854 research outputs found
Detection of Water Vapor in the Thermal Spectrum of the Non-Transiting Hot Jupiter upsilon Andromedae b
The upsilon Andromedae system was the first multi-planet system discovered
orbiting a main sequence star. We describe the detection of water vapor in the
atmosphere of the innermost non-transiting gas giant ups~And~b by treating the
star-planet system as a spectroscopic binary with high-resolution, ground-based
spectroscopy. We resolve the signal of the planet's motion and break the
mass-inclination degeneracy for this non-transiting planet via deep combined
flux observations of the star and the planet. In total, seven epochs of Keck
NIRSPEC band observations, three epochs of Keck NIRSPEC short wavelength
band observations, and three epochs of Keck NIRSPEC long wavelength
band observations of the ups~And~system were obtained. We perform a multi-epoch
cross correlation of the full data set with an atmospheric model. We measure
the radial projection of the Keplerian velocity ( = 55 9 km/s), true
mass ( = 1.7 ), and orbital inclination \big(
= 24 4\big), and determine that the planet's opacity structure
is dominated by water vapor at the probed wavelengths. Dynamical simulations of
the planets in the ups~And~system with these orbital elements for ups~And~b
show that stable, long-term (100 Myr) orbital configurations exist. These
measurements will inform future studies of the stability and evolution of the
ups~And~system, as well as the atmospheric structure and composition of the hot
Jupiter.Comment: Accepted to A
Lawrence Head Volcanics and Dunnage MĂ©lange, Newfoundland Appalachians: Origin by Ordovician Ridge Subduction or in Back-Arc Rift?
This paper reviews the geological setting and reports new geochemical trace element data from the Ordovician Lawrence Head Volcanics (LHV) and the underlying gabbro sills in the Exploits Group. In combination with existing published analyses and ages of these rocks, the volcanic rocks and sills are indistinguishable in composition and age, and the data are consistent with the hypothesis that they represent the same (mostly E-MORB composition) magmatic event in the earlyâmid Darriwilian (~465 ± 2 Ma). The LHV and their enclosing strata show regional evidence for: 1) upward decline of volume and grain size of arc-derived volcaniclastic materials over the uppermost interval of turbidite sedimentary strata below the LHV; 2) change to shallow marine conditions locally by the end of the LHV event, followed immediately by significant subsidence, and 3) no evidence of coarse-grained clastic input, nor of normal faulting, during or immediately after LHV magmatism. Ridgeâtrench interaction (ridge subduction) at a subduction system is consistent with all of these features and spatial distribution of related elements, but a rift (back-arc) origin over a subduction zone can only accommodate the compositions, and is inconsistent with the geological evidence. The Dunnage MĂ©lange (DM) has been interpreted either as olistostromal in a developing back-arc rift basin, or as a subduction accretionary prism. Peraluminous intrusions in the mĂ©lange (Coaker Porphyry â CP) are more readily explained by ridge subduction, and a previously reported zircon age (469 ± 4 Ma) is consistent with the age of the LHV and gabbro sills, also interpreted as products of ridge subduction. Localization of the CP in the eastern area of DM, and of most of the large LHV-derived volcanic blocks in the western DM, suggests a slightly younger age, and perhaps a different mechanism, for the origin of the western DM.SOMMAIRECet article passe en revue le contexte gĂ©ologique et prĂ©sente de nouvelles donnĂ©es gĂ©ochimiques dâĂ©lĂ©ments traces des roches volcaniques ordoviciennes de Lawrence Head (LHV) et des filons-couches de gabbro sous-jacents du Groupe Exploits. ConsidĂ©rant la combinaison des donnĂ©es dâanalyse publiĂ©es et des datations de ces roches, les roches volcaniques et les filons-couches sont indiscernables tant en composition quâen Ăąge, et les donnĂ©es sont compatibles avec lâhypothĂšse selon laquelle ils reprĂ©sentent le mĂȘme Ă©vĂ©nement magmatique (principalement E-MORB) du Darriwilien prĂ©coce Ă moyen (~465 ± 2 Ma). Les LHV ainsi que les strates de lâencaissant renferment des indices rĂ©gionaux qui montrent : 1) que le volume et la granulomĂ©trie des matĂ©riaux volcanoclastiques dâarc diminuent vers le haut dans lâintervalle supĂ©rieur des strates de turbidites sĂ©dimentaires sous les LHV; 2) que le changement vers des milieux marins peu profonds localement vers la fin de lâĂ©vĂ©nement des LHV a Ă©tĂ© suivi immĂ©diatement par une subsidence importante, et 