Diamonds on the Hat: Globular Clusters in The Sombrero Galaxy (M104)

Images from the HST ACS are used to carry out a new photometric study of the globular clusters (GCs) in M104, the Sombrero galaxy. The primary focus of our study is the characteristic distribution function of linear sizes (SDF) of the GCs. We measure the effective radii for 652 clusters with PSF-convolved King and Wilson dynamical model fits. The SDF is remarkably similar to those measured for other large galaxies of all types, adding strong support to the view that it is a "universal" feature of globular cluster systems. We develop a more general interpretation of the size distribution function for globular clusters, proposing that the shape of the SDF that we see today for GCs is strongly influenced by the early rapid mass loss during their star forming stage, coupled with stochastic differences from cluster to cluster in the star formation efficiency (SFE) and their initial sizes. We find that the observed SDF shape can be accurately predicted by a simple model in which the protocluster clouds had characteristic sizes of $0.9 \pm 0.1$ pc and SFEs of $0.3 \pm 0.07$. The colors and luminosities of the M104 clusters show the clearly defined classic bimodal form. The blue sequence exhibits a mass/metallicity relation (MMR), following a scaling of heavy-element abundance with luminosity of $Z \sim L^{0.3}$ very similar to what has been found in most giant elliptical galaxies. A quantitative self-enrichment model provides a good first-order match to the data for the same initial SFE and protocluster size that were required to explain the SDF. We also discuss various forms of the globular cluster Fundamental Plane (FP) of structural parameters, and show that useful tests of it can be extended to galaxies beyond the Local Group.Comment: In press for MNRA

Simulated Gas Turbine Casing Response to Rotor Blade Pressure Excitation

Non-intrusive measurement of blade condition within gas turbines is of major interest within all areas of their use. It is proposed that the measurement of the casing vibration, due to the aerodynamic-structural interaction within the turbine, could provide a means of blade condition monitoring and modal parameter estimation. In order to understand the complex relationship between blade vibrations and casing response, an analytical model of the casing and simulated pressure signal associated with the rotor blades is presented. A mathematical formulation is undertaken of the internal pressure signal due to both the rotating bladed disk as well as individual blade vibrations and the solution of the casing response is formulated. Excitation by the stator blades and their contribution to the casing response is also investigated. Some verification of the presented analytical model is provided by comparison with Finite Element Analysis results for various rotor rotational speeds

The Electrosphere of Macroscopic "Quark Nuclei": A Source for Diffuse MeV Emissions from Dark Matter

Using a Thomas-Fermi model, we calculate the structure of the electrosphere of the quark antimatter nuggets postulated to comprise much of the dark matter. This provides a single self-consistent density profile from ultrarelativistic densities to the nonrelativistic Boltzmann regime that use to present microscopically justified calculations of several properties of the nuggets, including their net charge, and the ratio of MeV to 511 keV emissions from electron annihilation. We find that the calculated parameters agree with previous phenomenological estimates based on the observational supposition that the nuggets are a source of several unexplained diffuse emissions from the Galaxy. As no phenomenological parameters are required to describe these observations, the calculation provides another nontrivial verification of the dark-matter proposal. The structure of the electrosphere is quite general and will also be valid at the surface of strange-quark stars, should they exist.Comment: 20 Pages, REVTeX4.

Late Ordovician-Early Silurian trace fossils from the Matapedia Group, Tobique River, western New Brunswick, Canada. II. Additional discoveries with descriptions and comments

