A nanomechanical resonator coupled linearly via its momentum to a quantum point contact

We use a Born-Markov approximated master equation approach to study the symmetrized-in-frequency current noise spectrum and the oscillator steady state of a nanoelectromechanical system where a nanoscale resonator is coupled linearly via its momentum to a quantum point contact (QPC). Our current noise spectra exhibit clear signatures of the quantum correlations between the QPC current and the back-action force on the oscillator at a value of the relative tunneling phase (\eta = -\pi/2) where such correlations are expected to be maximized. We also show that the steady state of the oscillator obeys a classical Fokker-Planck equation, but can experience thermomechanical noise squeezing in the presence of a momentum-coupled detector bath and a position-coupled environmental bath. Besides, the full master equation clearly shows that half of the detector back-action is correlated with electron tunneling, indicating a departure from the model of the detector as an effective bath and suggesting that a future calculation valid at lower bias voltage, stronger tunneling and/or stronger coupling might reveal interesting quantum effects in the oscillator dynamics.Comment: 38 pages, 16 figure

Abrupt grain boundary melting in ice

The effect of impurities on the grain boundary melting of ice is investigated through an extension of Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek theory, in which we include retarded potential effects in a calculation of the full frequency dependent van der Waals and Coulombic interactions within a grain boundary. At high dopant concentrations the classical solutal effect dominates the melting behavior. However, depending on the amount of impurity and the surface charge density, as temperature decreases, the attractive tail of the dispersion force interaction begins to compete effectively with the repulsive screened Coulomb interaction. This leads to a film-thickness/temperature curve that changes depending on the relative strengths of these interactions and exhibits a decrease in the film thickness with increasing impurity level. More striking is the fact that at very large film thicknesses, the repulsive Coulomb interaction can be effectively screened leading to an abrupt reduction to zero film thickness.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

The Virial Mass Function of Nearby SDSS Galaxy Clusters

We present a new determination of the cluster mass function and velocity dispersion function in a volume $\sim10^7 h^3$Mpc$^{-3}$ using the Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We use the caustic technique to remove foreground and background galaxies. The cluster virial mass function agrees well with recent estimates from both X-ray observations and cluster richnesses. The mass function lies between those predicted by the First-Year and Three-Year WMAP data. We constrain the cosmological parameters $\Omega_m$ and $\sigma_8$ and find good agreement with WMAP and constraints from other techniques. With the CIRS mass function alone, we estimate $\Omega_m=0.24^{+0.14}_{-0.09}$ and $\sigma_8=0.92^{+0.24}_{-0.19}$, or $\sigma_8=0.84\pm$0.03 when holding $\Omega_m=0.3$ fixed. We also use the WMAP parameters as priors and constrain velocity segregation in clusters. Using the First and Third-Year results, we infer velocity segregation of $\sigma_{gxy}/\sigma_{DM}\approx0.94\pm$0.05 or 1.28$\pm$0.06 respectively. We compare the velocity dispersion function of clusters to that of early-type galaxies and conclude that clusters comprise the high-velocity end of the velocity dispersion function of dark matter haloes. The evolution of cluster abundances provides constraints on dark energy models; the mass function presented here offers an important low redshift calibration benchmark.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, ApJ in press, revised figure

Galaxy Orbits for Galaxy Clusters in Sloan Digital Sky Survey and 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey

We present the results of a study for galaxy orbits in galaxy clusters using a spectroscopic sample of galaxies in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS). We have determined the member galaxies of Abell clusters covered by these surveys using the galaxies' redshift and positional data. We have selected 10 clusters using three criteria: the number of member galaxies is greater than or equal to 40, the spatial coverage is complete, and X-ray mass profile is available in the literature. We derive the radial profile of the galaxy number density and velocity dispersion using all, early-type, and late-type galaxies for each cluster. We have investigated the galaxy orbits for our sample clusters with constant and variable velocity anisotropies over the clustercentric distance using Jeans equation. Using all member galaxies, the galaxy orbits are found to be isotropic within the uncertainty for most of sample clusters, although it is difficult to conclude strongly for some clusters due the large errors and the variation as a function of the clustercentric distance in the calculated velocity anisotropies. We investigated the orbital difference between early-type and late-type galaxies for four sample clusters, and found no significant difference between them.Comment: 59 pages, 21 figures. To appear in ApJ. Paper with high resolution figures are available at http://astro.kias.re.kr/~hshwang/papers/orbit.pd

Substructure lensing in galaxy clusters as a constraint on low-mass sterile neutrinos in tensor-vector-scalar theory: The straight arc of Abell 2390