3) quâil nâexiste pas dâindices dâapports clastiques Ă gros grains, non plus que de formation de failles normales, durant ou immĂ©diatement aprĂšs le magmatisme des LHV. Lâinteraction crĂȘte-fosse (subduction de la crĂȘte) au lieu dâun systĂšme de subduction concorde avec toutes ces caractĂ©ristiques et la rĂ©partition spatiale des Ă©lĂ©ments reliĂ©s, alors quâune origine de crĂȘte (arriĂšre-arc) au-dessus dâune zone de subduction ne peut expliquer que les compositions et quâelle est incompatible avec lâĂ©vidence gĂ©ologique. Le Dunnage MĂ©lange (DM) a Ă©tĂ© interprĂ©tĂ© soit comme un olistostome dans un bassin dâarriĂšre-arc en dĂ©veloppement, ou comme un prisme dâaccrĂ©tion de subduction. Les intrusions hyperalumineuses dans le mĂ©lange (Porphyre Coaker â CP), sâexplique plus facilement par une subduction de crĂȘte, et un Ăąge de datation sur zircon de (469 ± 4 Ma) correspond Ă lâĂąge des LHV et des filons-couche de gabbro, aussi interprĂ©tĂ©s comme produits dâune subduction de crĂȘte. La localisation du CP dans la portion orientale du DM, et de la majeure partie des grands blocs volcaniques dĂ©rivĂ©s des LHV de la portion ouest du DM, suggĂšre un Ăąge lĂ©gĂšrement plus jeune, et peut-ĂȘtre un mĂ©canisme diffĂ©rent, pour lâorigine de la portion ouest du DM
Evaluating Southern Ocean biological production in two ocean biogeochemical models on daily to seasonal timescales using satellite chlorophyll and O2 / Ar observations
© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Biogeosciences 12 (2015): 681-695, doi:10.5194/bg-12-681-2015.We assess the ability of ocean biogeochemical models to represent seasonal structures in biomass and net community production (NCP) in the Southern Ocean. Two models are compared to observations on daily to seasonal timescales in four different sections of the region. We use daily satellite fields of chlorophyll (Chl) as a proxy for biomass and in situ observations of O2 and Ar supersaturation (ÎO2 / Ar) to estimate NCP. ÎO2 / Ar is converted to the flux of biologically generated O2 from sea to air (O2 bioflux). All data are aggregated to a climatological year with a daily resolution. To account for potential regional differences within the Southern Ocean, we conduct separate analyses of sections south of South Africa, around the Drake Passage, south of Australia, and south of New Zealand.
We find that the models simulate the upper range of Chl concentrations well, underestimate spring levels significantly, and show differences in skill between early and late parts of the growing season. While there is a great deal of scatter in the bioflux observations in general, the four sectors each have distinct patterns that the models pick up. Neither model exhibits a significant distinction between the Australian and New Zealand sectors and between the Drake Passage and African sectors. South of 60° S, the models fail to predict the observed extent of biological O2 undersaturation. We suggest that this shortcoming may be due either to problems with the ecosystem dynamics or problems with the vertical transport of oxygen.This work was supported in part by funding
from the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA
NNX08AF12G) and the National Science Foundation (NSF
OPP-0823101)
Evaluation of the Southern Ocean O2/Ar-based NCP estimates in a model framework
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 118 (2013): 385â399, doi:10.1002/jgrg.20032.The sea-air biological O2 flux assessed from measurements of surface O2 supersaturation in excess of Ar supersaturation (âO2 biofluxâ) is increasingly being used to constrain net community production (NCP) in the upper ocean mixed layer. In making these calculations, one generally assumes that NCP is at steady state, mixed layer depth is constant, and there is no O2 exchange across the base of the mixed layer. The object of this paper is to evaluate the magnitude of errors introduced by violations of these assumptions. Therefore, we examine the differences between the sea-air biological O2 flux and NCP in the Southern Ocean mixed layer as calculated using two ocean biogeochemistry general circulation models. In this approach, NCP is considered a known entity in the prognostic model, whereas O2 bioflux is estimated using the model-predicted O2/Ar ratio to compute the mixed layer biological O2 saturation and the gas transfer velocity to calculate flux. We find that the simulated biological O2 flux gives an accurate picture of the regional-scale patterns and trends in model NCP. However, on local scales, violations of the assumptions behind the O2/Ar method lead to significant, non-uniform differences between