12,866 research outputs found
The Impact of Strong Gravitational Lensing on Observed Lyman-Break Galaxy Numbers at 4<z<8 in the GOODS and the XDF Blank Fields
Detection of Lyman-Break Galaxies (LBGs) at high-redshift can be affected by
gravitational lensing induced by foreground deflectors not only in galaxy
clusters, but also in blank fields. We quantify the impact of strong
magnification in the samples of , , , LBGs () observed in the XDF and GOODS/CANDELS fields, by investigating the
proximity of dropouts to foreground objects. We find that of bright
LBGs () by
foreground objects. This fraction decreases from at to
at . Since the observed fraction of strongly lensed
galaxies is a function of the shape of the luminosity function (LF), it can be
used to derive Schechter parameters, and , independently
from galaxy number counts. Our magnification bias analysis yields
Schechter-function parameters in close agreement with those determined from
galaxy counts albeit with larger uncertainties. Extrapolation of our analysis
to suggests that future surveys with JSWT, WFIRST and EUCLID
should find excess LBGs at the bright-end, even if there is an intrinsic
exponential cutoff of number counts. Finally, we highlight how the
magnification bias measurement near the detection limit can be used as probe of
the population of galaxies too faint to be detected. Preliminary results using
this novel idea suggest that the magnification bias at is not
as strong as expected if extends well below the current
detection limits in the XDF. At face value this implies a flattening of the LF
at . However, selection effects and completeness estimates
are difficult to quantify precisely. Thus, we do not rule out a steep LF
extending to .Comment: Submitted to ApJ on 18/12/201
Vacuum energies due to delta-like currents: simulating classical objects along branes with arbitrary codimensions
In this paper we investigate the vacuum energies of several models of quantum
fields interacting with static external currents (linear couplings)
concentrated along parallel branes with an arbitrary number of codimensions. We
show that we can simulate the presence of static charges distributions as well
as the presence of classical static dipoles in any dimension for massive and
massless fields. We also show that we can produce confining potentials with
massless self interacting scalar fields as well as long range anisotropic
potentials.Comment: 18 latex page
Assessment of Multi-Scale Approaches for Computing UV-Vis Spectra in Condensed Phases: Toward an Effective yet Reliable Integration of Variational and Perturbative QM/MM Approaches
Computational simulation of UV/vis spectra in condensed phases can be performed starting from converged molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and then performing quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) computations for a statistically significant number of snapshots. However, the need of variational solutions (e.g., ONIOM/EE) for a huge number of snapshots makes unpractical the use of state-of-the-art QM Hamiltonians. On the other hand, the effectivity of perturbative approaches (e.g., perturbed matrix method, PMM) comes at the price of poor convergence for configurations strongly different from the reference one. In this paper we introduce an integrated strategy based on a cluster analysis of the MD snapshots. Next, a representative configuration for each cluster is treated at the ONIOM/EE level, whereas local fluctuations within each cluster are described at the PMM level. Some representative systems (uracil in dimethylformamide and in water and tyrosine zwitterion in water) are analyzed to show the effectivity and flexibility of the proposed strategy
A spectroscopically confirmed z=1.327 galaxy-scale deflector magnifying a z~8 Lyman-Break galaxy in the Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies survey
We present a detailed analysis of an individual case of gravitational lensing
of a Lyman-Break galaxy (LBG) in a blank field, identified in Hubble
Space Telescope imaging obtained as part of the Brightest of Reionizing
Galaxies survey. To investigate the close proximity of the bright
() -dropout to a small group of foreground galaxies, we
obtained deep spectroscopy of the dropout and two foreground galaxies using
VLT/X-Shooter. We detect H-, H-, [OIII] and [OII] emission in
the brightest two foreground galaxies (unresolved at the natural seeing of
arcsec), placing the pair at . We can rule out emission lines
contributing all of the observed broadband flux in band at
, allowing us to exclude the candidate as a low redshift
interloper with broadband photometry dominated by strong emission lines. The
foreground galaxy pair lies at the peak of the luminosity, redshift and
separation distributions for deflectors of strongly lensed objects,
and we make a marginal detection of a demagnified secondary image in the
deepest () filter. We show that the configuration can be accurately
modelled by a singular isothermal ellipsoidal deflector and a S\'{e}rsic source
magnified by a factor of . The reconstructed source in the
best-fitting model is consistent with luminosities and morphologies of
LBGs in the literature. The lens model yields a group mass of
and a stellar mass-to-light ratio for the
brightest deflector galaxy of within its effective radius. The foreground galaxies'
redshifts would make this one of the few strong lensing deflectors discovered
at .Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 16 pages, 11 figures, 3 table
Generation of tunable Terahertz out-of-plane radiation using Josephson vortices in modulated layered superconductors
We show that a moving Josephson vortex in spatially modulated layered
superconductors generates out-of-plane THz radiation. Remarkably, the magnetic
and in-plane electric fields radiated are of the same order, which is very
unusual for any good-conducting medium. Therefore, the out-of-plane radiation
can be emitted to the vacuum without the standard impedance mismatch problem.
