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  第1621回 2017年4月11日(火)

ALMAで探る惑星形成（Planet Formation Explored by ALMA）
秋山永治 (国立天文台 チリ観測所)
近年の赤外線および電波観測技術が飛躍的に向上したことで、惑星系の
前駆天体である原始惑星系円盤内のギャップ、渦状腕、非対称構造など、
惑星の形成過程を理解する上で大変重要な観測結果が得られている。
しかし、そのような構造の起源については様々な解釈がされており、
統一した理解に至っていない。さらに、以前から近赤外線観測によって、
これまで標準理論として認識されていた惑星系形成理論の修正が予見され、
世界最大のミリ波サブミリ波望遠鏡ALMAを用いた高感度・高空間分解能観測
では、複数の形成過程の検討が要請される観測結果が数多く得られている。
従って、惑星の形成過程を理解するには、より詳細に原始惑星系円盤を観測
し、惑星系スケールの領域で実際に何が起こっているのか明らかにする必要
がある。
我々のグループでは、すばる望遠鏡の戦略枠であるStrategic Explora-
tions of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru(SEEDS)プロジェクトで
得られた近赤外線による原始惑星系円盤の観測結果を基に、太陽と同規模の
中心星を有し、且つ原始惑星系円盤の中心で惑星系の基となる構造が存在す
ると考えられる天体を3つ選定し、ALMAを用いて中心星から数100AUの円盤
外縁部から半径30AU以内の領域について詳細な観測を行った。その結果、
中心星近傍領域のガスとダストの分布や、理論モデルで予想されるブリッジ
構造の存在が明らかとなり、ガスの運動と併せて解析することで惑星系形成
時の物質供給過程についての観測結果が得られた。さらに、すばる望遠鏡で
得られた近赤外線の観測結果と比較することで陰影効果によるダスト温度の
影響についても新たな知見が得られた。また、太陽と同程度の質量を持つ若
い星と褐色矮星程度の天体からなる連星系において、両者間で物質の供給を
示す結果が得られた。本結果は、褐色矮星の形成過程の一つとして、褐色矮
星は連成系の枠組みで主星と共進化していくことを示し、褐色矮星の形成過
程を説明する貴重な観測的証拠である。
本談話会では、SEEDSプロジェクトからALMA観測に至るまでの研究の流れ
を示し、ALMAで得られた最新の原始惑星系円盤の観測結果について紹介する。
また上述の研究と関連し、主に日本のグループが主導で行っている最近の原始
惑星系円盤の観測的研究についても併せて紹介する。
PDF

  第1622回 2017年4月25日(火)

Technical Challenges in Scaling up to an Extremely Large Telescope
Matthew William Johns (The University of Arizona / The University of Tokyo)
The coming generation of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) will be a factor 2.5
to 4 larger in diameter than the current generation of 6-10 meter ground-based
optical/infrared telescopes. Their design and construction poses a set of technical
challenges in scaling up from their smaller predecessors. This talk discusses
a few of those challenges from the speaker’s experience with one such project,
the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). Many of the remarks apply to other ELT projects
as well.
PDF

  第1623回 2017年5月2日(火)

A Light in the Dark – Massive Star Birth Through Cosmic Time
Jonathan C. Tan (Univ. of Florida)
Massive stars have played a dominant role in shaping our universe since its earliest times,
but there is still no consensus on the mechanism by which they form. I review the physics
important for massive star formation and the intimate connection this process has with star
cluster formation. I then focus on a particular theoretical model, Turbulent Core Accretion,
which assumes the initial conditions are massive, turbulent, magnetized cores of gas and dust
that are reasonably close to virial equilibrium. Our group has been exploring this scenario
via analytic models and numerical simulations of the physics and chemistry of the interstellar
medium. Crucially, these models can now be tested in detail with ALMA and I present the latest
results from multiple projects that are zooming in to massive star birth in the darkest shadows
of giant molecular clouds. Extension of this work has the potential to also determine how the
full stellar initial mass function is established across different Galactic environments.
I then switch to the protostellar accretion phase and the emergence of feedback processes,
presenting both theoretical predictions and observational tests. Finally, I discuss an
application of massive star formation theory to the early universe: how massive were the
first stars and could they have been the progenitors of supermassive black holes?
PDF

