570 research outputs found
Luminosity Evolution of Early-type Galaxies to z=0.83: Constraints on Formation Epoch and Omega
We present deep spectroscopy with the Keck telescope of eight galaxies in the
luminous X-ray cluster MS1054-03 at z=0.83. The data are combined with imaging
observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The spectroscopic data are
used to measure the internal kinematics of the galaxies, and the HST data to
measure their structural parameters. Six galaxies have early-type spectra, and
two have "E+A" spectra. The galaxies with early-type spectra define a tight
Fundamental Plane (FP) relation. The evolution of the mass-to-light ratio is
derived from the FP. The M/L ratio evolves as \Delta log M/L_B \propto -0.40 z
(Omega_m=0.3, Omega_Lambda=0). The observed evolution of the M/L ratio provides
a combined constraint on the formation redshift of the stars, the IMF, and
cosmological parameters. For a Salpeter IMF (x=2.35) we find that z_form>2.8
and Omega_m<0.86 with 95% confidence. The constraint on the formation redshift
is weaker if Omega_Lambda>0: z_form>1.7 if Omega_m=0.3 and Omega_Lambda=0.7. At
present the limiting factor in constraining z_form and Omega from the observed
luminosity evolution of early-type galaxies is the poor understanding of the
IMF. We find that if Omega_m=1 the IMF must be significantly steeper than the
Salpeter IMF (x>2.6).Comment: To be published in ApJ Letters, Volume 504, September 1, 1998. 5
pages, 4 figure
The Deficit of Distant Galaxy Clusters in the RIXOS X-ray Survey
Clusters of galaxies are the largest gravitationally bound systems and
therefore provide an important way of studying the formation and evolution of
the large scale structure of the Universe. Cluster evolution can be inferred
from observations of the X-ray emission of the gas in distant clusters, but
interpreting these data is not straightforward. In a simplified view, clusters
grow from perturbations in the matter distribution: their intracluster gas is
compressed and shock-heated by the gravitational collapse. The resulting
X-ray emission is determined by the hydrostatic equilibrium of the gas in the
changing gravitational potential. However, if processes such as radiative
cooling or pre-collapse heating of the gas are important, then the X-ray
evolution will be strongly influenced by the thermal history of the gas. Here
we present the first results from a faint flux-limited sample of X-ray selected
clusters compiled as part of the ROSAT International X-ray and Optical Survey
(RIXOS). Very few distant clusters have been identified. Most importantly,
their redshift distribution appears to be inconsistent with simple models based
on the evolution of the gravitational potential. Our results suggest that
radiative cooling or non-gravitational heating of the intracluster gas must
play an important role in the evolution of clusters.Comment: uuencoded compressed postscript. The preprint is also available at
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/preprint/PrePrint.htm
An Optical/Near-Infrared Study of Radio-Loud Quasar Environments II. Imaging Results
We use optical and near-IR imaging to examine the properties of the
significant excess population of K>=19 galaxies found in the fields of 31 z=1-2
radio-loud quasars by Hall, Green & Cohen (1998). The excess occurs on two
spatial scales: a component at <40'' from the quasars significant compared to
the galaxy surface density at >40'' in the same fields, and a component roughly
uniform to ~100'' significant compared to the galaxy surface density seen in
random-field surveys in the literature. The r-K color distributions of the
excess galaxy populations are indistinguishable and are significantly redder
than the color distribution of the field population.
The excess galaxies are consistent with being predominantly early-type
galaxies at the quasar redshifts, and there is no evidence that they are
associated with intervening MgII absorption systems. The average excess within
0.5 Mpc (~65'') of the quasars corresponds to Abell richness class ~0 compared
to the galaxy surface density at >0.5 Mpc from the quasars, and to Abell
richness class ~1.5 compared to that from the literature.
We discuss the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies in fields
with data in several passbands. Most candidate quasar-associated galaxies are
consistent with being 2-3 Gyr old early-types at the quasar redshifts of z~1.5.