Thus, the proposed design can be more efficient for tunable THz emitters than
previous proposals, for radiation only propagating along the ab-plane.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure. Phys. Rev. B (2005), in pres
Influence of a dynamical gluon mass in the and forward scattering
We compute the tree level cross section for gluon-gluon elastic scattering
taking into account a dynamical gluon mass, and show that this mass scale is a
natural regulator for this subprocess cross section. Using an eikonal approach
in order to examine the relationship between this gluon-gluon scattering and
the elastic and channels, we found that the dynamical gluon
mass is of the same order of magnitude as the {\it ad hoc} infrared mass scale
underlying eikonalized QCD-inspired models. We argue that this
correspondence is not an accidental result, and that this dynamical scale
indeed represents the onset of non-perturbative contributions to the elastic
hadron-hadron scattering. We apply the eikonal model with a dynamical infrared
mass scale to obtain predictions for ,
, slope , and differential elastic
scattering cross section at Tevatron and CERN-LHC
energies.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures; misprints corrected and comments added. To
appear in Phys. Rev.
Computational Spectroscopy in Solution by Integration of Variational and Perturbative Approaches on Top of Clusterized Molecular Dynamics
Multiscale QM/MM approaches have become the most suitable and effective methods for the investigation of spectroscopic properties of medium-or large-size chromophores in condensed phases. On these grounds, we are developing a novel workflow aimed at improving the generality, reliability, and ease of use of the available tools. In the present paper, we report the latest developments of such an approach with specific reference to a general workplan starting with the addition of acetonitrile to the panel of solvents already available in the General Liquid Optimized Boundary (GLOB) model enforcing nonperiodic boundary conditions (NPBC). Next, the solvatochromic shifts induced by acetonitrile on both rigid (uracil and thymine) and flexible (thyrosine) chromophores have been studied introducing in our software a number of new features ranging from rigid-geometry NPBC molecular dynamics based on the quaternion formalism to a full integration of variational (ONIOM) and perturbative (perturbed matrix method (PMM)) approaches for describing different solute-solvent topologies and local fluctuations, respectively. Finally, thymine and uracil have been studied also in methanol to point out the generality of the computational strategy. While further developments are surely needed, the strengths of our integrated approach even in its present version are demonstrated by the accuracy of the results obtained by an unsupervised approach and coupled to a computational cost strongly reduced with respect to that of conventional QM/MM models without any appreciable accuracy deterioration
Charge imbalance and Josephson effects in superconductor-normal metal mesoscopic structures
We consider a Josephson junction the superconducting electrodes of
which are in contact with normal metal reservoirs ( means a barrier). For
temperatures near we calculate an effective critical current and the resistance of the system at the currents and . It is found that the charge imbalance,
which arises due to injection of quasiparticles from the reservoirs into
the wire, affects essentially the characteristics of the structure. The
effective critical current is always larger than the critical
current in the absence of the normal reservoirs and increases with
decreasing the ratio of the length of the wire to the charge imbalance
relaxation length . It is shown that a series of peaks arises on the
characteristics due to excitation of the Carlson-Goldman collective
modes. We find the position of Shapiro steps which deviates from that given by
the Josephson relation.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Josephson Vortex Bloch Oscillations: Single Pair Tunneling Effect
We consider the Josephson vortex motion in a long one--dimensional Josephson
junction in a thin film. We show that this Josephson vortex is similar to a
mesoscopic capacitor. We demonstrate that a single Cooper pair tunneling
results in nonlinear Bloch--type oscillations of a Josephson vortex in a
current-biased Josephson junction. We find the frequency and the amplitude of
this motion.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures included as postscript files, LaTe
The association between burning mouth syndrome and urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome: A case-control study
Background: The overlap between some painful conditions is widespread. The aim of this study was to evaluate the overlap between burning mouth syndrome (BMS) and urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS) in an outpatient clinic of a university hospital. Methods: A controlled clinical study was performed. BMS patients and healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Patients were screened through laboratory test and a complete urological examination. Two validated questionnaires were submitted to all the patients: National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI) and International Prostatic Symptom Score (IPSS). Results: A total of 50 BMS patients and 50 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding the items of the IPSS questionnaire of Incomplete Emptying (U = 750, P <.001), Intermittency (U = 768.5, P <.001), QoL (U = 848, P <.002), and Total Symptom score (U = 1040, P =.05) were found. Moreover, the responses of NIH-CPSI showed statistically significant differences regarding Pain subscale (U = 714, P <.001), QoL Impact subscale (U = 1016.500, P =.05), and NIH-CPSI total score (U = 953.500, P =.002). Conclusion: To the best our knowledge, the reported data demonstrate for the first time an association between BMS and UCPPS. Further studies with a larger sample are needed to confirm the co-occurrence of urological symptoms in patients with burning mouth syndrome
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