NICMOS and VLA Observations of the Gravitatonally Lensed Ultraluminous BAL Quasar APM~08279+5255: Detection of a Third Image

We present a suite of observations of the recently identified ultraluminous BAL quasar APM 08279+5255, taken both in the infra-red with the NICMOS high resolution camera on board the Hubble Space Telescope, and at 3.5cm with the Very Large Array. With an inferred luminosity of ~5x10^15 Solar luminosities, APM 08279+5255 is apparently the most luminous system known. Extant ground-based images show that APM 08279+5255 is not point-like, but is instead separated into two components, indicative of gravitational lensing. The much higher resolution images presented here also reveal two point sources, A and B, of almost equal brightness (f_B/f_A=0.782 +/- 0.010), separated by 0."378 +/- 0."001, as well as a third, previously unknown, fainter image, C, seen between the brighter images. While the nature of C is not fully determined, several lines of evidence point to it being a third gravitationally lensed image of the quasar, rather than being the lensing galaxy. Simple models which recover the relative image configuration and brightnesses are presented. While proving to be substantially amplified, APM 08279+5255 possesses an intrinsic bolometric luminosity of ~10^14 to 10^15 Solar luminosities and remains amongst the most luminous objects known.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures (2 as GIF files); accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Continuing upward trend in Mt Read Huon pine ring widths – Temperature or divergence?

To date, no attempt has been made to assess the presence or otherwise of the “Divergence Problem” (DP) in existing multi-millennial Southern Hemisphere tree-ring chronologies. We have updated the iconic Mt Read Huon pine chronology from Tasmania, southeastern Australia, to now include the warmest decade on record, AD 2000–2010, and used the Kalman Filter (KF) to examine it for signs of divergence against four different temperature series available for the region. Ring-width growth for the past two decades is statistically unprecedented for the past 1048 years. Although we have identified a decoupling between temperature and growth in the past two decades, the relationship between some of the temperature records and growth has varied over time since the start of instrumental records. Rather than the special case of ‘divergence’, we have identified a more general time-dependence between growth and temperature over the last 100 years. This time-dependence appears particularly problematic at interdecadal time scales. Due to the time-dependent relationships, and uncertainties related to the climate data, the use of any of the individual temperature series examined here potentially complicates temperature reconstruction. Some of the uncertainty in the climate data may be associated with changing climatic conditions, such as the intensification of the sub-tropical ridge (STR) and its impact on the frequency of anticyclonic conditions over the Mt Read site. Increased growth at the site, particularly in the last decade, over and above what would be expected based on a linear temperature model alone, may be consistent with a number of hypotheses. Existing uncertainties in the climate data need to be resolved and independent physiological information obtained before a range of hypotheses for this increased growth can be effectively evaluated

The APOGEE-2 Survey of the Orion Star Forming Complex: I. Target Selection and Validation with early observations

The Orion Star Forming Complex (OSFC) is a central target for the APOGEE-2 Young Cluster Survey. Existing membership catalogs span limited portions of the OSFC, reflecting the difficulty of selecting targets homogeneously across this extended, highly structured region. We have used data from wide field photometric surveys to produce a less biased parent sample of young stellar objects (YSOs) with infrared (IR) excesses indicative of warm circumstellar material or photometric variability at optical wavelengths across the full 420 square degrees extent of the OSFC. When restricted to YSO candidates with H < 12.4, to ensure S/N ~100 for a six visit source, this uniformly selected sample includes 1307 IR excess sources selected using criteria vetted by Koenig & Liesawitz and 990 optical variables identified in the Pan-STARRS1 3$\pi$ survey: 319 sources exhibit both optical variability and evidence of circumstellar disks through IR excess. Objects from this uniformly selected sample received the highest priority for targeting, but required fewer than half of the fibers on each APOGEE-2 plate. We fill the remaining fibers with previously confirmed and new color-magnitude selected candidate OSFC members. Radial velocity measurements from APOGEE-1 and new APOGEE-2 observations taken in the survey's first year indicate that ~90% of the uniformly selected targets have radial velocities consistent with Orion membership.The APOGEE-2 Orion survey will include >1100 bona fide YSOs whose uniform selection function will provide a robust sample for comparative analyses of the stellar populations and properties across all sub-regions of Orion.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

