3,408 research outputs found
Gravitational lens magnification by Abell 1689: Distortion of the background galaxy luminosity function
Gravitational lensing magnifies the luminosity of galaxies behind the lens.
We use this effect to constrain the total mass in the cluster Abell 1689 by
comparing the lensed luminosities of background galaxies with the luminosity
function of an undistorted field. Since galaxies are assumed to be a random
sampling of luminosity space, this method is not limited by clustering noise.
We use photometric redshift information to estimate galaxy distance and
intrinsic luminosity. Knowing the redshift distribution of the background
population allows us to lift the mass/background degeneracy common to lensing
analysis. In this paper we use 9 filters observed over 12 hours with the Calar
Alto 3.5m telescope to determine the redshifts of 1000 galaxies in the field of
Abell 1689. Using a complete sample of 151 background galaxies we measure the
cluster mass profile. We find that the total projected mass interior to
0.25h^(-1)Mpc is (0.48 +/- 0.16) * 10^(15)h^(-1) solar masses, where our error
budget includes uncertainties from the photometric redshift determination, the
uncertainty in the off-set calibration and finite sampling. This result is in
good agreement with that found by number count and shear-based methods and
provides a new and independent method to determine cluster masses.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to MNRAS (10/99); Replacement with 1
page extra text inc. new section, accepted by MNRA
Associations Between Habitual School-Day Breakfast Consumption Frequency and Academic Performance in British Adolescents
Studies indicate that breakfast positively affects learning in children. The present study aimed to examine associations between habitual school-day breakfast consumption frequency and academic performance, as measured by the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The GCSE is a national academic qualification obtained by most British children during secondary education. Adolescents aged 16–18 years (n = 294; females: 77.2%) completed a retrospective 7-day food diary to report breakfast intake and a questionnaire to report GCSE grades. Breakfast was defined as any food or drink containing ≥5% of total energy expenditure (TEE) consumed up to 10:00 a.m. on school days. Habitual weekly school-day breakfast consumption frequency was categorized as rare (0–1 school days), occasional (2–3 school days), or frequent (4–5 school days). GCSE grades were aggregated into point scores and linear regression models were applied. Participants' GCSE grades in Mathematics and English were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression. Adolescents who rarely consumed breakfast on school days had a significantly lower capped point score (β = −0.13, p < 0.05) and mean point score (β = −0.14, p < 0.05) compared with frequent consumers. Low/middle socio-economic status (SES) adolescents who rarely consumed breakfast were significantly less likely to achieve higher Mathematics grades compared to low/middle SES adolescents who frequently consumed breakfast [adjusted cumulative odds ratio (OR): 0.35 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.17–0.72]. This cross-sectional study demonstrates that habitual school-day breakfast consumption amongst adolescents is a significant correlate of GCSE attainment. The results offer promising associative evidence which warrants further exploration in well controlled studies
Coalescing at 8 GeV in the Fermilab Main Injector
For Project X, it is planned to inject a beam of 3 10**11 particles per bunch
into the Main Injector. To prepare for this by studying the effects of higher
intensity bunches in the Main Injector it is necessary to perform coalescing at
8 GeV. The results of a series of experiments and simulations of 8 GeV
coalescing are presented. To increase the coalescing efficiency adiabatic
reduction of the 53 MHz RF is required, resulting in ~70% coalescing efficiency
of 5 initial bunches. Data using wall current monitors has been taken to
compare previous work and new simulations for 53 MHz RF reduction, bunch
rotations and coalescing, good agreement between experiment and simulation was
found. Possible schemes to increase the coalescing efficiency and generate even
higher intensity bunches are discussed. These require improving the timing
resolution of the low level RF and/or tuning the adiabatic voltage reduction of
the 53 MHz.Comment: 3 pp. 3rd International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC 2012)
20-25 May 2012, New Orleans, Louisian
Ambient aerosol concentrations of sugars and sugar-alcohols at four different sites in Norway
