422 research outputs found
Malmquist Bias and the Distance to the Virgo Cluster
This paper investigates the impact of Malmquist bias on the distance to the
Virgo cluster determined by the H_0 Key Project using M100, and consequently on
the derived value of H_0. Malmquist bias is a volume-induced statistical effect
which causes the most probable distance to be different from the raw distance
measured. Consideration of the bias in the distance to the Virgo cluster raises
this distance and lowers the calculated value of H_0. Monte Carlo simulations
of the cluster have been run for several possible distributions of spirals
within the cluster and of clusters in the local universe. Simulations
consistent with known information regarding the cluster and the errors of
measurement result in a bias of about 6.5%-8.5%. This corresponds to an
unbiased distance of 17.2-17.4 Mpc and a value of H_0 in the range 80-82
km/s/Mpc.
The problem of determining the bias to Virgo illustrates several key points
regarding Malmquist bias. Essentially all conventional astronomical distance
measurements are subject to this bias. In addition, the bias accumulates when
an attempt is made to construct "distance ladders" from measurements which are
individually biased. As will be shown in the case of Virgo, the magnitude and
direction of the bias are sensitive to the spatial distribution of the parent
poputation from which the observed object is drawn - a distribution which is
often poorly known. This leads to uncertainty in the magnitude of the bias, and
adds to the importance of minimizing the number of steps in "distance ladders".Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, Latex, To appear in Ap
A maximum-likelihood method for improving faint source flux and color estimates
Flux estimates for faint sources or transients are systematically biased high
because there are far more truly faint sources than bright. Corrections which
account for this effect are presented as a function of signal-to-noise ratio
and the (true) slope of the faint-source number-flux relation. The corrections
depend on the source being originally identified in the image in which it is
being photometered. If a source has been identified in other data, the
corrections are different; a prescription for calculating the corrections is
presented. Implications of these corrections for analyses of surveys are
discussed; the most important is that sources identified at signal-to-noise
ratios of four or less are practically useless.Comment: 9 pp., accepted for publication in PAS
The Case for an Accelerating Universe from Supernovae
The unexpected faintness of high-redshift Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), as
measured by two teams, has been interpreted as evidence that the expansion of
the Universe is accelerating. We review the current challenges to this
interpretation and seek to answer whether the cosmological implications are
compelling. We discuss future observations of SNe Ia which could offer
extraordinary evidence to test acceleration.Comment: To appear as an Invited Review for PASP 20 pages, 13 figure
The Clustering of Extragalactic Extremely Red Objects
We have measured the angular and spatial clustering of 671 K5
Extremely Red Objects (EROs) from a 0.98 square degree sub-region of the NOAO
Deep Wide-Field Survey (NDWFS). Our study covers nearly 5 times the area and
has twice the sample size of any previous ERO clustering study. The wide field
of view and BwRIK passbands of the NDWFS allow us to place improved constraints
on the clustering of z=1 EROs. We find the angular clustering of EROs is
slightly weaker than in previous measurements, and w(1')=0.25+/-0.05 for
K<18.40 EROs. We find no significant correlation of ERO spatial clustering with
redshift, apparent color or absolute magnitude, although given the
uncertainties, such correlations remain plausible. We find the spatial
clustering of K5 EROs is well approximated by a power-law, with
r_0=9.7+/-1.1 Mpc/h in comoving coordinates. This is comparable to the
clustering of 4L* early-type galaxies at z<1, and is consistent with the
brightest EROs being the progenitors of the most massive ellipticals. There is
evidence of the angular clustering of EROs decreasing with increasing apparent
magnitude, when NDWFS measurements of ERO clustering are combined with those
from the literature. Unless the redshift distribution of K>20 EROs is very
broad, the spatial clustering of EROs decreases from r_0=9.7+/-1.1 Mpc/h for
K20 EROs.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJ. 29 pages with 10 figures. The
NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey Bootes data release is available online at
http://www.noao.edu/noao/noaodeep
The Correlation Between Galaxy HI Linewidths and K' Luminosities
The relationship between galaxy luminosities and rotation rates is studied
with total luminosities in the K' band. Extinction problems are essentially
eliminated at this band centered at 2.1 micron. A template luminosity-linewidth
relation is derived based on 65 galaxies drawn from two magnitude-limited
cluster samples. The zero-point is determined using 4 galaxies with accurately
known distances. The calibration is applied to give the distance to the Pisces
Cluster (60 Mpc) at a redshift in the CMB frame of 4771 km/s. The resultant
value of the Hubble Constant is 81 km/s/Mpc. The largest sources of uncertainty
arises from the small number of zero-point calibrators at this time at K' and
present application to only one cluster.Comment: 13 pages including 5 figures and 2 tables. Accepted for publication
in Astrophysical Journa
A Complete Catalog of Swift GRB Spectra and Durations: Demise of a Physical Origin for Pre-Swift High-Energy Correlations
We calculate durations and spectral paramaters for 218 Swift bursts detected
by the BAT instrument between and including GRBs 041220 and 070509, including
77 events with measured redshifts. Incorporating prior knowledge into the
spectral fits, we are able to measure the characteristic spectral
peak energy and the isotropic equivalent energy
(1-- keV) for all events. This complete and rather extensive catalog,
analyzed with a unified methodology, allows us to address the persistence and
origin of high-energy correlations suggested in pre-Swift observations. We find
that the - correlation is present in the Swift
sample; however, the best-fit powerlaw relation is inconsistent with the
best-fit pre-Swift relation at >5 sigma significance. Moreover, it has a factor
>~ 2 larger intrinsic scatter, after accounting for large errors on . A large fraction of the Swift events are hard and subluminous
relative to (and inconsistent with) the pre-Swift relation, in agreement with