model NCP and biological O2 flux. These errors arise from two main sources. First, venting of biological O2 to the atmosphere can be misaligned from NCP in both time and space. Second, vertical fluxes of oxygen across the base of the mixed layer complicate the relationship between NCP and the biological O2 flux. Our calculations show that low values of O2 bioflux correctly register that NCP is also low (<10âmmolâmâ2âdayâ1), but fractional errors are large when rates are this low. Values between 10 and 40âmmolâmâ2âdayâ1 in areas with intermediate mixed layer depths of 30 to 50âm have the smallest absolute and relative errors. Areas with O2 bioflux higher than 30âmmolâmâ2âdayâ1 and mixed layers deeper than 40âm tend to underestimate NCP by up to 20âmmolâmâ2âdayâ1. Excluding time periods when mixed layer biological O2 is undersaturated, O2 bioflux underestimates time-averaged NCP by 5%â15%. If these time periods are included, O2 bioflux underestimates mixed layer NCP by 20%â35% in the Southern Ocean. The higher error estimate is relevant if one wants to estimate seasonal NCP since a significant amount of biological production takes place when mixed layer biological O2 is undersaturated.This work was supported in part by funding
from the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA
NNX08AF12G) and National Science Foundation (NSF OPP-0823101)
Evidence for the Direct Detection of the Thermal Spectrum of the Non-Transiting Hot Gas Giant HD 88133 b
We target the thermal emission spectrum of the non-transiting gas giant HD
88133 b with high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy, by treating the planet
and its host star as a spectroscopic binary. For sufficiently deep summed flux
observations of the star and planet across multiple epochs, it is possible to
resolve the signal of the hot gas giant's atmosphere compared to the brighter
stellar spectrum, at a level consistent with the aggregate shot noise of the
full data set. To do this, we first perform a principal component analysis to
remove the contribution of the Earth's atmosphere to the observed spectra.
Then, we use a cross-correlation analysis to tease out the spectra of the host
star and HD 88133 b to determine its orbit and identify key sources of
atmospheric opacity. In total, six epochs of Keck NIRSPEC L band observations
and three epochs of Keck NIRSPEC K band observations of the HD 88133 system
were obtained. Based on an analysis of the maximum likelihood curves calculated
from the multi-epoch cross correlation of the full data set with two
atmospheric models, we report the direct detection of the emission spectrum of
the non-transiting exoplanet HD 88133 b and measure a radial projection of the
Keplerian orbital velocity of 40 15 km/s, a true mass of
1.02, a nearly face-on orbital inclination of
15, and an atmosphere opacity structure at high
dispersion dominated by water vapor. This, combined with eleven years of radial
velocity measurements of the system, provides the most up-to-date ephemeris for
HD 88133.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in Ap
When Is a Bulge Not a Bulge? Inner Disks Masquerading as Bulges in NGC 2787 and NGC 3945
We present a detailed morphological, photometric, and kinematic analysis of
two barred S0 galaxies with large, luminous inner disks inside their bars. We
show that these structures, in addition to being geometrically disk-like, have
exponential profiles (scale lengths 300--500 pc) distinct from the
central, non-exponential bulges. We also find them to be kinematically
disk-like. The inner disk in NGC 2787 has a luminosity roughly twice that of
the bulge; but in NGC 3945, the inner disk is almost ten times more luminous
than the bulge, which itself is extremely small (half-light radius
100 pc, in a galaxy with an outer ring of radius 14 kpc) and only
5% of the total luminosity -- a bulge/total ratio much more typical of
an Sc galaxy. We estimate that at least 20% of (barred) S0 galaxies may have
similar structures, which means that their bulge/disk ratios may be
significantly overestimated. These inner disks dominate the central light of
their galaxies; they are at least an order of magnitude larger than typical
``nuclear disks'' found in ellipticals and early-type spirals. Consequently,
they must affect the dynamics of the bars in which they reside.Comment: LaTeX, 37 pages, 14 EPS figures. To appear in The Astrophysical
Journal (November 10, 2003 issue). Version with full-resolution figures
available at http://www.iac.es/galeria/erwin/research
Ground- and Space-based Detection of the Thermal Emission Spectrum of the Transiting Hot Jupiter KELT-2Ab
