Optical properties and spatial distribution of MgII absorbers from SDSS image stacking

We present a statistical analysis of the photometric properties and spatial distribution of more than 2,800 MgII absorbers with 0.37<z<1 and rest equivalent width W_0(\lambda2796)>0.8\AA detected in SDSS quasar spectra. Using an improved image stacking technique, we measure the cross-correlation between MgII gas and light (in the g, r, i and z-bands) from 10 to 200 kpc and infer the light-weighted impact parameter distribution of MgII absorbers. Such a quantity is well described by a power-law with an index that strongly depends on W_0, ranging from ~-1 for W_0~ 1.5\AA. At redshift 0.37<z<0.55, we find the average luminosity enclosed within 100 kpc around MgII absorbers to be M_g=-20.65+-0.11 mag, which is ~0.5 L_g*. The global luminosity-weighted colors are typical of present-day intermediate type galaxies. However, while the light of weaker absorbers originates mostly from red passive galaxies, stronger systems display the colors of blue star-forming galaxies. Based on these observations, we argue that the origin of strong MgII absorber systems might be better explained by models of metal-enriched gas outflows from star-forming/bursting galaxies. Our analysis does not show any redshift dependence for both impact parameter and rest-frame colors up to z=1. However, we do observe a brightening of the absorbers related light at high redshift (~50% from z~0.4 to 1). We argue that MgII absorbers are a phenomenon typical of a given evolutionary phase that more massive galaxies experience earlier than less massive ones, in a downsizing fashion. (abridged)Comment: ApJ in press, 28 pages, 16 figures, using emulateapj. Only typo corrections wrt the original submission (v1

Shot boundary detection in MPEG videos using local and global indicators

Shot boundary detection (SBD) plays important roles in many video applications. In this letter, we describe a novel method on SBD operating directly in the compressed domain. First, several local indicators are extracted from MPEG macroblocks, and AdaBoost is employed for feature selection and fusion. The selected features are then used in classifying candidate cuts into five sub-spaces via pre-filtering and rule-based decision making. Following that, global indicators of frame similarity between boundary frames of cut candidates are examined using phase correlation of dc images. Gradual transitions like fade, dissolve, and combined shot cuts are also identified. Experimental results on the test data from TRECVID'07 have demonstrated the effectiveness and robustness of our proposed methodology. * INSPEC o Controlled Indexing decision making , image segmentation , knowledge based systems , video coding o Non Controlled Indexing AdaBoost , MPEG videos , feature selection , global indicator , local indicator , rule-based decision making , shot boundary detection , video segmentation * Author Keywords Decision making , TRECVID , shot boundary detection (SBD) , video segmentation , video signal processing References 1. J. Yuan , H. Wang , L. Xiao , W. Zheng , J. L. F. Lin and B. Zhang "A formal study of shot boundary detection", IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 17, pp. 168 2007. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (2789KB) 2. C. Grana and R. Cucchiara "Linear transition detection as a unified shot detection approach", IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 17, pp. 483 2007. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (505KB) 3. Q. Urhan , M. K. Gullu and S. Erturk "Modified phase-correlation based robust hard-cut detection with application to archive film", IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 16, pp. 753 2006. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (3808KB) 4. C. Cotsaces , N. Nikolaidis and I. Pitas "Video shot detection and condensed representation: A review", Proc. IEEE Signal Mag., vol. 23, pp. 28 2006. 5. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), pp. [online] Available: http://www-nlpir.nist.gov/projects/trecvid/ 6. J. Bescos "Real-time shot change detection over online MPEG-2 video", IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 14, pp. 475 2004. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (1056KB) 7. H. Lu and Y. P. Tan "An effective post-refinement method for shot boundary detection", IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 15, pp. 1407 2005. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (3128KB) 8. G. Boccignone , A. Chianese , V. Moscato and A. Picariello "Foveated shot detection for video segmentation", IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 15, pp. 365 2005. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (2152KB) 9. Z. Cernekova , I. Pitas and C. Nikou "Information theory-based shot cut/fade detection and video summarization", IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 16, pp. 82 2006. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (1184KB) 10. L.-Y. Duan , M. Xu , Q. Tian , C.-S. Xu and J. S. Jin "A unified framework for semantic shot classification in sports video", IEEE Trans. Multimedia, vol. 7, pp. 1066 2005. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (2872KB) 11. H. Fang , J. M. Jiang and Y. Feng "A fuzzy logic approach for detection of video shot boundaries", Pattern Recogn., vol. 39, pp. 2092 2006. [CrossRef] 12. R. A. Joyce and B. Liu "Temporal segmentation of video using frame and histogram space", IEEE Trans. Multimedia, vol. 8, pp. 130 2006. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (864KB) 13. A. Hanjalic "Shot boundary detection: Unraveled and resolved", IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 12, pp. 90 2002. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (289KB) 14. S.-C. Pei and Y.-Z. Chou "Efficient MPEG compressed video analysis using macroblock type information", IEEE Trans. Multimedia, vol. 1, pp. 321 1999. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (612KB) 15. C.-L. Huang and B.-Y. Liao "A robust scene-change detection method for video segmentation", IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 11, pp. 1281 2001. Abstract |Full Text: PDF (241KB) 16. Y. Freund and R. E. Schapire "A decision-theoretic generalization of online learning and an application to boosting", J. Comput. Syst. Sci., vol. 55, pp. 119 1997. [CrossRef] On this page * Abstract * Index Terms * References Brought to you by STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY * Your institute subscribes to: * IEEE-Wiley eBooks Library , IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL) * What can I access? Terms of Us

