611 research outputs found
A Bayesian Inference Analysis of the X-ray Cluster Luminosity-Temperature Relation
We present a Bayesian inference analysis of the Markevitch (1998) and Allen &
Fabian (1998) cooling flow corrected X-ray cluster temperature catalogs that
constrains the slope and the evolution of the empirical X-ray cluster
luminosity-temperature (L-T) relation. We find that for the luminosity range
10^44.5 erg s^-1 < L_bol < 10^46.5 erg s^-1 and the redshift range z < 0.5,
L_bol is proportional to T^2.80(+0.15/-0.15)(1+z)^(0.91-1.12q_0)(+0.54/-1.22).
We also determine the L-T relation that one should use when fitting the Press-
Schechter mass function to X-ray cluster luminosity catalogs such as the
Einstein Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS) and the Southern Serendipitous High-
Redshift Archival ROSAT Catalog (Southern SHARC), for which cooling flow
corrected luminosities are not determined and a universal X-ray cluster
temperature of T = 6 keV is assumed. In this case, L_bol is proportional to
T^2.65(+0.23/-0.20)(1+z)^(0.42-1.26q_0)(+0.75/-0.83) for the same luminosity
and redshift ranges.Comment: Accepted to The Astrophysical Journal, 20 pages, LaTe
Design and Fabrication of Three-Dimensional Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering of Human Heart Valves
We developed a new fabrication technique for 3-dimensional scaffolds for tissue engineering of human heart valve tissue. A human aortic homograft was scanned with an X-ray computer tomograph. The data derived from the X-ray computed tomogram were processed by a computer-aided design program to reconstruct a human heart valve 3-dimensionally. Based on this stereolithographic model, a silicone valve model resembling a human aortic valve was generated. By taking advantage of the thermoplastic properties of polyglycolic acid as scaffold material, we molded a 3-dimensional scaffold for tissue engineering of human heart valves. The valve scaffold showed a deviation of only +/- 3-4% in height, length and inner diameter compared with the homograft. The newly developed technique allows fabricating custom-made, patient-specific polymeric cardiovascular scaffolds for tissue engineering without requiring any suture materials. Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Base
Robust Chauvenet Outlier Rejection
Sigma clipping is commonly used in astronomy for outlier rejection, but the
number of standard deviations beyond which one should clip data from a sample
ultimately depends on the size of the sample. Chauvenet rejection is one of the
oldest, and simplest, ways to account for this, but, like sigma clipping,
depends on the sample's mean and standard deviation, neither of which are
robust quantities: Both are easily contaminated by the very outliers they are
being used to reject. Many, more robust measures of central tendency, and of
sample deviation, exist, but each has a tradeoff with precision. Here, we
demonstrate that outlier rejection can be both very robust and very precise if
decreasingly robust but increasingly precise techniques are applied in
sequence. To this end, we present a variation on Chauvenet rejection that we
call "robust" Chauvenet rejection (RCR), which uses three decreasingly
robust/increasingly precise measures of central tendency, and four decreasingly
robust/increasingly precise measures of sample deviation. We show this
sequential approach to be very effective for a wide variety of contaminant
types, even when a significant -- even dominant -- fraction of the sample is
contaminated, and especially when the contaminants are strong. Furthermore, we
have developed a bulk-rejection variant, to significantly decrease computing
times, and RCR can be applied both to weighted data, and when fitting
parameterized models to data. We present aperture photometry in a contaminated,
crowded field as an example. RCR may be used by anyone at
https://skynet.unc.edu/rcr, and source code is available there as well.Comment: 62 pages, 48 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ
Orbital and physical parameters of eclipsing binaries from the ASAS catalogue -- III. Two new low-mass systems with rapidly evolving spots
We present the results of our spectroscopic and photometric analysis of two
newly discovered low-mass detached eclipsing binaries found in the All-Sky
Automated Survey (ASAS) catalogue: ASAS J093814-0104.4 and ASAS J212954-5620.1.