We describe the detection of water vapor in the atmosphere of the transiting
hot Jupiter KELT-2Ab by treating the star-planet system as a spectroscopic
binary with high-resolution, ground-based spectroscopy. We resolve the signal
of the planet's motion with deep combined flux observations of the star and the
planet. In total, six epochs of Keck NIRSPEC -band observations were
obtained, and the full data set was subjected to a cross correlation analysis
with a grid of self-consistent atmospheric models. We measure a radial
projection of the Keplerian velocity, , of 148 7 km s,
consistent with transit measurements, and detect water vapor at 3.8. We
combine NIRSPEC -band data with IRAC secondary eclipse data to
further probe the metallicity and carbon-to-oxygen ratio of KELT-2Ab's
atmosphere. While the NIRSPEC analysis provides few extra constraints on the
data, it does provide roughly the same constraints on metallicity and
carbon-to-oxygen ratio. This bodes well for future investigations of the
atmospheres of non-transiting hot Jupiters.Comment: accepted to A
Dry Mergers in GEMS: The Dynamical Evolution of Massive Early-Type Galaxies
We have used the 28'x 28' HST image mosaic from the GEMS (Galaxy Evolution
from Morphology and SEDs) survey in conjunction with the COMBO-17 photometric
redshift survey to constrain the incidence of major mergers between
spheroid-dominated galaxies with little cold gas (dry mergers) since z = 0.7. A
set of N-body merger simulations was used to explore the morphological
signatures of such interactions: they are recognizable either as < 5kpc
separation close pairs or because of broad, low surface brightness tidal
features and asymmetries. Data with the depth and resolution of GEMS are
sensitive to dry mergers between galaxies with M_V < -20.5 for z < 0.7; dry
mergers at higher redshifts are not easily recovered in single-orbit HST
imaging. Six dry mergers (12 galaxies) with luminosity ratios between 1:1 and
4:1 were found from a sample of 379 red early-type galaxies with M_V < -20.5
and 0.1 < z < 0.7. The simulations suggest that the morphological signatures of
dry merging are visible for ~250Myr and we use this timescale to convert the
observed merger incidence into a rate. On this basis we find that present day
spheroidal galaxies with M_V < -20.5 on average have undergone between 0.5 and
2 major dry mergers since z ~ 0.7. We have compared this result with the
predictions of a Cold Dark Matter based semi-analytic galaxy formation model.
The model reproduces the observed declining major merger fraction of bright
galaxies and the space density of luminous early-type galaxies reasonably well.
The predicted dry merger fraction is consistent with our observational result.
Hence, hierarchical models predict and observations now show that major dry
mergers are an important driver of the evolution of massive early-type galaxies
in recent epochs.Comment: ApJ, in press. The paper has been extensively modified, detailing the
automated+visual selection and dry merger classification. 11 pages emulateapj
with 9 reduced-quality figures. A high quality copy is available at
http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/homes/bell/papers/dry.ps.g
Deep CCD Surface Photometry of Galaxy Clusters I: Methods and Initial Studies of Intracluster Starlight
We report the initial results of a deep imaging survey of galaxy clusters.
The primary goals of this survey are to quantify the amount of intracluster
light as a function of cluster properties, and to quantify the frequency of
tidal debris. We outline the techniques needed to perform such a survey, and we
report findings for the first two galaxy clusters in the survey: Abell 1413,
and MKW 7 . These clusters vary greatly in richness and structure. We show that
our surface photometry reliably reaches to a surface brightness of \mu_v = 26.5
mags per arcsec. We find that both clusters show clear excesses over a
best-fitting r^{1/4} profile: this was expected for Abell 1413, but not for MKW
7. Both clusters also show evidence of tidal debris in the form of plumes and
arc-like structures, but no long tidal arcs were detected. We also find that
the central cD galaxy in Abell 1413 is flattened at large radii, with an
ellipticity of , the largest measured ellipticity of any cD galaxy
to date.Comment: 58 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal. Version has extremely low resolution figures to comply with 650k
limit. High resolution version is available at
http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/johnf/icl1.ps.gz Obtaining high resolution version
is strongly reccomende
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