  第1624回 2017年5月9日(火)

Astrochemistry in Star-Forming Regions
星・惑星系形成領域の星間化学：分子組成と同位体比
相川祐理 (東京大学)
In star formation, gas, dust and icy material accrete onto a circumstellar disk, where they will eventually be incorporated to planetary material. In order to reveal the evolution of interstellar material from clouds to planetary systems, we simulate the evolution of molecular abundances and isotope ratios in star formation processes, and compare the results with observations. In interstellar clouds, the chemical timescale is often longer than the dynamical timescale. The molecular evolution thus needs to be calculated along the dynamics. Several groups, including us, are currently working on astrochemical modeling of dense cores, protostellar cores, and protoplanetary disks. It is also getting clear that the ‘initial condition’ is important in such models; e.g protostellar core is characterized by the sublimation of ices which originate in prestellar phase. I will present models covering from cloud formation to protoplanetary disks, and compare them with observations.

(分子雲中のガス、氷、ダストは星形成過程において円盤に取り込まれ、惑星系の材料物質となる。我々は
星・惑星系形成過程における分子組成・同位体比進化の数値計算を行い、その結果を天文観測と比較する
ことで、星間物質から惑星系物質への進化の解明を目指している。分子雲での化学反応の時間スケールは、
多くの場合、系の動的進化の時間スケールと同程度か長い。よって化学進化は非平衡であり、重力収縮な
どの動的進化に沿って反応速度方程式を解く必要がある。現在では、高密度分子雲コア、原始星コア、
原始惑星系円盤等について、それぞれ系の動的な進化や物理構造を考慮した星間化学の研究が盛んに行わ
れている。一方、最近これら各天体の組成進化を解く際の初期組成の重要性も認識されてきている。例え
ば、原始星コアの組成は、その前段階である高密度分子雲コアで生成された氷の組成に大きく影響される。
よって、分子雲の形成から原始惑星系円盤までの進化全体を視野にいれて研究を進めることも重要である。
講演では、分子雲形成から、高密度分子雲、原始星、原始惑星系円盤までの組成進化モデルを概観し、こ
れをALMAなどで得られている観測結果と比較する。)
PDF

  第1625回 2017年5月16日(火)

Early Universe and Dust in Galaxies
Denis Burgarella (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Aix-Marseille Universite, CNRS)
The average dust attenuation of galaxies in the universe increases from z = 0 to z = 1 – 2. This result has been known for quite a long time thanks to ISO, Spitzer and Akari. To gather some information on what happened earlier in the history of the universe, we had to wait for Herschel, ALMA in the Southern Hemisphere and now IRAM in the Northern Hemisphere. With Herschel, we observe a maximum in the amount of cosmic dust attenuation followed by a decrease at z ~ 2.5. At higher redshifts, we observe a decrease and, by z ~ 4, we reach about the same level than at z ~ 0 i.e. 50% of the star formation in UV and 50% in the IR. At even larger redshifts, we expect a further decrease which means that statistically, galaxies in the early universe at z > 6 will have low dust content.

Does it mean that we can forget about dust? The answer is probably “no” for at least two reasons: 1) we know that there are massive and dusty galaxies up to the highest redshifts. Most of them being detected via a lensing amplification and 2) even a small amount of dust can impact the stellar emission in galaxies via the UV dust attenuation.

