New Structure In The Shapley Supercluster

We present new radial velocities for 189 galaxies in a 91 sq. deg region of the Shapley supercluster measured with the FLAIR-II spectrograph on the UK Schmidt Telescope. The data reveal two sheets of galaxies linking the major concentrations of the supercluster. The supercluster is not flattened in Declination as was suggested previously and it may be at least 30 percent larger than previously thought with a correspondingly larger contribution to the motion of the Local Group.Comment: LaTex: 2 pages, 1 figure, includes conf_iap.sty style file. To appear in proceedings of The 14th IAP Colloquium: Wide Field Surveys in Cosmology, held in Paris, 1998 May 26--30, eds. S.Colombi, Y.Mellie

Unveiling hidden structures in the Coma cluster

We have assembled a large data-set of 613 galaxy redshifts in the Coma cluster, the largest presently available for a cluster of galaxies. We have defined a sample of cluster members complete to b$_{26.5}=20.0$, using a membership criterion based on the galaxy velocity, when available, or on the galaxy magnitude and colour, otherwise. Such a data set allows us to define nearly complete samples within a region of 1~\Mpc\ radius, with a sufficient number of galaxies per sample to make statistical analyses possible. Using this sample and the {\em ROSAT} PSPC X--ray image of the cluster, we have re-analyzed the structure and kinematics of Coma, by applying the wavelet and adaptive kernel techniques. A striking coincidence of features is found in the distributions of galaxies and hot intracluster gas. The two central dominant galaxies, NGC4874 and NGC4889, are surrounded by two galaxy groups, mostly populated with galaxies brighter than b$_{26.5}=17$ and well separated in velocity space. On the contrary, the fainter galaxies tend to form a single smooth structure with a central peak coinciding in position with a secondary peak detected in X--rays, and located between the two dominant galaxies; we suggest to identify this structure with the main body of the Coma cluster. A continuous velocity gradient is found in the central distribution of these faint galaxies, a probable signature of tidal interactions rather than rotation. There is evidence for a bound population of bright galaxies around other brightest cluster members. Altogether, the Coma cluster structure seems to be better traced by the faint galaxy population, the bright galaxies being located in subclusters. We discuss this evidence in terms of an ongoing accretion of groups onto the cluster.Comment: to appear in A&A, 19 pages, uuencoded gzipped postscript fil

On the galaxy luminosity function in the central regions of the Coma cluster

We have obtained new redshifts for 265 objects in the central 48~$\times$~25~arcmin$^2$ region of the Coma cluster. When supplemented with literature data, our redshift sample is 95~\% complete up to a magnitude b$_{26.5}$=18.0 (the magnitudes are taken from the photometric sample of Godwin et al. 1983). Using redshift-confirmed membership for 205 galaxies, and the location in the colour-magnitude diagram for another 91 galaxies, we have built a sample of cluster members which is complete up to b$_{26.5}$=20.0. We show that the Coma cluster luminosity function cannot be adequately fitted by a single Schechter (1976) function, because of a dip in the magnitude distribution at b$_{26.5}$$\sim$17. The superposition of an Erlang (or a Gauss) and a Schechter function provides a significantly better fit. We compare the luminosity function of Coma to those of other clusters, and of the field. Luminosity functions for rich clusters look similar, with a maximum at $M_{b} \simeq -19.5 + 5 \times \log h_{50}$, while the Virgo and the field luminosity functions show a nearly monotonic behaviour. These differences may be produced by physical processes related to the environment which affect the luminosities of a certain class of cluster galaxies.Comment: 7 pages, uuencoded postscript file (figures included) Accepted for publication on A&

A Population of Compact Elliptical Galaxies Detected with the Virtual Observatory

Compact elliptical galaxies are characterized by small sizes and high stellar densities. They are thought to form through tidal stripping of massive progenitors. However, only a handful of them were known, preventing us from understanding the role played by this mechanism in galaxy evolution. We present a population of 21 compact elliptical galaxies gathered with the Virtual Observatory. Follow-up spectroscopy and data mining, using high-resolution images and large databases, show that all the galaxies exhibit old metal-rich stellar populations different from those of dwarf elliptical galaxies of similar masses but similar to those of more massive early-type galaxies, supporting the tidal stripping scenario. Their internal properties are reproduced by numerical simulations, which result in compact dynamically hot remnants resembling the galaxies in our sample.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Science in press, published in Science Express on 1/Oct/2009. Full resolution figures in the supplementary online material are available from the Science Magazine web-sit

