Buoyancy Instabilities in Degenerate, Collisional, Magnetized Plasmas (2009)
In low-collisionality plasmas, anisotropic heat conduction due to a magnetic field leads to buoyancy instabilities for any nonzero temperature gradient. We study analogous instabilities in degenerate...
Turbulence and Mixing in the Intracluster Medium (2009)
Sharma, P., Chandran, B. D. G., Quataert, E., Parrish, I. J.
The intracluster medium (ICM) is stably stratified in the hydrodynamic sense with the entropy $s$ increasing outwards. However, thermal conduction along magnetic field lines fundamentally changes the...
Bale, S. D., Kasper, J. C., Howes, G. G., Quataert, E., Salem, C., Sundkvist, D.
The proton temperature anisotropy in the solar wind is known to be constrained by the theoretical thresholds for pressure anisotropy-driven instabilities. Here we use approximately 1 million...
Observable Signatures of the Accretion-Induced Collapse of White Dwarfs (2009)
Metzger, B. D., Piro, A. L., Quataert, E., Thompson, T. A.
Despite its probable occurrence in Nature, the accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of a white dwarf has not yet been directly observed (or, at least, it has not been unambiguously identified as such)....
The effects of r-process heating on fall-back accretion in compact object mergers (2009)
Metzger, B. D., Arcones, A., Quataert, E., Martinez-Pinedo, G.
We explore the effects of r-process nucleosynthesis on fall-back accretion in neutron star(NS)-NS and black hole-NS mergers, and the resulting implications for short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)....
A new type of stellar explosion (2009)
Perets, H. B., Gal-Yam, A., Mazzali, P., Arnett, D., Kagan, D., Filippenko, A. V., ...
The explosive deaths of stars (supernovae; SNe) are generally explained by two physical processes. Young massive stars (more than eight solar masses, M_Sun) undergo gravitational core-collapse and...
Fossil Gas and the Electromagnetic Precursor of Supermassive Binary Black Hole Mergers (2009)
Chang, P., Strubbe, L. E., Menou, K., Quataert, E.
Using a one-dimensional height integrated model, we calculate the evolution of an unequal mass binary black hole with a coplanar gas disk that contains a gap due to the presence of the secondary...
Dodds-Eden, K., Porquet, D., Trap, G., Quataert, E., Haubois, X., Gillessen, S., ...
This paper reports measurements of Sgr A* made with NACO in L' -band (3.80 um), Ks-band (2.12 um) and H-band (1.66 um) and with VISIR in N-band (11.88 um) at the ESO VLT, as well as with XMM-Newton...
Sharma, P., Chandran, B. D. G., Quataert, E., Parrish, I. J.
Using a linear stability analysis and two and three-dimensional nonlinear simulations, we study the physics of buoyancy instabilities in a combined thermal and relativistic (cosmic ray) plasma,...
Bucciantini, N., Quataert, E., Metzger, B. D., Thompson, T. A., Arons, J., Del Zanna, L.
We use ideal axisymmetric relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations to calculate the spindown of a newly formed millisecond, B ~ 10^{15} G, magnetar and its interaction with the surrounding...
GRB 080503: Implications of a Naked Short Gamma-Ray Burst Dominated by Extended Emission. (2009)
Perley, D.A., Metzger, B.D., Granot, J., Butler, N.R., Sakamoto, T., Ramirez-Ruiz, E., ...
Original article can be found at: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/ap Copyright IOP Publishing / American Astronomical Society. DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/696/2/1871 [Full text of this article is not...
GRB 080503: implications of a naked short gamma-ray burst dominated by extended emission (2009)
Perley, D. A., Metzger, B. D., Granot, J., Butler, N. R., Sakamoto, T., Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico, ...
We report on observations of GRB 080503, a short gamma-ray burst (GRB) with very bright extended emission (about 30 times the gamma-ray fluence of the initial spike) in conjunction with a thorough...
GRB 080503: implications of a naked short gamma-ray burst dominated by extended emission (2009)
Perley, D. A., Metzger, B. D., Granot, J., Butler, N. R., Sakamoto, T., Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico, ...
