1,005 research outputs found
REGIONAL AND NATIONAL IMPACTS OF EXPANDED PACIFIC NORTHWEST POTATO PRODUCTION
A 46-equation econometric model of the U.S. potato market was developed. The model examines the determination of planted acreage, yield, production, and farm prices in the Pacific Northwest and in five other producing regions which compete with Northwest production. National demand relationships for potatoes used in processing, fresh consumption and livestock feed are also specified. These estimated relationships are used to simulate future scenarios which assume alternative rates of expansion for Northwest potato production. Results suggest that opportunities for considerable expansion of Northwest potato production exist if the secular shift in potato demand continues and increases in acreage are not excessive or expansion does not occur too quickly.Crop Production/Industries,
A First Comparison of the SBF Survey Distances with the Galaxy Density Field: Implications for H_0 and Omega
We compare the peculiar velocities measured in the SBF Survey of Galaxy
Distances with the predictions from the density fields of the IRAS 1.2 Jy
flux-limited redshift survey and the Optical Redshift Survey (ORS) to derive
simultaneous constraints on the Hubble constant and the density parameter
, where is the linear bias. We find
and for the IRAS and ORS
comparisons, respectively, and \kmsMpc (with an additional 9%
uncertainty due to the Cepheids themselves). The match between predicted and
observed peculiar velocities is good for these values of and , and
although there is covariance between the two parameters, our results clearly
point toward low-density cosmologies. Thus, the unresolved discrepancy between
the ``velocity-velocity'' and ``density-density'' measurements of
continues.Comment: 4 pages with 3 embedded ps figures; uses emulateapj.sty (included).
Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Reconciliation of the Surface Brightness Fluctuations and Type Ia Supernovae Distance Scales
We present Hubble Space Telescope measurements of surface brightness
fluctuations (SBF) distances to early-type galaxies that have hosted Type Ia
supernovae (SNIa). The agreement in the relative SBF and SNIa multicolor light
curve shape and delta-m_15 distances is excellent. There is no systematic scale
error with distance, and previous work has shown that SBF and SNIa give
consistent ties to the Hubble flow. However, we confirm a systematic offset of
about 0.25 mag in the distance zero points of the two methods, and we trace
this offset to their respective Cepheid calibrations. SBF has in the past been
calibrated with Cepheid distances from the H_0 Key Project team, while SNIa
have been calibrated with Cepheid distances from the team composed of Sandage,
Saha, and collaborators. When the two methods are calibrated in a consistent
way, their distances are in superb agreement. Until the conflict over the
``long'' and ``short'' extragalactic Cepheid distances among many galaxies is
resolved, we cannot definitively constrain the Hubble constant to better than
about 10%, even leaving aside the additional uncertainty in the distance to the
Large Magellanic Cloud, common to both Cepheid scales. However, recent
theoretical SBF predictions from stellar population models favor the Key
Project Cepheid scale, while the theoretical SNIa calibration lies between the
long and short scales. In addition, while the current SBF distance to M31/M32
is in good agreement with the RR Lyrae and red giant branch distances,
calibrating SBF with the longer Cepheid scale would introduce a 0.3 mag offset
with respect to the RR Lyrae scale.Comment: 13 pages, 3 PostScript figures, LaTeX with AASTeX 5.02 and natbib.sty
v7.0 (included). Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
The MASSIVE Survey - VIII. Stellar Velocity Dispersion Profiles and Environmental Dependence of Early-Type Galaxies
We measure the radial profiles of the stellar velocity dispersions,
, for 90 early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the MASSIVE survey, a
volume-limited integral-field spectroscopic (IFS) galaxy survey targeting all
northern-sky ETGs with absolute -band magnitude mag, or
stellar mass , within 108 Mpc. Our wide-field
107" 107" IFS data cover radii as large as 40 kpc, for which we
quantify separately the inner (2 kpc) and outer (20 kpc) logarithmic slopes
and of . While
is mostly negative, of the 56 galaxies with sufficient
radial coverage to determine we find 36% to have rising
outer dispersion profiles, 30% to be flat within the uncertainties, and 34% to
be falling. The fraction of galaxies with rising outer profiles increases with
and in denser galaxy environment, with 10 of the 11 most massive galaxies
in our sample having flat or rising dispersion profiles. The strongest
environmental correlations are with local density and halo mass, but a weaker
correlation with large-scale density also exists. The average is similar for brightest group galaxies, satellites, and isolated
galaxies in our sample. We find a clear positive correlation between the
gradients of the outer dispersion profile and the gradients of the velocity
