743 research outputs found
Open mirror symmetry for Pfaffian Calabi-Yau 3-folds
We investigate the open mirror symmetry of certain non-complete intersection
Calabi- Yau 3-folds, so called pfaffian Calabi-Yau. We perform the prediction
of the number of disk invariants of several examples by using the direct
integration method proposed recently and the open mirror symmetry. We treat
several pfaffian Calabi-Yau 3-folds in and branes with two
discrete vacua. Some models have the two special points in its moduli space,
around both of which we can consider different A-model mirror partners. We
compute disc invariants for both cases. This study is the first application of
the open mirror symmetry to the compact non-complete intersections in toric
variety.Comment: 64 pages; v2: typos corrected, minor changes, references added; v3:
published version, minor corrections and improvement
A method to polarise antiprotons in storage rings and create polarised antineutrons
An intense circularely polarised photon beam interacts with a cooled
antiproton beam in a storage ring. Due to spin dependent absorption cross
sections for the reaction gamma+antiproton > pi- + antineutron a built-up of
polarisation of the stored antiprotons takes place. Figures-of-merit around 0.1
can be reached in principle over a wide range of antiproton energies. In this
process antineutrons with Polarisation > 70% emerge. The method is presented
for the case of 300 MeV/c cooled antiproton beam
Integrated spectra extraction based on signal-to-noise optimization using Integral Field Spectroscopy
We propose and explore the potential of a method to extract high
signal-to-noise (S/N) integrated spectra related to physical and/or
morphological regions on a 2-dimensional field using Integral Field
Spectroscopy (IFS) observations by employing an optimization procedure based on
either continuum (stellar) or line (nebular) emission features. The
optimization method is applied to a set of IFS VLT-VIMOS observations of
(U)LIRG galaxies, describing the advantages of the optimization by comparing
the results with a fixed-aperture, single spectrum case, and by implementing
some statistical tests. We demonstrate that the S/N of the IFS optimized
integrated spectra is significantly enhanced when compared with the single
aperture unprocessed case. We provide an iterative user-friendly and versatile
IDL algorithm that allows the user to spatially integrate spectra following
more standard procedures. This is made available to the community as part of
the PINGSoft IFS software package.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 12 pages, 7
figure
The cosmic evolution of the spatially-resolved star formation rate and stellar mass of the CALIFA survey
We investigate the cosmic evolution of the absolute and specific star
formation rate (SFR, sSFR) of galaxies as derived from a spatially-resolved
study of the stellar populations in a set of 366 nearby galaxies from the
CALIFA survey. The analysis combines GALEX and SDSS images with the 4000 break,
H_beta, and [MgFe] indices measured from the datacubes, to constrain parametric
models for the SFH, which are then used to study the cosmic evolution of the
star formation rate density (SFRD), the sSFR, the main sequence of star
formation (MSSF), and the stellar mass density (SMD). A delayed-tau model,
provides the best results, in good agreement with those obtained from
cosmological surveys. Our main results from this model are: a) The time since
the onset of the star formation is larger in the inner regions than in the
outer ones, while tau is similar or smaller in the inner than in the outer
regions. b) The sSFR declines rapidly as the Universe evolves, and faster for
early than for late type galaxies, and for the inner than for the outer regions
of galaxies. c) SFRD and SMD agree well with results from cosmological surveys.
