6,834 research outputs found
Chemistry of aminoacylation of 5'-AMO and the origin of protein synthesis
Much of our recent work has been a study of aminoacyl AMP derivatives. Elucidation of the character of aminoacyl AMP derivatives has made it obvious that AMP has characteristics which should allow it to preferentially catalyze the synthesis of L-amino acid peptides. The essential features which lead to this conclusion are that all l-amino acids (but not all D amino acids) when esterified to 5'-AMP preferentially (65 percent) distribute to the 3' position of the 5'-AMP; that esterification is predominantly at the 2' position; that 2', 3' diaminoacyl esters are readily formed; and that a peptide bond can be formed between adjacent 2',3' aminoacyl esters
Toward an Improved Analytical Description of Lagrangian Bias
We carry out a detailed numerical investigation of the spatial correlation
function of the initial positions of cosmological dark matter halos. In this
Lagrangian coordinate system, which is especially useful for analytic studies
of cosmological feedback, we are able to construct cross-correlation functions
of objects with varying masses and formation redshifts and compare them with a
variety of analytical approaches. For the case in which both formation
redshifts are equal, we find good agreement between our numerical results and
the bivariate model of Scannapieco & Barkana (2002; SB02) at all masses,
redshifts, and separations, while the model of Porciani et al. (1998) does well
for all parameters except for objects with different masses at small
separations. We find that the standard mapping between Lagrangian and Eulerian
bias performs well for rare objects at all separations, but fails if the
objects are highly-nonlinear (low-sigma) peaks. In the Lagrangian case in which
the formation redshifts differ, the SB02 model does well for all separations
and combinations of masses, apart from a discrepancy at small separations in
situations in which the smaller object is formed earlier and the difference
between redshifts or masses is large. As this same limitation arises in the
standard approach to the single-point progenitor distribution developed by
Lacey & Cole (1993), we conclude that a more complete understanding of the
progenitor distribution is the most important outstanding issue in the analytic
modeling of Lagrangian bias.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, ApJ, in pres
Formation time distribution of dark matter haloes: theories versus N-body simulations
This paper uses numerical simulations to test the formation time distribution
of dark matter haloes predicted by the analytic excursion set approaches. The
formation time distribution is closely linked to the conditional mass function
and this test is therefore an indirect probe of this distribution. The
excursion set models tested are the extended Press-Schechter (EPS) model, the
ellipsoidal collapse (EC) model, and the non-spherical collapse boundary (NCB)
model. Three sets of simulations (6 realizations) have been used to investigate
the halo formation time distribution for halo masses ranging from dwarf-galaxy
like haloes (, where is the characteristic non-linear mass
scale) to massive haloes of . None of the models can match the
simulation results at both high and low redshift. In particular, dark matter
haloes formed generally earlier in our simulations than predicted by the EPS
model. This discrepancy might help explain why semi-analytic models of galaxy
formation, based on EPS merger trees, under-predict the number of high redshift
galaxies compared with recent observations.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Measuring the Cosmic Equation of State with Counts of Galaxies
The classical dN/dz test allows the determination of fundamental cosmological
parameters from the evolution of the cosmic volume element. This test is
applied by measuring the redshift distribution of a tracer whose evolution in
number density is known. In the past, ordinary galaxies have been used as such
a tracer; however, in the absence of a complete theory of galaxy formation,
that method is fraught with difficulties. In this paper, we propose studying
instead the evolution of the apparent abundance of dark matter halos as a
function of their circular velocity, observable via the linewidths or rotation
speeds of visible galaxies. Upcoming redshift surveys will allow the linewidth
distribution of galaxies to be determined at both z~1 and the present day. In
the course of studying this test, we have devised a rapid, improved
semi-analytic method for calculating the circular velocity distribution of dark
halos based upon the analytic mass function of Sheth et al. (1999) and the
formation time distribution of Lacey & Cole (1993). We find that if selection
effects are well-controlled and minimal external constraints are applied, the
planned DEEP Redshift Survey should allow the measurement of the cosmic
equation-of-state parameter w to 10% (as little as 3% if Omega_m has been
well-determined from other observations). This type of test has the potential
also to provide a constraint on any evolution of w such as that predicted by
``tracker'' models.Comment: 4 pages plus 3 embedded figures; version approved by Ap. J. Letters.
