Optical photometry of the UCM Lists I and II. II-B band surface photometry and morphological discussion

We present Johnson B surface photometry for the UCM Survey galaxies. One-dimensional bulge-disk decomposition is attempted, discussing on fitting functions and computational procedures. The results from this decomposition, jointly with concentration indices and an asymmetry coefficient, are employed to study the morphological properties of these galaxies. We also compare our results with the previous morphological classification established using Gunn r imaging data and with other samples of galaxies. No major statistical differences in morphology are found between red and blue data, although some characteristics such as size and luminosity concentration vary. We find a correlation between luminosity and size. Several parameters are used to segregate the objects according to their morphological type.Comment: 19 pages, 20 PostScript figures, accepted for publication in A&A, also available via anonymous ftp at ftp://cutrex.fis.ucm.es/pub/OUT/pag/PAPERS/AA0

Present and future of the OTELO project

OTELO is an emission-line object survey carried out with the red tunable filter of the instrument OSIRIS at the GTC, whose aim is to become the deepest emission-line object survey to date. With 100% of the data of the first pointing finally obtained in June 2014, we present here some aspects of the processing of the data and the very first results of the OTELO survey. We also explain the next steps to be followed in the near future.Comment: Oral contribution presented in the XI Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society held on September 8-12, in Teruel, Spain (7 pages, 2 figures, 1 table). To appear in Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics VIII, Proceedings of the XI Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society. Eds. A. J. Cenarro, F. Figueras, C. Hern\'andez-Monteagudo, J. Trujillo, L. Valdiviels

OTELO survey: optimal emission-line flux determination with OSIRIS/GTC

Emission-line galaxies are important targets for understanding the chemical evolution of galaxies in the universe. Deep, narrow-band imaging surveys allow to detect and study the flux and the equivalent widths (EW) of the emission line studied. The present work has been developed within the context of the OTELO project, an emission line survey using the Tunable Filters (TF) of OSIRIS, the first generation instrument on the GTC 10.4m telescope located in La Palma, Spain, that will observe through selected atmospheric windows relatively free of sky emission lines. With a total survey area of 0.1 square degrees distributed in different fields, reaching a 5 \sigma depth of 10^-18 erg/cm^2/s and detecting objects of EW < 0.3 A, OTELO will be the deepest emission line survey to date. As part of the OTELO preparatory activities, the objective of this study is to determine the best combination of sampling and full width at half maximum (FWHM) for the OSIRIS tunable filters for deblending H\alpha from [NII] lines by analyzing the flux errors obtained. We simulated the OTELO data by convolving a complete set of synthetic HII galaxies in EW with different widths of the OSIRIS TFs. We estimated relative flux errors of the recovered H\alpha and [NII]6583 lines. We found that, for the red TF, a FWHM of 12 A and a sampling of 5 A is an optimal combination that allow deblending H\alpha from the [NII]6583 line with a flux error lower than 20%. This combination will allow estimating SFRs and metallicities using the H\alpha flux and the N2 method, respectively.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures. Some authors added. Accepted for publication in PAS

Deformation of canonical morphisms and the moduli of surfaces of general type

In this article we study the deformation of finite maps and show how to use this deformation theory to construct varieties with given invariants in a projective space. Among other things, we prove a criterion that determines when a finite map can be deformed to a one--to--one map. We use this criterion to construct new simple canonical surfaces with different $c_1^2$ and $\chi$. Our general results enable us to describe some new components of the moduli of surfaces of general type. We also find infinitely many moduli spaces $\mathcal M_{(x',0,y)}$ having one component whose general point corresponds to a canonically embedded surface and another component whose general point corresponds to a surface whose canonical map is a degree 2 morphism.Comment: 32 pages. Final version with some simplifications and clarifications in the exposition. To appear in Invent. Math. (the final publication is available at springerlink.com

Exploring the evolutionary paths of the most massive galaxies since z~2

We use Spitzer MIPS data from the FIDEL Legacy Project in the Extended Groth Strip to analyze the stellar mass assembly of massive (M>10^11 M_sun) galaxies at z<2 as a function of structural parameters. We find 24 micron emission for more than 85% of the massive galaxies morphologically classified as disks, and for more than 57% of the massive systems morphologically classified as spheroids at any redshift, with about 8% of sources harboring a bright X-ray and/or infrared emitting AGN. More noticeably, 60% of all compact massive galaxies at z=1-2 are detected at 24 micron, even when rest-frame optical colors reveal that they are dead and evolving passively. For spheroid-like galaxies at a given stellar mass, the sizes of MIPS non-detections are smaller by a factor of 1.2 in comparison with IR-bright sources. We find that disk-like massive galaxies present specific SFRs ranging from 0.04 to 0.2 Gyr^-1 at z<1 (SFRs ranging from 1 to 10 M_sun/yr), typically a factor of 3-6 higher than massive spheroid-like objects in the same redshift range. At z>1, and more pronouncedly at z>1.3, the median specific SFRs of the disks and spheroids detected by MIPS are very similar, ranging from 0.1 to 1 Gyr^-1 (SFR=10-200 M_sun/yr). We estimate that massive spheroid-like galaxies may have doubled (at the most) their stellar mass from star-forming events at z<2: less than 20% mass increase at 1.7<z<2.0, up to 40% more at 1.1<z<1.7, and less than 20% additional increase at z<1. Disk-like galaxies may have tripled (at the most) their stellar mass at z<2 from star formation alone: up to 40% mass increase at 1.7<z<2.0, and less than 180% additional increase below z=1.7 occurred at a steady rate.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 10 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

