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Bahcall–Wolf Cusp
Bahcall–Wolf cusp refers to a particular distribution of stars around a massive black hole at the center of a galaxy or globular cluster. If the nucleus containing the black hole is sufficiently old, exchange of orbital energy between stars drives their distribution toward a characteristic form, such that the density of stars, ''ρ'', varies with distance from the black hole, ''r'', as : \rho(r) \propto r^ . So far, no clear example of a Bahcall–Wolf cusp has been found in any galaxy or star cluster. This may be due in part to the difficulty of resolving such a feature. Distribution of stars around a supermassive black hole Supermassive black holes reside in galactic nuclei. The total mass of the stars in a nucleus is roughly equal to the mass of the supermassive black hole. In the case of the Milky Way, the mass of the supermassive black hole is about 4 million Solar masses, and the number of stars in the nucleus is about ten million. The stars move around the sup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relaxation (physics)
In the physical sciences, relaxation usually means the return of a perturbed system into equilibrium. Each relaxation process can be categorized by a relaxation time τ. The simplest theoretical description of relaxation as function of time ''t'' is an exponential law (exponential decay A quantity is subject to exponential decay if it decreases at a rate proportional to its current value. Symbolically, this process can be expressed by the following differential equation, where is the quantity and (lambda) is a positive rate ...). In simple linear systems Mechanics: Damped unforced oscillator Let the homogeneous differential equation: :m\frac+\gamma\frac+ky=0 model damped harmonic oscillator, damped unforced oscillations of a weight on a spring. The displacement will then be of the form y(t) = A e^ \cos(\mu t - \delta). The constant T (=2m/\gamma) is called the relaxation time of the system and the constant μ is the quasi-frequency. Electronics: RC circuit In an RC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stellar Dynamics
Stellar dynamics is the branch of astrophysics which describes in a statistical way the collective motions of stars subject to their mutual gravity. The essential difference from celestial mechanics is that the number of body N \gg 10. Typical galaxies have upwards of millions of macroscopic gravitating bodies and countless number of neutrinos and perhaps other dark microscopic bodies. Also each star contributes more or less equally to the total gravitational field, whereas in celestial mechanics the pull of a massive body dominates any satellite orbits. Connection with fluid dynamics Stellar dynamics also has connections to the field of plasma physics. The two fields underwent significant development during a similar time period in the early 20th century, and both borrow mathematical formalism originally developed in the field of fluid mechanics. In accretion disks and stellar surfaces, the dense plasma or gas particles collide very frequently, and collisions result in equ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Initial Mass Function
In astronomy, the initial mass function (IMF) is an empirical function that describes the initial distribution of masses for a population of stars. The IMF is an output of the process of star formation. The IMF is often given as a probability distribution function (PDF) for the mass at which a star enters the main sequence (begins hydrogen fusion). The distribution function can then be used to construct the mass distribution (the histogram of stellar masses) of a population of stars. It differs from the ''present day mass function'' (PDMF), the current distribution of masses of stars, due to the evolution and death of stars which occurs at different rates for different masses as well as dynamical mixing in some populations. The properties and evolution of a star are closely related to its mass, so the IMF is an important diagnostic tool for astronomers studying large quantities of stars. For example, the initial mass of a star is the primary factor determining its colour, lum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stellar Black Hole
A stellar black hole (or stellar-mass black hole) is a black hole formed by the gravitational collapse of a star. They have masses ranging from about 5 to several tens of solar masses. The process is observed as a hypernova explosion or as a gamma ray burst. These black holes are also referred to as collapsars. Properties By the no-hair theorem, a black hole can only have three fundamental properties: mass, electric charge, and angular momentum. The angular momentum of a stellar black hole is due to the conservation of angular momentum of the star or objects that produced it. The gravitational collapse of a star is a natural process that can produce a black hole. It is inevitable at the end of the life of a large star when all stellar energy sources are exhausted. If the mass of the collapsing part of the star is below the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff (TOV) limit for neutron-degenerate matter, the end product is a compact star – either a white dwarf (for masses below t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Main-sequence
In astronomy, the main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell. Stars on this band are known as main-sequence stars or dwarf stars. These are the most numerous true stars in the universe and include the Sun. After condensation and ignition of a star, it generates thermal energy in its dense core region through nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium. During this stage of the star's lifetime, it is located on the main sequence at a position determined primarily by its mass but also based on its chemical composition and age. The cores of main-sequence stars are in hydrostatic equilibrium, where outward thermal pressure from the hot core is balanced by the inward pressure of gravitational collapse from the overlying layers. The strong dependence of the rate of energy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parsec
