Astrophysics
We have used STIS aboard HST to search for Lyman-alpha (Lya) absorption in the outer regions of nine nearby (cz<6000 km/s) galaxies using background QSOs and AGN as probes. The foreground galaxies are intercepted between 26 and 199 h-1 kpc…
This paper reviews the constraints that can be placed on the shapes of disk galaxies' dark halos using the distribution and kinematics of atomic hydrogen. These data indicate that dark halos are close to axisymmetric, with their axes of…
Stars and their kinematics provide one of the tools available for studies of the shapes of galaxies and their halos. In this review I focus on two specific applications: the shape of the Milky Way dark halo and the shape of the LMC disk.…
Keck spectroscopy is presented for four dwarf elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. At this distance, the mean velocity and velocity dispersion are well resolved as a function of radius between 100 to 1000 pc, allowing a clear…
Cosmic gamma-ray bursts are one of the great frontiers of astrophysics today. They are a playground of relativists and observers alike. They may teach us about the death of stars and the birth of black holes, the physics in extreme…
Observations with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) have led to fundamental progress in the study of compact objects, in particular neutron stars and black holes. In this paper we present briefly some highlights from ~5 years of RXTE…
Elliptical galaxies formed in a major merger tend to become more nearly spherical with time, thanks to the gravitational effect of their central black hole (or black holes). Observational results indicate that elliptical galaxies with older…
We use comparisons between the shapes of gravitational lens galaxies and models for their mass distributions to derive statistical constraints on the alignment of the mass distribution relative to the observed lens galaxy and on the…
We examine the claim by Oppenheimer et al. (2001) that the local halo density of white dwarfs is an order of magnitude higher than previously thought. As it stands, the observational data support the presence of a kinematically distinct…
I present an analysis of the density shapes of dark matter halos in LCDM and LWDM cosmologies. The main results are derived from a statistical sample of galaxy-mass halos drawn from a high resolution LCDM N-body simulation. Halo shapes show…
The spin-down power of an isolated neutron star can drive its central density increase and overall structural changes, and trigger a quark-hadron phase transition. A series of observational signatures may be seen as a result of the phase…
General relativistic bending of light dramatically alters the variability of X-ray emission originating from the surfaces of ultramagnetic neutron stars. We construct radiative equilibrium models of such strongly magnetic cooling neutron…
Observational tests for the homogeneity of the Universe on large scales are reviewed. Assuming the Cosmological Principle we then estimate cosmological parameters by joint analysis of the Cosmic Microwave Background, Supernovae Ia, peculiar…
The detailed spectral and spatial characteristics of the signature imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation by Compton scattering of the radiation by electrons in the hot gas in clusters of galaxies - the…
We briefly review the Thomas-Fermi statistical model of atoms in the classical non-relativistic formulation and in the generalised finite-nucleus relativistic formulation. We then discuss the classical generalisation of the model to finite…
We describe the techniques used in pulsar timing observations, and show how these observations may be applied to tests of strong-field general relativity for double-neutron-star binary systems. We describe the tests of GR resulting from the…
The most recent evidence for geodetic precession observed in binary radio pulsars is presented and discussed. It is demonstrated how an analysis of these results can be used to study theories of gravity, stellar evolution and pulsar…
Disk accretion onto a neutron star possessing a weak surface magnetic field ($B \le 10^8$ G) provides interesting X-ray emission scenarios, and is relevant for understanding X-ray bursters and low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). The standard…
The analysis of the CMB anisotropies is a rich source of cosmological informations. In our study, we simulated the signals produced by the relics of a first order phase transition occured during an inflationary epoch in the early Universe.…
We study the nucleosynthesis in accretion disk around compact object. When matter falls towards the compact object, due to interactions in nuclear species nuclear energy is released in the high temperature. In some region of parameter space…