2,837 research outputs found
The NASA-Lewis/ERDA solar heating and cooling technology program
Plans by NASA to carry out a major role in a solar heating and cooling program are presented. This role would be to create and test the enabling technology for future solar heating, cooling, and combined heating/cooling systems. The major objectives of the project are to achieve reduction in solar energy system costs, while maintaining adequate performance, reliability, life, and maintenance characteristics. The project approach is discussed, and will be accomplished principally by contract with industry to develop advanced components and subsystems. Advanced hardware will be tested to establish 'technology readiness' both under controlled laboratory conditions and under real sun conditions
Luminosity Distributions within Rich Clusters - III: A comparative study of seven Abell/ACO clusters
We recover the luminosity distributions over a wide range of absolute
magnitude (-24.5 < M_{R} < -16.5) for a sample of seven rich southern galaxy
clusters. We find a large variation in the ratio of dwarf to giant galaxies,
DGR: 0.8\le \le 3.1. This variation is shown to be inconsistent with a
ubiquitous cluster luminosity function. The DGR shows a smaller variation from
cluster to cluster in the inner regions (r \ls 0.56 Mpc). Outside these regions
we find the DGR to be strongly anti-correlated with the mean local projected
galaxy density with the DGR increasing towards lower densities. In addition the
DGR in the outer regions shows some correlation with Bautz-Morgan type. Radial
analysis of the clusters indicate that the dwarf galaxies are less centrally
clustered than the giants and form a significant halo around clusters. We
conclude that measurements of the total cluster luminosity distribution based
on the inner core alone are likely to be severe underestimates of the dwarf
component, the integrated cluster luminosity and the contribution of galaxy
masses to the cluster's total mass. Further work is required to quantify this.
The observational evidence that the unrelaxed, lower density outer regions of
clusters are dwarf-rich, adds credence to the recent evidence and conjecture
that the field is a predominantly dwarf rich environment and that the dwarf
galaxies are under-represented in measures of the local field luminosity
function.Comment: 31 pages including 11 figures. Also available from
http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~spd3/bib.htm
Luminosity Distributions within Rich Clusters - II: Demonstration and Verification via Simulation
We present detailed simulations of long exposure CCD images. The simulations
are used to explore the validity of the statistical method for reconstructing
the luminosity distribution of galaxies within a rich cluster i.e. by the
subtraction of field number-counts from those of a sight-line through the
cluster. In particular we use the simulations to establish the reliability of
our observational data presented in Paper 3. Based on our intended CCD
field-of-view (6.5 by 6.5 arcmins) and a 1-sigma detection limit of 26 mags per
sq arcsecond, we conclude that the luminosity distribution can be robustly
determined over a wide range of absolute magnitude (-23 < M_{R} < -16)
provided:
(a) the cluster has an Abell richness 1.5 or greater,
(b) the cluster's redshift lies in the range 0.1 < z < 0.3,
(c) the seeing is better than FWHM 1.25'' and
(d) the photometric zero points are accurate to within Delta m = \pm 0.12.
If these conditions are not met then the recovered luminosity distribution is
unreliable and potentially grossly miss-leading. Finally although the method
clearly has limitations, within these limitations the technique represents an
extremely promising probe of galaxy evolution and environmental dependencies.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures accepted for publication in MNRAS also available
from http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~spd3/bib.htm
A Search for Low Surface Brightness Structure Around Compact Narrow Emission Line Galaxies
As the most extreme members of the rapidly evolving faint blue galaxy
population at intermediate redshift, the compact narrow emission line galaxies
(CNELGs) are intrinsically luminous (-22 < M_B < -18) with narrow emission
linewidths (30 < \sigma < 125 km/s). Their nature is heavily debated: they may
be low-mass starbursting galaxies that will fade to present-day dwarf galaxies
or bursts of star formation temporarily dominating the flux of more massive
galaxies, possibly related to in situ bulge formation or the formation of cores
of galaxies. We present deep, high-quality (~0.6 - 0.8 arcsec) images with CFHT
of 27 CNELGs. One galaxy shows clear evidence for a tidal tail; the others are
not unambiguously embedded in galactic disks. Approximately 55% of the CNELGS
have sizes consistent with local dwarfs of small-to-intermediate sizes, while
45% have sizes consistent with large dwarfs or disks galaxies. At least 4
CNELGs cannot harbor substantial underlying disk material; they are
low-luminosity galaxies at the present epoch (M_B > -18). Conversely, 15 are
not blue enough to fade to low-luminosity dwarfs (M_B > -15.2). The majority of
the CNELGs are consistent with progenitors of intermediate-luminosity dwarfs
and low-luminosity spiral galaxies with small disks. CNELGs are a heterogeneous
progenitor population with significant fractions (up to 44%) capable of fading
into today's faint dwarfs (M_B > -15.2), while 15 to 85% may only experience an
