11,665 research outputs found
Line Emission in the Brightest Cluster Galaxies of the NOAO Fundamental Plane and Sloan Digital Sky Surveys
We examine the optical emission line properties of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
(BCGs) selected from two large, homogeneous datasets. The first is the X-ray
selected National Optical Astronomy Observatory Fundamental Plane Survey
(NFPS), and the second is the C4 catalogue of optically selected clusters built
from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release ~3 (SDSS DR3). Our goal is to
better understand the optical line emission in BCGs with respect to properties
of the galaxy and the host cluster. Throughout the analysis we compare the line
emission of the BCGs to that of a control sample made of the other bright
galaxies near the cluster centre. Overall, both the NFPS and SDSS show a modest
fraction of BCGs with emission lines (~15%). No trend in the fraction of
emitting BCGs as a function of galaxy mass or cluster velocity dispersion is
found. However we find that, for those BCGs found in cooling flow clusters,
71^{+9}_{-14}% have optical emission. Furthermore, if we consider only BCGs
within 50kpc of the X-ray centre of a cooling flow cluster, the emission-line
fraction rises further to 100^{+0}_{-15}%. Excluding the cooling flow clusters,
only ~10% of BCGs are line emitting, comparable to the control sample of
galaxies. We show that the physical origin of the emission line activity
varies: in some cases it has LINER-like line ratios, whereas in others it is a
composite of star-formation and LINER-like activity. We conclude that the
presence of emission lines in BCGs is directly related to the cooling of X-ray
gas at the cluster centre.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 13 pages mn2e style with 7 figures
and 2 table
Spitzer observations of Abell 1763. III. The infrared luminosity function in different supercluster environments
Context. The study of galaxy luminosity functions (LFs) in different environments provides powerful constraints on the physics of galaxy evolution. The infrared (IR) LF is a particularly useful tool since it is directly related to the distribution of galaxy star-formation rates (SFRs).
Aims. We aim to determine the galaxy IR LF as a function of the environment in a supercluster at redshift 0.23 to shed light on the processes driving galaxy evolution in and around clusters.
Methods. We base our analysis on multi-wavelength data, which include optical, near-IR, and mid- to far-IR photometry, as well as redshifts from optical spectroscopy. We identify 467 supercluster members in a sample of 24-μm-selected galaxies, on the basis of their spectroscopic (153) and photometric (314) redshifts. IR luminosities and stellar masses are determined for supercluster members via spectral energy distribution fitting. Galaxies with active galactic nuclei are identified by a variety of methods and excluded from the sample. SFRs are obtained for the 432 remaining galaxies from their IR luminosities via the Kennicutt relation.
Results. We determine the IR LF of the whole supercluster as well as the IR LFs of three different regions in the supercluster: the cluster core, a large-scale filament, and the cluster outskirts (excluding the filament). A comparison of the IR LFs of the three regions, normalized by the average number densities of r-band selected normal galaxies, shows that the filament (respectively, the core) contains the highest (respectively, the lowest) fraction of IR-emitting galaxies at all levels of IR luminosities, and the highest (respectively, the lowest) total SFR normalized by optical galaxy richness. Luminous IR galaxies (LIRGs) are almost absent in the core region. The relation between galaxy specific SFRs and stellar masses does not depend on the environment, and it indicates that most supercluster LIRGs are rather massive galaxies with relatively low specific SFRs. A comparison with previous IR LF determinations from the literature confirms that the mass-normalized total SFR in clusters increases with redshift, but more rapidly than previously suggested for redshifts ≲ 0.4.
Conclusions. The IR LF shows an environmental dependence that is not simply related to the local galaxy density. The filament, an intermediate-density region in the A1763 supercluster, contains the highest fraction of IR-emitting galaxies. We interpret our findings within a possible scenario for the evolution of galaxies in and around clusters
Dispersion of Ripplons in Superfluid 4he
A detailed study of the dispersion law of surface excitations in liquid \hef
at zero temperature is presented, with special emphasis to the short wave
length region. The hybridization mechanism between surface and bulk modes is
discussed on a general basis, investigating the scattering of slow rotons from
the surface. An accurate density functional, accounting for backflow effects,
is then used to determine the dispersion of both bulk and surface excitations.