At z< 0.5, most star formation takes place in the outer regions of late spiral
galaxies, while at z>2 the inner regions of the progenitors of the current E
and S0 are the major contributors to SFRD. d) The inner regions of galaxies are
the major contributor to SMD at z> 0.5, growing their mass faster than the
outer regions, with a lookback time at 50% SMD of 9 and 6 Gyr for the inner and
outer regions. e) The MSSF follows a power-law at high redshift, with the slope
evolving with time, but always being sub-linear. f) In agreement with galaxy
surveys at different redshifts, the average SFH of CALIFA galaxies indicates
that galaxies grow their mass mainly in a mode that is well represented by a
delayed-tau model, with the peak at z~2 and an e-folding time of 3.9 Gyr.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy
& Astrophysics. *Abridged abstract
Comments on Supergravity Description of S-branes
This is a note on the coupled supergravity-tachyon matter system, which has
been earlier proposed as a candidate for the effective space-time description
of S-branes. In particular, we study an ansatz with the maximal
ISO(p+1)xSO(8-p,1) symmetry, for general brane dimensionality p and homogeneous
brane distribution in transverse space \rho_\perp. A simple application of
singularity theorems shows that (for p \le 7) the most general solution with
these symmetries is always singular. (This invalidates a recent claim in the
literature.) We include a few general comments about the possibility of
describing the decay of unstable D-branes in purely gravitational terms.Comment: 19 pages, refs adde
The spatially-resolved star formation histories of CALIFA galaxies: Implications for galaxy formation
This paper presents the spatially resolved star formation history (SFH) of
nearby galaxies with the aim of furthering our understanding of the different
processes involved in the formation and evolution of galaxies. To this end, we
apply the fossil record method of stellar population synthesis to a rich and
diverse data set of 436 galaxies observed with integral field spectroscopy in
the CALIFA survey. The sample covers a wide range of Hubble types, with stellar
masses ranging from to . Spectral
synthesis techniques are applied to the datacubes to retrieve the spatially
resolved time evolution of the star formation rate (SFR), its intensity
(), and other descriptors of the 2D-SFH in seven bins of
galaxy morphology (E, S0, Sa, Sb, Sbc, Sc, and Sd), and five bins of stellar
mass. Our main results are: a) Galaxies form very fast independently of their
current stellar mass, with the peak of star formation at high redshift (). Subsequent star formation is driven by and morphology, with less
massive and later type spirals showing more prolonged periods of star
formation. b) At any epoch in the past the SFR is proportional to ,
with most massive galaxies having the highest absolute (but lowest specific)
SFRs. c) While nowadays is similar for all spirals, and
significantly lower in early type galaxies (ETG), in the past scales well with morphology. The central regions of today's ETGs are
where reached the highest values (Gyrpc), similar to those measured in high redshift
star forming galaxies. d) The evolution of in Sbc systems
matches that of models for Milky-Way-like galaxies, suggesting that the
formation of a thick disk may be a common phase in spirals at early epochs.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Astronomy
& Astrophysics, abstract abridged for arXiv submissio
On Duality Walls in String Theory
Following the RG flow of an N=1 quiver gauge theory and applying Seiberg
duality whenever necessary defines a duality cascade, that in simple cases has
been understood holographically. It has been argued that in certain cases, the
dualities will pile up at a certain energy scale called the duality wall,
accompanied by a dramatic rise in the number of degrees of freedom. In string
theory, this phenomenon is expected to occur for branes at a generic threefold
singularity, for which the associated quiver has Lorentzian signature. We here
study sequences of Seiberg dualities on branes at the C_3/Z_3 orbifold
singularity. We use the naive beta functions to define an (unphysical) scale
along the cascade. We determine, as a function of initial conditions, the scale
of the wall as well as the critical exponent governing the approach to it. The
position of the wall is piecewise linear, while the exponent appears to be
constant. We comment on the possible implications of these results for physical
walls.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures. v2: physical interpretation rectified, reference
adde
Resolving the age bimodality of galaxy stellar populations on kpc scales
Galaxies in the local Universe are known to follow bimodal distributions in
the global stellar populations properties. We analyze the distribution of the
local average stellar-population ages of 654,053 sub-galactic regions resolved
on ~1-kpc scales in a volume-corrected sample of 394 galaxies, drawn from the
CALIFA-DR3 integral-field-spectroscopy survey and complemented by SDSS imaging.
We find a bimodal local-age distribution, with an old and a young peak
primarily due to regions in early-type galaxies and star-forming regions of
spirals, respectively. Within spiral galaxies, the older ages of bulges and
inter-arm regions relative to spiral arms support an internal age bimodality.
Although regions of higher stellar-mass surface-density, mu*, are typically
older, mu* alone does not determine the stellar population age and a bimodal
distribution is found at any fixed mu*. We identify an "old ridge" of regions
of age ~9 Gyr, independent of mu*, and a "young sequence" of regions with age
increasing with mu* from 1-1.5 Gyr to 4-5 Gyr. We interpret the former as
regions containing only old stars, and the latter as regions where the relative
contamination of old stellar populations by young stars decreases as mu*
increases. The reason why this bimodal age distribution is not inconsistent
with the unimodal shape of the cosmic-averaged star-formation history is that
i) the dominating contribution by young stars biases the age low with respect
to the average epoch of star formation, and ii) the use of a single average age
per region is unable to represent the full time-extent of the star-formation
history of "young-sequence" regions.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, MNRAS accepte
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