Using the GIRAFFE instrument on the 1.9-m Radcliffe telescope at SAAO and the
UCLES spectrograph on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope, we obtained
high-resolution spectra of both objects and derived their radial velocities
(RVs) at various orbital phases. The RVs of both objects were measured with the
TODCOR technique using synthetic template spectra as references. We also
obtained V and I band photometry using the 1.0-m Elizabeth telescope at SAAO
and the 0.4-m PROMPT instruments located at the CTIO. The orbital and physical
parameters of the systems were derived with PHOEBE and JKTEBOP codes. We
compared our results with several sets of widely-used isochrones. Our
multi-epoch photometric observations demonstrate that both objects show
significant out-of-eclipse modulations, which vary in time. We believe that
this effect is caused by stellar spots, which evolve on time scales of tens of
days. For this reason, we constructed our models on the basis of photometric
observations spanning short time scales (less than a month). Our modeling
indicates that (1) ASAS-09 is a main sequence active system with nearly-twin
components with masses of M1 = 0.771(33) Msun, M2 = 0.768(21) Msun and radii of
R1 = 0.772(12) Rsun and R2 = 0.769(13) Rsun. (2) ASAS-21 is a main sequence
active binary with component masses of M1 = 0.833(17) Msun, M2 = 0.703(13) Msun
and radii of R1 = 0.845(12) Rsun and R2 = 0.718(17) Rsun. Both systems confirm
the characteristic of active low-mass stars, for which the observed radii are
larger and the temperatures lower than predicted by evolutionary models. Other
parameters agree within errors with the models of main sequence stars.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 7 tables, to appear in A&
Fortnightly Fluctuations in the O-C Diagram of CS 1246
Dominated by a single, large-amplitude pulsation mode, the rapidly-pulsating
hot subdwarf B star CS 1246 is a prime candidate for a long-term O-C diagram
study. We collected nearly 400 hours of photometry with the PROMPT telescopes
over a time span of 14 months to begin looking for secular variations in the
pulse timings. Interestingly, the O-C diagram is dominated by a strong
sinusoidal pattern with a period of 14.1 days and an amplitude of 10.7
light-seconds. Underneath this sine wave is a secular trend implying a decrease
in the 371.7-s pulsational period of Pdot = -1.9 x 10^-11, which we attribute
to the evolution of the star through the H-R diagram. The sinusoidal variation
could be produced by the presence of a low-mass companion, with m sin i ~ 0.12
Msun, orbiting the subdwarf B star at a distance of 20 Rsun. An analysis of the
combined light curve reveals the presence of a low-amplitude first harmonic to
the main pulsation mode.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 11 pages, 8 figures, 5 table
The fading of Cassiopeia A, and improved models for the absolute spectrum of primary radio calibration sources
Based on five years of observations with the 40-foot telescope at Green Bank
Observatory (GBO), Reichart & Stephens (2000) found that the radio source
Cassiopeia A had either faded more slowly between the mid-1970s and late 1990s
than Baars et al. (1977) had found it to be fading between the late 1940s and
mid-1970s, or that it had rebrightened and then resumed fading sometime between
the mid-1970s and mid-1990s, in L band (1.4 GHz). Here, we present 15
additional years of observations of Cas A and Cyg A with the 40-foot in L band,
and three and a half additional years of observations of Cas A, Cyg A, Tau A,
and Vir A with GBO's recently refurbished 20-meter telescope in L and X (9 GHz)
bands. We also present a more sophisticated analysis of the 40-foot data, and a
reanalysis of the Baars et al. (1977) data, which reveals small, but
non-negligible differences. We find that overall, between the late 1950s and
late 2010s, Cas A faded at an average rate of %/yr in L band,
consistent with Reichart & Stephens (2000). However, we also find, at the
6.3 credible level, that it did not fade at a constant rate. Rather,
Cas A faded at a faster rate through at least the late 1960s, rebrightened (or
at least faded at a much slower rate), and then resumed fading at a similarly
fast rate by, at most, the late 1990s. Given these differences from the
original Baars et al. (1977) analysis, and given the importance of their fitted
spectral and temporal models for flux-density calibration in radio astronomy,
we update and improve on these models for all four of these radio sources. In
doing so, we additionally find that Tau A is fading at a rate of
%/yr in L band.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted to MNRA
3D-Hydrogen Analysis of Ferromagnetic Microstructures in Proton Irradiated Graphite
Recently, magnetic order in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) induced
by proton broad- and microbeam irradiation was discovered. Theoretical models
propose that hydrogen could play a major role in the magnetism mechanism. We
analysed the hydrogen distribution of pristine as well as irradiated HOPG
samples, which were implanted to micrometer-sized spots as well as extended
areas with various doses of 2.25 MeV protons at the Leipzig microprobe LIPSION.