The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to or (au), i.e. . The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry, and is defined as the distance at which 1 au subtends an angle of one arcsecond ( of a degree). This corresponds to astronomical units, i.e. 1\, \mathrm = 1/\tan \left( \ \mathrm \right)\, \mathrm. The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is about from the Sun. Most stars visible to the naked eye are within a few hundred parsecs of the Sun, with the most distant at a few thousand. The word ''parsec'' is a portmanteau of "parallax of one second" and was coined by the British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner in 1913 to make calculations of astronomical distances from only raw observational data easy for astronomers. Partly for this reason, it is the unit preferred in astronomy and astrophysics, though the light-year remains prominent in popu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galactic Center
The Galactic Center or Galactic Centre is the rotational center, the barycenter, of the Milky Way galaxy. Its central massive object is a supermassive black hole of about 4 million solar masses, which is called Sagittarius A*, a compact radio source which is almost exactly at the galactic rotational center. The Galactic Center is approximately away from Earth in the direction of the constellations Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius, where the Milky Way appears brightest, visually close to the Butterfly Cluster (M6) or the star Shaula, south to the Pipe Nebula. There are around 10 million stars within one parsec of the Galactic Center, dominated by red giants, with a significant population of massive supergiants and Wolf–Rayet stars from star formation in the region around 1 million years ago. The core stars are a small part within the much wider galactic bulge. Discovery Because of interstellar dust along the line of sight, the Galactic Center cannot be studied ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphere Of Influence (astronomy)
The sphere of influence is a region around a supermassive black hole in which the gravitational potential of the black hole dominates the gravitational potential of the host galaxy. The radius of the sphere of influence is called the "(gravitational) influence radius". There are two definitions in common use for the radius of the sphere of influence. The first is given by r_h = \frac where MBH is the mass of the black hole, ''σ'' is the stellar velocity dispersion of the host bulge, and ''G'' is the gravitational constant. The second definition is the radius at which the enclosed mass in stars equals twice MBH, i.e. M_\star(r [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Distribution Function (physics)
:''This article describes the ''distribution function'' as used in physics. You may be looking for the related mathematical concepts of cumulative distribution function or probability density function.'' In molecular kinetic theory in physics, a system's distribution function is a function of seven variables, f(x,y,z,t;v_x,v_y,v_z), which gives the number of particles per unit volume in single-particle phase space. It is the number of particles per unit volume having approximately the velocity \mathbf=(v_x,v_y,v_z) near the position \mathbf=(x,y,z) and time t. The usual normalization of the distribution function is :n(x,y,z,t) = \int f \,dv_x \,dv_y \,dv_z, :N(t) = \int n \,dx \,dy \,dz, where, ''N'' is the total number of particles, and ''n'' is the number density of particles – the number of particles per unit volume, or the density divided by the mass of individual particles. A distribution function may be specialised with respect to a particular set of dimensions. E.g. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John N
John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Epistle of John, often shortened to 2 John * Third Epistle of John, often shortened to 3 John People * John the Baptist (died c. AD 30), regarded as a prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ * John the Apostle (lived c. AD 30), one of the twelve apostles of Jesus * John the Evangelist, assigned author of the Fourth Gospel, once identified with the Apostle * John of Patmos, also known as John the Divine or John the Revelator, the author of the Book of Revelation, once identified with the Apostle * John the Presbyter, a figure either identified with or distinguished from the Apostle, the Evangelist and John of Patmos Other people with the given name Religious figures * John, father of Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter * P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kepler Orbit
Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of planetary motion, and his books '' Astronomia nova'', '' Harmonice Mundi'', and '' Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae''. These works also provided one of the foundations for Newton's theory of universal gravitation. Kepler was a mathematics teacher at a seminary school in Graz, where he became an associate of Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg. Later he became an assistant to the astronomer Tycho Brahe in Prague, and eventually the imperial mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II and his two successors Matthias and Ferdinand II. He also taught mathematics in Linz, and was an adviser to General Wallenstein. Additionally, he did fundamental work in the field of optics, invented an improved version of the refracting (or Keplerian) telescope, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