Previous recordings of Late Ordovician-Early Silurian flysch trace fossils (13 ichnogenera, 15 ichnospecies) from slope deposits of the Matapedia Basin at a single site on the Tobique River, western New Brunswick, are supplemented by the addition of 9 newly discovered ichnogenera (12 ichnospecies). These are:- Cirrculichnis montanus, Cruziana problematica, Cruziana cf. stromnessa, Dipt'tchnites ichnosp., Megagrapton irregulare, Monocraterion ichnosp., Phycosiphon incertum, Rusophycus didymus, Rusophycus ichnosp. types A and H, Scolicia ichnosp, and Tuberculichnus ichnosp. The traces are poorly preserved and occur only in low numbers compared to previously documented forms. Nevertheless, the meticulous sampling procedures adopted at the site emphasize the need for detailed collecting, before drawing conclusions regarding diversity models, stratigraphic distribution, etc., of trace fossils. Of these new forms only Diplichnites ichnosp. has previously been recorded from die Matapedia Basin in the partially coeval Lower Silurian Siegas Formation. Tuberculichnus ichnosp. is recorded for the first time in North America. The combined total of 22 ichnogenera (27 ichnospecies) from the Tobique River represents the most diverse ichnocoenosis yet reported from a single ancient slope deposit. The occurrence of several more typically shallow-water ichnogenera (e.g., Cruziana, Diplichnites, Monocraterion and Rusophycus) suggests that, at least in the Early Palaeozoic, caution must be exercised in their utilization as distinctive facies or environmental indicators. RÉSUMÉ 9 nouveaux ichnogenres (12 ichnoespeces) s'ajoutent à ceux déjà répertoriés (13 ichnogenrcs, 15 ichnoespcces) en un site unique localise sur la rivière Tobique, dans l’ouest du Nouveau-Brunswick, dans des sédiments tardiordoviciens è éosiluriens accumulés sur le talus continental du Bassin de Matapedia. Ce sont: Cirrculichnis montanus, Cruziana problematica, Cruziana cf. stromnessa, Dipt'tchnites ichnosp., Megagrapton irregulare, Monocraterion ichnosp., Phycosiphon incertum, Rusophycus didymus, Rusophycus ichnosp. types A et H, Scolicia ichnosp, et Tuberculichnus ichnosp. Ces demières sont malconservées et relativement rares par rapport aux formés déjà connues. Néanmoins, le dépouillement méiculeux utilisé à ce site démontre la nécessité d'une collecte détailiée avant de tirer des conclusions quant aux modeèles de diversité, à la distribution stratigraphique, etc., des traces fossiles. De ces nouvelles formés, seule Diplichinites ichnosp. est déjà cormue dans le Bassin de Matapedia, soil dans la Formation sihirienne inférieure et en partie synchrone de Siegas. On recense Tuberculichnus ichnosp. pour la première fois en Amerique du Nord. Le total combine de 22 ichnogenres (27 ichnoespeces) présents sur la rivière Tobique représente l’inchnocoenose la plus diverse jamais répertoriée dans un seul dépôt de talus. La présence de plusieur sichnogenres typiques d'une faible tranche d'eau (e.g., Cruziana, Diplichnites, Monocraterion et Rusophycus) démontre que la prudence est de mise lors de leur utilisation à litre d'indicateurs de faciès on de milieu, tout particuliérement à l'Éopaléozoique. [Traduit par le journal

Minimax Current Density Coil Design

'Coil design' is an inverse problem in which arrangements of wire are designed to generate a prescribed magnetic field when energized with electric current. The design of gradient and shim coils for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are important examples of coil design. The magnetic fields that these coils generate are usually required to be both strong and accurate. Other electromagnetic properties of the coils, such as inductance, may be considered in the design process, which becomes an optimization problem. The maximum current density is additionally optimized in this work and the resultant coils are investigated for performance and practicality. Coils with minimax current density were found to exhibit maximally spread wires and may help disperse localized regions of Joule heating. They also produce the highest possible magnetic field strength per unit current for any given surface and wire size. Three different flavours of boundary element method that employ different basis functions (triangular elements with uniform current, cylindrical elements with sinusoidal current and conic section elements with sinusoidal-uniform current) were used with this approach to illustrate its generality.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. To appear in Journal of Physics D: Applied Physic

Graptolites from the Benton area of west-central New Brunswick and their regional significance

