8,416 research outputs found
NGC 3312: A victim of ram pressure sweeping
Researchers are undertaking a volume limited survey of the Hydra I cluster in neutral hydrogen using the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array (VLA). The main purpose is to study the effects of a dense environment on the gaseous component of the galaxies. Observational evidence has been accumulating recently that ram pressure sweeping does occur in the centers of clusters, but it is possible that tidal interactions play a role as well. Results of high resolution HI imaging of NGC 3312, the large peculiar spiral near the cluster center are presented. Hydra I (= A1060) is the nearest rich cluster beyond Virgo and, as such, presents a unique opportunity to do a complete survey of a cluster. It is similar to the Virgo cluster in many of its general physical characteristics, such as size, x ray luminosity, velocity dispersion, and galaxy content (high spiral fraction). However, Hydra I appears to be more regular and relaxed. This is evident in the x ray distribution in its central region, which is radially symmetric and centered on the dominant galaxy, NGC 3311, a cD-like elliptical. The observed x ray luminosity implies a central gas density of 4.5 x 10 to the 3rd power cm(-3). Gallagher (1978) argued from optical images of NGC 3312 that this galaxy might be an ideal candidate to directly study effects of the ram pressure process; it might currently be undergoing stripping of its interstellar medium. The researchers' data are consistent with this suggestion, but other origins of the peculiar appearance cannot yet be ruled out
School Counselor Educators as Educational Leaders Promoting Systemic Change
If the full impact of the transformation of the school counseling profession is to be enacted, it is incumbent upon school counselor educators to model the same skills and professional mindset that are expected of practicing school counselors. Specifically, school counselor educators can serve as leaders within their educational communities in order to promote systemic change that will remove barriers to student success. The notion of school counselor educators as educational leaders represents a philosophical and behavioral congruence that churns the professional ecosystem, from the professor to the practitioner to the P-12 student. This article outlines the role that school counselor educators can play in modeling leadership and other essential skills for the profession
Simple Metals at High Pressure
In this lecture we review high-pressure phase transition sequences exhibited
by simple elements, looking at the examples of the main group I, II, IV, V, and
VI elements. General trends are established by analyzing the changes in
coordination number on compression. Experimentally found phase transitions and
crystal structures are discussed with a brief description of the present
theoretical picture.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, lecture notes for the lecture given at the Erice
course on High-Pressure Crystallography in June 2009, Sicily, Ital
Local RBF approximation for scattered data fitting with bivariate splines
In this paper we continue our earlier research [4] aimed at developing effcient methods of local approximation suitable for the first stage of a spline based two-stage scattered data fitting algorithm. As an improvement to the pure polynomial local approximation method used in [5], a hybrid polynomial/radial basis scheme was considered in [4], where the local knot locations for the RBF terms were selected using a greedy knot insertion algorithm. In this paper standard radial local approximations based on interpolation or least squares are considered and a faster procedure is used for knot selection, signicantly reducing the computational cost of the method. Error analysis of the method and numerical results illustrating its performance are given
Submicrometer Dimple Array Based Interference Color Field Displays and Sensors
We report a technique for producing bright color fields over extended surfaces, via optical interference, with the capability of producing arbitrary visible colors in areas as small as 100 μm^2. Periodic arrays of submicrometer dimples are fabricated on reflective silicon surfaces, and diffraction-induced mutual interference of light reflected from the upper and lower levels of the dimpled surfaces generates color depending on wavelength scaled dimple depth and periodicity. Colors of the entire visible spectrum can be generated by dimple arrays with different dimple depths. The topological permeability of such an open surface readily allows infusion of liquids, with different refractive indices, for color switching and detection. These easy to fabricate, scalable, robust devices, on solid as well as flexible supports, could find a wide range of applications such as cheap high-resolution printable dye/pigment-free displays, reliable index-of-refraction sensors with color readout for liquids, and lab-on-chip liquid flow monitors
The Power Spectrum of the PSC Redshift Survey
We measure the redshift-space power spectrum P(k) for the recently completed
IRAS Point Source Catalogue (PSC) redshift survey, which contains 14500
galaxies over 84% of the sky with 60 micron flux >= 0.6 Jansky. Comparison with
simulations shows that our estimated errors on P(k) are realistic, and that
systematic errors due to the finite survey volume are small for wavenumbers k
>~ 0.03 h Mpc^-1. At large scales our power spectrum is intermediate between
those of the earlier QDOT and 1.2 Jansky surveys, but with considerably smaller
error bars; it falls slightly more steeply to smaller scales. We have fitted
families of CDM-like models using the Peacock-Dodds formula for non-linear
evolution; the results are somewhat sensitive to the assumed small-scale
velocity dispersion \sigma_V. Assuming a realistic \sigma_V \approx 300 km/s
yields a shape parameter \Gamma ~ 0.25 and normalisation b \sigma_8 ~ 0.75; if
\sigma_V is as high as 600 km/s then \Gamma = 0.5 is only marginally excluded.
