5,946 research outputs found
Propagation of the phase of solar modulation
The phase of the 11 year galactic cosmic ray variation, due to a varying rate of emission of long lived propagating regions of enhanced scattering, travels faster than the scattering regions themselves. The radial speed of the 11 year phase in the quasi-steady, force field approximation is exactly twice the speed of the individual, episodic decreases. A time dependent, numerical solution for 1 GeV protons at 1 and 30 Au gives a phase speed which is 1.85 times the propagation speed of the individual decreases
The Disturbed 17 keV Cluster Associated with the Radio Galaxy 3C 438
We present results from a {\em Chandra} observation of the cluster gas
associated with the FR II radio galaxy 3C 438. This radio galaxy is embedded
within a massive cluster with gas temperature 17 keV and bolometric
luminosity of 6 ergs s. It is unclear if this high
temperature represents the gravitational mass of the cluster, or if this is an
already high ( 11 keV) temperature cluster that has been heated
transiently. We detect a surface brightness discontinuity in the gas that
extends 600 kpc through the cluster. The radio galaxy 3C 438 is too small
(110 kpc across) and too weak to have created this large disturbance in
the gas. The discontinuity must be the result of either an extremely powerful
nuclear outburst or the major merger of two massive clusters. If the observed
features are the result of a nuclear outburst, it must be from an earlier epoch
of unusually energetic nuclear activity. However, the energy required
( ergs) to move the gas on the observed spatial scales strongly
supports the merger hypothesis. In either scenario, this is one of the most
extreme events in the local Universe.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 1 table - accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journal Letter
Communications technology satellite output-tube design and development
The design and development of a 200-watt-output, traveling-wave tube (TWT) for the Communications Technology Satellite (CTS) is discussed, with emphasis on the design evolution during the manufacturing phase of the development program. Possible further improvements to the tube design are identified
Images, structural properties and metal abundances of galaxy clusters observed with Chandra ACIS-I at 0.1<z<1.3
We have assembled a sample of 115 galaxy clusters at 0.1<z<1.3 with archived
Chandra ACIS-I observations. We present X-ray images of the clusters and make
available region files containing contours of the smoothed X-ray emission. The
structural properties of the clusters were investigated and we found a
significant absence of relaxed clusters (as determined by centroid shift
measurements) at z>0.5. The slope of the surface brightness profiles at large
radii were steeper on average by 15% than the slope obtained by fitting a
simple beta-model to the emission. This slope was also found to be correlated
with cluster temperature, with some indication that the correlation is weaker
for the clusters at z>0.5. We measured the mean metal abundance of the cluster
gas as a function of redshift and found significant evolution, with the
abundances dropping by 50% between z=0.1 and z~1. This evolution was still
present (although less significant) when the cluster cores were excluded from
the abundance measurements, indicating that the evolution is not solely due to
the disappearance of relaxed, cool core clusters (which are known to have
enhanced core metal abundances) from the population at z>0.5.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJS. Updated to
match published version. Redshifts of two clusters (RXJ1701 and CL0848)
corrected and two observations of MACSJ0744.8 have been combined into one.
Conclusions unchanged. A version with images of all of the clusters is
available at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~bmaughan/clusters.htm
ESO 3060170 -- a massive fossil galaxy group with a heated gas core?
