142 research outputs found
Eddington-Limited Accretion in z~2 WISE-selected Hot, Dust-Obscured Galaxies
Hot, Dust-Obscured Galaxies, or "Hot DOGs", are a rare, dusty, hyperluminous
galaxy population discovered by the WISE mission. Predominantly at redshifts
2-3, they include the most luminous known galaxies in the universe. Their high
luminosities likely come from accretion onto highly obscured super massive
black holes (SMBHs). We have conducted a pilot survey to measure the SMBH
masses of five z~2 Hot DOGs via broad H_alpha emission lines, using
Keck/MOSFIRE and Gemini/FLAMINGOS-2. We detect broad H_alpha emission in all
five Hot DOGs. We find substantial corresponding SMBH masses for these Hot DOGs
(~ 10^{9} M_sun), and their derived Eddington ratios are close to unity. These
z~2 Hot DOGs are the most luminous AGNs at given BH masses, suggesting they are
accreting at the maximum rates for their BHs. A similar property is found for
known z~6 quasars. Our results are consistent with scenarios in which Hot DOGs
represent a transitional, high-accretion phase between obscured and unobscured
quasars. Hot DOGs may mark a special evolutionary stage before the red quasar
and optical quasar phases, and they may be present at other cosmic epochs.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures. Accepted by Ap
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Distinctive Encoding Reduces the Jacoby-Whitehouse Illusion
We investigated the influence of distinctive encoding on the Jacoby and Whitehouse (1989) illusion. Subjects studied visually presented words that were associated with either an auditory presentation of the same word (non-distinctive encoding) or a picture of the object (distinctive encoding). In both conditions, words were visually presented on the recognition test, and half were preceded by brief repetition primes. Priming test items increased hits and false alarms in the auditory condition, demonstrating the Jacoby-Whitehouse illusion. This illusion was reduced in the picture condition. In order to test whether this distinctiveness effect was caused by a recollection-based response strategy (i.e., the distinctiveness heuristic), we minimized recollection-based responding by having subjects make speeded recognition decisions. Contrary to the distinctiveness heuristic hypothesis, speeded responding did not eliminate the distinctiveness effect on the Jacoby-Whitehouse illusion. Picture encoding may reduce this illusion via a shift in preretrieval orientation, as opposed to a postretrieval editing process.Psycholog
Observationally Determining the Properties of Dark Matter
Determining the properties of the dark components of the universe remains one
of the outstanding challenges in cosmology. We explore how upcoming CMB
anisotropy measurements, galaxy power spectrum data, and supernova (SN)
distance measurements can observationally constrain their gravitational
properties with minimal assumptions on the theoretical side. SN observations
currently suggest the existence of dark matter with an exotic equation of state
p/rho < -1/3 that accelerates the expansion of the universe. When combined with
CMB anisotropy measurements, SN or galaxy survey data can in principle
determine the equation of state and density of this component separately,
regardless of their value, as long as the universe is spatially flat. Combining
these pairs creates a sharp consistency check. If p/rho > -1/2, then the
clustering behavior (sound speed) of the dark component can be determined so as
to test the scalar-field ``quintessence'' hypothesis. If the exotic matter
turns out instead to be simply a cosmological constant (p/rho = -1), the
combination of CMB and galaxy survey data should provide a significant
detection of the remaining dark matter, the neutrino background radiation
(NBR). The gross effect of its density or temperature on the expansion rate is
ill-constrained as it is can be mimicked by a change in the matter density.
However, anisotropies of the NBR break this degeneracy and should be detectable
by upcoming experiments.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, RevTeX, submitted to PR
Density pertubation of unparticle dark matter in the flat Universe
The unparticle has been suggested as a candidate of dark matter. We
investigated the growth rate of the density perturbation for the unparticle
dark matter in the flat Universe. First, we consider the model in which
unparticle is the sole dark matter and find that the growth factor can be
approximated well by , where is
the equation of state of unparticle. Our results show that the presence of
modifies the behavior of the growth factor . For the second model
where unparticle co-exists with cold dark matter, the growth factor has a new
approximation and
is a function of . Thus the growth factor of unparticle is quite
different from that of usual dark matter. These information can help us know
more about unparticle and the early evolution of the Universe.Comment: 6pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.