Certain covariant theories of the modified Newtonian dynamics paradigm seem to require an additional hot dark matter (HDM) component - in the form of either heavy ordinary neutrinos or more recently light sterile neutrinos (SNs) with a mass around 11eV - to be relieved of problems ranging from cosmological scales down to intermediate ones relevant for galaxy clusters. Here we suggest using gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters to test such a marriage of neutrino HDM and modified gravity, adopting the framework of tensor-vector-scalar theory (TeVeS). Unlike conventional cold dark matter (CDM), such HDM is subject to strong phase-space constraints, which allows one to check cluster lens models inferred within the modified framework for consistency. Since the considered HDM particles cannot collapse into arbitrarily dense clumps and only form structures well above the galactic scale, systems which indicate the need for dark substructure are of particular interest. As a first example, we study the cluster lens Abell 2390 and its impressive straight arc with the help of numerical simulations. Based on our results, we outline a general and systematic approach to model cluster lenses in TeVeS which significantly reduces the calculation complexity. We further consider a simple bimodal lens configuration, capable of producing the straight arc, to demonstrate our approach. We find that such a model is marginally consistent with the hypothesis of 11eV SNs. Future work including more detailed and realistic lens models may further constrain the necessary SN distribution and help to conclusively assess this point. Cluster lenses could therefore provide an interesting discriminator between CDM and such modified gravity scenarios supplemented by SNs or other choices of HDM.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables; minor changes to match accepted versio

The mass and anisotropy profiles of galaxy clusters from the projected phase space density: testing the method on simulated data

We present a new method of constraining the mass and velocity anisotropy profiles of galaxy clusters from kinematic data. The method is based on a model of the phase space density which allows the anisotropy to vary with radius between two asymptotic values. The characteristic scale of transition between these asymptotes is fixed and tuned to a typical anisotropy profile resulting from cosmological simulations. The model is parametrized by two values of anisotropy, at the centre of the cluster and at infinity, and two parameters of the NFW density profile, the scale radius and the scale mass. In order to test the performance of the method in reconstructing the true cluster parameters we analyze mock kinematic data for 20 relaxed galaxy clusters generated from a cosmological simulation of the standard LCDM model. We use Bayesian methods of inference and the analysis is carried out following the Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach. The parameters of the mass profile are reproduced quite well, but we note that the mass is typically underestimated by 15 percent, probably due to the presence of small velocity substructures. The constraints on the anisotropy profile for a single cluster are in general barely conclusive. Although the central asymptotic value is determined accurately, the outer one is subject to significant systematic errors caused by substructures at large clustercentric distance. The anisotropy profile is much better constrained if one performs joint analysis of at least a few clusters. In this case it is possible to reproduce the radial variation of the anisotropy over two decades in radius inside the virial sphere.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Mass profiles and galaxy orbits in nearby galaxy clusters from the analysis of the projected phase-space

We analyze kinematic data of 41 nearby (z<0.1) relaxed galaxy clusters in terms of the projected phase-space density using a phenomenological, fully anisotropic model of the distribution function. We apply the Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach to place constraints on total mass distribution approximated by the universal NFW profile and the profile of the anisotropy of galaxy orbits. We find the normalization of the mean mass-concentration relation is c=6.9_{-0.7}^{+0.6} at the virial mass M_v=5x10^{14}M_sun. Assuming a one-to-one correspondence between sigma_8 and the normalization of the mass-concentration relation in the framework of the concordance model we estimate the normalization of the linear power spectrum to be sigma_8=0.91_{-0.08}^{+0.07}. Our constraints on the parameters of the mass profile are compared with estimates from other methods. We show that galaxy orbits are isotropic at the cluster centres (with the mean ratio of the radial-to-tangential velocity dispersions sigma_r/sigma_theta=0.97+/-0.04) and radially anisotropic at the virial sphere (with the mean ratio sigma_r/sigma_theta=1.75^{+0.23}_{-0.19}). Although the value of the central anisotropy appears to be universal, the anisotropy at the virial radius differs between clusters within the range 1<(sigma_r/sigma_theta)<2. Utilizing the Bautz-Morgan morphological classification and information on the prominence of a cool core we select two subsamples of galaxy clusters corresponding to less and more advanced evolutionary states. It is demonstrated that less evolved clusters have shallower mass profiles and their galaxy orbits are more radially biased at the virial sphere. This property is consistent with the expected evolution of the mass profiles as well as with the observed orbital segregation of late and early type galaxies.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The importance of interloper removal in galaxy clusters: saving more objects for the Jeans analysis

We study the effect of contamination by interlopers in kinematic samples of galaxy clusters. We demonstrate that without the proper removal of interlopers the inferred parameters of the mass distribution in the cluster are strongly biased towards higher mass and lower concentration. The interlopers are removed using two procedures previously shown to work most efficiently on simulated data. One is based on using the virial mass estimator and calculating the maximum velocity available to cluster members and the other relies on the ratio of the virial and projected mass estimators. We illustrate the performance of the methods in detail using the example of A576, a cluster with a strong uniform background contamination, and compare the case of A576 to 15 other clusters with different degree of contamination. We model the velocity dispersion and kurtosis profiles obtained for the cleaned data samples of these clusters solving the Jeans equations to estimate the mass, concentration and anisotropy parameter. We present the mass-concentration relation for the total sample of 22 clusters.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, more clusters analyzed in detail, mass-concentration relation for 22 clusters presented, accepted for publication in MNRA