We present a detailed study of the ESO 3060170 galaxy group combining
Chandra, XMM and optical observations. The system is found to be a fossil
galaxy group. The group X-ray emission is composed of a central dense cool core
(10 kpc in radius) and an isothermal medium beyond the central 10 kpc. The
region between 10 and 50 kpc (the cooling radius) has the same temperature as
the gas from 50 kpc to 400 kpc although the gas cooling time between 10 and 50
kpc (2 - 6 Gyr) is shorter than the Hubble time. Thus, the ESO 3060170 group
does not have a group-sized cooling core. We suggest that the group cooling
core may have been heated by a central AGN outburst in the past and the small
dense cool core is the truncated relic of a previous cooling core. The Chandra
observations also reveal a variety of X-ray features in the central region,
including a ``finger'', an edge-like feature and a small ``tail'', all aligned
along a north-south axis, as are the galaxy light and group galaxy
distribution. The proposed AGN outburst may cause gas ``sloshing'' around the
center and produce these asymmetric features. The observed flat temperature
profile to 1/3 R_vir is not consistent with the predicted temperature profile
in recent numerical simulations. We compare the entropy profile of the ESO
3060170 group with those of three other groups and find a flatter relation than
that predicted by simulations involving only shock heating, S r. This is direct evidence for the importance of non-gravitational
processes in group centers. We derive the mass profiles within 1/3 R_vir and
find the ESO 3060170 group is the most massive fossil group known (1 - 2 X
10 M). The M/L ratio of the system, ~ 150 at 0.3 R_vir, is
normal.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, to appear in ApJ. A high-resolution version can
be downloaded from http://cxc.harvard.edu/~msun/esoa.p
Multiple purpose wetlands
Presented at Water for agriculture and wildlife and the environment: win-win opportunities: proceedings from the USCID wetlands seminar on June 27-29, 1996 in Bismarck, North Dakota.Includes bibliographical referencesCreating multiple purpose wetlands on large unfragmented tracts of western grasslands affords a unique opportunity to serve both ranching and wildlife interests by simultaneously enhancing livestock performance, range condition, and waterfowl production. While surface water developments on western grasslands have long been recognized as an effective technique for improving grazing distribution, more recent data suggest that such developments also have high potential for waterfowl production. Dabbling duck productivity rates per surface acre of water in these systems are often 2-4 times higher than in more traditional habitats of the Prairie Pothole Region where waterfowl managers have traditionally focused their efforts. Throughout the Prairie Pothole Region dabbling duck recruitment appears to be severely limited by the combined influences of nesting habitat fragmentation and artificially high predator densities supported by anthropogenic landscape changes. Conversely, western grasslands are characterized by relatively large tracts of nesting cover, low density predator communities, and as a result, high duck productivity when adequate surface water is available. Recognizing the multiple benefits of created wetlands, beginning in 1992 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated a unique statewide partnership in South Dakota to create multiple purpose wetlands on private and tribal grasslands. Emphasis was placed on creating multiple purpose wetlands on large unfragmented tracts of grassland, including for the first time, sites outside of the traditional Prairie Pothole Region. Primary partners in this program include the North American Wetlands Conservation Council, Ducks Unlimited Incorporated, Native American Tribes, the South Dakota Association of Conservation Districts, the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, county Conservation Districts and individual landowners. Through this partnership over 450 wetlands have been created, with 30% occurring on western grasslands outside of the Prairie Pothole Region. As expected, tangible benefits noted from wetlands created through this partnership include improved grazing distribution and livestock performance, enhanced range condition and localized increases in waterfowl production. More importantly, as a result of this program many participating landowners have expressed a renewed enthusiasm for the intangible benefits of wildlife conservation. Interest in this program continues to grow providing an example of a true working partnership between agriculture and wildlife
Outer Regions of the Cluster Gaseous Atmospheres
We present a systematic study of the hot gas distribution in the outer
regions of regular clusters using ROSAT PSPC data. Outside the cooling flow
region, the beta-model describes the observed surface brightness closely, but
not precisely. Between 0.3 and 1 virial radii, the profiles are characterized
by a power law with slope, expressed in terms of the beta parameter, in the
range beta=0.65 to 0.85. The values of beta in this range of radii are
typically larger by ~0.05 than those derived from the global fit. There is a
mild trend for the slope to increase with temperature, from ~0.68 for 3
keV clusters to ~0.8 for 10 keV clusters; however, even at high temperatures
