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We study how the first galaxies were assembled under feedback from the accretion onto a central black hole (BH) that is left behind by the first generation of metal-free stars through self-consistent, cosmological simulations. X-ray radiation from the accretion of gas onto BH remnants of Population III (Pop III) stars, or from high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs), again involving Pop III stars, influences the mode of second generation star formation. We track the evolution of the black hole accretion rate and the associated X-ray feedback starting with the death of the Pop III progenitor star inside a minihalo and following the subsequent evolution of the black hole as the minihalo grows to become an atomically cooling galaxy. We find that X-ray photoionization heating from a stellar-mass BH is able to quench further star formation in the host halo at all times before the halo enters the atomic cooling phase. X-ray radiation from a HMXB, assuming a luminosity close to the Eddington value, exerts an even stronger, and more diverse, feedback on star formation. It photoheats the gas inside the host halo, but also promotes the formation of molecular hydrogen and cooling of gas in the intergalactic medium and in nearby minihalos, leading to a net increase in the number of stars formed at early times. Our simulations further show that the radiative feedback from the first BHs may strongly suppress early BH growth, thus constraining models for the formation of supermassive BHs., 18 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Observational evidence suggests a link between long duration gamma ray bursts (LGRBs) and Type Ic supernovae. Here, we propose a potential mechanism for Type Ic supernovae in LGRB progenitors powered solely by accretion energy. We present spherically-symmetric hydrodynamic simulations of the long-term accretion of a rotating gamma-ray burst progenitor star, a "collapsar," onto the central compact object, which we take to be a black hole. The simulations were carried out with the adaptive mesh refinement code FLASH in one spatial dimension and with rotation, an explicit shear viscosity, and convection in the mixing length theory approximation. Once the accretion flow becomes rotationally supported outside of the black hole, an accretion shock forms and traverses the stellar envelope. Energy is carried from the central geometrically thick accretion disk to the stellar envelope by convection. Energy losses through neutrino emission and nuclear photodisintegration are calculated but do not seem important following the rapid early drop of the accretion rate following circularization. We find that the shock velocity, energy, and unbound mass are sensitive to convective efficiency, effective viscosity, and initial stellar angular momentum. Our simulations show that given the appropriate combinations of stellar and physical parameters, explosions with energies ~5x10^50 ergs, velocities 3000 km/s, and unbound material masses >6 solar masses are possible in a rapidly rotating 16 solar mass main sequence progenitor star. Further work is needed to constrain the values of these parameters, to identify the likely outcomes in more plausible and massive LRGB progenitors, and to explore nucleosynthetic implications., 20 Pages, 15 Figures, Accepted to ApJ

A multicast polling scheme is proposed for 10G Ethernet passive optical networks (10G-EPONs). In the multicast polling scheme, the GATE message is broadcast to all ONUs with a new op-code of 0007. Comparing the proposed multicasting with the traditional unicasting scheme, the downstream bandwidth consumption for the control packet of the multicast is 0.011% compared with the unicast of 0.11% at the cycle time of 2ms. As a result of the upstream performance, the channel utilisation improves 3% and the saturation offered load of the end-to-end delay for the multicast and the unicast is 0.8 and 0.7, respectively.

The association of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) with Type Ic supernovae presents a challenge to supernova explosion models. In the collapsar model for LGRBs, gamma rays are produced in an ultrarelativistic jet launching from the magnetosphere of the black hole that forms in the aftermath of the collapse of a rotating progenitor star. The jet is collimated along the star's rotation axis, but the concomitant luminous supernova should be relatively--though certainly not entirely--spherical, and should synthesize a substantial mass of 56Ni. Our goal is to provide a qualitative assessment of the possibility that accretion of the progenitor envelope onto the black hole, which powers the LGRB, could also deposit sufficient energy and nickel mass in the envelope to produce a luminous supernova. For this, the energy dissipated near the black hole during accretion must be transported outward, where it can drive a supernova-like shockwave. Here we suggest that the energy is transported by convection and develop an analytical toy model, relying on global mass and energy conservation, for the dynamics of stellar collapse. The model suggests that a ~10,000 km/s shock can be driven into the envelope and that ~10^51 erg explosions are possible. The efficiency with which the accretion energy is being transferred to the envelope is governed by the competition of advection and convection at distances ~100-1,000 km from the black hole and is sensitive to the values of the convective mixing length, the magnitude of the effective viscous stress, and the specific angular momentum of the infalling envelope. Substantial masses of 56Ni may be synthesized in the convective accretion flow over the course of tens of seconds from the initial circularization of the infalling envelope around the black hole. The synthesized nickel is convectively mixed with a much larger mass of unburned ejecta., Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

