36,545 research outputs found
Properties of Very Luminous Galaxies
Recent analysis of the SSRS2 data based on cell-counts and two-point
correlation function has shown that very luminous galaxies are much more
strongly clustered than fainter galaxies. In fact, the amplitude of the
correlation function of very luminous galaxies () asymptotically
approaches that of clusters. In this paper we investigate the
properties of the most luminous galaxies, with blue absolute magnitude . We find that: 1) the population mix is comparable to that in other ranges
of absolute magnitudes; 2) only a small fraction are located in bona fide
clusters; 3) the bright galaxy-cluster cross-correlation function is
significantly higher on large scales than that measured for fainter galaxies;
4) the correlation length of galaxies brighter than \MB ,
expressed as a function of the mean interparticle distance, appears to follow
the universal dimensionless correlation function found for clusters and radio
galaxies; 5) a large fraction of the bright galaxies are in interacting pairs,
others show evidence for tidal distortions, while some appear to be surrounded
by faint satellite galaxies. We conclude that very luminous optical galaxies
differ from the normal population of galaxies both in the clustering and other
respects. We speculate that this population is highly biased tracers of mass,
being associated to dark halos with masses more comparable to clusters than
typical loose groups.Comment: 29 pages (6 figures) + 2 tables; paper with all figures and images
available at http://boas5.bo.astro.it/~cappi/papers.html; The Astronomical
Journal, in pres
Labels for non-individuals
Quasi-set theory is a first order theory without identity, which allows us to
cope with non-individuals in a sense. A weaker equivalence relation called
``indistinguishability'' is an extension of identity in the sense that if
is identical to then and are indistinguishable, although the
reciprocal is not always valid. The interesting point is that quasi-set theory
provides us a useful mathematical background for dealing with collections of
indistinguishable elementary quantum particles. In the present paper, however,
we show that even in quasi-set theory it is possible to label objects that are
considered as non-individuals. We intend to prove that individuality has
nothing to do with any labelling process at all, as suggested by some authors.
We discuss the physical interpretation of our results.Comment: 11 pages, no figure
The Power Spectrum of Galaxies in the Nearby Universe
We compute the power spectrum of galaxy density fluctuations in a recently
completed redshift survey of optically-selected galaxies in the southern
hemisphere (SSRS2). The amplitude and shape of the SSRS2 power spectrum are
consistent with results of the Center for Astrophysics redshift survey of the
northern hemisphere (CfA2), including the abrupt change of slope on a scale of
30-50Mpc/h; these results are reproducible for independent volumes of space and
variations are consistent with the errors estimated from mock surveys. Taken
together, the SSRS2 and CfA2 form a complete sample of 14,383 galaxies which
covers one-third of the sky. The power spectrum of this larger sample continues
to rise on scales up to ~ 200Mpc/h, with weak evidence for flattening on the
largest scales. The SSRS2+CfA2 power spectrum and the power spectrum
constraints implied by COBE are well-matched by an Omega*h ~ 0.2,
Omega+lambda_0=1 CDM model with minimal biasing of optically-selected galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Sept.
23, 1994. 10 pages uuencoded compressed postscript, including two figures.
JHU-9410200
Contributions from Dilatonic Strings to the Flat Behaviour of the Rotational Curves in Galaxies
We analyse the flat behaviour of the rotational curves in some galaxies in
the framework of a dilatonic, current-carrying string. We determine the
expression of the tangential velocity of test objects following a stable
circular equatorial orbit in this spacetime.Comment: This version to be published in the Int. Journal of Modern Phys.
Memory effects on the statistics of fragmentation
We investigate through extensive molecular dynamics simulations the
fragmentation process of two-dimensional Lennard-Jones systems. After
thermalization, the fragmentation is initiated by a sudden increment to the
radial component of the particles' velocities. We study the effect of
temperature of the thermalized system as well as the influence of the impact
energy of the ``explosion'' event on the statistics of mass fragments. Our
results indicate that the cumulative distribution of fragments follows the
scaling ansatz , where is
the mass, and are cutoff parameters, and is a scaling
exponent that is dependent on the temperature. More precisely, we show clear
evidence that there is a characteristic scaling exponent for each
macroscopic phase of the thermalized system, i.e., that the non-universal
behavior of the fragmentation process is dictated by the state of the system
before it breaks down.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figure
Modelling a Particle Detector in Field Theory
Particle detector models allow to give an operational definition to the
particle content of a given quantum state of a field theory. The commonly
adopted Unruh-DeWitt type of detector is known to undergo temporary transitions
to excited states even when at rest and in the Minkowski vacuum. We argue that
real detectors do not feature this property, as the configuration "detector in
its ground state + vacuum of the field" is generally a stable bound state of
the underlying fundamental theory (e.g. the ground state-hydrogen atom in a
suitable QED with electrons and protons) in the non-accelerated case. As a
concrete example, we study a local relativistic field theory where a stable
particle can capture a light quantum and form a quasi-stable state. As
expected, to such a stable particle correspond energy eigenstates of the full
theory, as is shown explicitly by using a dressed particle formalism at first
order in perturbation theory. We derive an effective model of detector (at
rest) where the stable particle and the quasi-stable configurations correspond
to the two internal levels, "ground" and "excited", of the detector.Comment: 13 pages, references added, final versio
Majority-Vote Model on a Random Lattice
The stationary critical properties of the isotropic majority vote model on
random lattices with quenched connectivity disorder are calculated by using
Monte Carlo simulations and finite size analysis. The critical exponents
and are found to be different from those of the Ising and
majority vote on the square lattice model and the critical noise parameter is
found to be .Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies. IV. Dipoles of the Velocity Field
We use the recently completed redshift-distance survey of nearby early-type
galaxies (ENEAR) to measure the dipole component of the peculiar velocity field
to a depth of cz ~ 6000 km/s. The sample consists of 1145 galaxies brighter
than m_B=14.5 and cz < 7000 km/s, uniformly distributed over the whole sky, and
129 fainter cluster galaxies within the same volume. Most of the Dn-sigma
distances were obtained from new spectroscopic and photometric observations
conducted by this project, ensuring the homogeneity of the data over the whole
sky. These 1274 galaxies are objectively assigned to 696 objects -- 282
groups/clusters and 414 isolated galaxies. We find that within a volume of
radius ~ 6000 km/s, the best-fitting bulk flow has an amplitude of |vbulk| =220
+/- 42 km/s in the CMB restframe, pointing towards l=304 +/- 16 degrees, b=25
+/- 11 degrees. The error in the amplitude includes statistical, sampling and
possible systematic errors. This solution is in excellent agreement with that
obtained by the SFI Tully-Fisher survey. Our results suggest that most of the
motion of the Local Group is due to fluctuations within 6000 km/s, in contrast
to recent claims of large amplitude bulk motions on larger scales.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, ApJL, accepted (updated results; matches
accepted version
- âŠ