International audienceSugars and sugar-alcohols are demonstrated to be important constituents of the ambient aerosol water-soluble organic carbon fraction, and to be tracers for primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP). In the present study, levels of four sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose, trehalose) and three sugar-alcohols (arabitol, inositol, mannitol) in ambient aerosols have been quantified using a novel HPLC/HRMS-TOF (High Performance Liquid Chromatography in combination with High Resolution Mass Spectrometry ? Time of Flight) method to assess the contribution of PBAP to PM>sub>10 and PM2.5. Samples were collected at four sites in Norway at different times of the year in order to reflect the various contributing sources and the spatial and seasonal variation of the selected compounds. Sugars and sugar-alcohols were present at all sites investigated, underlining the ubiquity of these highly polar organic compounds. The highest concentrations were reported for sucrose, reaching a maximum concentration of 320 ng m?3 in PM10 and 55 ng m?3 in PM2.5. The mean concentration of sucrose was up to 10 times higher than fructose, glucose and the dimeric sugar trehalose. The mean concentrations of the sugar-alcohols were typically lower, or equal, to that of the monomeric sugars and trehalose. Peak concentrations of arabitol and mannitol did not exceed 30 ng m?3 in PM10, and for PM2.5 all concentrations were below 6 ng m?3. Sugars and sugar-alcohols were associated primarily with coarse aerosols except during wintertime at the suburban site in Elverum, where a shift towards sub micron aerosols was observed. It is proposed that this shift was due to the intensive use of wood burning for residential heating at this site during winter, confirmed by high concurrent concentrations of levoglucosan. Elevated concentrations of sugars in PM2.5 were observed during spring and early summer at the rural background site Birkenes. It is hypothesized that this was due to ruptured pollen
Results of aerodynamic heat transfer tests of a 0.0175-scale model of the Rockwell International Space Shuttle Orbiter 139 (model number 22-0) in the NASA/Ames 3.5-foot hypersonic wind tunnel (test OH6)
The results of a hypersonic wind tunnel test program conducted using a 0.0175 scale thin-skin thermocouple model of the Space Shuttle Orbiter to obtain aerodynamic heat transfer data on the Orbiter under simulated reentry conditions were presented. The test program was conducted at a Mach number of 7.3 and a freestream Reynolds number ranging between 1.0 and 6.0 million/foot. The model was tested for angles of attack ranging between 10 deg and 30 deg and a sideslip angle of 0 deg. The model was constructed of 15-5 PH stainless steel with the instrumented areas machined to a nominal skin thickness of 0.030 in. The model instrumentation consisted of 288 iron-constantan thermocouples spot welded to the skin inner surface, but only 75 of these were used in this test program. A high-speed, analog-to-digital data acquisition system was used to record data on magnetic tape
Conjugated linoleic acid modulation of risk factors associated with atherosclerosis
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has been the subject of extensive investigation regarding its possible benefits on a variety of human diseases. In some animal studies, CLA has been shown to have a beneficial effect on sclerotic lesions associated with atherosclerosis, be a possible anti-carcinogen, increase feed efficiency, and act as a lean body mass supplement. However, the results have been inconsistent, and the effects of CLA on atherogenesis appear to be dose-, isomer-, tissue-, and species-specific. Similarly, CLA trials in humans have resulted in conflicting findings. Both the human and animal study results may be attributed to contrasting doses of CLA, isomers, the coexistence of other dietary fatty acids, length of study, and inter-and/or intra-species diversities. Recent research advances have suggested the importance of CLA isomers in modulating gene expression involved in oxidative damage, fatty acid metabolism, immune/inflammatory responses, and ultimately atherosclerosis. Although the possible mechanisms of action of CLA have been suggested, they have yet to be determined
Finite Projective Spaces, Geometric Spreads of Lines and Multi-Qubits
Given a (2N - 1)-dimensional projective space over GF(2), PG(2N - 1, 2), and
its geometric spread of lines, there exists a remarkable mapping of this space
onto PG(N - 1, 4) where the lines of the spread correspond to the points and
subspaces spanned by pairs of lines to the lines of PG(N - 1, 4). Under such
mapping, a non-degenerate quadric surface of the former space has for its image
a non-singular Hermitian variety in the latter space, this quadric being {\it
hyperbolic} or {\it elliptic} in dependence on N being {\it even} or {\it odd},
respectively. We employ this property to show that generalized Pauli groups of
N-qubits also form two distinct families according to the parity of N and to
put the role of symmetric operators into a new perspective. The N=4 case is
taken to illustrate the issue.Comment: 3 pages, no figures/tables; V2 - short introductory paragraph added;
V3 - to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
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