model should not be accepted, and hence the number evolution for ellipticals is a straightforward inference. Our conclusions hold in any one of the three cosmological models, i.e., flat, open, or Λ-dominated, under consideration.     

Evolution of Dark Energy in the Open Universe

In this paper we discuss the evolution of the dark energy in the open universe under the framework of the χCDM model. It is showed that the dark energy in the open universe, which drives the universe accelerating, had strange evolution behaviors: it was in the state of negative energy and positive pressure at the early stage of evolution of the dark energy, then evolved into the phase of negative energy and negative pressure during the middle period, and evolved to have the typical features of dark energy (positive energy and negative pressure) only at the later stage.     

A Multi-parameter Model for Radio Dichotomy of Active Galactic Nuclei and Jets

Based on the coexistence of the Blandford-Znajek and magnetic coupling processes in black hole (BH) accretion disc, a multi-parameter model for jet powers and radio loudness of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is studied. It turns out that radio-loudness of AGNs could be governed by five parameters: (i) the BH spin, (ii) a power-law index of the variation of the magnetic field on the disc; (iii) a parameter determining the position of the inner edge of the disc, (iv) the ratio of the pressure of the magnetic field on the horizon to the ram pressure of the innermost parts of an accretion flow, and (v) the ratio of the angular velocity of the open field lines to that of the horizon. The observed dichotomy between radio-loud and radio-quiet AGNs is well interpreted by the effects of the above parameters. Furthermore, we discuss the derivative of radio loudness of AGNs with respect to each parameter separately. In addition, the effect of the screw instability on radio loudness of AGNs is discussed.     

Chemical Evolution of the Universe and its Consequences for Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics

Gravitational waves (GW) emitted by merging black holes (BH) and neutron stars are now routinely detected. Those are the afterlives of massive stars that formed all across the Universe—at different cosmic times and with different metallicities. Birth metallicity plays an important role in the evolution of massive stars. Consequently, the population properties of mergers are sensitive to the metallicity dependent cosmic star formation history (f_SFR(Z,z)). In particular, within the isolated formation scenarios (the focus of this paper), a strong low metallicity preference of the formation of BH mergers is found. The origin of this dependence and its consequences are discussed. Most importantly, uncertainty in the f_SFR(Z,z) (substantial even at low redshifts) cannot be ignored in the models. This poses a challenge for the interpretation of the observed GW source population properties. Possible improvements and the role of future GW detectors are considered. Recent efforts to determine f_SFR(Z,z) and the factors that dominate its uncertainty are summarized. Many of those factors stem from the uncertain properties of faint and distant galaxies. The fact that they leave imprint on the redshift-dependent properties of mergers makes GW a promising (and complementary to electromagnetic observations) tool to study galaxy chemical evolution.     

Photoproduction of Pion Pairs in a Radiation-Dominated Universe. I

Within the framework of scalar quantum electrodynamics (QED) conformally connected with an external gravitational field, the effect of the photoproduction of an arbitrary number of charged massive particle pairs is studied for the quasi-Euclidian model of a radiation-dominated Universe. The total probability of the process is calculated, and the time period during which the given process occurs is determined. The total probability is analyzed and compared with a similar expression obtained in the context of spinor theory. The estimations demonstrate that the total probability of rigid photon decay obtained in the context of scalar theory is by an order of magnitude less than that calculated from the corresponding expression obtained in the context of spinor QED.     

铜射流侵彻穿孔处的温度及微观组织研究

 分析金属射流侵彻钢靶后钢靶孔壁上残留的射流材料的微观组织,将有助于了解射流的超塑性动态变形以及射流在侵彻和冷却过程中的状态变化。通过对铜射流侵彻钢靶时钢靶侵彻孔壁处的组织进行分析,利用数值模拟和理论计算,对铜射流的侵彻过程进行研究,得到了侵彻后孔壁上铜射流的温度及晶粒度的变化曲线,分析结果与扫描电镜的观察结果吻合。通过对孔壁处铜和钢的微观组织进行观察,判断出铜射流在侵彻时没有发生熔化,而是发生了动态再结晶,并且晶粒在随后的冷却过程中发生了明显的长大,此外在铜冷却过程中也产生了孪晶。