8,637 research outputs found
Conjugate photoelectron impact ionization
Exchange of photoelectrons between magnetically conjugate parts of ionospher
A new numerical method for obtaining gluon distribution functions , from the proton structure function
An exact expression for the leading-order (LO) gluon distribution function
from the DGLAP evolution equation for the proton structure
function for deep inelastic scattering has
recently been obtained [M. M. Block, L. Durand and D. W. McKay, Phys. Rev.
D{\bf 79}, 014031, (2009)] for massless quarks, using Laplace transformation
techniques. Here, we develop a fast and accurate numerical inverse Laplace
transformation algorithm, required to invert the Laplace transforms needed to
evaluate , and compare it to the exact solution. We obtain accuracies
of less than 1 part in 1000 over the entire and spectrum. Since no
analytic Laplace inversion is possible for next-to-leading order (NLO) and
higher orders, this numerical algorithm will enable one to obtain accurate NLO
(and NNLO) gluon distributions, using only experimental measurements of
.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure
A Dust-Penetrated Classification Scheme for Bars as Inferred from their Gravitational Force Fields
The division of galaxies into ``barred'' (SB) and ``normal'' (S) spirals is a
fundamental aspect of the Hubble galaxy classification system. This ``tuning
fork'' view was revised by de Vaucouleurs, whose classification volume
recognized apparent ``bar strength'' (SA, SAB, SB) as a continuous property of
galaxies called the ``family''. However, the SA, SAB, and SB families are
purely visual judgments that can have little bearing on the actual bar strength
in a given galaxy. Until very recently, published bar judgments were based
exclusively on blue light images, where internal extinction or star formation
can either mask a bar completely or give the false impression of a bar in a
nonbarred galaxy. Near-infrared camera arrays, which principally trace the old
stellar populations in both normal and barred galaxies, now facilitate a
quantification of bar strength in terms of their gravitational potentials and
force fields. In this paper, we show that the maximum value, Qb, of the ratio
of the tangential force to the mean radial force is a quantitative measure of
the strength of a bar. Qb does not measure bar ellipticity or bar shape, but
rather depends on the actual forcing due to the bar embedded in its disk. We
show that a wide range of true bar strengths characterizes the category ``SB'',
while de Vaucouleurs category ``SAB'' corresponds to a much narrower range of
bar strengths. We present Qb values for 36 galaxies, and we incorporate our bar
classes into a dust-penetrated classification system for spiral galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal (LaTex, 30
pages + 3 figures); Figs. 1 and 3 are in color and are also available at
http://bama.ua.edu/~rbuta/bars
Uncovering Spiral Structure in Flocculent Galaxies
We present K'(2.1 micron) observations of four nearby flocculent spirals,
which clearly show low-level spiral structure and suggest that kiloparsec-scale
spiral structure is more prevalent in flocculent spirals than previously
supposed. In particular, the prototypical flocculent spiral NGC 5055 is shown
to have regular, two-arm spiral structure to a radius of 4 kpc in the near
infrared, with an arm-interarm contrast of 1.3. The spiral structure in all
four galaxies is weaker than that in grand design galaxies. Taken in unbarred
galaxies with no large, nearby companions, these data are consistent with the
modal theory of spiral density waves, which maintains that density waves are
intrinsic to the disk. As an alternative, mechanisms for driving spiral
structure with non-axisymmetric perturbers are also discussed. These
observations highlight the importance of near infrared imaging for exploring
the range of physical environments in which large-scale dynamical processes,
such as density waves, are important.Comment: 12 pages AASTeX; 3 compressed PS figures can be retrieved from
ftp://ftp.astro.umd.edu/pub/michele as file thornley.tar (1.6Mbytes).
Accepted to Ap.J. Letters.(Figures now also available here, and from
ftp://ftp.astro.umd.edu/pub/michele , in GIF format.
Mid-Infrared Galaxy Morphology Along the Hubble Sequence
The mid-infrared emission from 18 nearby galaxies imaged with the IRAC
instrument on Spitzer Space Telescope samples the spatial distributions of the
reddening-free stellar photospheric emission and the warm dust in the ISM.