There is little evidence for any `preferred scale' in the power spectrum or
non-Gaussian behaviour in the distribution of large-scale power.Comment: Latex, uses mn.sty, 14 pages including 11 Postscript figures.
Accepted by MNRA
X-ray Spectra of the RIXOS source sample
We present results of an extensive study of the X-ray spectral properties of
sources detected in the RIXOS survey, that is nearly complete down to a flux
limit of 3e-14 cgs (0.5-2 keV). We show that for X-ray surveys containing
sources with low count rate spectral slopes estimated using simple hardness
ratios in the ROSAT band can be biased. Instead we analyse three-colour X-ray
data using statistical techniques appropriate to the Poisson regime which
removes the effects of this bias. We have then applied this technique to the
RIXOS survey to study the spectral properties of the sample. For the AGN we
find an average energy index of 1.05+-0.05 with no evidence for spectral
evolution with redshift. Individual AGN are shown to have a range of properties
including soft X-ray excesses and intrinsic absorption. Narrow Emission Line
Galaxies also seem to fit to a power-law spectrum, which may indicate a
non-thermal origin for their X-ray emission. We infer that most of the clusters
in the sample have a bremsstrahlung temperature >3 keV, although some show
evidence for a cooling flow. The stars deviate strongly from a power-law model
but fit to a thermal model. Finally, we have analysed the whole RIXOS sample
containing 1762 sources. We find that the mean spectral slope of the sources
hardens at lower fluxes in agreement with results from other samples. However,
a study of the individual sources demonstrates that the hardening of the mean
is caused by the appearance of a population of very hard sources at the lowest
fluxes. This has implications for the nature of the soft X-ray background.Comment: 31,LaTeX file, 2 PS files with Table 2 and 22 PS figures. MNRAS in
pres
The Deficit of Distant Galaxy Clusters in the RIXOS X-ray Survey
Clusters of galaxies are the largest gravitationally bound systems and
therefore provide an important way of studying the formation and evolution of
the large scale structure of the Universe. Cluster evolution can be inferred
from observations of the X-ray emission of the gas in distant clusters, but
interpreting these data is not straightforward. In a simplified view, clusters
grow from perturbations in the matter distribution: their intracluster gas is
compressed and shock-heated by the gravitational collapse. The resulting
X-ray emission is determined by the hydrostatic equilibrium of the gas in the
changing gravitational potential. However, if processes such as radiative
cooling or pre-collapse heating of the gas are important, then the X-ray
evolution will be strongly influenced by the thermal history of the gas. Here
we present the first results from a faint flux-limited sample of X-ray selected
clusters compiled as part of the ROSAT International X-ray and Optical Survey
(RIXOS). Very few distant clusters have been identified. Most importantly,
their redshift distribution appears to be inconsistent with simple models based
on the evolution of the gravitational potential. Our results suggest that
radiative cooling or non-gravitational heating of the intracluster gas must
play an important role in the evolution of clusters.Comment: uuencoded compressed postscript. The preprint is also available at
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/preprint/PrePrint.htm
The Las Campanas IR Survey: Early Type Galaxy Progenitors Beyond Redshift One
(Abridged) We have identified a population of faint red galaxies from a 0.62
square degree region of the Las Campanas Infrared Survey whose properties are
consistent with their being the progenitors of early-type galaxies. The optical
and IR colors, number-magnitude relation and angular clustering together
indicate modest evolution and increased star formation rates among the
early-type field population at redshifts between one and two. The counts of red
galaxies with magnitudes between 17 and 20 rise with a slope that is much
steeper than that of the total H sample. The surface density of red galaxies
drops from roughly 3000 per square degree at H = 20.5, I-H > 3 to ~ 20 per
square degree at H = 20, I-H > 5. The V-I colors are approximately 1.5
magnitudes bluer on average than a pure old population and span a range of more
than three magnitudes. The colors, and photometric redshifts derived from them,
indicate that the red galaxies have redshift distributions adequately described
by Gaussians with sigma_z ~ 0.2V-I3$ are primarily in the 1.5 < z < 2
range. We find co-moving correlation lengths of 9-10 Mpc at z ~ 1, comparable
to, or larger than, those found for early-type galaxies at lower redshifts. A
simple photometric evolution model reproduces the counts of the red galaxies,
with only a ~ 30% decline in the underlying space density of early-type
galaxies at z ~ 1.2. We suggest on the basis of the colors, counts, and
clustering that these red galaxies are the bulk of the progenitors of present
day early-type galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the ApJ Letter
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