Abundance gradients in the galactic disk

The relationship between abundances and orbital parameters for 235 F- and G-type intermediate- and low- mass stars in the Galaxy is analyzed. We foundthat there are abundance gradients in the thin disk in both radial and verticaldirections (-0.116 dex kpc-1 and -0.309 dex kpc-1 respectively). The gradients appear to be flatter as the Galaxy evolves. No gradient is found in the thick disk based on 18 thick disk stars. These results indicate that the ELS model is mainly suitable for the evolution of the thin disk, while the SZ model is more suitable for the evolution of the thick disk. Additionally, these results indicate that in-fall and out-flow processes play important roles in the chemical evolution of the Galaxy.     

Dark matter annihilation in the milky way galaxy: effects of baryonic compression

If the dark matter (DM), which is considered to constitute most of the mass of galaxies, is made of supersymmetric particles, the central region of our Galaxy should emit gamma rays produced by their annihilation. We use detailed models of the Milky Way to make accurate estimates of continuum gamma-ray fluxes. We argue that the most important effect, which was previously neglected, is the compression of the dark matter due to the infall of baryons to the galactic center: it boosts the expected signal by a factor 1000. To illustrate this effect, we computed the expected gamma fluxes in the minimal supergravity scenario. Our models predict that the signal could be detected at high confidence levels by imaging atmospheric C erenkov telescopes assuming that neutralinos make up most of the DM in the Universe.     

Possibility of precise measurement of the cosmological power spectrum with a dedicated survey of 21 cm emission after reionization

Measurements of the 21 cm line emission by residual cosmic hydrogen after reionization can be used to trace the power spectrum of density perturbations through a significant fraction of the observable volume of the Universe. We show that a dedicated 21 cm observatory could probe a number of independent modes that is 2 orders of magnitude larger than currently available, and enable a cosmic-variance limited detection of the signature of a neutrino mass approximately 0.05 eV. The evolution of the linear growth factor with redshift could also constrain exotic theories of gravity or dark energy to an unprecedented precision.