apparently extremely compact CNELG phase at intermediate redshift but remain
more luminous galaxies at the present epoch.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, emulateapj, published in Ap
Spectroscopic evolution of dusty starburst galaxies
By using a one-zone chemical and spectrophotometric evolution model of a disk
galaxy undergoing a dusty starburst, we investigate, numerically, the optical
spectroscopic properties in order to explore galaxy evolution in distant
clusters. We adopt an assumption that the degree of dust extinction
(represented by ) depends on the ages of starburst populations in such a
way that younger stars have larger (originally referred to as selective
dust extinction by Poggianti & Wu 2000). In particular, we investigate how the
time evolution of the equivalent widths of [OII]3727 and H is
controlled by the adopted age dependence. This leads to three main results: (1)
If a young stellar population (with the age of yr) is more
heavily obscured by dust than an old one ( yr), the galaxy can show
an ``e(a)'' spectrum characterized by strong H absorption and
relatively modest [OII] emission. (2) A dusty starburst galaxy with an e(a)
spectrum can evolve into a poststarburst galaxy with an a+k (or k+a) spectrum
0.2 Gyr after the starburst and then into a passive one with a k-type spectrum
1 Gyr after the starburst. This result clearly demonstrates an evolutionary
link between galaxies with different spectral classes (i.e., e(b), e(a), a+k,
k+a, and k). (3) A dusty starburst galaxy can show an a+k or k+a spectrum even
in the dusty starburst phase if the age-dependence of dust extinction is rather
weak, i.e., if young starburst populations with different ages (
yr) are uniformly obscured by dust.Comment: 27 pages 12 figures,2001,ApJ,in pres
On the Stellar Kinematics and Mass of the Virgo Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy VCC 1287
Here, we present a kinematical analysis of the Virgo cluster ultra-diffuse
galaxy (UDG) VCC 1287 based on data taken with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager
(KCWI). We confirm VCC 1287's association both with the Virgo cluster and its
globular cluster (GC) system, measuring a recessional velocity of $1116 \pm 2\
\mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}19 \pm 6\
\mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}1.11^{+0.81}_{-0.81}
\times 10^{9} \ \mathrm{M_{\odot}}13^{+11}_{-11}$)
within the half light radius (4.4 kpc). This places VCC 1287 slightly above the
well established relation for normal galaxies, with a higher mass to light
ratio for its dynamical mass than normal galaxies. We use our dynamical mass,
and an estimate of GC system richness, to place VCC 1287 on the GC number --
dynamical mass relation, finding good agreement with a sample of normal
galaxies. Based on a total halo mass derived from GC counts, we then infer that
VCC 1287 likely resides in a cored or low concentration dark matter halo. Based
on the comparison of our measurements to predictions from simulations, we find
that strong stellar feedback and/or tidal effects are plausibly the dominant
mechanisms in the formation of VCC 1287. Finally, we compare our measurement of
the dynamical mass with those for other UDGs. These dynamical mass estimates
suggest relatively massive halos and a failed galaxy origin for at least some
UDGs.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures with an additional 5 pages and 5 figures in
appendices. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. v2: with small updates from
publication formatting and a minor plotting fix for Fig. 1
Radial Color Gradients in K+A Galaxies in Distant Clusters of Galaxies
Galaxies in rich clusters with z 0.3 are observed to have a higher
fraction of photometrically blue galaxies than their nearby counterparts. This
raises the important question of what environmental effects can cause the
termination of star formation between z 0.3 and the present. The star
formation may be truncated due to ram-pressure stripping, or the gas in the
disk may be depleted by an episode of star formation caused by some external
perturbation. To help resolve this issue, surface photometry was carried out
for a total of 70 early-type galaxies in the cluster Cl1358+62, at z
0.33, using two-color images from the Hubble Archive. The galaxies were divided
into two categories based on spectroscopic criteria: 24 are type K+A (e.g.,
strong Balmer lines, with no visible emission lines), while the remaining 46
are in the control sample with normal spectra. Radial color profiles were
produced to see if the K+A galaxies show bluer nuclei in relation to their
surrounding disks. Specifically, a linear gradient was fit to the radial color
profile of each galaxy. We find that the K+A galaxies on average tend to have
slightly bluer gradients towards the center than the normals. A
Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test has been applied to the two sets of color
gradients. The result of the test indicates that there is only a 2%
probability that the K+A and normal samples are drawn from the same parent
distribution. There is a possible complication from a trend in the apparent
magnitude vs. color gradient relation, but overall our results favor the
centralized star formation scenario as an important process in the evolution of
galaxies in dense clusters.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A
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