Graptolites In black slate underlying volcanics along Eel River near Benton, 20 km south of Woodstock, New Brunswick belong to the Clonograptus tenellus Zone of the upper Tremadoc Series. They are essentially the same age as graptolites from the Cookson Formation of southern New Brunswick. The Belle Lake Slate overlies the same volcanics, and on Belle Brook, 12 km southwest of Benton, contains graptolites referred to the Nemagraptus gracilis Zone of the Caradoc Series. The Belle Lake Slate correlates with an unnamed sequence of greywacke and slate in the Hayesville area of central New Brunswick. The Ordovician volcanics and overlying sedimentary rocks are the sane general age as a limestone facies found to the east and northeast of Woodstock. The limestones were deposited in shallow-water at varying distances from volcanically active areas. The presence of lithologlcally similar Lower Ordovician and older rocks in the Benton area of west-central New Brunswick and in the Cookson Formation of southern New Brunswick allows both areas to be included in the same suspect terrane. RÉSUMÉ A 20 km au sud de Woodstock (Nouveau-Brunswick) on trouve, dans une ardoise noire recouverte de roches volcaniques, des graptolites qui appartiennent à la zone Clonograptus tenellus de la série du Trémadocien supérieur. Ces graptolites datent essentiellement de la même période que les graptolites de la formation de Cookson du sud du Nouveau-Brunswick. À 12 km au sud-ouest de Benton, le long du ruisseau Belle, les roches volcanlques mentionnées ci-haut sont recouvertes par l 1 ardoise Belle Lake qui contient des graptolites de la zone à Nemagraptus gracilis de la serle du Caradocien. L‘ardoise Belle Lake est correlée avec une séquence de grauwacke et d'ardoise que l'on retrouve dans la région de Hayesville au centre du Nouveau-Brunswick. Les roches volcaniques ordoviciennes et les roches sédimentaires qui les recouvrent ont environ le même âge qu'un faciès de calcaire situe à l'est et au nord-est de Woodstock. Les calcaires ont été déposés en eau peu profonde à des distances variables d'une région volcaniquement active. La présence de roches lithologiquement semblables, certaines datant de l'Ordovicien inférieur, d'autres plus anciennes, dans la région de Benton au centre-ouest du Nouveau-Brunswick et dans la formation de Cookson au sud du Nouveau-Brunswick presuppose une pa renté entre les deux régions. [Tradult par le Journal

WMAP Haze: Directly Observing Dark Matter?

In this paper we show that dark matter in the form of dense matter/antimatter nuggets could provide a natural and unified explanation for several distinct bands of diffuse radiation from the core of the Galaxy spanning over 12 orders of magnitude in frequency. We fix all of the phenomenological properties of this model by matching to x-ray observations in the keV band, and then calculate the unambiguously predicted thermal emission in the microwave band, at frequencies smaller by 10 orders of magnitude. Remarkably, the intensity and spectrum of the emitted thermal radiation are consistent with--and could entirely explain--the so-called "WMAP haze": a diffuse microwave excess observed from the core of our Galaxy by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). This provides another strong constraint of our proposal, and a remarkable nontrivial validation. If correct, our proposal identifies the nature of the dark matter, explains baryogenesis, and provides a means to directly probe the matter distribution in our Galaxy by analyzing several different types of diffuse emissions.Comment: 16 pages, REVTeX4. Updated to correspond with published version: includes additional appendices discussing finite-size effect

Comments on the continuing widespread and unnecessary use of a defective emission equation in field emission related literature

Field electron emission (FE) has relevance in many different technological contexts. However, many related technological papers use a physically defective elementary FE equation for local emission current density (LECD). This equation takes the tunneling barrier as exactly triangular, as in the original FE theory of 90 years ago. More than 60 years ago, it was shown that the so-called Schottky-Nordheim (SN) barrier, which includes an image-potential-energy term (that models exchange-and-correlation effects) is better physics. For a metal-like emitter with work-function 4.5 eV, the SN-barrier-related Murphy-Good FE equation predicts LECD values that are higher than the elementary equation values by a large factor, often between around 250 and around 500. By failing to mention/apply this 60-year-old established science, or to inform readers of the large errors associated with the elementary equation, many papers (aided by defective reviewing) spread a new kind of "pathological science", and create a modern research-integrity problem. The present paper aims to enhance author and reviewer awareness by summarizing relevant aspects of FE theory, by explicitly identifying the misjudgment in the original 1928 Fowler-Nordheim paper, by explicitly calculating the size of the resulting error, and by showing in detail why most FE theoreticians regard the 1950s modifications as better physics. Suggestions are made, about nomenclature and about citation practice, that may help to diminish misunderstandings.Comment: Submitted for publication; in v2 a correction to historical information (with no numerical consequences) has been made in Appendix