indications from BATSE GRBs without redshift. Moreover, we determine an
experimental threshold for the BAT detector and show how the -- correlation arises artificially due to partial
correlation with the threshold. We show that pre-Swift correlations found by
Amati et al.(2002), Yonetoku et al. (2004), Firmani et al.(2006) (and
independently by others) are likely unrelated to the physical properties of
GRBs and are likely useless for tests of cosmology. Also, an explanation of
these correlations in terms of a detector threshold provides a natural and
quantitative explanation for why short-duration GRBs and events at low redshift
tend to be outliers to the correlations.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, Accepted to Ap
The Motions of Clusters of Galaxies and the Dipoles of the Peculiar Velocity Field
In preceding papers of this series, TF relations for galaxies in 24 clusters
with radial velocities between 1000 and 9200 km/s (SCI sample) were obtained, a
Tully-Fisher (TF) template relation was constructed and mean offsets of each
cluster with respect to the template obtained. Here, an estimate of the
line-of-sight peculiar velocities of the clusters and their associated errors
are given. It is found that cluster peculiar velocities in the Cosmic Microwave
Background reference frame do not exceed 600 k/ms and that their distribution
has a line-of-sight dispersion of 300 k/ms, suggesting a more quiescent cluster
peculiar velocity field than previously reported. When measured in a reference
frame in which the Local Group is at rest, the set of clusters at cz > 3000
km/s exhibits a dipole moment in agreement with that of the CMB, both in
amplitude and apex direction. It is estimated that the bulk flow of a sphere of
6000 km/s radius in the CMB reference frame is between 140 and 320 km/s. These
results are in agreement with those obtained from an independent sample of
field galaxies (Giovanelli et al. 1998; see astro-ph/9807274)Comment: 9 pages, 2 tables, 7 figures, uses AAS LaTex; to appear in A
Selection Bias in Observing the Cosmological Evolution of the Mbh-sigma and Mbh-L Relationships
Programs to observe evolution in the Mbh-sigma or Mbh-L relations typically
compare black-hole masses, Mbh, in high-redshift galaxies selected by nuclear
activity to Mbh in local galaxies selected by luminosity L, or stellar velocity
dispersion sigma. Because AGN luminosity is likely to depend on Mbh, selection
effects are different for high-redshift and local samples, potentially
producing a false signal of evolution. This bias arises because cosmic scatter
in the Mbh-sigma and Mbh-L relations means that the mean log(L) or log(sigma)
among galaxies that host a black hole of given Mbh, may be substantially
different than the log(L) or log(sigma) obtained from inverting the Mbh-L or
Mbh-sigma relations for the same nominal Mbh. The bias is particularly strong
at high Mbh, where the luminosity and dispersion functions of galaxies are
falling rapidly. The most massive black holes occur more often as rare outliers
in galaxies of modest mass than in the even rarer high-mass galaxies, which
would otherwise be the sole location of such black holes in the absence of
cosmic scatter. Because of this bias, Mbh will typically appear to be too large
in the distant sample for a given L or sigma. For the largest black holes and
the largest plausible cosmic scatter, the bias can reach a factor of 3 in Mbh
for the Mbh-sigma relation and a factor of 9 for the Mbh-L relation.
Unfortunately, the actual cosmic scatter is not known well enough to correct
for the bias. Measuring evolution of the Mbh and galaxy property relations
requires object selection to be precisely defined and exactly the same at all
redshifts.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journa
Biases in Virial Black Hole Masses: An SDSS Perspective
We compile black hole (BH) masses for quasars in the redshift
range included in the Fifth Data Release of the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), using virial BH mass estimators based on the
\hbeta, \MgII, and \CIV emission lines. We find that: (1) within our sample,
the widths of the three lines follow log-normal distributions, with means and
dispersions that do not depend strongly on luminosity or redshift;(2) the
\MgII- and \hbeta-estimated BH masses are consistent with one another; and (3)
the \CIV BH mass estimator may be more severely affected by a disk wind
component than the \MgII and \hbeta estimators, giving a positive bias in mass
correlated with the \CIV-\MgII blueshift. Most SDSS quasars have virial BH
masses in the range . There is a clear upper mass limit of
for active BHs at , decreasing at lower
redshifts. Making the reasonable assumptions that the underlying BH mass
distribution decreases with mass and that the Eddington ratio distribution at
fixed BH mass has non-zero width, we show that the measured virial BH mass
distribution and Eddington ratio distribution are subject to Malmquist bias. A
radio quasar subsample (with ) has mean virial BH
mass larger by dex than the whole sample. A broad absorption line
(BAL) quasar subsample (with ) has identical virial
mass distribution as the nonBAL sample, with no mean offset. (Abridged)Comment: Updated virial mass measurements; improved presentation of the MC
simulation; added new discussion sections; conclusions unchanged. The full
table1 is available at
http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~yshen/BH_mass/datafile1.txt.tar.g
Avoiding selection bias in gravitational wave astronomy
When searching for gravitational waves in the data from ground-based
gravitational wave detectors it is common to use a detection threshold to
reduce the number of background events which are unlikely to be the signals of
interest. However, imposing such a threshold will also discard some real
signals with low amplitude, which can potentially bias any inferences drawn
from the population of detected signals. We show how this selection bias is
naturally avoided by using the full information from the search, considering
both the selected data and our ignorance of the data that are thrown away, and
considering all relevant signal and noise models. This approach produces
unbiased estimates of parameters even in the presence of false alarms and
incomplete data. This can be seen as an extension of previous methods into the
high false rate regime where we are able to show that the quality of parameter
inference can be optimised by lowering thresholds and increasing the false
alarm rate.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure
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