scholarly journals New stellar encounters discovered in the second Gaia data release

2018 ◽  
Vol 616 ◽  
pp. A37 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. L. Bailer-Jones ◽  
J. Rybizki ◽  
R. Andrae ◽  
M. Fouesneau
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Oort Cloud ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Dimensional Phase Space ◽  
Cool Stars ◽  
Galactic Potential ◽  
Data Release ◽  
Present Rate ◽  
Galaxy Model ◽  
Space Data

Passing stars may play an important role in the evolution of our solar system. We search for close stellar encounters to the Sun among all 7.2 million stars in Gaia DR2 that have six-dimensional phase space data. We characterize encounters by integrating their orbits through a Galactic potential and propagating the correlated uncertainties via a Monte Carlo resampling. After filtering to remove spurious data, we find 694 stars that have median (over uncertainties) closest encounter distances within 5 pc, all occurring within 15 Myr from now. 26 of these have at least a 50% chance of coming closer than 1 pc (and 7 within 0.5 pc), all but one of which are newly discovered here. We confirm some and refute several other previously-identified encounters, confirming suspicions about their data. The closest encounter in the sample is Gl 710, which has a 95% probability of coming closer than 0.08 pc (17 000 AU). Taking mass estimates obtained from Gaia astrometry and multiband photometry for essentially all encounters, we find that Gl 710 also has the largest impulse on the Oort cloud. Using a Galaxy model, we compute the completeness of the Gaia DR2 encountering sample as a function of perihelion time and distance. Only 15% of encounters within 5 pc occurring within ±5 Myr of now have been identified, mostly due to the lack of radial velocities for faint and/or cool stars. Accounting for the incompleteness, we infer the present rate of encounters within 1 pc to be 19.7 ± 2.2 per Myr, a quantity expected to scale quadratically with the encounter distance out to at least several pc. Spuriously large parallaxes in our sample from imperfect filtering would tend to inflate both the number of encounters found and this inferred rate. The magnitude of this effect is hard to quantify.

scholarly journals The completeness-corrected rate of stellar encounters with the Sun from the first Gaia data release

2017 ◽  
Vol 609 ◽  
pp. A8 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. L. Bailer-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Oort Cloud ◽  
Selection Function ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Accurate Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Gravitational Perturbations ◽  
Galactic Potential ◽  
Data Release ◽  
Spatial Velocity ◽  
To Come

I report on close encounters of stars to the Sun found in the first Gaia data release (GDR1). Combining Gaia astrometry with radial velocities of around 320 000 stars drawn from various catalogues, I integrate orbits in a Galactic potential to identify those stars which pass within a few parsecs. Such encounters could influence the solar system, for example through gravitational perturbations of the Oort cloud. 16 stars are found to come within 2 pc (although a few of these have dubious data). This is fewer than were found in a similar study based on Hipparcos data, even though the present study has many more candidates. This is partly because I reject stars with large radial velocity uncertainties (>10 km s-1), and partly because of missing stars in GDR1 (especially at the bright end). The closest encounter found is Gl 710, a K dwarf long-known to come close to the Sun in about 1.3 Myr. The Gaia astrometry predict a much closer passage than pre-Gaia estimates, however: just 16 000 AU (90% confidence interval: 10 000–21 000 AU), which will bring this star well within the Oort cloud. Using a simple model for the spatial, velocity, and luminosity distributions of stars, together with an approximation of the observational selection function, I model the incompleteness of this Gaia-based search as a function of the time and distance of closest approach. Applying this to a subset of the observed encounters (excluding duplicates and stars with implausibly large velocities), I estimate the rate of stellar encounters within 5 pc averaged over the past and future 5 Myr to be 545 ± 59 Myr-1. Assuming a quadratic scaling of the rate within some encounter distance (which my model predicts), this corresponds to 87 ± 9 Myr-1 within 2 pc. A more accurate analysis and assessment will be possible with future Gaia data releases.

scholarly journals Characterising open clusters in the solar neighbourhood with the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution

2018 ◽  
Vol 615 ◽  
pp. A49 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Cantat-Gaudin ◽  
A. Vallenari ◽  
R. Sordo ◽  
F. Pensabene ◽  
A. Krone-Martins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Markov Chain ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Open Clusters ◽  
Distance Modulus ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Orbital Parameters ◽  
Naval Observatory ◽  
Galactic Potential

Context. The Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) subset of the first Gaia catalogue contains an unprecedented sample of proper motions and parallaxes for two million stars brighter than G ~ 12 mag. Aims. We take advantage of the full astrometric solution available for those stars to identify the members of known open clusters and compute mean cluster parameters using either TGAS or the fourth U.S. Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC4) proper motions, and TGAS parallaxes. Methods. We apply an unsupervised membership assignment procedure to select high probability cluster members, we use a Bayesian/Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique to fit stellar isochrones to the observed 2MASS JHKS magnitudes of the member stars and derive cluster parameters (age, metallicity, extinction, distance modulus), and we combine TGAS data with spectroscopic radial velocities to compute full Galactic orbits. Results. We obtain mean astrometric parameters (proper motions and parallaxes) for 128 clusters closer than about 2 kpc, and cluster parameters from isochrone fitting for 26 of them located within a distance of 1 kpc from the Sun. We show the orbital parameters obtained from integrating 36 orbits in a Galactic potential.