A greatly improved error analysis has been added, along with a figure showing
complementarity to other cosmological test
Dark-Halo Cusp: Asymptotic Convergence
We propose a model for how the buildup of dark halos by merging satellites
produces a characteristic inner cusp, of a density profile \rho \prop r^-a with
a -> a_as > 1, as seen in cosmological N-body simulations of hierarchical
clustering scenarios. Dekel, Devor & Hetzroni (2003) argue that a flat core of
a<1 exerts tidal compression which prevents local deposit of satellite
material; the satellite sinks intact into the halo center thus causing a rapid
steepening to a>1. Using merger N-body simulations, we learn that this cusp is
stable under a sequence of mergers, and derive a practical tidal mass-transfer
recipe in regions where the local slope of the halo profile is a>1. According
to this recipe, the ratio of mean densities of halo and initial satellite
within the tidal radius equals a given function psi(a), which is significantly
smaller than unity (compared to being 1 according to crude resonance criteria)
and is a decreasing function of a. This decrease makes the tidal mass transfer
relatively more efficient at larger a, which means steepening when a is small
and flattening when a is large, thus causing converges to a stable solution.
Given this mass-transfer recipe, linear perturbation analysis, supported by toy
simulations, shows that a sequence of cosmological mergers with homologous
satellites slowly leads to a fixed-point cusp with an asymptotic slope a_as>1.
The slope depends only weakly on the fluctuation power spectrum, in agreement
with cosmological simulations. During a long interim period the profile has an
NFW-like shape, with a cusp of 1<a<a_as. Thus, a cusp is enforced if enough
compact satellite remnants make it intact into the inner halo. In order to
maintain a flat core, satellites must be disrupted outside the core, possibly
as a result of a modest puffing up due to baryonic feedback.Comment: 37 pages, Latex, aastex.cls, revised, ApJ, 588, in pres
The mass function
We present the mass functions for different mass estimators for a range of
cosmological models. We pay particular attention to how universal the mass
function is, and how it depends on the cosmology, halo identification and mass
estimator chosen. We investigate quantitatively how well we can relate observed
masses to theoretical mass functions.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, to appear in ApJ
Nonlinear stochastic biasing from the formation epoch distribution of dark halos
We propose a physical model for nonlinear stochastic biasing of one-point
statistics resulting from the formation epoch distribution of dark halos. In
contrast to previous works on the basis of extensive numerical simulations, our
model provides for the first time an analytic expression for the joint
probability function. Specifically we derive the joint probability function of
halo and mass density contrasts from the extended Press-Schechter theory. Since
this function is derived in the framework of the standard gravitational
instability theory assuming the random-Gaussianity of the primordial density
field alone, we expect that the basic features of the nonlinear and stochastic
biasing predicted from our model are fairly generic. As representative
examples, we compute the various biasing parameters in cold dark matter models
as a function of a redshift and a smoothing length. Our major findings are (1)
the biasing of the variance evolves strongly as redshift while its
scale-dependence is generally weak and a simple linear biasing model provides a
reasonable approximation roughly at R\simgt 2(1+z)\himpc, and (2) the
stochasticity exhibits moderate scale-dependence especially on R\simlt
20\himpc, but is almost independent of . Comparison with the previous
numerical simulations shows good agreement with the above behavior, indicating
that the nonlinear and stochastic nature of the halo biasing is essentially
understood by taking account of the distribution of the halo mass and the
formation epoch.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures, ApJ (2000) in pres
HĂĄ alternativas ao uso dos transgĂȘnicos?
A existĂȘncia ou nĂŁo de alternativa ao uso de transgĂȘnicos capaz de satisfazer a demanda mundial por alimento e nutrientes Ă© uma questĂŁo que permanece aberta Ă investigação cientĂfica.A importĂąncia dos transgĂȘnicos ainda nĂŁo estĂĄ bem fundamentada no conhecimento cientĂfico disponĂvel,em parte porque as conquistas e o potencial da agroecologia nĂŁo foram objeto de atenção cientĂfica suficiente
The Effects of the Peak-Peak Correlation on the Peak Model of Hierarchical Clustering
In two previous papers a semi-analytical model was presented for the
hierarchical clustering of halos via gravitational instability from peaks in a
random Gaussian field of density fluctuations. This model is better founded
than the extended Press-Schechter model, which is known to agree with numerical
simulations and to make similar predictions. The specific merger rate, however,
shows a significant departure at intermediate captured masses. The origin of
this was suspected as being the rather crude approximation used for the density
of nested peaks. Here, we seek to verify this suspicion by implementing a more
accurate expression for the latter quantity which accounts for the correlation
among peaks. We confirm that the inclusion of the peak-peak correlation
improves the specific merger rate, while the good behavior of the remaining
quantities is preserved.Comment: ApJ accepted. 15 pages, including 4 figures. Also available at
ftp://pcess1.am.ub.es/pub/ApJ/effectpp.ps.g
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