What do we know about dust in the first billion year of the universe? In this seminar, we will try to collect some information and ask questions about how progress can be made to better understand this still unknown early dust and its origin.
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  第1626回 2017年5月30日(火)

Mean-field dynamos on late-type stars
Valery Pipin (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow)
The talk reviews results of the recent and ongoing theoretical works
about dynamo models of the large-scale magnetic activity on the Sun and
the fully convective stars. I make an overview on the observational
results about magnetic activity on the late-type stars. The basic ideas
of the mean-field models will be introduced, as well. I discuss results
of the mean-field dynamo models for the Sun and some M-dwarfs stars. The
discussion concerns similarities and differences of the dynamo processes
on the stars. It touches the number of topics, such as, the role of the
differential rotation in the dynamo, excitation the non-axisymmetric
magnetic field, the magnetic feedback on the global flows and the
typical topology of the dynamo generated magnetic field. The topology
and strength of the global magnetic field affect the coronal activity. I
hope that this discussion can shed some light on the origin of the
enhanced coronal and flare activity on the young solar analogs.
PDF

  第1627回 2017年6月19日(月)

Exploring the early evolution of the Milky Way with LAMOST and Subaru
Haining Li (National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences: NAOC)
Surveys of very metal-poor (VMP) stars and follow-up spectroscopic studies for them in the past decade have provided with abundant information on the nature of first stars and early chemical evolution of the Milky Way. LAMOST (Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope) will soon accomplish its first 5-year spectroscopic survey, and has already observed over 6 million Galactic stars. Such huge database will provide an unprecedented chance to enlarge the currently limited VMP star sample. Since 2014, a joint project on searching for VMP stars has been initiated based on the LAMOST survey and Subaru follow-up observation. So far, the project has obtained a success rate of >90% in searching for VMP stars, obtaining chemical abundances for about 230 VMP stars including more than 70 EMP stars and a number of chemically interesting objects such as: (1) Three UMP (ultra metal-poor) stars with [Fe/H] ~ -4.0. One of them is the second UMP turnoff star with Li detection. (2) A dozen Li-rich VMP/EMP stars, including six super Li-rich (A(Li) > +3) stars. They distribute in wide range of evolutionary stage and metallicity (-3.1 < [Fe/H] < -1.7). (3) Other peculiar VMP/EMP stars including r-process enhanced stars, etc. The project has also observed a number of member stars of halo moving groups and low-alpha abundance halo stars, which would shed light on the merging history of our Galaxy. Statistics of the large sample of VMP stars, togerther with abundance patterns of these peculiar objects, will be of great interest and importance to probe the early Galaxy and low-mass star evolution with very low metallicities.
PDF

  第1628回 2017年6月27日(火)

High Energy, Cool Transients: Investigating Infrared-Luminous Outbursts with Spitzer
Ryan M. Lau　(NASA JPL)
The Spitzer Space Telescope is pioneering the exploration of infrared (IR) luminous transients. In our Spitzer InfraRed Intensive Transients Survey (SPIRITS), we are conducting a systematic search of 200 nearby galaxies for IR-luminous outbursts that elude detection in traditional optical surveys. In this talk, I will present two puzzling discoveries from SPIRITS and discuss open questions and the plans to address them.
SPIRITS has revealed a new class of obscured, red transients with mid-IR luminosities between novae and supernovae that do not exhibit optical counterparts. We call them SPRITEs (eSPecially Red Intermediate-luminosity Transient Events). The key to disentangling the various possible physical origins of SPRITEs is IR spectroscopy, which can only be obtained with the unprecedented sensitivity of the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). I will discuss possible SPRITE origins and the JWST Guaranteed Time Observation (GTO) program I am leading to determine their nature.
In SPIRITS, we serendipitously discovered variable mid-IR counterparts of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). A ULX is an off-nuclear point source showing extreme, super-Eddington X-ray luminosities thought to be driven by accretion onto a compact object in a close binary undergoing Roche Lobe　overflow. We attribute the mid-IR emission to a circumbinary dust disk produced by the outflow from the supergiant donor star, but the nature of the variability is still uncertain. I will discuss the work I have lead on dusty ULXs and highlight the importance of coordinated multi-wavelength observations.
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  第1629回 2017年7月4日(火)