Relativistic collisionless shocks are believed to be efficient particle accelerators. Nonlinear outcome of the interaction of accelerated particles that run ahead of the shock, the so-called precursor, with the unperturbed plasma of the shock upstream, is thought to facilitate additional acceleration of these particles and to possibly modify the hydrodynamic structure of the shock. We explore here the linear growth of kinetic modes appearing in the precursor-upstream interaction in relativistic shocks propagating in non- and weakly magnetized plasmas: electrostatic two-stream parallel mode and electrostatic oblique modes. The physics of the parallel and oblique modes is similar, and thus, we refer to the entire spectrum of electrostatic modes as 'two-stream-like'. These modes are of particular interest because they are the fastest growing modes known in this type of system. Using a simplified distribution function for a dilute ultrarelativistic beam that is relativistically hot in its own rest frame, yet has momenta that are narrowly collimated in the frame of the cold upstream plasma into which it propagates, we identify the fastest growing mode in the full k-space and calculate its growth rate. We consider all types of plasma (pairs and ions-electrons) and beam (charged and charge-neutral). We find that unstable electrostaticmore » modes are present in any type of plasma and for any shock parameters. We further find that two modes, one parallel (k{sub perpendicular} = 0) and the other one oblique (k{sub perpendicular} {approx} k{sub ||}), are competing for dominance and that either one may dominate the growth rate in different regions of the phase space. The dominant mode is determined mostly by the perpendicular spread of the accelerated particle momenta in the upstream frame, which reflects the shock Lorentz factor. The parallel mode becomes more dominant in shocks with lower Lorentz factors (i.e., with larger momentum spreads). We briefly discuss possible implications of our results for external shocks in gamma-ray burst sources.« less

Photometrically distinct nuclear star clusters (NSCs) are common in late-type-disk and spheroidal galaxies. The formation of NSCs is inevitable in the context of normal star formation in which a majority of stars form in clusters. A young, mass-losing cluster embedded in an isolated star-forming galaxy remains gravitationally bound over a period determined by its initial mass and the galactic tidal field. The cluster migrates radially toward the center of the galaxy and becomes integrated in the NSC if it reaches the center. The rate at which the NSC grows by accreting young clusters can be estimated from empirical cluster formation rates and dissolution times. We model cluster migration and dissolution and find that the NSCs in late-type disks and in spheroidals could have assembled from migrating clusters. The resulting stellar nucleus contains a small fraction of the stellar mass of the galaxy; this fraction is sensitive to the high-mass truncation of the initial cluster mass function (ICMF). The resulting NSC masses are consistent with the observed values, but generically, the final NSCs are surrounded by a spatially more extended excess over the inward-extrapolated exponential (or Sersic) law of the outer galaxy. We suggest that the excess can be related to the pseudobulge phenomenon in disks, though not all of the pseudobulge mass assembles this way. Comparison with observed NSC masses can be used to constrain the truncation mass scale of the ICMF and the fraction of clusters suffering prompt dissolution. We infer truncation mass scales of ~ 10^5 M_sun) without (with 90%) prompt dissolution., Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, revised version corrects a numerical error that lead to a moderate overestimate of NSC masses; conclusions remain unchanged

The interoperability of standard WiMAX and gigabit passive optical networks (GPONs) is shown to overcome the wireless spectrum congestion and provide resilience for GPON through the use of overlapping radio cells. The application of centralized control in the optical line terminal and time division multiplexing for upstream transmission enables efficient dynamic bandwidth allocation for wireless users on a single wavelength as well as minimized optical beat interference at the optical receiver. The viability of bidirectional transmission of multiple uncoded IEEE 802.16d channels by means of a single radio-frequency subcarrier at transmission rates of 50 and 15 Mbits/s downstream and upstream, respectively, for distances of up to 21 km of integrated GPON and WiMAX microcell links is demonstrated.