We report on observations of GRB 080503, a short gamma-ray burst (GRB) with very bright extended emission (about 30 times the gamma-ray fluence of the initial spike) in conjunction with a thorough...
Metzger, B. D., Piro, A. L., Quataert, E.
A white dwarf (WD) approaching the Chandrasekhar mass may in several cases undergo accretion-induced collapse (AIC) to a neutron star (NS) before a thermonuclear explosion ensues. It has generally...
Howes, G. G., Cowley, S. C., Dorland, W., Hammett, G. W., Quataert, E., Schekochihin, A. A., ...
Howes et al. Reply to Comment on "Kinetic Simulations of Magnetized Turbulence in Astrophysical Plasmas" arXiv:0711.4355
GRB 080503: Implications of a Naked Short Gamma-Ray Burst Dominated by Extended Emission (2008)
Perley, D. A., Metzger, B. D., Granot, J., Butler, N. R., Sakamoto, T., Ramirez-Ruiz, E., ...
We report on observations of GRB 080503, a short gamma-ray burst with very bright extended emission (about 30 times the gamma-ray fluence of the initial spike) in conjunction with a thorough...
Metzger, B. D., Piro, A. L., Quataert, E.
Accretion disks with masses ~0.001-0.1 Msun form during the merger of neutron star (NS)-NS and black hole-NS binaries. Initially, such hyper-accreting disks cool efficiently by neutrino emission and...
Gyrokinetic turbulence: a nonlinear route to dissipation through phase space (2008)
Schekochihin, A. A., Cowley, S. C., Dorland, W., Hammett, G. W., Howes, G. G., Plunk, G. G., ...
This paper describes a conceptual framework for understanding kinetic plasma turbulence as a generalized form of energy cascade in phase space. It is emphasized that conversion of turbulent energy...
Time-Dependent Models of Accretion Disks Formed from Compact Object Mergers (2008)
Metzger, B. D., Piro, A. L., Quataert, E.
We present time-dependent models of the accretion disks created during compact object mergers, focusing on the energy available from accretion at late times and the composition of the disk and its...
Short Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts with Extended Emission from Proto-Magnetar Spin-Down (2007)
Metzger, B. D., Quataert, E., Thompson, Todd A.
Evidence is growing for a class of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) characterized by an initial ~0.1-1 s spike of hard radiation followed, after a ~3-10 s lull in emission, by a softer period of extended...
Kinetic Simulations of Magnetized Turbulence in Astrophysical Plasmas (2007)
Howes, G. G., Dorland, W., Cowley, S. C., Hammett, G. W., Quataert, E., Schekochihin, A. A., ...
This letter presents the first ab initio, fully electromagnetic, kinetic simulations of magnetized turbulence in a homogeneous, weakly collisional plasma at the scale of the ion Larmor radius (ion...
Magnetar Driven Bubbles and the Origin of Collimated Outflows from GRBs (2007)
Bucciantini, N., Quataert, E., Arons, J., Metzger, B. D., Thompson, Todd A.
We model the interaction between the wind from a newly formed rapidly rotating magnetar and the surrounding progenitor. In the first few seconds after core collapse the magnetar inflates a bubble of...
Relativistic Jets and Long-Duration Gamma-ray Bursts from the Birth of Magnetars (2007)
Bucciantini, N., Quataert, E., Arons, J., Metzger, B. D., Thompson, Todd A.
We present time-dependent axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the interaction of a relativistic magnetized wind produced by a proto-magnetar with a surrounding stellar envelope, in the...
Magnetar Driven Bubbles and the Origin of Collimated Outflows in Gamma-ray Bursts (2007)
Bucciantini, N., Quataert, E., Arons, J., Metzger, B. D., Thompson, Todd A.
We model the interaction between the wind from a newly formed rapidly rotating magnetar and the surrounding supernova shock and host star. The dynamics is modeled using the two-dimensional,...
The Origin of the Young Stars in the Nucleus of M31 (2007)
Chang, P., Murray-Clay, R., Chiang, E., Quataert, E.
The triple nucleus of M31 consists of a population of old red stars in an eccentric disk (P1 and P2) and another population of younger A stars in a circular disk (P3) around M31's central...