Neutrino Oscillations in Core Collapse Supernovae
Yamaç Pehlivan Deliduman (Mimar Sinan University)
Neutrinos are the second most abundant particle species in the universe after
the photons. Their sheer numbers make them major players in many astrophysical
phenomena despite their minuscule properties. Neutrinos also hold a great
potential as a new observational window to the Universe since, due to their
small cross sections, their last point of scattering (and hence their memory)
lies deep within dense astrophysical objects.
In this talk, I will focus on the neutrinos emitted by a proto-neutron star
which forms at the center of a core collapse supernovae. Here, in the deep
regions, self interactions of neutrinos turn their flavor evolution into a
nonlinear many-body phenomenon. Tiny neutrino properties such as their mass
hierarchy and magnetic dipole moments, can be amplified by emergent many-body
effects. I will discuss the consequences of these many-body effects on
supernova dynamics, and various nucleosynthesis processes that take place in
the outer layers of the supernova.
PDF

  第1630回 2017年7月11日(火)

(Sub)millimeter Observations for the Study of Star Formation and the Formation and Evolution of Dust Through Cosmic Times
Johannes Staguhn (The Johns Hopkins University/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)
Understanding the emergence and evolution of star formation, the interstellar medium (ISM) in galaxies, as traced by dust emission, and how these two quantities relate to the underlying dark matter and larger scale structures is a major stated goal of extragalactic astronomy in the US Astronomy 2010 decadal survey. The primary tracers of star formation and the ISM are observable at FIR through (sub)millimeter wavelengths, yet most analysis on early Universe galaxy evolution has been done using optical/near­infrared studies because comparably sensitive Far­Infrared (FIR) through millimeter survey instruments have not existed, so few constraints exist on the rest-frame FIR properties of z>3 galaxies. To bridge this and other gaps in our understanding, the US decadal survey recommended building the CCAT observatory, which was not realized due to funding constraints. In order to compensate for this lack of observational capabilities, we are planning to install our millimeter continuum cameras GISMO and GISMO­2 at the LMT in Mexico, which will allow us to carry out a large fraction of the high­redshift survey science proposed for CCAT.
We will illustrate the anticipated scientific capabilities of our instruments by presenting scientific results we have already obtained from observations with GISMO at the IRAM 30 m telescope in Spain. These observations include deep millimeter surveys and spatially resolved Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect observations of a high-redshift galaxy cluster.
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  第1631回 2017年7月18日(火)

Astrophysics with Weyl Gravity
Cemsinan Deliduman (Mimar Sinan University)
This talk will introduce an attempt to describe the diverse astrophysical phenomena via Weyl gravity.
In the first part I will review my work on the resolution of the flat galactic rotation curve problem via geometry instead of assuming the existence of dark matter. Motivation for this work came from the observation that the scale independence of the rotational velocity in the outer region of galaxies could point out to a possible existence of local scale symmetry and therefore the gravitational phenomena inside such regions should be described by the unique local scale symmetric theory, namely Weyl’s theory of gravity. Solution to field equations of Weyl gravity determines the special geometry of the outer region of galaxies.
In the second part of the talk it will be conjectured that this special geometry could be valid up to the scale of galaxy clusters. Then one challenge of this approach will be to explain gravitational lens characteristics of galaxy clusters by Weyl geometry without assuming existence of dark matter. Research in this direction will be summarized.
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  第1632回 2017年7月25日(火)

ミリ波・サブミリ波ディープサーベイで探る遠方銀河
廿日出文洋 (東京大学　天文学教育センター)
ダストに隠された星形成活動や、宇宙赤外線背景放射の起源を探るためには、ダ
ストからの再放射をとらえるミリ波・サブミリ波観測が重要である。過去の広視
野サーベイにより、ミリ波・サブミリ波で明るい銀河（サブミリ波銀河）が遠方
宇宙 (z > 1) に多数存在することが明らかになった。サブミリ波銀河は、ダス
トに厚く覆われ、大規模な星形成活動（星形成率～100-1000 Msun/yr）を行う爆
発的星形成銀河であり、宇宙における星形成活動や銀河の形成・進化を理解する
上で重要な種族である。一方で、サブミリ波銀河の背景放射（ミリ波・サブミリ
波帯）への寄与は10%-20%程度、宇宙全体の星形成率密度への寄与も10%-20%程度
であることも分かってきた。ダストに隠された活動の全容を明らかにするには、
サブミリ波銀河よりも暗い一般的な星形成銀河をとらえるような深い観測が必要
である。
ALMAの登場により、過去の単一鏡によるサーベイと比較して1桁以上も深い観測
が可能になった。その結果、遠方宇宙における一般的な星形成銀河も検出できる
ようになった。現状ではまだ観測視野が非常に限られているため、より広視野の
サーベイが複数進行中である。本講演では、現在行われているミリ波・サブミリ
波ディープサーベイと、その初期成果を紹介する。
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  第1633回 2017年8月1日(火)