BLAST: the Redshift Survey

The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) has recently surveyed ~8.7 deg^2 centered on GOODS-South at 250, 350, and 500 microns. In Dye et al. (2009) we presented the catalogue of sources detected at 5-sigma in at least one band in this field and the probable counterparts to these sources in other wavebands. In this paper, we present the results of a redshift survey in which we succeeded in measuring redshifts for 82 of these counterparts. The spectra show that the BLAST counterparts are mostly star-forming galaxies but not extreme ones when compared to those found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Roughly one quarter of the BLAST counterparts contain an active nucleus. We have used the spectroscopic redshifts to carry out a test of the ability of photometric redshift methods to estimate the redshifts of dusty galaxies, showing that the standard methods work well even when a galaxy contains a large amount of dust. We have also investigated the cases where there are two possible counterparts to the BLAST source, finding that in at least half of these there is evidence that the two galaxies are physically associated, either because they are interacting or because they are in the same large-scale structure. Finally, we have made the first direct measurements of the luminosity function in the three BLAST bands. We find strong evolution out to z=1, in the sense that there is a large increase in the space-density of the most luminous galaxies. We have also investigated the evolution of the dust-mass function, finding similar strong evolution in the space-density of the galaxies with the largest dust masses, showing that the luminosity evolution seen in many wavebands is associated with an increase in the reservoir of interstellar matter in galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Maps and associated results are available at http://blastexperiment.info

Measurement of Receptor-Activated Phosphoinositide Turnover in Rat Brain: Nonequivalence of Inositol Phosphate and CDP-Diacylglycerol Formation

Two methods for the measurement of receptor-activated phosphoinositide turnover were evaluated for their degree of correspondence in slices of rat brain; they involved the Li + -dependent accumulations of either [ 3 H]-inositol-labeled inositol phosphates or [ 3 H]cytidine-labeled CDP-diacylglycerol. In contrast to the expectation that the ratio of these two responses would remain approximately constant, varying degrees of correspondence were obtained. The two extremes are exemplified by carbachol, which elicited large increases in both inositol phosphate and CDP-diacylglycerol labeling, and endothelin, which gave a robust inositol phosphate response with little or no accumulation of 3 H-CDP-diacylglycerol. No instance of the presence of the latter response in the absence of 3 H-inositol phosphate accumulation was observed. Measurement of 3 H-CDP-diacylglycerol accumulation thus may add additional insight into the regulation of phosphoinositide turnover and the complex actions of Li + .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66135/1/j.1471-4159.1993.tb03258.x.pd

Breaking the "Redshift Deadlock" -- II: The redshift distribution for the submillimetre population of galaxies

In this paper we apply our Monte-Carlo photometric-redshift technique, introduced in paper I (Hughes et al. 2002), to the multi-wavelength data available for 77 galaxies selected at 850um and 1.25mm. We calculate a probability distribution for the redshift of each galaxy, which includes a detailed treatment of the observational errors and uncertainties in the evolutionary model. The cumulative redshift distribution of the submillimetre galaxy population that we present in this paper, based on 50 galaxies found in wide-area SCUBA surveys, is asymmetric, and broader than those published elsewhere, with a significant high-z tail for some of the evolutionary models considered. Approximately 40 to 90 per cent of the sub-mm population is expected to have redshifts in the interval 2 < z < 4. Whilst this result is completely consistent with earlier estimates for the sub-mm galaxy population, we also show that the colours of many (< 50 per cent) individual sub-mm sources, detected only at 850um with non-detections at other wavelengths, are consistent with those of starburst galaxies that lie at extreme redshifts, z > 4. Spectroscopic confirmation of the redshifts, through the detection of rest-frame FIR--mm wavelength molecular transition-lines, will ultimately calibrate the accuracy of this technique. We use the redshift probability distribution of HDF850.1 to illustrate the ability of the method to guide the choice of possible frequency tunings on the broad-band spectroscopic receivers that equip the large aperture single-dish mm and cm-wavelength telescopes.Comment: Accepted in MNRAS, 16 pages, 12 figures, an appendix with 25 additional pages of figures is available at http://www.inaoep.mx/~itziar/papers/dlIIapp.pd

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected

Radio and mid-infrared identification of BLAST source counterparts in the Chandra Deep Field South

