Theodor Storms Erstlingsnovelle «Marthe und ihre Uhr» (1847)

This article intends to fill the previous void of a thorough critical assessment and interpretive analysis of Theodor Storm’s first novellistic, albeit concise narrative of 1847. As an aesthetic and highly symbolic story, Marthe’s seemingly timeless table clock bears some striking affinities with Eduard Mörike’s objet d’art of 1838, his «Lampe». As an ardent admirer of his contemporary Mörike, Storm here lays his theoretical and artistic foundations for his major novellas of later years

A construction of Frobenius manifolds with logarithmic poles and applications

A construction theorem for Frobenius manifolds with logarithmic poles is established. This is a generalization of a theorem of Hertling and Manin. As an application we prove a generalization of the reconstruction theorem of Kontsevich and Manin for projective smooth varieties with convergent Gromov-Witten potential. A second application is a construction of Frobenius manifolds out of a variation of polarized Hodge structures which degenerates along a normal crossing divisor when certain generation conditions are fulfilled.Comment: 46 page

Tailoring Dielectric Properties of Multilayer Composites Using Spark Plasma Sintering

A straightforward and simple way to produce well-densified ferroelectric ceramic composites with a full control of both architecture and properties using spark plasma sintering (SPS) is proposed. SPS main outcome is indeed to obtain high densification at relatively low temperatures and short treatment times thus limiting interdiffusion in multimaterials. Ferroelectric/dielectric (BST64/MgO/BST64) multilayer ceramic densified at 97% was obtained, with unmodified Curie temperature, a stack dielectric constant reaching 600, and dielectric losses dropping down to 0.5%, at room-temperature. This result ascertains SPS as a relevant tool for the design of functional materials with tailored properties

Quantum deformations of associative algebras and integrable systems

Quantum deformations of the structure constants for a class of associative noncommutative algebras are studied. It is shown that these deformations are governed by the quantum central systems which has a geometrical meaning of vanishing Riemann curvature tensor for Christoffel symbols identified with the structure constants. A subclass of isoassociative quantum deformations is described by the oriented associativity equation and, in particular, by the WDVV equation. It is demonstrated that a wider class of weakly (non)associative quantum deformations is connected with the integrable soliton equations too. In particular, such deformations for the three-dimensional and infinite-dimensional algebras are described by the Boussinesq equation and KP hierarchy, respectively.Comment: Numeration of the formulas is correcte

ACS Observations of a Strongly Lensed Arc in a Field Elliptical

We report the discovery of a strongly lensed arc system around a field elliptical galaxy in Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) images of a parallel field observed during NICMOS observations of the HST Ultra-Deep Field. The ACS parallel data comprise deep imaging in the F435W, F606W, F775W, and F850LP bandpasses. The main arc is at a radius of 1.6 arcsec from the galaxy center and subtends about 120 deg. Spectroscopic follow-up at Magellan Observatory yields a redshift z=0.6174 for the lensing galaxy, and we photometrically estimate z_phot = 2.4\pm0.3 for the arc. We also identify a likely counter-arc at a radius of 0.6 arcsec, which shows structure similar to that seen in the main arc. We model this system and find a good fit to an elliptical isothermal potential of velocity dispersion $\sigma \approx 300$ \kms, the value expected from the fundamental plane, and some external shear. Several other galaxies in the field have colors similar to the lensing galaxy and likely make up a small group.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. 10 pages, 3 figures. Figures have been degraded to meet size limit; a higher resolution version and addtional pictures available at http://acs.pha.jhu.edu/~jpb/UDFparc

Infinite hierarchies of nonlocal symmetries of the Chen--Kontsevich--Schwarz type for the oriented associativity equations

We construct infinite hierarchies of nonlocal higher symmetries for the oriented associativity equations using solutions of associated vector and scalar spectral problems. The symmetries in question generalize those found by Chen, Kontsevich and Schwarz (arXiv:hep-th/0508221) for the WDVV equations. As a byproduct, we obtain a Darboux-type transformation and a (conditional) B\"acklund transformation for the oriented associativity equations.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX; two minor typos in Corollary 5 fixed; to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Theor.