Recent highlights of high-energy astrophysical neutrino observations from the IceCube project
Masaaki Hayashida (Chiba University)
IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov telescope buried in the ice sheet at the South Pole to detect neutrinos from tens of GeV to several PeV. IceCube is now in operation with the full configuration of detectors (86 strings).
Since the first discovery in 2012, several tens of high-energy astrophysical neutrino candidates have been detected, and provided the first astrophysical neutrino spectrum. On the other hand, despite many efforts of follow-up observations in electro-magnetic wave, no individual astrophysical sources have been identified as the neutrino origins so far.
In this seminar, I’ll present some recent highlights from the IceCube project, including the topics of the neutrino diffuse spectrum, cosmogenic neutrinos and comparisons with the current high-energy gamma-ray results. Some of them have been just updated in the International Cosmic-Ray Conference held in this month (July). If time allows. I’ll also introduce our recent work of a hadronic origin model for a high-energy gamma-ray flare in a blazar (AGN with jet) as a possible neutrino source.
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  第1634回 2017年10月10日(火)

MOAによる重力マイクロレンズ系外惑星探査
鈴木大介 (ISAS/JAXA)
重力マイクロレンズ法は氷境界外側の惑星に感度があり、地球質量程度の軽い惑星まで発見できる。氷境界の外側において、数倍の海王星質量よりも軽い惑星を検出できるのは現在重力マイクロレンズ法だけである。マイクロレンズ観測グループでるMOA(Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics)による6年間のサーベイ結果の統計的な解析により、氷境界以遠では海王星質量程度の惑星が最も多いことがわかってきた。本講演では、マイクロレンズ観測から求めた惑星質量比関数を、視線速度法や(Keplerによる)トランジット法の観測結果と比較し、さらに、惑星形成モデルから予測される惑星質量分布とも比較する。また、SpitzerやK2などの宇宙望遠鏡を用いた最新の観測結果と、将来のマイクロレンズ観測計画であるPRIMEやWFIRSTについても簡単に紹介したい。
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  第1635回 2017年10月12日(木)

Composition of planet-forming material in Herbig Ae/Be disks
Mihkel Kama (University of Cambridge)
To understand the origin of the chemical composition of planets, we must
study how the chemistry and gas-solid balance of elements evolve through
planet formation. Recent sub-millimetre studies have yielded some of the
first robust measurements of the abundance of carbon and oxygen in
protoplanetary disks, and models coupling physical and chemical
evolution are beginning to explain their results. Another new window
into the composition of protoplanetary material has been opened with the
study of pollution on the photospheres of disk-hosting A-type stars. I
will review these developments and discuss the emerging story of
proto-planetary C and O in Herbig Ae/Be disks.
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
PDF

  第1636回 2017年10月23日(月)

The High z Universe and the far-IR
David L. Clements (Imperial College London)
The high redshift universe (z>~2) is usually studied with deep optical
(ie. rest-frame UV) surveys with HST or large ground-based telescopes.
Herschel and ground-based mm/submm telescopes are now capable of studying
the universe at these redshifts. While the optical finds plentiful unobscured
moderately star forming sources, the far-IR finds rare, massive starburst
galaxies, with SFRs >~1000 M_sun/year. I will review the current state of
these far-IR observations, discuss the nature of the highest redshift
far-IR-luminous galaxies currently known, and examine links between them
and the formation of galaxy clusters and cluster galaxies.
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
PDF

  第1637回 2017年10月24日(火)