there are clusters with flat gas profiles, 0.7. Our values of beta at large
radius are systematically higher, and the trend of beta with temperature is
weaker than was previously found; the most likely explanation is that earlier
studies were affected by an incomplete exclusion of the central cooling flow
regions. For our regular clusters, the gas distribution at large radii is quite
close to spherically symmetric and this is shown not to be an artifact of the
sample selection. The gas density profiles are very similar when compared in
the units of cluster virial radius. The radius of fixed mean gas overdensity
1000 (corresponding to the dark matter overdensity 200 for Omega=0.2) shows a
tight correlation with temperature, R~T**0.5, as expected from the virial
theorem for clusters with the universal gas fraction. At a given temperature,
the rms scatter of the gas overdensity radius is only ~7% which translates into
a 20% scatter of the gas mass fraction, including statistical scatter due to
measurement uncertainties.Comment: ApJ in press, submitted 11/30/9
The survival and destruction of X-ray coronae of early-type galaxies in the rich cluster environments: a case study of Abell 1367
A new Chandra observation of the northwest region of the galaxy cluster A1367
reveals four cool galaxy coronae (0.4 - 1.0 keV) embedded in the hot
intracluster medium (ICM) (5 - 6 keV). While the large coronae of NGC 3842 and
NGC 3837 appear symmetric and relaxed, the galaxy coronae of the \lsim L*
galaxies (NGC 3841 and CGCG 97090) are disturbed and being stripped. Massive
galaxies, with dense cooling cores, are better able to resist ram pressure
stripping and survive in rich environments than \lsim L* galaxies whose
galactic coronae are much less dense. The survival of these cool coronae
implies that thermal conduction from the hot surrounding ICM has to be
suppressed by a factor of at least 60, at the corona boundary. Within the
galaxy coronae of NGC 3842 and NGC 3837, stellar mass loss or heat conduction
with the Spitzer value may be sufficient to balance radiative cooling. Energy
deposition at the ends of collimated jets may heat the outer coronae, but allow
the survival of a small, dense gas core (e.g., NGC 3842 in A1367 and NGC 4874
in Coma). The survived X-ray coronae become significantly smaller and fainter
with the increasing ambient pressure.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, emulateapj5, accepted by Ap
The Baryonic and Dark Matter Distributions in Abell 401
We combine spatially resolved ASCA temperature data with ROSAT imaging data
to constrain the total mass distribution in the cluster A401, assuming that the
cluster is in hydrostatic equilibrium. We obtain a total mass within the X-ray
core (290/h_50 kpc) of 1.2[+0.1,-0.5] 10^14 /h_50 Msun at the 90% confidence
level, 1.3 times larger than the isothermal estimate. The total mass within
r_500 (1.7/h_50 Mpc) is M_500 = 0.9[+0.3,-0.2] 10^15/ h_50 Msun at 90%
confidence, in agreement with the optical virial mass estimate, and 1.2 times
smaller than the isothermal estimate. Our M_500 value is 1.7 times smaller than
that estimated using the mass-temperature scaling law predicted by simulations.
The best fit dark matter density profile scales as r^{-3.1} at large radii,
which is consistent with the Navarro, Frenk & White (NFW) ``universal profile''
as well as the King profile of the galaxy density in A401. From the imaging
data, the gas density profile is shallower than the dark matter profile,
scaling as r^{-2.1} at large radii, leading to a monotonically increasing gas
mass fraction with radius. Within r_500 the gas mass fraction reaches a value
of f_gas = 0.21[+0.06,-0.05] h_50^{-3/2} (90% confidence errors). Assuming that
f_gas (plus an estimate of the stellar mass) is the universal value of the
baryon fraction, we estimate the 90% confidence upper limit of the cosmological
matter density to be Omega_m < 0.31.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Ap
Evolution of the Cluster X-ray Luminosity Function
We report measurements of the cluster X-ray luminosity function out to z=0.8
based on the final sample of 201 galaxy systems from the 160 Square Degree
ROSAT Cluster Survey. There is little evidence for any measurable change in
cluster abundance out to z~0.6 at luminosities less than a few times 10^44
ergs/s (0.5-2.0 keV). However, between 0.6 < z < 0.8 and at luminosities above
10^44 ergs/s, the observed volume densities are significantly lower than those
of the present-day population. We quantify this cluster deficit using
integrated number counts and a maximum-likelihood analysis of the observed
luminosity-redshift distribution fit with a model luminosity function. The
negative evolution signal is >3 sigma regardless of the adopted local
luminosity function or cosmological framework. Our results and those from
several other surveys independently confirm the presence of evolution. Whereas
the bulk of the cluster population does not evolve, the most luminous and
presumably most massive structures evolve appreciably between z=0.8 and the
present. Interpreted in the context of hierarchical structure formation, we are
probing sufficiently large mass aggregations at sufficiently early times in
cosmological history where the Universe has yet to assemble these clusters to
present-day volume densities.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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