However, some objects have SEDs consistent with being 4-5 Gyr old at z~1.5, and
a number of others are consistent with ~2 Gyr old but dust-reddened galaxies at
the quasar redshifts. These potentially different galaxy types suggest there
may be considerable dispersion in the properties of early-type cluster galaxies
at z~1.5. There is also a population of galaxies whose SEDs are best modelled
by background galaxies at z>2.5.Comment: Accepted to ApJ; 54 pages including 30 figures; 2 color GIF files
available separately; also available from
http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~hall/thesis.htm
A Study of Nine High-Redshift Clusters of Galaxies: IV. Photometry and Sp ectra of Clusters 1324+3011 and 1604+4321
New photometric and spectroscopic observations of galaxies in the directions
of three distant clusters are presented as part of our on-going high-redshift
cluster survey. The clusters are CL1324+3011 at z = 0.76, CL1604+4304 at z =
0.90, and CL1604+4321 at z = 0.92. The observed x-ray luminosities in these
clusters are at least a factor of 3 smaller than those observed in clusters
with similar velocity dispersions at z <= 0.4. These clusters contain a
significant population of elliptical-like galaxies, although these galaxies are
not nearly as dominant as in massive clusters at z <= 0.5. We also find a large
population of blue cluster members. Defining an active galaxy as one in which
the rest equivalent width of [OII] is greater than 15 Angstroms, the fraction
of active cluster galaxies, within the central 1.0 Mpc, is 45%. In the field
population, we find that 65% of the galaxies with redshifts between z = 0.40
and z = 0.85 are active, while the fraction is 79% for field galaxies at z >
0.85. The star formation rate normalized by the rest AB B-band magnitude, SFRN,
increases as the redshift increases at a given evolving luminosity. At a given
redshift, however, SFRN decreases linearly with increasing luminosity
indicating a remarkable insensitivity of the star formation rate to the
intrinsic luminosity of the galaxy over the range -18 >= ABB >= -22. Cluster
galaxies in the central 1 Mpc regions exhibit depressed star formation rates.
We are able to measure significant evolution in the B-band luminosity function
over the range 0.1 <= z <= 1. The characteristic luminosity increases by a
factor of 3 with increasing redshift over this range.Comment: 64 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journal on May 25, 2001. Scheduled to appear in Sept 2001 issu
Red Companions to a z=2.15 Radio Loud Quasar
We have conducted observations of the environment around the z=2.15 radio
loud quasar 1550-269 in search of distant galaxies associated either with it or
the z=2.09 CIV absorber along its line of sight. Such objects will be
distinguished by their red colours, R-K>4.5. We find five such objects in a 1.5
arcmin^2 field around the quasar, with typical K magnitudes of ~20.4 and no
detected R band emission. We also find a sixth object with K=19.6+/-0.3, and
undetected at R, just two arcseconds from the quasar. The nature of all these
objects is currently unclear, and will remain so until we have determined their
redshifts. We suggest that it is likely that they are associated with either
the quasar or the CIV absorber, in which case their properties might be similar
to those of the z=2.38 red Ly-alpha emitting galaxies discovered by Francis et
al. (1997). The small separation between the quasar and the brightest of our
objects suggests that it may be the galaxy responsible for the CIV metal line
absorption system. The closeness to the quasar and the red colour might have
precluded similar objects from being uncovered in previous searches for
emission from CIV and eg. damped absorbers.Comment: To appear in "Photometric Redshifts and High Redshift Galaxies", eds.
R. Weymann, L. Storrie-Lombardi, M. Sawicki & R. Brunne
Morphological Evolution of Galaxies
We simulate the growth of large-scale structure in the universe using a
N-body code. By combining these simulations with a Monte-Carlo method, we
generate galaxy distributions at present that reproduces the observed
morphology-density relation, with most ellipticals concentrated in the densest
regions. By "tying" each galaxy to its nearest particle, we trace the
trajectory of that galaxy back in time. This enables us to reconstruct the
distribution of galaxies at high redshift, and the trajectory of each galaxy
from its formation epoch to the present. Our goal is to determine whether the
morphological type of galaxies is primarily determined by the initial
conditions in which these galaxies form, or by evolutionary processes occurring
later. We compare the environment in which galaxies are at the epoch of galaxy
formation (z=3) and at the present. Making the null hypothesis that
morphological types do not evolve, we compare the galaxies that form in low
density environments but end up later in high density environments to the ones
that form also in low density environment but remain in low density
environment. The first group contains a larger proportion of E and S0 galaxies
than the second group. We assume that the galaxy formation process cannot
distinguish a low density environment that will always remain low density from
one that will eventually become high density. Hence, these results force us to
discard the null hypothesis of no morphological evolution. Our study suggests
that 75% of the E and S0 galaxies observed at present formed as such, while the
remaining 25% formed as spirals, and underwent morphological evolution. We
conclude that most galaxies did not undergo morphological evolution, but a
non-negligible fraction did.Comment: 29 pages (AAS latex) + 7 figures (postscript) combined in one gzip-ed
tar file. Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal (Dec 1996
The Las Campanas Distant Cluster Survey - The Catalog
We present an optically-selected catalog of 1073 galaxy cluster and group
candidates at 0.3<z<1. These candidates are drawn from the Las Campanas Distant
Clusters Survey (LCDCS), a drift-scan imaging survey of a 130 square degree
strip of the southern sky. To construct this catalog we utilize a novel
detection process in which clusters are detected as positive surface brightness