Velocity resolved [CII], [CI], and CO observations of four star-forming regions in the LMC
Yoko Okada (Universität zu Köln)
The structure of carbon-bearing species in photon-dominated regions
(PDRs) is one of the key point to understand the physics of the ISM in
different metallicity environment. Analysis with the velocity-resolved
basis is essential to distinguish different cloud components as well as
understanding dynamics and its relation with physical properties. We
observed low- and mid-J CO, [CI], and [CII] in four star-forming regions
in the LMC, along an evolutional sequence from 30 Dor towards the
molecular ridge (N158, N160 and N159) with SOFIA/GREAT and APEX. By
analyzing the velocity profile, we distinguished different origins of
the [CII] emission (ionized gas, HI gas, and PDR with/without CO). We
modeled the observations by using the revised KOSMA-tau PDR model, which
treats the dust-related physics consistently and computes the dust
continuum emission together with the line emission.
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
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  第1638回 2017年11月7日(火)

Numerical integration of gravitational field for general three-dimensional objects and its application to gravitational study of grand design spiral arm structure
Toshio Fukushima (NAOJ)
We present a method to integrate the gravitational field for general three-dimensional objects. By adopting the spherical polar coordinates centered at the evaluation point as the integration variables, we numerically compute the volume integral representation of the gravitational potential and of the acceleration vector. The variable transformation completely removes the algebraic singularities of the original integrals. The comparison with exact solutions reveals around 15 digits accuracy of the new method. Meanwhile, the 6 digit accuracy of the integrated gravitational field is realized by around $10^6$ evaluations of the integrand per evaluation point, which costs at most a few seconds at a PC with Intel Core i7-4600U CPU running at 2.10 GHz clock. By using the new method, we show the gravitational field of a grand design spiral arm structure as an example. The computed gravitational field shows not only spiral shaped details but also a global feature composed of a thick oblate spheroid and a thin disc. The developed method is directly applicable to the electromagnetic field computation by means of Coulomb’s law, the Biot-Savart law, and their retarded extensions. Sample {\sc fortran} 90 programs and test results are electronically available. (T. Fukushima 2016, MNRAS, 463:1500-1517)
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
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  第1639回 2017年11月21日(火)

Observed properties of interstellar filaments: Insights into the initial conditions for star formation
Doris Arzoumanian (Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale Universite Paris-Sud/Nagoya University)
The highly filamentary structure of the interstellar medium is now impressively revealed by Herschel and Planck images tracing the Galactic cold dust emission. In particular, Herschel images, show that dense filaments observed in molecular clouds are associated with the main sites of star formation, demonstrating their key role in the star formation process.
I will present the properties of the filamentary structures derived from Herschel, Planck, and molecular line observations, and I will discuss the observational constraints on the formation and evolution of interstellar filaments and their role in star formation.
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
PDF

  第1640回 2017年11月28日(火)

Theoretical understanding of the gravitational-wave event GW170817 (重力波イベントGW170817の理論的理解と今後の展望)
木内建太 (京都大学基礎物理学研究所YITP)
Merger of a binary composed of a neutron star and/or a black hole is one
of the most promising sources of gravitational waves. If we detected
gravitational waves from them, it could tell us a validity of the
general relativity in a strong gravitational field and the equation of
state of neutron star matter. Furthermore, if gravitational waves from a
compact binary merger and a short-hard gamma-ray burst are observed
simultaneously, a long-standing puzzle on the central engine of short
gamma-ray bursts could
be resolved. In addition, compact binary mergers are a theoretical
candidate of the rapid process nucleosynthesis site. Motivated by these
facts, it is mandatory to build a physically reliable model of compact
binary mergers and numerical relativity is a unique approach for this
purpose. We are tackling this problem from several directions; the
magneto-hydrodynamics, the neutrino radiation transfer, and a
comprehensive study with simplified models. I will talk a current status
of Kyoto Numerical Relativity group and future prospect on the compact
binary mergers.
(2017年8月17日に連星中性子星合体からの重力波が人類史上初めて直接観
測された。さらにガンマ線、紫外線、可視光、近赤外線、X線、電波でも有意な
信号が発見され、重力波イベントGW170817に付随する電磁波対応天体と結論付け
られた。今回の発見により、連星中性子星合体からの重力波は中性子星の状態方
程式に関する情報をもたらすこと、速い中性子捕獲反応による重元素合成が起こ
った可能性が高いこと、ガンマ線バーストの中心動力源の可能性が高いことが実
証された。これらの科学的成果に関して、数値的相対論シミュレーションに基づ
いた我々の理解と今後の展望について講演する予定である。)
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in Japanese)
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  第1641回 2017年12月5日(火)