The Chandra Source Catalog

The Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) is a general purpose virtual X-ray astrophysics facility that provides access to a carefully selected set of generally useful quantities for individual X-ray sources, and is designed to satisfy the needs of a broad-based group of scientists, including those who may be less familiar with astronomical data analysis in the X-ray regime. The first release of the CSC includes information about 94,676 distinct X-ray sources detected in a subset of public ACIS imaging observations from roughly the first eight years of the Chandra mission. This release of the catalog includes point and compact sources with observed spatial extents <~ 30''. The catalog (1) provides access to the best estimates of the X-ray source properties for detected sources, with good scientific fidelity, and directly supports scientific analysis using the individual source data; (2) facilitates analysis of a wide range of statistical properties for classes of X-ray sources; and (3) provides efficient access to calibrated observational data and ancillary data products for individual X-ray sources, so that users can perform detailed further analysis using existing tools. The catalog includes real X-ray sources detected with flux estimates that are at least 3 times their estimated 1 sigma uncertainties in at least one energy band, while maintaining the number of spurious sources at a level of <~ 1 false source per field for a 100 ks observation. For each detected source, the CSC provides commonly tabulated quantities, including source position, extent, multi-band fluxes, hardness ratios, and variability statistics, derived from the observations in which the source is detected. In addition to these traditional catalog elements, for each X-ray source the CSC includes an extensive set of file-based data products that can be manipulated interactively.Comment: To appear in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 53 pages, 27 figure

Selection biases in empirical p(z) methods for weak lensing

To measure the mass of foreground objects with weak gravitational lensing, one needs to estimate the redshift distribution of lensed background sources. This is commonly done in an empirical fashion, i.e. with a reference sample of galaxies of known spectroscopic redshift, matched to the source population. In this work, we develop a simple decision tree framework that, under the ideal conditions of a large, purely magnitude-limited reference sample, allows an unbiased recovery of the source redshift probability density function p(z), as a function of magnitude and color. We use this framework to quantify biases in empirically estimated p(z) caused by selection effects present in realistic reference and weak lensing source catalogs, namely (1) complex selection of reference objects by the targeting strategy and success rate of existing spectroscopic surveys and (2) selection of background sources by the success of object detection and shape measurement at low signal-to-noise. For intermediate-to-high redshift clusters, and for depths and filter combinations appropriate for ongoing lensing surveys, we find that (1) spectroscopic selection can cause biases above the 10 per cent level, which can be reduced to 5 per cent by optimal lensing weighting, while (2) selection effects in the shape catalog bias mass estimates at or below the 2 per cent level. This illustrates the importance of completeness of the reference catalogs for empirical redshift estimation.Comment: matches published version in MNRA