Spectroscopic Characterization of Galaxy Clusters in RCS-1: Spectroscopic Confirmation, Redshift Accuracy, and Dynamical Mass–Richness Relation

We present follow-up spectroscopic observations of galaxy clusters from the first Red-sequence Cluster Survey (RCS-1). This work focuses on two samples, a lower redshift sample of ∼30 clusters ranging in redshift from z ∼ 0.2–0.6 observed with multiobject spectroscopy (MOS) on 4–6.5-m class telescopes and a z ∼ 1 sample of ∼10 clusters 8-m class telescope observations. We examine the detection efficiency and redshift accuracy of the now widely used red-sequence technique for selecting clusters via overdensities of red-sequence galaxies. Using both these data and extended samples including previously published RCS-1 spectroscopy and spectroscopic redshifts from SDSS, we find that the red-sequence redshift using simple two-filter cluster photometric redshifts is accurate to σz ≈ 0.035(1 + z) in RCS-1. This accuracy can potentially be improved with better survey photometric calibration. For the lower redshift sample, ∼5 per cent of clusters show some (minor) contamination from secondary systems with the same red-sequence intruding into the measurement aperture of the original cluster. At z ∼ 1, the rate rises to ∼20 per cent. Approximately ten  per cent of projections are expected to be serious, where the two components contribute significant numbers of their red-sequence galaxies to another cluster. Finally, we present a preliminary study of the mass–richness calibration using velocity dispersions to probe the dynamical masses of the clusters. We find a relation broadly consistent with that seen in the local universe from the WINGS sample at z ∼ 0.05

Discovery of two M32 twins in Abell 1689

The M31 satellite galaxy M32 has long been considered an object of unique properties, being the most extreme example of the very rare compact elliptical galaxy class. Here we present the spectroscopic discovery of two M32 twins in the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689. As these objects are so rare, this is an important step towards a better understanding of the nature of compact galaxies. The two M32 twins had first been detected within our photometric search for ultra compact dwarf galaxy (UCDs) candidates in A1689 (Mieske et al. 2004) with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Their luminosities (M_V ~ -17 mag) are very similar to M32 and their surface brightness profiles are consistent with that of M32 projected to A1689's distance. From our ACS imaging we detect several fainter compact galaxy candidates with luminosities intermediate between M32 and the Fornax UCDs. If spectroscopically confirmed as cluster members, this would almost close the gap in the magnitude-surface brightness plane between the region of UCDs and the compact ellipticals, implying a sequence of faint compact galaxies well separated from that of dwarf ellipticals.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A letter

The XMM-LSS survey: the Class 1 cluster sample over the initial 5 square degrees and its cosmological modelling

We present a sample of 29 galaxy clusters from the XMM-LSS survey over an area of some 5deg2 out to a redshift of z=1.05. The sample clusters, which represent about half of the X-ray clusters identified in the region, follow well defined X-ray selection criteria and are all spectroscopically confirmed. For all clusters, we provide X-ray luminosities and temperatures as well as masses. The cluster distribution peaks around z=0.3 and T =1.5 keV, half of the objects being groups with a temperature below 2 keV. Our L-T(z) relation points toward self-similar evolution, but does not exclude other physically plausible models. Assuming that cluster scaling laws follow self-similar evolution, our number density estimates up to z=1 are compatible with the predictions of the concordance cosmology and with the findings of previous ROSAT surveys. Our well monitored selection function allowed us to demonstrate that the inclusion of selection effects is essential for the correct determination of the evolution of the L-T relation, which may explain the contradictory results from previous studies. Extensive simulations show that extending the survey area to 10deg2 has the potential to exclude the non-evolution hypothesis, but that constraints on more refined ICM models will probably be limited by the large intrinsic dispersion of the L-T relation. We further demonstrate that increasing the dispersion in the scaling laws increases the number of detectable clusters, hence generating further degeneracy [in addition to sigma8, Omega_m, L(M,z) and T(M,z)] in the cosmological interpretation of the cluster number counts. We provide useful empirical formulae for the cluster mass-flux and mass-count-rate relations as well as a comparison between the XMM-LSS mass sensitivity and that of forthcoming SZ surveys.Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS. Full resolution images as well as additional cluster data are available through a dedicated database at http://l3sdb.in2p3.fr:8080/l3sdb