A Color-Magnitude Diagram for a Globular Cluster In the Giant Elliptical Galaxy NGC 5128

The Hubble Space Telescope has been used to obtain WFPC2 (V,I) photometry for a large sample of stars in the outer halo of the giant elliptical NGC 5128 (d = 4 Mpc). The globular cluster N5128-C44, at the center of the Planetary Camera field, is well enough resolved to permit the construction of a color-magnitude diagram (CMD) for it which covers the brightest two magnitudes of the giant branch. The CMD is consistent with that of a normal old, moderately low-metallicity ([Fe/H] = -1.30 globular cluster, distinctly more metal-poor than most of the field halo stars at the same projected location (which average [Fe/H] ~ -0.5). This is the most distant globular cluster in which direct color-magnitude photometry has been achieved to date, and the first one belonging to a giant E galaxy.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, including 5 postscript figures; submitted to Astronomical Journa

Structural parameters for globular clusters in M31 and generalizations for the fundamental plane

The structures of globular clusters (GCs) reflect their dynamical states and past histories. High-resolution imaging allows the exploration of morphologies of clusters in other galaxies. Surface brightness profiles from new Hubble Space Telescope observations of 34 globular clusters in M31 are presented, together with fits of several different structural models to each cluster. M31 clusters appear to be adequately fit by standard King models, and do not obviously require alternate descriptions with relatively stronger halos, such as are needed to fit many GCs in other nearby galaxies. The derived structural parameters are combined with corrected versions of those measured in an earlier survey to construct a comprehensive catalog of structural and dynamical parameters for M31 GCs with a sample size similar to that for the Milky Way. Clusters in M31, the Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds, Fornax dwarf spheroidal and NGC 5128 define a very tight fundamental plane with identical slopes. The combined evidence for these widely different galaxies strongly reinforces the view that old globular clusters have near-universal structural properties regardless of host environment.Comment: AJ in press; 59 pages including 16 figure

Metalanguage in L1 English-speaking 12-year-olds: which aspects of writing do they talk about?

Traditional psycholinguistic approaches to metalinguistic awareness in L1 learners elicit responses containing metalanguage that demonstrates metalinguistic awareness of pre-determined aspects of language knowledge. This paper, which takes a more ethnographic approach, demonstrates how pupils are able to engage their own focus of metalanguage when reflecting on their everyday learning activities involving written language. What is equally significant is what their metalanguage choices reveal about their understanding and application of written language concepts

A Chandra study of X-ray sources in the field of the z=2.16 radio galaxy MRC 1138-262

We present results from a Chandra X-ray Observatory study of the field X-ray source population in the vicinity of the radio galaxy MRC 1138-262. Many serendipitous X-ray sources are detected in an area of 8'x8' around the radio source and 90% are identified in our deep VLT images. The space density of such sources is higher than expected on the basis of the statistics of ROSAT and Chandra deep surveys. The most likely explanation is in terms of a concentration of AGN associated with the protocluster at z=2.16 which was found around the radio galaxy in previous studies. Two sources have a confirmed spectroscopic redshift close to that of the radio galaxy, and for three more sources other observations suggest that they are associated with the protocluster. Four of these five X-ray sources form, together with the radio galaxy, a filament in the plane of the sky. The direction of the filament is similar to that of the radio source axis, the large scale distribution of the other protocluster members, the 150 kpc-sized emission-line halo and the extended X-ray emission associated with the radio galaxy. The majority of optically identified X-ray sources in this field have properties consistent with type I AGN, a few could be soft, low luminosity galaxies, one is probably an obscured (type II) AGN and one is a star. These statistics are consistent with the results of deep X-ray surveys.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysic

On the Formation of Galaxy Halos: Comparing NGC 5128 and the Local Group Members

The metallicity distribution function (MDF) for the old red-giant stars in the halo of NGC 5128, the nearest giant elliptical galaxy, is virtually identical with the MDF for the old-disk stars in the LMC and also strongly resembles the halo MDF in M31. These galaxies all have high mean halo metallicities ( ~ -0.4$) with very small proportions of low-metallicity stars. These observations reinforce the view that metal-rich halos are quite normal for large galaxies of all types. Such systems are unlikely to have built up by accretion of pre-existing, gas-free small satellite galaxies, unless these satellites had an extremely shallow mass distribution (d log N / d log M > -1). We suggest that the halo of NGC 5128 is more likely to have assembled from hierarchical merging of gas-rich lumps in which the bulk of star formation took place during or after the merger stage.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, plus 3 figures in separate postscript files; Astronomical Journal, in press for December 200

Synthetic Observations of Simulated Radio Galaxies I: Radio and X-ray Analysis

We present an extensive synthetic observational analysis of numerically- simulated radio galaxies designed to explore the effectiveness of conventional observational analyses at recovering physical source properties. These are the first numerical simulations with sufficient physical detail to allow such a study. The present paper focuses on extraction of magnetic field properties from nonthermal intensity information. Synchrotron and inverse-Compton intensities provided meaningful information about distributions and strengths of magnetic fields, although considerable care was called for. Correlations between radio and X-ray surface brightness correctly revealed useful dynamical relationships between particles and fields. Magnetic field strength estimates derived from the ratio of X-ray to radio intensity were mostly within about a factor of two of the RMS field strength along a given line of sight. When emissions along a given line of sight were dominated by regions close to the minimum energy/equipartition condition, the field strengths derived from the standard power-law-spectrum minimum energy calculation were also reasonably close to actual field strengths, except when spectral aging was evident. Otherwise, biases in the minimum- energy magnetic field estimation mirrored actual differences from equipartition. The ratio of the inverse-Compton magnetic field to the minimum-energy magnetic field provided a rough measure of the actual total energy in particles and fields in most instances, within an order of magnitude. This may provide a practical limit to the accuracy with which one may be able to establish the internal energy density or pressure of optically thin synchrotron sources.Comment: 43 pages, 14 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ, v601 n2 February 1, 200