We have identified radio and/or mid-infrared counterparts to 198 out of 350 sources detected at >=5 sigma over ~ 9 square degrees centered on the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS) by the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) at 250, 350 and 500 um. We have matched 114 of these counterparts to optical sources with previously derived photometric redshifts and fitted SEDs to the BLAST fluxes and fluxes at 70 and 160 um acquired with the Spitzer Space Telescope. In this way, we have constrained dust temperatures, total far-infrared/sub-millimeter luminosities and star formation rates for each source. Our findings show that on average, the BLAST sources lie at significantly lower redshifts and have significantly lower rest-frame dust temperatures compared to submm sources detected in surveys conducted at 850 um. We demonstrate that an apparent increase in dust temperature with redshift in our sample arises as a result of selection effects. Finally, we provide the full multi-wavelength catalog of >= 5 sigma BLAST sources contained within the complete ~ 9 square degree survey area.Comment: Published in the Astrophysical Journal: 2009, ApJ, 703, 285. 23 pages, 13 figures. Data available at http://blastexperiment.inf

Altered Germination and Subcellular Localization Patterns for PUB44/SAUL1 in Response to Stress and Phytohormone Treatments

BACKGROUND: In plants, the ubiquitin-proteasome system is emerging as a significant regulatory system throughout the plant lifecycle. The ubiquitination of a target protein requires the sequential actions of the E1, E2 and E3 enzymes, with the latter E3 enzyme conferring target selection in this process. There are a large number of predicted E3 enzymes in plant genomes, and very little is known about the functions of many of these predicted genes. Here we report here an analysis of two closely-related members of the Arabidopsis Plant U-box (PUB) family of E3 ubiquitin ligases, PUB43 and PUB44. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Homozygous pub44/pub44 mutant seedlings were found displayed a seedling lethal phenotype and this corresponded with widespread cell death lesions throughout the cotyledons and roots. Interestingly, heterozygous PUB44/pub44 seedlings were wild-type in appearance yet displayed intermediate levels of cell death lesions in comparison to pub44/pub44 seedlings. In contrast, homozygous pub43/pub43 mutants were viable and did not show any signs of cell death despite the PUB43 gene being more highly expressed than PUB44. The PUB44 mutants are not classical lesion mimic mutants as they did not have increased resistance to plant pathogens. We also observed increased germination rates in mutant seeds for both PUB44 and PUB43 under inhibitory concentrations of abscisic acid. Finally, the subcellular localization of PUB44 was investigated with transient expression assays in BY-2 cells. Under varying conditions, PUB44 was observed to be localized to the cytoplasm, plasma membrane, or nucleus. CONCLUSIONS: Based on mutant plant analyses, the Arabidopsis PUB43 and PUB44 genes are proposed to function during seed germination and early seedling growth. Given PUB44's ability to shuttle from the nucleus to the plasma membrane, PUB44 may be active in different subcellular compartments as part of these biological functions

Final Targeting Strategy for the SDSS-IV APOGEE-2N Survey

APOGEE-2 is a dual-hemisphere, near-infrared (NIR), spectroscopic survey with the goal of producing a chemo-dynamical mapping of the Milky Way Galaxy. The targeting for APOGEE-2 is complex and has evolved with time. In this paper, we present the updates and additions to the initial targeting strategy for APOGEE-2N presented in Zasowski et al. (2017). These modifications come in two implementation modes: (i) "Ancillary Science Programs" competitively awarded to SDSS-IV PIs through proposal calls in 2015 and 2017 for the pursuit of new scientific avenues outside the main survey, and (ii) an effective 1.5-year expansion of the survey, known as the Bright Time Extension, made possible through accrued efficiency gains over the first years of the APOGEE-2N project. For the 23 distinct ancillary programs, we provide descriptions of the scientific aims, target selection, and how to identify these targets within the APOGEE-2 sample. The Bright Time Extension permitted changes to the main survey strategy, the inclusion of new programs in response to scientific discoveries or to exploit major new datasets not available at the outset of the survey design, and expansions of existing programs to enhance their scientific success and reach. After describing the motivations, implementation, and assessment of these programs, we also leave a summary of lessons learned from nearly a decade of APOGEE-1 and APOGEE-2 survey operations. A companion paper, Santana et al. (submitted), provides a complementary presentation of targeting modifications relevant to APOGEE-2 operations in the Southern Hemisphere.Comment: 59 pages; 11 Figures; 7 Tables; 2 Appendices; Submitted to Journal and Under Review; Posting to accompany papers using the SDSS-IV/APOGEE-2 Data Release 17 scheduled for December 202