These two components provide a new framework for galaxy morphological
classification, in which the presence of spiral arms and their emission
strength relative to the starlight can be measured directly and with high
contrast. Four mid-infrared classification methods are explored, three of which
are based on quantitative global parameters (colors, bulge-to-disk ratio)
similar to those used in the past for optical studies; in this limited sample,
all correlate well with traditional B-band classification. We suggest reasons
why infrared classification may be superior to optical classification.Comment: ApJS (in press), Spitzer Space Telescope Special Issue; 13 pages,
LaTeX (or Latex, etc); Figure 1ab is large, color plate; full-resolution
plates in .pdf format available at
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/irac/publications
New physics, the cosmic ray spectrum knee, and cross section measurements
We explore the possibility that a new physics interaction can provide an
explanation for the knee just above GeV in the cosmic ray spectrum. We
model the new physics modifications to the total proton-proton cross section
with an incoherent term that allows for missing energy above the scale of new
physics. We add the constraint that the new physics must also be consistent
with published cross section measurements, using cosmic ray observations,
an order of magnitude and more above the knee. We find that the rise in cross
section required at energies above the knee is radical. The increase in cross
section suggests that it may be more appropriate to treat the scattering
process in the black disc limit at such high energies. In this case there may
be no clean separation between the standard model and new physics contributions
to the total cross section. We model the missing energy in this limit and find
a good fit to the Tibet III cosmic ray flux data. We comment on testing the new
physics proposal for the cosmic ray knee at the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure
Self-Consistent Response of a Galactic Disk to an Elliptical Perturbation Halo Potential
We calculate the self-consistent response of an axisymmetric galactic disk
perturbed by an elliptical halo potential of harmonic number m = 2, and obtain
the net disk ellipticity. Such a potential is commonly expected to arise due to
a galactic tidal encounter and also during the galaxy formation process. The
self-gravitational potential corresponding to the self-consistent,
non-axisymmetric density response of the disk is obtained by inversion of
Poisson equation for a thin disk. This response potential is shown to oppose
the perturbation potential, because physically the disk self-gravity resists
the imposed potential. This results in a reduction in the net ellipticity of
the perturbation halo potential in the disk plane. The reduction factor
denoting this decrease is independent of the strength of the perturbation
potential, and has a typical minimum value of 0.75 - 0.9 for a wide range of
galaxy parameters. The reduction is negligible at all radii for higher
harmonics (m > or = 3) of the halo potential. (abridged).Comment: 26 pages (LaTex- aastex style), 3 .eps figures. To appear in the
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 542, Oct. 20, 200
Morphological Classification of Galaxies by Shapelet Decomposition in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II: Multiwavelength Classification
We describe the application of the `shapelet' linear decomposition of galaxy
images to multi-wavelength morphological classification using the
and -band images of 1519 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We
utilize elliptical shapelets to remove to first-order the effect of inclination
on morphology. After decomposing the galaxies we perform a principal component
analysis on the shapelet coefficients to reduce the dimensionality of the
spectral morphological parameter space. We give a description of each of the
first ten principal component's contribution to a galaxy's spectral morphology.
We find that galaxies of different broad Hubble type separate cleanly in the
principal component space. We apply a mixture of Gaussians model to the
2-dimensional space spanned by the first two principal components and use the
results as a basis for classification. Using the mixture model, we separate
galaxies into three classes and give a description of each class's physical and
morphological properties. We find that the two dominant mixture model classes
correspond to early and late type galaxies, respectively. The third class has,
on average, a blue, extended core surrounded by a faint red halo, and typically
exhibits some asymmetry. We compare our method to a simple cut on color
and find the shapelet method to be superior in separating galaxies.
Furthermore, we find evidence that the decision boundary may not be
optimal for separation between early and late type galaxies, and suggest that
the optimal cut may be .Comment: 42 pages, 18 figs, revised version in press at AJ. Some modification
to the technique, more discussion, addition/deletion/modification of several
figures, color figures have been added. A high resolution version may be
obtained at
http://bllac.as.arizona.edu/~bkelly/shapelets/shapelets_ugriz.ps.g
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