The dawn of organic chemistry in space
Cecilia Ceccarelli (Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble)
Since a long time, it has been known that molecular complexity in space can reach amazingly high levels. Alcohols, sugars and amino acids are detected in meteoritic and cometary material; some of them are even detected in regions where solar-like stars and planetary systems are forming today. These evidences led the Nobel prize laureate C.De Duve to affirm that the “seeds of life are universal” and that “life is an obligatory manifestation of matter, written into the fabric of the Universe”.

So far, the smallest seeds, which I will call here iCOMs (for interstellar Complex Organic Molecules), are detected in a bit more than a dozen solar-like star forming regions. New facilities, like IRAM/NOEMA and ALMA, are increasing this small number and providing images of these regions with unprecedented precision and sensibility. At the same time, new laboratory experiments and quantum chemistry theoretical studies suggest previously unpredicted routes of iCOMs synthesis. The combination of all these new works is challenging old theories and provoking the emergence of new ones.

In this talk, I will present these recent advances and debates, and the new worldwide large projects whose goal is to unravel the dawn of organic chemistry in space.
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
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  第1642回 2017年12月12日(火)

Solar-like stars as seen by the Kepler space instrument
Othman Benomar (Center for Space Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE)
Asteroseismology is a growing science, which has substantially benefited from the space instruments CoRoT and Kepler. In particular, Kepler with its 4 years continuous observation, revealed pulsations on tens of thousands of stars.
Best Kepler data for solar-like stars are now comparable to those of the Sun in many aspects. This allows us to constraint with extremely high precision masses, radii and ages for thousands of single stars, enabling precise determination of the sizes and masses and orbits of their planets. By providing tight constraints on mass and radius of stars, Kepler data also help us to test the stellar evolution theory and to perform galactic archaeology studies.
In this talk, I will review the base of asteroseismology and its inheritance from helioseismology. I will also present some of the latest advances that seismology provided regarding stellar rotation and some planets properties.
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
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  第1643回 2018年1月9日(火)

Not-so-simple stellar populations in nearby, resolved massive star clusters
Richard de Grijs (Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, China)

Until about a decade ago, star clusters were considered “simple”
stellar populations: all stars in a cluster were thought to have
similar ages and the same chemical composition. Only the individual
stellar masses were thought to vary, in essence conforming to a
“universal” initial mass function imprinted by their birth
processes. Over the past decade, this situation has changed
dramatically. I will discuss my group’s exciting recent achievements
in this context, with particular emphasis on the properties and the
alleged presence of so-called multiple stellar populations in star
clusters in the Milky Way and the nearest galaxies across the full age
range, from a few tens of millions of years to a few billion years. Our
most recent results imply a reverse paradigm shift, back to the old
simple stellar population picture for at least some intermediate-age
(~2 billion-year-old) star clusters, which opens up exciting avenues
for future research efforts.
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
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  第1644回 2018年1月16日(火)

ALMAで見る原始星・円盤構造形成に伴う物理・化学組成の進化
大屋瑶子 (東京大学理学系研究科物理学専攻)
星・惑星系形成の研究において、構造形成過程とそれに伴う化学組成の進化の理解は、共に重要なテーマである。とくに、我々の住む太陽系の物質的な起源を探る上で、化学進化の普遍性/多様性の理解が俟たれる。そのためには、様々な分子の回転輝線を含む電波領域での観測的研究が非常に有効である。そのため、原始星天体を取り巻く10000 auスケールでのガスの化学組成は、1980年代から単一口径望遠鏡による観測が進められてきた。近年では、ALMAの登場により、原始星円盤形成領域 (10~100 auスケール) における高感度観測が可能になった。その結果、若い低質量原始星天体に付随するガスの化学組成が、原始星コアスケールから円盤スケールに渡って、天体間で多様性を示すことが明らかになった。さらに、円盤形成領域では物理構造と化学組成の急激な変化が見られることが、複数の天体で確認された。本講演では、ALMAによる観測研究で明らかになってきた、原始星天体における物理進化と化学進化の関係を紹介し、その意義を議論する。
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in Japanese)
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  第1645回 2018年1月18日(木)