kurtosis . Altogether, our kinematic results suggest that the increasing
fraction of rising dispersion profiles in the most massive ETGs are caused (at
least in part) by variations in the total mass profiles rather than in the
velocity anisotropy alone.Comment: Accepted/in press, MNRA
The SBF Survey of Galaxy Distances. I. Sample Selection, Photometric Calibration, and the Hubble Constant
We describe a program of surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) measurements
for determining galaxy distances. This paper presents the photometric
calibration of our sample and of SBF in general. Basing our zero point on
observations of Cepheid variable stars, we find that the absolute SBF magnitude
in the Kron-Cousins I band correlates well with the mean (V-I)o color of a
galaxy according to
M_Ibar = (-1.74 +/- 0.07) + (4.5 +/- 0.25) [ (V-I)o - 1.15 ]
for 1.0 < (V-I) < 1.3. This agrees well with theoretical estimates from
stellar population models. Comparisons between SBF distances and a variety of
other estimators, including Cepheid variable stars, the Planetary Nebula
Luminosity Function (PNLF), Tully-Fisher (TF), Dn-sigma, SNII, and SNIa,
demonstrate that the calibration of SBF is universally valid and that SBF error
estimates are accurate. The zero point given by Cepheids, PNLF, TF (both
calibrated using Cepheids), and SNII is in units of Mpc; the zero point given
by TF (referenced to a distant frame), Dn-sigma and SNIa is in terms of a
Hubble expansion velocity expressed in km/s. Tying together these two zero
points yields a Hubble constant of H_0 = 81 +/- 6 km/s/Mpc. As part of this
analysis, we present SBF distances to 12 nearby groups of galaxies where
Cepheids, SNII, and SNIa have been observed.Comment: 29 pages plus 8 figures; LaTeX (AASTeX) uses aaspp4.sty (included);
To appear in The Astrophysical Journal, 1997 February 1 issue; Compressed
PostScript available from ftp://mars.tuc.noao.edu/sbf
Slow, Steady-State Transport with "Loading" and Bulk Reactions: the Mixed Ionic Conductor LaCuO
We consider slow, steady transport for the normal state of the superconductor
LaCuO in a one-dimensional geometry, with surface fluxes
sufficiently general to permit oxygen to be driven into the sample (``loaded'')
either by electrochemical means or by high oxygen partial pressure. We include
the bulk reaction OO, where neutral atoms () go into ions
() and holes (). For slow, steady transport, the transport equations
simplify because the bulk reaction rate density and the bulk loading rates
then are uniform in space and time. All three fluxes must be
specified at each surface, which for a uniform current density corresponds
to five independent fluxes. These fluxes generate two types of static modes at
each surface and a bulk response with a voltage profile that varies
quadratically in space, characterized by and the total oxygen flux
(neutral plus ion) at each surface. One type of surface mode is associated with
electrical screening; the other type is associated both with diffusion and
drift, and with chemical reaction (the {\it diffusion-reaction mode}). The
diffusion-reaction mode is accompanied by changes in the chemical potentials
, and by reactions and fluxes, but it neither carries current (J=0) nor
loads the system chemically (). Generation of the diffusion-reaction
mode may explain the phenomenon of ``turbulence in the voltage'' often observed
near the electrodes of other mixed ionic electronic conductors (MIECs).Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
The SBF Survey of Galaxy Distances. II. Local and Large-Scale Flows
We present analysis of local large scale flows using the Surface Brightness
Fluctuation (SBF) Survey for the distances to 300 early-type galaxies. Our
models of the distribution function of mean velocity and velocity dispersion at
each point in space include a uniform thermal velocity dispersion and spherical
attractors whose position, amplitude, and radial shape are free to vary. Our
fitting procedure performs a maximum likelihood fit of the model to the
observations. We obtain a Hubble constant of Ho = 77 +/- 4 +/- 7 km/s/Mpc, but
a uniform Hubble flow is not acceptable fit to the data. Inclusion of two
attractors, one of whose fit location coincides with the Virgo cluster and the
other whose fit location is slightly beyond the Centaurus clusters nearly
explain the peculiar velocities, but the quality of the fit can be further
improved by the addition of a quadrupole correction to the Hubble flow.
Although the dipole and quadrupole may be genuine manifestations of more
distant density fluctuations, we find evidence that they are more likely due to
non-spherical attractors. We find no evidence for bulk flows which include our
entire survey volume (R < 3000 km/s); our volume is at rest with respect to the
CMB. The fits to the attractors both have isothermal radial profiles (v ~ 1/r)
over a range of overdensity between about 10 and 1, but fall off more steeply
at larger radius. The best fit value for the small scale, cosmic thermal
velocity is 180 +/- 14 km/s.Comment: 37 pages, AASTeX Latex, including 30 Postscript figures, submitted to
Astrophysical Journal, July 2, 199
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