For this we used the sensitive 3D hydrogen microscopy system at the Munich
microprobe SNAKE. The background hydrogen level in pristine HOPG is determined
to be less than 0.3 at-ppm. About 4.8e15 H-atoms/cm^2 are observed in the
near-surface region (4 um depth resolution). The depth profiles of the implants
show hydrogen located within a confined peak at the end of range, in agreement
with SRIM Monte Carlo simulations, and no evidence of diffusion broadening
along the c-axis. At sample with microspots, up to 40 at-% of the implanted
hydrogen is not detected, providing support for lateral hydrogen diffusion.Comment: accepted for publication in Nucl. Instr. and Met
Supernova 2012ec: Identification of the progenitor and early monitoring with PESSTO
We present the identification of the progenitor of the Type IIP SN 2012ec in
archival pre-explosion HST WFPC2 and ACS/WFC F814W images. The properties of
the progenitor are further constrained by non-detections in pre-explosion WFPC2
F450W and F606W images. We report a series of early photometric and
spectroscopic observations of SN 2012ec. The r'-band light curve shows a
plateau with M(r')=-17.0. The early spectrum is similar to the Type IIP SN
1999em, with the expansion velocity measured at Halpha absorption minimum of
-11,700 km/s (at 1 day post-discovery). The photometric and spectroscopic
evolution of SN 2012ec shows it to be a Type IIP SN, discovered only a few days
post-explosion (<6d). We derive a luminosity for the progenitor, in comparison
with MARCS model SEDs, of log L/Lsun = 5.15+/-0.19, from which we infer an
initial mass range of 14-22Msun. This is the first SN with an identified
progenitor to be followed by the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient
Objects (PESSTO).Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS accepte
Salinity control on Na incorporation into calcite tests of the planktonic foraminifera Trilobatus sacculifer – Evidence from culture experiments and surface sediments
The quantitative reconstruction of past seawater salinity has yet to be achieved and the search for a direct and independent salinity proxy is ongoing. Recent culture and field studies show a significant positive correlation of Na/Ca with salinity in benthic and planktonic foraminiferal calcite. For accurate paleoceanographic reconstructions, consistent and reliable calibrations are necessary, which are still missing. In order to assess the reliability of foraminiferal Na/Ca as a direct proxy for seawater salinity, this study presents electron microprobe Na/Ca data, measured on cultured specimens of Trilobatus sacculifer. The culture experiments were conducted over a wide salinity range of 26 to 45, while temperature was kept constant. To further understand potential controlling factors of Na incorporation, measurements were also performed on foraminifera cultured at various temperatures in the range of 19.5 °C to 29.5 °C under constant salinity conditions. Foraminiferal Na/Ca ratios positively correlate with seawater salinity (Na/Caforam = 0.97 + 0.115 ⋅ Salinity, R = 0.97, p < 0.005). Temperature on the other hand exhibits no statistically significant relationship with Na/Ca ratios indicating salinity to be the dominant factor controlling Na incorporation. The culturing results are corroborated by measurements on T. sacculifer from Caribbean and Gulf of Guinea surface sediments. In conclusion, planktonic foraminiferal Na/Ca can be applied as a reliable proxy for reconstructing sea surface salinities, albeit species-specific calibrations might be necessary
SDSS-RASS: Next Generation of Cluster-Finding Algorithms
We outline here the next generation of cluster-finding algorithms. We show
how advances in Computer Science and Statistics have helped develop robust,
fast algorithms for finding clusters of galaxies in large multi-dimensional
astronomical databases like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Specifically,
this paper presents four new advances: (1) A new semi-parametric algorithm -
nicknamed ``C4'' - for jointly finding clusters of galaxies in the SDSS and
ROSAT All-Sky Survey databases; (2) The introduction of the False Discovery
Rate into Astronomy; (3) The role of kernel shape in optimizing cluster
detection; (4) A new determination of the X-ray Cluster Luminosity Function
which has bearing on the existence of a ``deficit'' of high redshift, high
luminosity clusters. This research is part of our ``Computational
AstroStatistics'' collaboration (see Nichol et al. 2000) and the algorithms and
techniques discussed herein will form part of the ``Virtual Observatory''
analysis toolkit.Comment: To appear in Proceedings of MPA/MPE/ESO Conference "Mining the Sky",
July 31 - August 4, 2000, Garching, German
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