Formation of eccentric black hole gravitational wave mergers
Johan Samsing (Princeton University)
I will show that a non negligible fraction of black hole binary mergers forming in stellar clusters will appear in the LIGO band with an eccentricity >0.1. Recent (Newtonian) studies have argued that eccentric GW sources are unlikely to form, however, with a consistent implementation of post-Newtonian terms in the N-body equation of motion, the fraction is likely a factor of about 100 times higher than previously thought. This brings the fraction of eccentric GW mergers up to about 5%, which could have profound implications for mapping out the dynamical universe through the detection of GW black hole mergers. I will further describe how a proper inclusion of dynamical tides in the N-body equation of motion will lead to a wealth of interesting nuclear transients.
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
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  第1646回 2018年2月6日(木) 16:00-17:00

A new high-resolution infrared spectrograph for the IRTF
Alan Tokunaga (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii)
An immersion grating echelle spectrograph, named iSHELL, was recently commissioned for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) and Maunakea. This instrument provides a resolving power (λ/Δλ) of 70,000 at 1.2-5.5 μm. A key element of the instrument is a silicon immersion grating that allows high dispersion in a compact space. This allows the instrument to be placed at the cassegrain focus of the IRTF. The science drivers, instrument design and construction, and recent results will be discussed.
I will also briefly discuss the status of the TMT project in Hawaii.

(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
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  第1647回 2018年2月20日(火) 16:00-17:00

The slingshot mechanism in star forming gas filaments
Tjarda Boekholt (University of Aveiro)
Recent observations of the integral shaped filament (ISF) in Orion A reveal a major contradiction in star formation. The protostars are born in the center of the deep gravitational potential well of the gas filament, in a narrow and cold distribution. Young disk stars on the other hand are more spread out, both in position and velocity. This implies that the stars are dynamically heated. What mechanism can heat up the stars in a gas mass dominated system? In such systems strong stellar encounters are suppressed and very close stellar separations of order <200 AU are not observed. The contradiction can be resolved by realizing that the filament itself can act as the source of energy. Recent studies show that the interaction of a gas filament with a helical magnetic field can lead to an oscillatory motion of the filament. As a result, stars can get ejected from the filament and thereby get dynamically heated. Using numerical simulations that combine an analytical gravitational potential for the gas filament to N-body dynamics of the stars, we confirm that the "Slingshot mechanism" can indeed heat up the stars in a manner that is similar to the observed spread of young stars in the ISF. We motivate follow up work on this subject to better understand the origin of oscillating gas filaments and the consequences for star (cluster) formation. (Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English) PDF

  第1648回 2018年2月27日(火) 16:00-17:00

A Sterile Neutrino Origin for the Upward Directed Cosmic Ray Shower Detected by ANITA
JJ Cherry (University of South Dakota)
The ANITA balloon experiment has observed an ~EeV cascade event
at an angle below the horizon that renders any Standard Model (SM)
interpretation unlikely as the Earth is significantly opaque to all SM
particles at such energies. In this talk, I study a sterile neutrino
interpretation of this event, calculating the angular event distribution of
cascades and the relative sensitivities of several experiments to a cascade
initiated by an EeV sterile neutrino. I find that ANITA is uniquely
sensitive to this type of upward directed cascade signal and canonical
ultrahigh energy cosmic ray (UHECR) models can produce a reprocessed EeV
sterile neutrino flux at sufficient levels to accommodate the ANITA event.
(Presentation file is prepared in English, spoken in English)
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