920 research outputs found
Optical-NIR analysis of globular clusters in the IKN dwarf spheroidal: a complex star formation history
Age, metallicity and spatial distribution of globular clusters (GCs) provide
a powerful tool to reconstruct major star-formation episodes in galaxies. IKN
is a faint dwarf spheroidal (dSph) in the M81 group of galaxies. It contains
five old GCs, which makes it the galaxy with the highest known specific
frequency (SN=126). We estimate the photometric age, metallicity and spatial
distribution of the poorly studied IKN GCs. We search SDSS for GC candidates
beyond the HST field of view, which covers half of IKN. To break the
age-metallicity degeneracy in the V-I colour we use WHT/LIRIS Ks-band
photometry and derive photometric ages and metallicities by comparison with SSP
models in the V,I,Ks colour space. IKN GCs' VIKs colours are consistent with
old ages ( Gyr) and a metallicity distribution with a higher mean than
typical for such a dSph ([Fe/H dex). Their
photometric masses range () implies
a high mass ratio between GCs and field stars, of . Mixture model
analysis of the RGB field stars' metallicity suggests that 72\% of the stars
may have formed together with the GCs. Using the most massive GC-SFR relation
we calculate a SFR of yr during its formation epoch. We note
that the more massive GCs are closer to the galaxy photometric centre. IKN GCs
also appear spatially aligned along a line close to the IKN major-axis and
nearly orthogonal to the plane of spatial distribution of galaxies in the M81
group. We identify one new IKN GC candidate based on colour and PSF analysis of
the SDSS data. The evidence towards i) broad and high metallicity distribution
of the field IKN RGB stars and its GCs, ii) high fraction and iii), spatial
alignment of IKN GCs, supports a scenario for tidally triggered complex IKN's
SFH in the context of interactions with galaxies in the M81 group.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted to A&
Nuclear star cluster formation in energy-space
In a virialized stellar system, the mean-square velocity is a direct tracer
of the energy per unit mass of the system. Here, we exploit this to estimate
and compare root-mean-square velocities for a large sample of nuclear star
clusters and their host (late- or early-type) galaxies. Traditional
observables, such as the radial surface brightness and second-order velocity
moment profiles, are subject to short-term variations due to individual
episodes of matter infall and/or star formation. The total mass, energy and
angular momentum, on the other hand, are approximately conserved. Thus, the
total energy and angular momentum more directly probe the formation of galaxies
and their nuclear star clusters, by offering access to more fundamental
properties of the nuclear cluster-galaxy system than traditional observables.
We find that there is a strong correlation, in fact a near equality, between
the root-mean-square velocity of a nuclear star cluster and that of its host.
Thus, the energy per unit mass of a nuclear star cluster is always comparable
to that of its host galaxy. We interpret this as evidence that nuclear star
clusters do not form independently of their host galaxies, but rather that
their formation and subsequent evolution are coupled. We discuss how our
results can potentially be used to offer a clear and observationally testable
prediction to distinguish between the different nuclear star cluster formation
scenarios, and/or quantify their relative contributions.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in MNRA
Thermal broadening of the Coulomb blockade peaks in quantum Hall interferometers
We demonstrate that the differential magnetic susceptibility of a fractional
quantum Hall disk, representing a Coulomb island in a Fabry--Perot
interferometer, is exactly proportional to the island's conductance and its
paramagnetic peaks are the equilibrium counterparts of the Coulomb blockade
conductance peaks. Using as a thermodynamic potential the partition functions
of the edge states' effective conformal field theory we find the positions of
the Coulomb blockade peaks, when the area of the island is varied, the
modulations of the distance between them as well as the thermal decay and
broadening of the peaks when temperature is increased. The finite-temperature
estimates of the peak's heights and widths could give important information
about the experimental observability of the Coulomb blockade. In addition, the
predicted peak asymmetry and displacement at finite temperature due to neutral
multiplicities could serve to distinguish different fractional quantum Hall
states with similar zero-temperature Coulomb blockade patterns.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures; published versio
Effect of H on the crystalline and magnetic structures of the YCo3-H(D) system. I. YCo3 from neutron powder diffraction and first-principles calculations
This paper reports investigations into the influence of hydrogen on the magnetic properties of the YCo3-H
system. We report results on the magnetic structure and magnetic transitions of YCo3 using a combination of
neutron powder diffraction measurements and first-principles full potential augmented plane wave + local
orbital calculations under the generalized gradient approximation. The ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic structures
are examined on an equal footing. However, we identify that, no matter which structure is used as the
starting point, the neutron diffraction data always refines down to the ferrimagnetic structure with the Co2
atoms having antiparallel spins. In the ab initio calculations, the inclusion of spin-orbit coupling is found to be
important in the prediction of the correct magnetic ground state. Here, the results suggest that, for zero external
field and sufficiently low temperatures, the spin arrangement of YCo3 is ferrimagnetic rather than ferromagnetic
as previously believed. The fixed spin moment calculation technique has been employed to understand
the two successive field-induced magnetic transitions observed in previous magnetization measurements under
increasing ultrahigh magnetic fields. We find that the magnetic transitions start from the ferrimagnetic phase
�0.61�B/Co� and terminate with the ferromagnetic phase �1.16�B/Co�, while the spin on the Co2 atoms
progressively changes from antiparallel ferrimagnetic to paramagnetic and then to ferromagnetic. Our neutron
diffraction measurements, ab initio calculations, and the high field magnetization measurements are thus
entirely self-consistent
USING DNA AND ISOZYME MARKERS TO STUDY GENETIC RELATIONSHIP AMONG HIGH REGENERATIVE INTERSPECIFIC HYBRIDS OF HELIANTHUS EGGERTII SMALL. X HELIANTHUS ANNUUS L
ABSTRACT RAPD, AP-PCR, IFLP, SSR and isozymes marker
A large population of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies in the Hydra I cluster
We performed a large spectroscopic survey of compact, unresolved objects in
the core of the Hydra I galaxy cluster (Abell 1060), with the aim of
identifying ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs), and investigating the
properties of the globular cluster (GC) system around the central cD galaxy NGC
3311. We obtained VIMOS medium resolution spectra of about 1200 candidate
objects with apparent magnitudes 18.5 < V < 24.0 mag, covering both the bright
end of the GC luminosity function and the luminosity range of all known UCDs.