Proto-Neutron Star Winds, Magnetar Birth, and Gamma-Ray Bursts (2007)
Metzger, B. D., Thompson, T. A., Quataert, E.
We begin by reviewing the theory of thermal, neutrino-driven proto-neutron star (PNS) winds. Including the effects of magnetic fields and rotation, we then derive the mass and energy loss from...
Schekochihin, A. A., Cowley, S. C., Dorland, W., Hammett, G. W., Howes, G. G., Quataert, E., ...
We present a theoretical framework for plasma turbulence in astrophysical plasmas (solar wind, interstellar medium, galaxy clusters, accretion disks). The key assumptions are that the turbulence is...
Photon Bubbles in the Circumstellar Envelopes of Young Massive Stars (2007)
Turner, N. J., Quataert, E., Yorke, H. W.
We show that the optically-thick dusty envelopes surrounding young high-mass stars are subject to the photon bubble instability. The infrared radiation passing through the envelope amplifies...
Relativistic MHD Winds from Rotating Neutron Stars (2006)
Bucciantini, N., Thompson, T. A., Arons, J., Quataert, E.
We solve the time-dependent dynamics of axisymmetric, general relativistic MHD winds from rotating neutron stars. The mass loss rate is obtained self consistently as a solution of the MHD equations,...
From Thin to Thick: The Impact of X-ray Irradiation on Accretion Disks in AGN (2006)
Chang, P., Quataert, E., Murray, N.
We argue that the X-ray and UV flux illuminating the parsec-scale accretion disk around luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN) is super-Eddington with respect to the local far-infrared dust opacity....
Relativistic MHD Winds from Rotating Neutron Stars (2006)
Bucciantini, N., Thompson, Todd. A., Arons, J., Quataert, E., Del Zanna, L.
We solve for the time-dependent dynamics of axisymmetric, general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic winds from rotating neutron stars. The mass loss rate is obtained self-consistently as a solution to...
Variations in the spectral slope of Sagittarius A* during a near-infrared flare (2006)
Gillessen, S., Eisenhauer, F., Quataert, E., Genzel, R., Paumard, T., Trippe, S., ...
Variations in the spectral slope of Sgr A* during a NIR flare (2006)
Gillessen, Stefan, Eisenhauer, F., Quataert, E., Genzel, R., Paumard, T., Trippe, S., ...
Variations in the spectral slope of Sgr A* during a NIR flare (2005)
Gillessen, S., Eisenhauer, F., Quataert, E., Genzel, R., Paumard, T., Trippe, S., ...
We have observed a bright flare of Sgr A* in the near infrared with the adaptive optics assisted integral field spectrometer SINFON. Within the uncertainties, the observed spectrum is featureless and...
Testing Radiatively-Inefficient Accretion Flow Theory: an XMM-Newton Observation of NGC 3998 (2004)
Ptak, A., Terashima, Y., Ho, L. C., Quataert, E.
We present the results of a 10 ks XMM-Newton observation of NGC 3998, a ``type-I'' LINER galaxy. Our goal is to test the extent to which radiatively-inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) models and/or...
Loewenstein, M., Mushotzky, R. F., Angelini, L., Arnaud, K. A., Quataert, E.
Elliptical galaxy nuclei are the sites of the largest black holes known, but typically show little or no nuclear activity. We investigate this extreme quiescence using Chandra X-ray Observatory...
Low radiative efficiency accretion in the nuclei of elliptical galaxies (1999)
Di Matteo, T., Quataert, E., Allen, S. W., Narayan, R., Fabian, A. C.
The discovery of hard, power-law X-ray emission from a sample of six nearby elliptical galaxies, including the dominant galaxies of the Virgo,Fornax and Centaurus clusters (M87, NGC 1399 and NGC...
Astrophysical Evidence for Black Hole Event Horizons (1997)
Menou, K., Quataert, E., Narayan, R.
Astronomers have discovered many potential black holes in X-ray binaries and galactic nuclei. These black holes are usually identified by the fact that they are too massive to be neutron stars. Until...