29,091 research outputs found
Convergence properties of simple genetic algorithms
The essential parameters determining the behaviour of genetic algorithms were investigated. Computer runs were made while systematically varying the parameter values. Results based on the progress curves obtained from these runs are presented along with results based on the variability of the population as the run progresses
The large-scale morphology of IRAS galaxies
At present, visual inspection is the only method for comparing the large-scale morphologies in the distribution of galaxies to those in model universes generated by N-body simulations. To remedy the situation, we have developed a set of three structure functions (S1, S2, S3) that quantify the degree of large-scale prolateness, oblateness, and sphericity/uniformity of a 3-D particle distribution and have applied them to a volume-limited (less than = 4000 km/s) sample of 699 IRAS galaxies with f sub 60 greater than 1.2 Jy. To determine the structure functions, we randomly select 500 galaxies as origins of spherical windows of radius R sub w, locate the centroid of the galaxies in the window (assuming all galaxies have equal mass) and then, compute the principal moments of inertia (I sub 1, I sub 2, I sub 3) about the centroid. Each S sub i is a function of (I sub 2)/(I sub 1) and (I sub 3)/I sub 1). S1, S2, and S3 tend to unity for highly prolate, oblate, and uniform distributions, respectively and tend to zero otherwise. The resulting 500 values of S sub i at each scale R sub w are used to construct a histogram
Shellflow. I. The Convergence of the Velocity Field at 6000 km/s
We present the first results from the Shellflow program, an all-sky
Tully-Fisher (TF) peculiar velocity survey of 276 Sb-Sc galaxies with redshifts
between 4500 and 7000 km/s. Shellflow was designed to minimize systematic
errors between observing runs and between telescopes, thereby removing the
possibility of a spurious bulk flow caused by data inhomogeneity. A fit to the
data yields a bulk flow amplitude V_bulk = 70{+100}{-70} km/s (1 sigma error)
with respect to the Cosmic Microwave Background, i.e., consistent with being at
rest. At the 95% confidence level, the flow amplitude is < 300 km/s. Our
results are insensitive to which Galactic extinction maps we use, and to the
parameterization of the TF relation. The larger bulk motion found in analyses
of the Mark III peculiar velocity catalog are thus likely to be due to
non-uniformities between the subsamples making up Mark III. The absence of bulk
flow is consistent with the study of Giovanelli and collaborators and flow
field predictions from the observed distribution of IRAS galaxies.Comment: Accepted version for publication in ApJ. Includes an epitaph for
Jeffrey Alan Willick (Oct 8, 1959 - Jun 18, 2000
An HI survey of the Bootes Void. II. The Analysis
We discuss the results of a VLA HI survey of the Bootes void and compare the
distribution and HI properties of the void galaxies to those of galaxies found
in a survey of regions of mean cosmic density. The Bootes survey covers 1100
Mpc, or 1\% of the volume of the void and consists of 24 cubes of
typically 2 Mpc * 2 Mpc * 1280 km/s, centered on optically known galaxies.
Sixteen targets were detected in HI; 18 previously uncataloged objects were
discovered directly in HI. The control sample consists of 12 cubes centered on
IRAS selected galaxies with FIR luminosities similar to those of the Bootes
targets and located in regions of 1 to 2 times the cosmic mean density. In
addition to the 12 targets 29 companions were detected in HI. We find that the
number of galaxies within 1 Mpc of the targets is the same to within a factor
of two for void and control samples, and thus that the small scale clustering
of galaxies is the same in regions that differ by a factor of 6 in
density on larger scales. A dynamical analysis of the galaxies in the void
suggests that on scales of a few Mpc the galaxies are gravitationally bound,
forming interacting galaxy pairs, loose pairs and loose groups. One group is
compact enough to qualify as a Hickson compact group. The galaxies found in the
void are mostly late-type, gas rich systems. A careful scrutiny of their HI and
optical properties shows them to be very similar to field galaxies of the same
morphological type. This, combined with our finding that the small scale
clustering of the galaxies in the void is the same as in the field, suggests
that it is the near environment that mostly affects the evolution of galaxies.Comment: Latex file of abstract. The postscript version of the complete paper
(0.2 Mb in gzipped format) including all the figures can be retrieved from
http://www.astro.rug.nl:80/~secr/ To appear in the February 1996 issue of the
Astronomical Journa
Well-posedness, energy and charge conservation for nonlinear wave equations in discrete space-time
We consider the problem of discretization for the U(1)-invariant nonlinear
wave equations in any dimension. We show that the classical finite-difference
scheme used by Strauss and Vazquez \cite{MR0503140} conserves the
positive-definite discrete analog of the energy if the grid ratio is , where and are the mesh sizes of the time and space
variables and is the spatial dimension. We also show that if the grid ratio
is , then there is the discrete analog of the charge which is
conserved.
We prove the existence and uniqueness of solutions to the discrete Cauchy
problem. We use the energy conservation to obtain the a priori bounds for
finite energy solutions, thus showing that the Strauss -- Vazquez
finite-difference scheme for the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation with positive
nonlinear term in the Hamiltonian is conditionally stable.Comment: 10 page
The Ages of Type Ia Supernova Progenitors
Using light curves and host galaxy spectra of 101 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia)
with redshift from the SDSS Supernova Survey (SDSS-SN), we
derive the SN Ia rate as a function of progenitor age (the delay time
distribution, or DTD). We use the VESPA stellar population synthesis algorithm
to analyze the SDSS spectra of all galaxies in the field searched by SDSS-SN,
giving us a reference sample of 77,000 galaxies for our SN Ia hosts. Our method
does not assume any a priori shape for the DTD and therefore is minimally
parametric. We present the DTD in physical units for high stretch (luminous,
slow declining) and low stretch (subluminous, fast declining) supernovae in
three progenitor age bins. We find strong evidence of two progenitor channels:
one that produces high stretch SNe Ia Myr after the birth of the
progenitor system, and one that produces low stretch SNe Ia with a delay
Gyr. We find that each channel contributes roughly half of the
Type Ia rate in our reference sample. We also construct the average spectra of
high stretch and low stretch SN Ia host galaxies, and find that the difference
of these spectra looks like a main sequence B star with nebular emission lines
indicative of star formation. This supports our finding that there are two
populations of SNe Ia, and indicates that the progenitors of high stretch SNe
are at the least associated with very recent star formation in the last few
tens of Myr. Our results provide valuable constraints for models of Type Ia
progenitors and may help improve the calibration of SNe Ia as standard candles.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, AJ accepted. Moderate changes to match
accepted version, including a table of all SNe use
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