This paper presents the requirements and possible solutions for wireless convergence in next generation PONs. System level simulation of LTE was performed to evaluate two different approaches for connecting eNBs to ONUs.

'This paper was published in Access Networks and In-House Communications (ANIC), OSA Technical Digest (CD) and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law.', An advanced architectural platform based on wireless-enabled PON topologies is described. Network modelling of WiMAX channel transmission, based on FDM, over a multiwavelength, splitter-based PON has demonstrated EVMs below -30dB and error-free multipath transmission.

Following the evaluation of FP7 proposals under the Call 4 objective, the network of the future, the STREP project ACCORDANCE has been funded to develop a converged copper/optical/radio OFDMA-based access network with high capacity and flexibility. The ACCORDANCE topology supports the integration of technologies and the interoperability of protocols in the form of distinctive network segments, e.g. legacy xPONs, xDSL, legacy wireless etc., through the application of OFDM(A) to provide segment access to and from the network central office. In particular, ACCORDANCE introduces the integration of dominant wired and wireless technologies in a hybrid network segment for greater flexibility and mobility at ease of last-mile implementation. To that extent, a converged passive optical network architecture supporting standard WiMAX/LTE signal formats by means of FDM subcarrier transmission downstream to remote ONU/BSs has been in the focus of this paper. Transparent operation for five FDM subcarriers carrying 3.5 GHz WiMAX channels has been demonstrated with measured EVMs of −31 dB obtained at selected ONU/BS antenna inputs for all subcarriers spacing. In addition, external versus direct modulation evaluation measurements exhibited superior SFDR figures for the former compared to the latter allowing for increased number of subcarriers in a FDM window and consequently network scalability.

Shock breakout is the earliest, readily-observable emission from a core-collapse supernova explosion. Observing supernova shock breakout may yield information about the nature of the supernova shock prior to exiting the progenitor and, in turn, about the core-collapse supernova mechanism itself. X-ray Outburst 080109, later associated with SN 2008D, is a very well-observed example of shock breakout from a core-collapse supernova. Despite excellent observational coverage and detailed modeling, fundamental information about the shock breakout, such as the radius of breakout and driver of the light curve time scale, is still uncertain. The models constructed for explaining the shock breakout emission from SN 2008D all assume spherical symmetry. We present a study of the observational characteristics of {\it aspherical} shock breakout from stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae. We conduct two-dimensional, jet-driven supernova simulations from stripped-envelope progenitors and calculate the resulting shock breakout X-ray spectra and light curves. The X-ray spectra evolve significantly in time as the shocks expand outward and are not well-fit by single-temperature and radius black bodies. The time scale of the X-ray burst light curve of the shock breakout is related to the shock crossing time of the progenitor, not the much shorter light crossing time that sets the light curve time scale in spherical breakouts. This could explain the long shock breakout light curve time scale observed for XRO 080109/SN 2008D., 16 pages, 29 figures. Accepted to ApJ

This article presents ACCORDANCE, a novel optical access network architecture based on OFDMA technology and applied on a PON topology. In compliance with next generation optical access requirements, this architecture aims to outperform existing PON solutions in terms of total capacity, bandwidth allocation flexibility, number of users, and network reach. Moreover, it provides the opportunity for convergence with wireless technologies and a smooth migration path from legacy access solutions like TDMA-PONs and DSL.

A new protocol design for 10G OFDMA-PONs is reported, demonstrating dynamic subcarrier allocation based on monitoring of each ONU's queuing status. 0.7 ms packet delay and 540 Mbps throughput were achieved for SLA0 ONUs.