By means of spectroscopic redshift measurements, we identified 118 cluster
members, from which 52 are brighter than M_V = -11.0 mag, and can therefore be
termed UCDs. The brightest UCD in our sample has an absolute magnitude of M_V =
-13.4 mag (corresponding to a mass of > 5 x 10^7 M_sun) and a half-light radius
of 25 pc. This places it among the brightest and most massive UCDs ever
discovered. Most of the GCs/UCDs are both spatially and dynamically associated
to the central cD galaxy. The overall velocity dispersion of the GCs/UCDs is
comparable to what is found for the cluster galaxies. However, when splitting
the sample into a bright and a faint part, we observe a lower velocity
dispersion for the bright UCDs/GCs than for the fainter objects. At a dividing
magnitude of M_V = -10.75 mag, the dispersions differ by more than 200 km/s,
and up to 300 km/s for objects within 5 arcmin around NGC 3311. We interpret
these results in the context of different UCD formation channels, and conclude
that interaction driven formation seems to play an important role in the centre
of Hydra I.Comment: 18 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Protein Design Using Continuous Rotamers
Optimizing amino acid conformation and identity is a central problem in computational protein design. Protein design algorithms must allow realistic protein flexibility to occur during this optimization, or they may fail to find the best sequence with the lowest energy. Most design algorithms implement side-chain flexibility by allowing the side chains to move between a small set of discrete, low-energy states, which we call rigid rotamers. In this work we show that allowing continuous side-chain flexibility (which we call continuous rotamers) greatly improves protein flexibility modeling. We present a large-scale study that compares the sequences and best energy conformations in 69 protein-core redesigns using a rigid-rotamer model versus a continuous-rotamer model. We show that in nearly all of our redesigns the sequence found by the continuous-rotamer model is different and has a lower energy than the one found by the rigid-rotamer model. Moreover, the sequences found by the continuous-rotamer model are more similar to the native sequences. We then show that the seemingly easy solution of sampling more rigid rotamers within the continuous region is not a practical alternative to a continuous-rotamer model: at computationally feasible resolutions, using more rigid rotamers was never better than a continuous-rotamer model and almost always resulted in higher energies. Finally, we present a new protein design algorithm based on the dead-end elimination (DEE) algorithm, which we call iMinDEE, that makes the use of continuous rotamers feasible in larger systems. iMinDEE guarantees finding the optimal answer while pruning the search space with close to the same efficiency of DEE. Availability: Software is available under the Lesser GNU Public License v3. Contact the authors for source code
Cyclophyllidea van Beneden in Braun, 1900
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Two formation channels of UCDs in Hickson Compact Groups
The formation of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) is believed to be
interaction driven, and UCDs are abundant in the cores of galaxy clusters,
environments that mark the end-point of galaxy evolution. Nothing is known
about the properties of UCDs in compact groups of galaxies, environments where
most of galaxy evolution and interaction is believed to occur and where UCDs in
intermediate state of evolution may be expected. The main goal of this study is
to detect and characterize, for the first time, the UCD population of compact
groups. For that, 2 groups in different evolutionary stages, HCG 22 and HCG 90,
were targeted with VLT/FORS2/MXU. We detect 16 and 5 objects belonging to HCG
22 and HCG 90, respectively, covering the magnitude range -10.0 > M_R > -11.5
mag. Their colours are consistent with old ages covering a broad range in
metallicities. Photometric mass estimates put 4 objects in HCG 90 and 9 in HCG
22 in the mass range of UCDs (>2x10^6 M_Sun) for an assumed age of 12 Gyr.
These UCDs are on average 2-3 times larger than typical Galactic GCs, covering
a range of 2 >~ r_h >~ 21 pc. The UCDs in HCG 22 are more concentrated around
the central galaxy than in HCG 90, at the 99% confidence level. They cover a
broad range in [alpha/Fe] abundances from sub- to super-solar. The spectra of 3
UCDs show tentative evidence for intermediate age stellar populations. We
calculate the specific frequency (S_N) of UCDs for both groups, finding that
HCG 22 has about three times higher S_N than HCG 90. The ensemble properties of
the detected UCDs supports 2 co-existing formation channels: a star cluster
origin and an origin as tidally stripped dwarf nuclei. Our results imply that
the UCDs detected in both groups do not, in their majority, originate from
relatively recent galaxy interactions. Most of the detected UCDs have likely
been brought into the group with their host galaxies.[abridged]Comment: Accepted for publication at A&A, 17 pages, 9 figures + 2 additional
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