10,127 research outputs found
A Statistical Semi-Empirical Model: Satellite galaxies in Groups and Clusters
We present STEEL a STatistical sEmi-Empirical modeL designed to probe the
distribution of satellite galaxies in groups and clusters. Our fast statistical
methodology relies on tracing the abundances of central and satellite haloes
via their mass functions at all cosmic epochs with virtually no limitation on
cosmic volume and mass resolution. From mean halo accretion histories and
subhalo mass functions the satellite mass function is progressively built in
time via abundance matching techniques constrained by number densities of
centrals in the local Universe. By enforcing dynamical merging timescales as
predicted by high-resolution N-body simulations, we obtain satellite
distributions as a function of stellar mass and halo mass consistent with
current data. We show that stellar stripping, star formation, and quenching
play all a secondary role in setting the number densities of massive satellites
above . We further show that observed
star formation rates used in our empirical model over predict low-mass
satellites below , whereas, star
formation rates derived from a continuity equation approach yield the correct
abundances similar to previous results for centrals.Comment: 21 pages, 17 Figures. MNRAS, in pres
Decomposition of homogeneous polynomials with low rank
Let be a homogeneous polynomial of degree in variables defined
over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero and suppose that
belongs to the -th secant varieties of the standard Veronese variety
but that its minimal
decomposition as a sum of -th powers of linear forms is
with . We show that if then such a
decomposition of can be split in two parts: one of them is made by linear
forms that can be written using only two variables, the other part is uniquely
determined once one has fixed the first part. We also obtain a uniqueness
theorem for the minimal decomposition of if the rank is at most and a
mild condition is satisfied.Comment: final version. Math. Z. (to appear
Comparing PyMorph and SDSS photometry. II. The differences are more than semantics and are not dominated by intracluster light
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey pipeline photometry underestimates the
brightnesses of the most luminous galaxies. This is mainly because (i) the SDSS
overestimates the sky background and (ii) single or two-component Sersic-based
models better fit the surface brightness profile of galaxies, especially at
high luminosities, than does the de Vaucouleurs model used by the SDSS
pipeline. We use the PyMorph photometric reductions to isolate effect (ii) and
show that it is the same in the full sample as in small group environments, and
for satellites in the most massive clusters as well. None of these are expected
to be significantly affected by intracluster light (ICL). We only see an
additional effect for centrals in the most massive halos, but we argue that
even this is not dominated by ICL. Hence, for the vast majority of galaxies,
the differences between PyMorph and SDSS pipeline photometry cannot be ascribed
to the semantics of whether or not one includes the ICL when describing the
stellar mass of massive galaxies. Rather, they likely reflect differences in
star formation or assembly histories. Failure to account for the SDSS
underestimate has significantly biased most previous estimates of the SDSS
luminosity and stellar mass functions, and therefore Halo Model estimates of
the z ~ 0.1 relation between the mass of a halo and that of the galaxy at its
center. We also show that when one studies correlations, at fixed group mass,
with a quantity which was not used to define the groups, then selection effects
appear. We show why such effects arise, and should not be mistaken for physical
effects.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. The PyMorph
luminosities and stellar masses are available at
https://www.physics.upenn.edu/~ameert/SDSS_PhotDec
Foreground Model and Antenna Calibration Errors in the Measurement of the Sky-Averaged \lambda 21 cm Signal at z~20
The most promising near-term observable of the cosmic dark age prior to
widespread reionization (z~15-200) is the sky-averaged \lambda 21 cm background
arising from hydrogen in the intergalactic medium. Though an individual antenna
could in principle detect the line signature, data analysis must separate
foregrounds that are orders of magnitude brighter than the \lambda 21 cm
background (but that are anticipated to vary monotonically and gradually with
frequency). Using more physically motivated models for foregrounds than in
previous studies, we show that the intrinsic "spectral smoothness" of the
foregrounds is likely not a concern, and that data analysis for an ideal
antenna should be able to detect the \lambda 21 cm signal after deprojecting a
~5th order polynomial in log(\nu). However, we find that the foreground signal
is corrupted by the frequency-dependent response of a real antenna. The
frequency dependence complicates modeling of foregrounds commonly based on the
assumption of spectral smoothness. Much of our study focuses on the
Large-aperture Experiment to detect the Dark Age (LEDA), which combines both
radiometric and interferometric measurements. We show that statistical
uncertainty remaining after fitting antenna gain patterns to interferometric
measurements does not compromise extraction of the \lambda 21 cm signal for a
range of cosmological models after fitting a 7th order polynomial to
radiometric data. Our results generalize to most efforts to measure the
sky-averaged spectrum.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ. Accepted
version uploade
The high mass end of the stellar mass function: Dependence on stellar population models and agreement between fits to the light profile
We quantify the systematic effects on the stellar mass function which arise
from assumptions about the stellar population, as well as how one fits the
light profiles of the most luminous galaxies at z ~ 0.1. When comparing results
from the literature, we are careful to separate out these effects. Our analysis
shows that while systematics in the estimated comoving number density which
arise from different treatments of the stellar population remain of order < 0.5
dex, systematics in photometry are now about 0.1 dex, despite recent claims in
the literature. Compared to these more recent analyses, previous work based on
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) pipeline photometry leads to underestimates of
rho_*(> M_*) by factors of 3-10 in the mass range 10^11 - 10^11.6 M_Sun, but up
to a factor of 100 at higher stellar masses. This impacts studies which match
massive galaxies to dark matter halos. Although systematics which arise from
different treatments of the stellar population remain of order < 0.5 dex, our
finding that systematics in photometry now amount to only about 0.1 dex in the
stellar mass density is a significant improvement with respect to a decade ago.
Our results highlight the importance of using the same stellar population and
photometric models whenever low and high redshift samples are compared.Comment: 18 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. The PyMorph
luminosities and stellar masses are available at
https://www.physics.upenn.edu/~ameert/SDSS_PhotDec
- …