Spectral Properties of Holstein and Breathing Polarons

We calculate the spectral properties of the one-dimensional Holstein and breathing polarons using the self-consistent Born approximation. The Holstein model electron-phonon coupling is momentum independent while the breathing coupling increases monotonically with the phonon momentum. We find that for a linear or tight binding electron dispersion: i) for the same value of the dimensionless coupling the quasiparticle renormalization at small momentum in the breathing polaron is much smaller, ii) the quasiparticle renormalization at small momentum in the breathing polaron increases with phonon frequency unlike in the Holstein model where it decreases, iii) in the Holstein model the quasiparticle dispersion displays a kink and a small gap at an excitation energy equal to the phonon frequency w0 while in the breathing model it displays two gaps, one at excitation energy w0 and another one at 2w0. These differences have two reasons: first, the momentum of the relevant scattered phonons increases with increasing polaron momentum and second, the breathing bare coupling is an increasing function of the phonon momentum. These result in an effective electron-phonon coupling for the breathing model which is an increasing function of the total polaron momentum, such that the small momentum polaron is in the weak coupling regime while the large momentum one is in the strong coupling regime. However the first reason does not hold if the free electron dispersion has low energy states separated by large momentum, as in a higher dimensional system for example, in which situation the difference between the two models becomes less significant.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Pancreatic cysts suspected to be branch duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm without concerning features have low risk for development of pancreatic cancer.

BackgroundThe risk of developing pancreatic cancer is uncertain in patients with clinically suspected branch duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (BD-IPMN) based on the "high-risk stigmata" or "worrisome features" criteria proposed in the 2012 international consensus guidelines ("Fukuoka criteria").MethodsRetrospective case series involving patients referred for endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) of indeterminate pancreatic cysts with clinical and EUS features consistent with BD-IPMN. Rates of pancreatic cancer occurring at any location in the pancreas were compared between groups of patients with one or more Fukuoka criteria ("Highest-Risk Group", HRG) and those without these criteria ("Lowest-Risk Group", LRG).ResultsAfter exclusions, 661 patients comprised the final cohort (250 HRG and 411 LRG patients), 62% female with an average age of 67 years and 4 years of follow up. Pancreatic cancer, primarily adenocarcinoma, occurred in 60 patients (59 HRG, 1 LRG). Prevalent cancers diagnosed during EUS, immediate surgery, or first year of follow up were found in 48/661 (7.3%) of cohort and exclusively in HRG (33/77, 42.3%). Using Kaplan-Meier method, the cumulative incidence of cancer at 7 years was 28% in HRG and 1.2% in LRG patients (P<0.001).ConclusionsThis study supports using Fukuoka criteria to stratify the immediate and long-term risks of pancreatic cancer in presumptive BD-IPMN. The risk of pancreatic cancer was highest during the first year and occurred exclusively in those with "high-risk stigmata" or "worrisome features" criteria. After the first year all BD-IPMN continued to have a low but persistent cancer risk

Environmental effects on the Coma cluster luminosity function

Using our catalogue of V_{26.5} isophotal magnitudes for 6756 galaxies in a region covering 60~\times~25~arcmin^2 in the center of the Coma cluster, plus 267 galaxies in a region of 9.7~\times~9.4~arcmin^2 around NGC~4839, we derive the luminosity function in the magnitude range 13.5\leq V_{26.5} < 21.0 (corresponding to the absolute magnitude range -22.24 < M_{V26.5} \leq -14.74). The luminosity function for this region is well fitted by the combination of a gaussian in its bright part and of a steep Schechter function (of index \alpha =-1.8) in its faint part. Luminosity functions derived for individual regions surrounding the brightest galaxies show less steep slopes, strongly suggesting the existence of environmental effects. The implications of such effects and galaxy formation scenarios are discussed

When the optimal is not the best: parameter estimation in complex biological models

Background: The vast computational resources that became available during the past decade enabled the development and simulation of increasingly complex mathematical models of cancer growth. These models typically involve many free parameters whose determination is a substantial obstacle to model development. Direct measurement of biochemical parameters in vivo is often difficult and sometimes impracticable, while fitting them under data-poor conditions may result in biologically implausible values. Results: We discuss different methodological approaches to estimate parameters in complex biological models. We make use of the high computational power of the Blue Gene technology to perform an extensive study of the parameter space in a model of avascular tumor growth. We explicitly show that the landscape of the cost function used to optimize the model to the data has a very rugged surface in parameter space. This cost function has many local minima with unrealistic solutions, including the global minimum corresponding to the best fit. Conclusions: The case studied in this paper shows one example in which model parameters that optimally fit the data are not necessarily the best ones from a biological point of view. To avoid force-fitting a model to a dataset, we propose that the best model parameters should be found by choosing, among suboptimal parameters, those that match criteria other than the ones used to fit the model. We also conclude that the model, data and optimization approach form a new complex system, and point to the need of a theory that addresses this problem more generally