scholarly journals Galactic tide and local stellar perturbations on the Oort cloud: creation of interstellar comets

2019 ◽  
Vol 629 ◽  
pp. A139 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Torres ◽  
M. X. Cai ◽  
A. G. A. Brown ◽  
S. P. Zwart
Keyword(s):  
Dynamical Evolution ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Oort Cloud ◽  
Radial Velocities ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Interstellar Space ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Semi Major Axis ◽  
Software Environment ◽  
External Perturbations

Comets in the Oort cloud evolve under the influence of internal and external perturbations, such as giant planets, stellar passages, and the Galactic gravitational tidal field. We aim to study the dynamical evolution of the comets in the Oort cloud, accounting for the perturbation of the Galactic tidal field and passing stars. We base our study on three main approaches; analytic, observational, and numerical. We first construct an analytical model of stellar encounters. We find that individual perturbations do not modify the dynamics of the comets in the cloud unless very close (<0.5 pc) encounters occur. Using proper motions, parallaxes, and radial velocities from Gaia DR2 and combining them with the radial velocities from other surveys, we then construct an astrometric catalogue of the 14 659 stars that are within 50 pc of the Sun. For all these stars we calculate the time and distance of closest approach to the Sun. We find that the cumulative effect of relatively distant (≤1 pc) passing stars can perturb the comets in the Oort cloud. Finally, we study the dynamical evolution of the comets in the Oort cloud under the influence of multiple stellar encounters from stars that pass within 2.5 pc of the Sun and the Galactic tidal field over ±10 Myr. We use the Astrophysical Multipurpose Software Environment (AMUSE), and the GPU-accelerated direct N-body code ABIE. We considered two models for the Oort cloud, compact (a ≤ 0.25 pc) and extended (a ≤ 0.5 pc). We find that the cumulative effect of stellar encounters is the major perturber of the Oort cloud for a compact configuration while for the extended configuration the Galactic tidal field is the major perturber. In both cases the cumulative effect of distant stellar encounters together with the Galactic tidal field raises the semi-major axis of ~1.1% of the comets at the edge of the Oort cloud up to interstellar regions (a > 0.5 pc) over the 20 Myr period considered. This leads to the creation of transitional interstellar comets (TICs), which might become interstellar objects due to external perturbations. This raises the question of the formation, evolution, and current status of the Oort cloud as well as the existence of a “cloud” of objects in the interstellar space that might overlap with our Oort cloud, when considering that other planetary systems should undergo similar processes leading to the ejection of comets.

scholarly journals COSMIC COVARIANCE AND THE LOW QUADRUPOLE ANISOTROPY IN THE WMAP DATA

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (17n20) ◽  
pp. 1489-1497 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUNG-YIH CHIANG ◽  
PAVEL D. NASELSKY ◽  
PETER COLES
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Monte Carlo Simulations ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Gaussian Random Field ◽  
Minimum Variance ◽  
Microwave Background ◽  
Data Release ◽  
Intrinsic Correlation ◽  
Wmap Data ◽  
Cmb Temperature

Low quadrupole power in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies has been a puzzle since WMAP data release. In this talk I will demonstrate that the minimum variance optimization (MVO), a methodology used by many authors including the WMAP science team to separate the CMB from foreground contamination, serves not only to extract the CMB, but to subtract the “cosmic covariance”, an intrinsic correlation between the CMB and the foregrounds. Such subtraction induces low variance in the signal via MVO, which in turn propagates into the multipoles, causing a quadrupole deficit with more than 90% CL. As we do not know the CMB and the foregrounds a priori, and their correlation is subtracted by the MVO in any case, there is therefore an unknown error in the quadrupole power even before the cosmic variance interpretation. We combine the MVO and Monte Carlo simulations, assuming CMB is a Gaussian random field, and the estimated quadrupole power falls in [308.13, 401.97] μ K 2 (at 1 − σ level).

scholarly journals Improving Langley calibrations by reducing diurnal variations of aerosol Ångström parameters

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 6479-6492
Author(s):  
A. Kreuter ◽  
S. Wuttke ◽  
M. Blumthaler
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Monte Carlo Method ◽  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Diurnal Variations ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Calibration Constant ◽  
Solar Noon ◽  
Sun Photometer ◽  
Photometer Calibration

Abstract. Errors in the sun photometer calibration constant lead to artificial diurnal variations, symmetric around solar noon, of the retrieved Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and the associated Ångström exponent α and its curvature γ. We show in simulations that within the uncertainty of state-of-the-art Langley calibrations, these diurnal variations of α and γ can be significant in low AOD conditions, while those of AOD are negligible. We implement a weighted Monte-Carlo method of finding an improved calibration constant by minimizing the diurnal variations in α and γ and apply the method to sun photometer data of a clear day in Innsbruck, Austria. The results show that our method can be used to improve the calibrations in two of the four wavelength channels by up to a factor of 3.6.