Transverse Wave Propagation in Relativistic Two-fluid Plasmas in de Sitter Space
We investigate transverse electromagnetic waves propagating in a plasma in
the de Sitter space. Using the 3+1 formalism we derive the relativistic
two-fluid equations to take account of the effects due to the horizon and
describe the set of simultaneous linear equations for the perturbations. We use
a local approximation to investigate the one-dimensional radial propagation of
Alfv\'en and high frequency electromagnetic waves and solve the dispersion
relation for these waves numerically.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure
An alternative approach to the galactic dark matter problem
We discuss scenarios in which the galactic dark matter in spiral galaxies is
described by a long range coherent field which settles in a stationary
configuration that might account for the features of the galactic rotation
curves. The simplest possibility is to consider scalar fields, so we discuss in
particular, two mechanisms that would account for the settlement of the scalar
field in a non-trivial configuration in the absence of a direct coupling of the
field with ordinary matter: topological defects, and spontaneous scalarization.Comment: 36 pages, 12 figures, Revtex, a brief discussion added, accepted for
publication in PR
The Carnegie Supernova Project: First Near-Infrared Hubble Diagram to z~0.7
The Carnegie Supernova Project (CSP) is designed to measure the luminosity
distance for Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) as a function of redshift, and to set
observational constraints on the dark energy contribution to the total energy
content of the Universe. The CSP differs from other projects to date in its
goal of providing an I-band {rest-frame} Hubble diagram. Here we present the
first results from near-infrared (NIR) observations obtained using the Magellan
Baade telescope for SNe Ia with 0.1 < z < 0.7. We combine these results with
those from the low-redshift CSP at z <0.1 (Folatelli et al. 2009). We present
light curves and an I-band Hubble diagram for this first sample of 35 SNe Ia
and we compare these data to 21 new SNe Ia at low redshift. These data support
the conclusion that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. When
combined with independent results from baryon acoustic oscillations (Eisenstein
et al. 2005), these data yield Omega_m = 0.27 +/- 0.0 (statistical), and
Omega_DE = 0.76 +/- 0.13 (statistical) +/- 0.09 (systematic), for the matter
and dark energy densities, respectively. If we parameterize the data in terms
of an equation of state, w, assume a flat geometry, and combine with baryon
acoustic oscillations, we find that w = -1.05 +/- 0.13 (statistical) +/- 0.09
(systematic). The largest source of systematic uncertainty on w arises from
uncertainties in the photometric calibration, signaling the importance of
securing more accurate photometric calibrations for future supernova cosmology
programs. Finally, we conclude that either the dust affecting the luminosities
of SNe Ia has a different extinction law (R_V = 1.8) than that in the Milky Way
(where R_V = 3.1), or that there is an additional intrinsic color term with
luminosity for SNe Ia independent of the decline rate.Comment: 44 pages, 23 figures, 9 tables; Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
The Structure of Structure Formation Theories
We study the general structure of models for structure formation, with
applications to the reverse engineering of the model from observations. Through
a careful accounting of the degrees of freedom in covariant gravitational
instability theory, we show that the evolution of structure is completely
specified by the stress history of the dark sector. The study of smooth,
entropic, sonic, scalar anisotropic, vector anisotropic, and tensor anisotropic
stresses reveals the origin, robustness, and uniqueness of specific model
phenomenology. We construct useful and illustrative analytic solutions that
cover cases with multiple species of differing equations of state relevant to
the current generation of models, especially those with effectively smooth
components. We present a simple case study of models with phenomenologies
similar to that of a LambdaCDM model to highlight reverse-engineering issues. A
critical-density universe dominated by a single type of dark matter with the
appropriate stress history can mimic a LambdaCDM model exactly.Comment: 31 pages, 18 figures, RevTeX, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Growth Rate of Large Scale Structure as a Powerful Probe of Dark Energy
The redshift evolution of the growth rate of the gravitational potential,
d(D/a)/dz, is an excellent discriminator of dark energy parameters and, in
principle, more powerful than standard classical tests of cosmology. This
evolution is directly observable through the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect in
cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. We consider the prospects of
measuring the growth rate via a novel method employed through measurements of
CMB polarization towards galaxy clusters. The potentially achievable errors on
dark energy parameters are comparable and fully complementary to those expected
from other upcoming tests of dark energy, making this test a highly promising
tool of precision cosmology.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Local Constraints on the Oscillating G Model
We analyze the observational constraints on the effective Brans-Dicke
parameter and on the temporal variation of the effective gravitational constant
within the context of the oscillating G model, a cosmological model based on a
massive scalar field non-minimally coupled to gravity. We show that these local
constraints cannot be satisfied simultaneously once the values of the free
parameters entering the model become fixed by the global attributes of our
Universe. In particular, we show that the lower observational bound for the
effective Brans-Dicke parameter and the upper bound of the variation of the
effective gravitational constant lead to a specific value of the oscillation
amplitude which lies well below the value required to explain the periodicity
of 128 Mpc h^{-1} in the galaxy distribution observed in the pencil beam
surveys.Comment: PRD, subm., 12 pages, 1 figur
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