Properties of galaxies in SDSS Quasar environments at z < 0.2

We analyse the environment of low redshift, z < 0.2, SDSS quasars using the spectral and photometric information of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Third Data Release (SDSS-DR3). We compare quasar neighbourhoods with field and high density environments through an analysis on samples of typical galaxies and groups. We compute the surrounding surface number density of galaxies finding that quasar environments systematically avoid high density regions. Their mean environments correspond to galaxy density enhancements similar to those of typical galaxies. We have also explored several galaxy properties in these environments, such as spectral types, specific star formation rates, concentration indexes, colours and active nuclei activity. We conclude that low redshift quasar neighbourhoods (r_p < 1 Mpc h^-1, Delta V < 500 km/s) are populated by bluer and more intense star forming galaxies of disk-type morphology than galaxies in groups and in the field. Although star formation activity is thought to be significantly triggered by interactions, we find that quasar fueling may not require the presence of a close companion galaxy (r_p < 100 kpc h^-1, Delta V< 350 km/s). As a test of the unified AGN model, we have performed a similar analysis to the neighbours of a sample of active galaxies. The results indicate that these neighbourhoods are comparable to those of quasars giving further support to this unified scenario.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, submitted to MNRA

Dichotomy in host environments and signs of recycled AGN

We analyse the relation between AGN host properties and large scale environment for a representative red and blue AGN host galaxy sample selected from the DR4 SDSS. A comparison is made with two carefully constructed control samples of non-active galaxies, covering the same redshift range and color baseline. The cross-correlation functions show that the density distribution of neighbours is almost identical for blue galaxies, either active, or non-active. Although active red galaxies inhabit environments less dense compared to non-active red galaxies, both reside in environments considerably denser than those of blue hosts. Moreover, the radial density profile of AGN, relative to galaxy group centres is less concentrated than galaxies. This is particularly evident when comparing red AGN and non-active galaxies. The properties of the neighbouring galaxies of blue and red AGN and non active galaxies reflect this effect. While the neighbourhood of the blue samples is indistinguishable, the red AGN environs show an excess of blue-star forming galaxies with respect to their non-active counterpart. On the other hand, the active and non-active blue systems have similar environments but markedly different morphological distributions, showing an excess of blue early-type AGN, which are argued to be late stage mergers. This comparison reveals that the observable differences between active red and blue host galaxy properties including star formation history and AGN activity depends on the environment within which the galaxies form and evolve.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Triplets of Quasars at high redshift I: Photometric data

We have conducted an optical and infrared imaging in the neighbourhoods of 4 triplets of quasars. R, z', J and Ks images were obtained with MOSAIC II and ISPI at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory. Accurate relative photometry and astrometry were obtained from these images for subsequent use in deriving photometric redshifts. We analyzed the homogeneity and depth of the photometric catalog by comparing with results coming from the literature. The good agreement shows that our magnitudes are reliable to study large scale structure reaching limiting magnitudes of R = 24.5, z' = 22.5, J = 20.5 and Ks = 19.0. With this catalog we can study the neighbourhoods of the triplets of quasars searching for galaxy overdensities such as groups and galaxy clusters.Comment: The paper contains 12 figures and 3 table

The environment of active objects in the nearby universe

We study the galaxy environment of active galaxies, radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars in the redshift range $0.1\leq z\leq0.25$. We use APM galaxies in order to explore the local galaxy overdensity and the $b_J-R$ colour distribution of neighbouring galaxies of these target samples. For comparison, we perform similar analysis on samples of Abell clusters with X-ray emission, and samples of Abell clusters with richness R=1 and R=0. The projected cross-correlations show that the samples of quasars and active galaxies reside in regions of galaxy density enhancements lower than those typical of R=0 clusters. We also find that in the nearby universe the local galaxy overdensity of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars are comparable. The analysis of the distribution of $b_J-R$ galaxy colour indexes suggests that the environment of quasars is not strongly dominated by a population of red galaxies, characteristic of rich Abell cluster, an effect that is more clearly appreciated for our sample of radio-loud quasars.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in MNRA

Phenomemology of a Realistic Accelerating Universe Using Tracker Fields

We present a realistic scenario of tracking of scalar fields with varying equation of state. The astrophysical constraints on the evolution of scalar fields in the physical universe are discussed. The nucleosynthesis and the galaxy formation constraints have been used to put limits on $\Omega_\phi$ and estimate $\epsilon$ during cosmic evolution. Interpolation techniques have been applied to estimate $\epsilon\simeq0.772$ at the present epoch. The epoch of transition from matter to quintessence dominated era and consequent onset of acceleration in cosmic expansion is calculated and taking the lower limit $\Omega_n^0 = 0.2$ as estimated from $SN_e I_a$ data, it is shown that the supernova observations beyond redshift $z=1$ would reveal deceleration in cosmic expansion.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, late

Quantum Monte Carlo calculation of Compton profiles of solid lithium

Recent high resolution Compton scattering experiments in lithium have shown significant discrepancies with conventional band theoretical results. We present a pseudopotential quantum Monte Carlo study of electron-electron and electron-ion correlation effects on the momentum distribution of lithium. We compute the correlation correction to the valence Compton profiles obtained within Kohn-Sham density functional theory in the local density approximation and determine that electronic correlation does not account for the discrepancy with the experimental results. Our calculations lead do different conclusions than recent GW studies and indicate that other effects (thermal disorder, core-valence separation etc.) must be invoked to explain the discrepancy with experiments.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.