The numerical results are close to the experimental data obtained on thick
films and explicitly reveal the occurrence of important hybridization effects
between ripplons and rotons.Comment: 23 pages, REVTEX 3.0, 11 figures upon request, UTF-326/9
Group Analysis of Variable Coefficient Diffusion-Convection Equations. I. Enhanced Group Classification
We discuss the classical statement of group classification problem and some
its extensions in the general case. After that, we carry out the complete
extended group classification for a class of (1+1)-dimensional nonlinear
diffusion--convection equations with coefficients depending on the space
variable. At first, we construct the usual equivalence group and the extended
one including transformations which are nonlocal with respect to arbitrary
elements. The extended equivalence group has interesting structure since it
contains a non-trivial subgroup of non-local gauge equivalence transformations.
The complete group classification of the class under consideration is carried
out with respect to the extended equivalence group and with respect to the set
of all point transformations. Usage of extended equivalence and correct choice
of gauges of arbitrary elements play the major role for simple and clear
formulation of the final results. The set of admissible transformations of this
class is preliminary investigated.Comment: 25 page
Non Equilibrium Electronic Distribution in Single Electron Devices
The electronic distribution in devices with sufficiently small diemnsions may
not be in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings. Systems where the
occupancies of electronic states are solely determined by tunneling processes
are analyzed. It is shown that the effective temperature of the device may be
higher, or lower, than that of its environment, depending on the applied
voltage and the energy dependence of the tunneling rates. The I-V
characteristics become asymmetric. Comparison with recent experiments is made
Collective excitations of Bose-Einstein condensed gases at finite temperatures
We have applied the Popov version of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB)
approximation to calculate the finite-temperature excitation spectrum of a
Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of Rb atoms. For lower values of the
temperature, we find excellent agreement with recently-published experimental
data for the JILA TOP trap. In contrast to recent comparison of the results of
HFB--Popov theory with experimental condensate fractions and specific heats,
there is disagreement of the theoretical and recent experimental results near
the BEC phase transition temperature.Comment: 4 pages, Latex, with 4 figures. More info at
http://amo.phy.gasou.edu/bec.htm
Evolution and global collapse of trapped Bose condensates under variations of the scattering length
We develop the idea of selectively manipulating the condensate in a trapped
Bose-condensed gas, without perturbing the thermal cloud. The idea is based on
the possibility to modify the mean field interaction between atoms (scattering
length) by nearly resonant incident light or by spatially uniform change of the
trapping magnetic field. For the gas in the Thomas-Fermi regime we find
analytical scaling solutions for the condensate wavefunction evolving under
arbitrary variations of the scattering length . The change of from
positive to negative induces a global collapse of the condensate, and the final
stages of the collapse will be governed by intrinsic decay processes.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, other comments are at
http://WWW.amolf.nl/departments/quantumgassen/TITLE.HTM
Toward semiclassical theory of quantum level correlations of generic chaotic systems
In the present work we study the two-point correlation function
of the quantum mechanical spectrum of a classically chaotic system. Recently
this quantity has been computed for chaotic and for disordered systems using
periodic orbit theory and field theory. In this work we present an independent
derivation, which is based on periodic orbit theory. The main ingredient in our
approach is the use of the spectral zeta function and its autocorrelation
function . The relation between and is
constructed by making use of a probabilistic reasoning similar to that which
has been used for the derivation of Hardy -- Littlewood conjecture. We then
convert the symmetry properties of the function into relations
between the so-called diagonal and the off-diagonal parts of . Our
results are valid for generic systems with broken time reversal symmetry, and
with non-commensurable periods of the periodic orbits.Comment: 15 pages(twocolumn format), LaTeX, EPSF, (figures included
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