4,345 research outputs found
Adaptive Density Estimation on the Circle by Nearly-Tight Frames
This work is concerned with the study of asymptotic properties of
nonparametric density estimates in the framework of circular data. The
estimation procedure here applied is based on wavelet thresholding methods: the
wavelets used are the so-called Mexican needlets, which describe a nearly-tight
frame on the circle. We study the asymptotic behaviour of the -risk
function for these estimates, in particular its adaptivity, proving that its
rate of convergence is nearly optimal.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figure
Energetic electrons in the midlatitude nighttime E region
Nike Apache 14.439 was launched from Wallops Island at 0003 EST on 1 November 1972, a very disturbed night (K sub P = 8). A Geiger counter in the payload detected electrons ( keV) with a maximum flux of 1086 + or -261/sq cm/sec/ster. The height-averaged ionization rate in the upper E region is calculated from the measured electron density profile and has a value of 35 1/cu/cm/sec. The ionization rate can be reconciled with the observed flux of electrons ( 70 2 keV) if the spectrum ( keV) is of the form J ( E) = J sub O exp(-E/E sub O) with E sub O equal to 8.3 keV. The ionization rate on this and other nights is found to be strongly dependent on geomagnetic activity. It is suggested that energetic electrons are the principal source of ionization at midlatitudes in the upper E region near midnight, even under rather quiet geomagnetic conditions
Clustering of Galaxies in a Hierarchical Universe: I. Methods and Results at z=0
We introduce a new technique for following the formation and evolution of
galaxies in cosmological N-body simulations. Dissipationless simulations are
used to track the formation and merging of dark matter halos as a function of
redshift. Simple prescriptions, taken directly from semi-analytic models of
galaxy formation, are adopted for cooling, star formation, supernova feedback
and the merging of galaxies within the halos. This scheme enables us to study
the clustering properties of galaxies and to investigate how selection by type,
colour or luminosity influences the results. In this paper, we study properties
of the galaxy distribution at z=0. These include luminosity functions, colours,
correlation functions, pairwise peculiar velocities, cluster M/L ratios and
star formation rates. We focus on two variants of a CDM cosmology: a high-
density model with Gamma=0.21 (TCDM) and a low-density model with Omega=0.3 and
Lambda=0.7 (LCDM). Both are normalized to reproduce the I-band Tully-Fisher
relation near a circular velocity of 220 km/s. Our results depend strongly both
on this normalization and on the prescriptions for star formation and feedback.
Very different assumptions are required to obtain an acceptable model in the
two cases. For TCDM, efficient feedback is required to suppress the growth of
galaxies low-mass field halos. Without it, there are too many galaxies and the
correlation function turns over below 1 Mpc. For LCDM, feedback must be weak,
otherwise too few L* galaxies are produced and the correlation function is too
steep. Given the uncertainties in modelling some of the key physical processes,
we conclude that it is not yet possible to draw conclusions about the values of
cosmological parameters from studies of this kind. Further work on global star
formation and feedback effects is required to narrow the range of possibilitiesComment: 43 pages, Latex, 16 figures included, 2 additional GIF format
figures, submitted to MNRA
Introducing Mexican needlets for CMB analysis: Issues for practical applications and comparison with standard needlets
Over the last few years, needlets have a emerged as a useful tool for the
analysis of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data. Our aim in this paper is
first to introduce in the CMB literature a different form of needlets, known as
Mexican needlets, first discussed in the mathematical literature by Geller and
Mayeli (2009a,b). We then proceed with an extensive study of the properties of
both standard and Mexican needlets; these properties depend on some parameters
which can be tuned in order to optimize the performance for a given
application. Our second aim in this paper is then to give practical advice on
how to adjust these parameters in order to achieve the best properties for a
given problem in CMB data analysis. In particular we investigate localization
properties in real and harmonic spaces and propose a recipe on how to quantify
the influence of galactic and point source masks on the needlet coefficients.
We also show that for certain parameter values, the Mexican needlets provide a
close approximation to the Spherical Mexican Hat Wavelets (whence their name),
with some advantages concerning their numerical implementation and the
derivation of their statistical properties.Comment: 40 pages, 11 figures, published version, main modification: added
section on more realistic galactic and point source mask
Spectroscopic membership for the populous 300 Myr-old open cluster NGC 3532
NGC 3532 is an extremely rich open cluster embedded in the Galactic disc,
hitherto lacking a comprehensive, documented membership list. We provide
membership probabilities from new radial velocity observations of solar-type
and low-mass stars in NGC 3532, in part as a prelude to a subsequent study of
stellar rotation in the cluster. Using extant optical and infra-red photometry
we constructed a preliminary photometric membership catalogue, consisting of
2230 dwarf and turn-off stars. We selected 1060 of these for observation with
the AAOmega spectrograph at the Anglo-Australian Telescope and 391 stars for
observations with the Hydra-South spectrograph at the Victor Blanco Telescope,
obtaining spectroscopic observations over a decade for 145 stars. We measured
radial velocities for our targets through cross-correlation with model spectra
and standard stars, and supplemented them with radial velocities for 433
additional stars from the literature. We also measured log g, Teff, and [Fe/H]
from the AAOmega spectra. Together with proper motions from Gaia DR2 we find
660 exclusive members. The members are distributed across the whole cluster
sequence, from giant stars to M dwarfs, making NGC 3532 one of the richest
Galactic open clusters known to date, on par with the Pleiades. From further
spectroscopic analysis of 153 dwarf members we find the metallicity to be
marginally sub-solar, with [Fe/H]=-0.07. Exploiting trigonometric parallax
measurements from Gaia DR2 we find a distance of pc. Based on
the membership we provide an empirical cluster sequence in multiple photometric
passbands. A comparison of the photometry of the measured cluster members with
several recent model isochrones enables us to confirm the 300 Myr cluster age.
However, all of the models evince departures from the cluster sequence in
particular regions, especially in the lower mass range. (abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 19 pages, 18 Figures, and 6 Table
Current-Carrying Ground States in Mesoscopic and Macroscopic Systems
We extend a theorem of Bloch, which concerns the net orbital current carried
by an interacting electron system in equilibrium, to include mesoscopic
effects. We obtain a rigorous upper bound to the allowed ground-state current
in a ring or disc, for an interacting electron system in the presence of static
but otherwise arbitrary electric and magnetic fields. We also investigate the
effects of spin-orbit and current-current interactions on the upper bound.
Current-current interactions, caused by the magnetic field produced at a point
r by a moving electron at r, are found to reduce the upper bound by an amount
that is determined by the self-inductance of the system. A solvable model of an
electron system that includes current-current interactions is shown to realize
our upper bound, and the upper bound is compared with measurements of the
persistent current in a single ring.Comment: 7 pager, Revtex, 1 figure available from [email protected]
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