Evolution of Comets into Asteroids?

1971 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 413-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.G. Marsden
Keyword(s):  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Solar Nebula ◽  
Oort Cloud ◽  
Original Version ◽  
Terrestrial Planets ◽  
Minor Planets ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Physical Difference ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The One

There has long been speculation as to whether comets evolve into asteroidal objects. On the one hand, in the original version of the Oort (1950) hypothesis, the cometary cloud was supposed to have formed initially from the same material that produced the minor planets; and an obvious corollary was that the main physical difference between comets and minor planets would be that the latter had long since lost their icy surfaces on account of persistent exposure to strong solar radiation (Öpik, 1963). However, following a suggestion by Kuiper (1951), it is now quite widely believed that, whereas the terrestrial planets and minor planets condensed in the inner regions of the primordial solar nebula, icy objects such as comets would have formed more naturally in the outer parts, perhaps even beyond the orbit of Neptune (Cameron, 1962; Whipple, 1964a). Furthermore, recent studies of the evolution of the short-period comets indicate that it is not possible to produce the observed orbital distribution from the Oort cloud, even when multiple encounters with Jupiter are considered (Havnes, 1970). We must now seriously entertain the possibility that most of the short-period orbits evolved directly from low-inclination, low-eccentricity orbits with perihelia initially in the region between, say, the orbits of Saturn and Neptune, and that these comets have never been in the traditional cloud at great distances from the Sun.

scholarly journals Search for stellar companions of exoplanet host stars by exploring the second ESA-Gaia data release

2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (4) ◽  
pp. 5088-5102 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Mugrauer
Keyword(s):  
Main Sequence ◽  
Stellar Systems ◽  
Sequence Evolution ◽  
The Sun ◽  
M Dwarfs ◽  
Primary Star ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Quadruple System ◽  
Data Release ◽  
Host Stars

ABSTRACT A new survey is presented, which explores the second data release of the ESA-Gaia mission, in order to search for stellar companions of exoplanet host stars, located at distances closer than about 500 pc around the Sun. In total, 176 binaries, 27 hierarchical triples, and one hierarchical quadruple system are detected among more than 1300 exoplanet host stars, whose multiplicity is investigated, yielding a multiplicity rate of the exoplanet host stars of at least about 15  per cent. The detected companions and the exoplanet host stars are equidistant and share a common proper motion, as it is expected for gravitationally bound stellar systems, proven with their accurate Gaia astrometry. The companions exhibit masses in the range between about 0.078 and 1.4 M⊙ with a peak in their mass distribution between 0.15 and $0.3\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$. The companions are separated from the exoplanet host stars by about 20 up to 9100 au, but are found most frequently within a projected separation of 1000 au. While most of the detected companions are early M dwarfs, eight white dwarf companions of exoplanet host stars are also identified in this survey, whose true nature is revealed with their photometric properties. Hence, these degenerated companions and the exoplanet host stars form evolved stellar systems with exoplanets, which have survived (physically but also dynamically) the post-main-sequence evolution of their former primary star.

scholarly journals Monte Carlo simulation of halos in the crystal clouds

2021 ◽  
Vol 2099 (1) ◽  
pp. 012067
Author(s):  
Q Mu ◽  
E G Kablukova ◽  
B A Kargin ◽  
S M Prigarin
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Monte Carlo Method ◽  
Ray Tracing ◽  
Multiple Scattering ◽  
Radiation Transfer ◽  
Cirrus Clouds ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Different Shapes

Abstract In this paper, we try to answer the question: how the multiple scattering, the sun elevation, shape and orientation of ice crystals in the cirrus clouds affect a halo pattern. To study the radiation transfer in optically anisotropic clouds, we have developed the software based on Monte Carlo method and ray tracing. In addition to halos, this software enables one to simulate “anti-halos”, which above the cloud layer can be seen by observers. We present the visualization of halos and anti-halos generated by the cirrus clouds for different shapes and orientations of ice crystals.

scholarly journals Stellar Convection as a Low Prandtl Number Flow

1991 ◽  
Vol 130 ◽  
pp. 57-61
Author(s):  
Josep M. Massaguer
Keyword(s):  
Nusselt Number ◽  
Prandtl Number ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Shear Layers ◽  
Turbulent Convection ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Stellar Convection ◽  
Cool Stars ◽  
Number Flow

AbstractThermal convection in the Sun and cool stars is often modeled with the assumption of an effective Prandtl number σ ≃ 1. Such a parameterization results in masking of the presence of internal shear layers which, for small σ, might control the large scale dynamics. In this paper we discuss the relevance of such layers in turbulent convection. Implications for heat transport – i.e. for the Nusselt number power law – are also discussed.

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