A novel approach to analysing the regimes of temporary streams in relation to their controls on the composition and structure of aquatic biota

Gallart Gallego, Francesc et al.Temporary streams are those water courses that undergo the recurrent cessation of flow or the complete drying of their channel. The structure and composition of biological communities in temporary stream reaches are strongly dependent on the temporal changes of the aquatic habitats determined by the hydrological conditions. Therefore, the structural and functional characteristics of aquatic fauna to assess the ecological quality of a temporary stream reach cannot be used without taking into account the controls imposed by the hydrological regime. This paper develops methods for analysing temporary streams' aquatic regimes, based on the definition of six aquatic states that summarize the transient sets of mesohabitats occurring on a given reach at a particular moment, depending on the hydrological conditions: Hyperrheic, Eurheic, Oligorheic, Arheic, Hyporheic and Edaphic. When the hydrological conditions lead to a change in the aquatic state, the structure and composition of the aquatic community changes according to the new set of available habitats. We used the water discharge records from gauging stations or simulations with rainfall-runoff models to infer the temporal patterns of occurrence of these states in the Aquatic States Frequency Graph we developed. The visual analysis of this graph is complemented by the development of two metrics which describe the permanence of flow and the seasonal predictability of zero flow periods. Finally, a classification of temporary streams in four aquatic regimes in terms of their influence over the development of aquatic life is updated from the existing classifications, with stream aquatic regimes defined as Permanent, Temporary-pools, Temporary-dry and Episodic. While aquatic regimes describe the long-term overall variability of the hydrological conditions of the river section and have been used for many years by hydrologists and ecologists, aquatic states describe the availability of mesohabitats in given periods that determine the presence of different biotic assemblages. This novel concept links hydrological and ecological conditions in a unique way. All these methods were implemented with data from eight temporary streams around the Mediterranean within the MIRAGE project. Their application was a precondition to assessing the ecological quality of these streams.The research leading to these results received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2011) under grant agreement 211732 (MIRAGE project), as well from the Spanish Government under the RespHimed project (CGL2010-18374) and a research contract (Ram´on y Cajal programme) granted to J. Latron.Peer Reviewe

Stabilization of a Large Paleo-Landslide Reactivated Because of the Works to Install a New Ski Lift in Formigal Skiing Resort

The paper presents the study and stabilization of a paleo-landslide reactivated because of the excavation works carried out at its foot to construct a new lift in Formigal skiing resort. Inclinometers were installed and surface movements were controlled by GPS techniques in order to analyse the sliding surface and to define the stabilization measures to undertake. The data obtained from the instrumentation was used to perform a back-analysis that allowed to determine the kinematics of the movement as well as to define the appropriate stabilization measures. Presently, the evolution of the movement is controlled by GPS

Hybrid Nonlinear MPC of a Solar Cooling Plant

Solar energy for cooling systems has been widely used to fulfill the growing air conditioning demand. The advantage of this approach is based on the fact that the need of air conditioning is usually well correlated to solar radiation. These kinds of plants can work in different operation modes resulting on a hybrid system. The control approaches designed for this kind of plant have usually a twofold goal: (a) regulating the outlet temperature of the solar collector field and (b) choosing the operation mode. Since the operation mode is defined by a set of valve positions (discrete variables), the overall control problem is a nonlinear optimization problem which involves discrete and continuous variables. This problems are difficult to solve within the normal sampling times for control purposes (around 20–30 s). In this paper, a two layer control strategy is proposed. The first layer is a nonlinear model predictive controller for regulating the outlet temperature of the solar field. The second layer is a fuzzy algorithm which selects the adequate operation mode for the plant taken into account the operation conditions. The control strategy is tested on a model of the plant showing a proper performance.Unión Europea OCONTSOLAR ID 78905

Caulobacter crescentus CdnL is a non-essential RNA polymerase-binding protein whose depletion impairs normal growth and rRNA transcription.

CdnL is an essential RNA polymerase (RNAP)-binding activator of rRNA transcription in mycobacteria and myxobacteria but reportedly not in Bacillus. Whether its function and mode of action are conserved in other bacteria thus remains unclear. Because virtually all alphaproteobacteria have a CdnL homolog and none of these have been characterized, we studied the homolog (CdnL &lt;sub&gt;Cc&lt;/sub&gt; ) of the model alphaproteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus. We show that CdnL &lt;sub&gt;Cc&lt;/sub&gt; is not essential for viability but that its absence or depletion causes slow growth and cell filamentation. CdnL &lt;sub&gt;Cc&lt;/sub&gt; is degraded in vivo in a manner dependent on its C-terminus, yet excess CdnL &lt;sub&gt;Cc&lt;/sub&gt; resulting from its stabilization did not adversely affect growth. We find that CdnL &lt;sub&gt;Cc&lt;/sub&gt; interacts with itself and with the RNAP β subunit, and localizes to at least one rRNA promoter in vivo, whose activity diminishes upon depletion of CdnL &lt;sub&gt;Cc&lt;/sub&gt; . Interestingly, cells expressing CdnL &lt;sub&gt;Cc&lt;/sub&gt; mutants unable to interact with the RNAP were cold-sensitive, suggesting that CdnL &lt;sub&gt;Cc&lt;/sub&gt; interaction with RNAP is especially required at lower than standard growth temperatures in C. crescentus. Our study indicates that despite limited sequence similarities and regulatory differences compared to its myco/myxobacterial homologs, CdnL &lt;sub&gt;Cc&lt;/sub&gt; may share similar biological functions, since it affects rRNA synthesis, probably by stabilizing open promoter-RNAP complexes