fluctuations in the background sky. This approach permits us to find clusters
with significantly shallower data than other matched-filter methods that are
based upon number counts of resolved galaxies. Selection criteria for the
survey are fully automated so that this sample constitutes a well-defined,
homogeneous sample that can be used to address issues of cluster evolution and
cosmology. Estimated redshifts are derived for the entire sample, and an
observed correlation between surface brightness and velocity dispersion (sigma)
is used to estimate the limiting velocity dispersion of the survey as a
function of redshift. We find a net surface density of 15.5 candidates per
square degree at z_{est}>0.3, with a false-detection rate of 30%. At z=0.3 we
probe down to the level of poor groups while by z=0.8 we detect only the most
massive systems (sigma>1000 km/s). We also present a supplemental catalog of
112 candidates that fail one or more of the automated selection criteria, but
appear from visual inspection to be bona fide clusters.Comment: 44 pages including 22 figures. Accepted to ApJS. Minor change in
section
The epochs of early-type galaxy formation as a function of environment
The aim of this paper is to set constraints of the epochs of early-type
galaxy formation through the 'archaeology' of the stellar populations in local
galaxies. Using our models of absorption line indices that account for variable
abundance ratios, we derive the stellar population parameters of 124 early-type
galaxies in high and low density environments. We find that all three
parameters age, metallicity, and alpha/Fe ratio are correlated with velocity
dispersion. We further find evidence for an influence of the environment on the
stellar population properties. Massive early-type galaxies in low-density
environments appear on average ~2 Gyrs younger and slightly more metal-rich
than their counterparts in high density environments. No offsets in the
alpha/Fe ratios, instead, are detected. We translate the derived ages and
alpha/Fe ratios into star formation histories. We show that most star formation
activity in early-type galaxies is expected to have happened between redshifts
3 and 5 in high density and between redshifts 1 and 2 in low density
environments. We conclude that at least 50 per cent of the total stellar mass
density must have already formed at z 1, in good agreement with observational
estimates of the total stellar mass density as a function of redshift. Our
results suggest that significant mass growth in the early-type galaxy
population below z 1 must be restricted to less massive objects, and a
significant increase of the stellar mass density between redshifts 1 and 2
should be present caused mainly by the field galaxy population. The results of
this paper further imply vigorous star formation episodes in massive objects at
z 2-5 and the presence of evolved ellipticals around z 1, both observationally
identified as SCUBA galaxies and EROs.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, plus appendix, accepted by Ap
Dynamics of Highly Supercooled Liquids:Heterogeneity, Rheology, and Diffusion
Highly supercooled liquids with soft-core potentials are studied via
molecular dynamics simulations in two and three dimensions in quiescent and
sheared conditions.We may define bonds between neighboring particle pairs
unambiguously owing to the sharpness of the first peak of the pair correlation
functions. Upon structural rearrangements, they break collectively in the form
of clusters whose sizes grow with lowering the temperature . The bond life
time , which depends on and the shear rate \gdot, is on the order
of the usual structural or relaxation time in weak
shear \gdot \tau_{\alpha} \ll 1, while it decreases as 1/\gdot in strong
shear \gdot\tau_{\alpha} \gg 1 due to shear-induced cage breakage.
Accumulated broken bonds in a time interval () closely
resemble the critical fluctuations of Ising spin systems. For example, their
structure factor is well fitted to the Ornstein-Zernike form, which yields the
correlation length representing the maximum size of the clusters composed
of broken bonds. We also find a dynamical scaling relation, , valid for any and \gdot with in two dimensions and
in three dimensions. The viscosity is of order for any and
\gdot, so marked shear-thinning behavior emerges. The shear stress is close
to a limiting stress in a wide shear region. We also examine motion of tagged
particles in shear in three dimensions. The diffusion constant is found to be
of order with for any and \gdot, so
it is much enhanced in strong shear compared with its value at zero shear. This
indicates breakdown of the Einstein-Stokes relation in accord with experiments.
Some possible experiments are also proposed.Comment: 20pages (including figures
Evolutionary dynamics of tree invasions: complementing the unified framework for biological invasions
Evolutionary processes greatly impact the outcomes of biological invasions. An extensive body of research suggests that invasive populations often undergo phenotypic and ecological divergence from their native sources. Evolution also operates at different and distinct stages during the invasion process. Thus, it is important to incorporate evolutionary change into frameworks of biological invasions because it allows us to conceptualize how these processes may facilitate or hinder invasion success. Here, we review such processes, with an emphasis on tree invasions, and place them in the context of the unified framework for biological invasions. The processes and mechanisms described are pre-introduction evolutionary history, sampling effect, founder effect, genotype-by-environment interactions, admixture, hybridization, polyploidization, rapid evolution, epigenetics and second-genomes. For the last, we propose that co-evolved symbionts, both beneficial and harmful, which are closely physiologically associated with invasive species, contain critical genetic traits that affect the evolutionary dynamics of biological invasions. By understanding the mechanisms underlying invasion success, researchers will be better equipped to predict, understand and manage biological invasions
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