Peaks above the Maxwellian Sea: A New Approach to Finding Substructure in N-Body Haloes

We describe a new algorithm for finding substructures within dark matter haloes from N-body simulations. The algorithm relies upon the fact that dynamically distinct substructures in a halo will have a {\em local} velocity distribution that differs significantly from the mean, i.e. smooth background halo. We characterize the large-scale mean field using a coarsely grained cell-based approach, while a kernel smoothing process is used to determined the local velocity distribution. Comparing the ratio of these two estimates allows us to identify particles which are strongly cluster in velocity space relative to the background and thus resident in substructure. From this population of outliers, groups are identified using a Friends-of-Friends-like approach. False positives are rejected using Poisson noise arguments. This approach does not require a search of the full phase-space structure of a halo, a non-trivial task, and is thus computationally advantageous. We apply our algorithm to several test cases and show that it identifies not only subhaloes, bound overdensities in phase-space, but can recover tidal streams with a high purity. Our method can even find streams which do not appear significantly overdense in either physical or phase-space.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Diabetes and COVID-19 in Congolese patients

Background: The global pandemic Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is reported to be potentially severe in patients with morbid conditions. One common reported comorbidities is diabetes. We aimed in this study to precise the clinical characteristics and outcomes in a series of congolese diabetic patients affected by COVID-19 infection. Patients and methods: We retrospectely studied from 256 COVID-19 patients, a cohort of 30 persons with previously known diabetes. The glycaemia controls have been obtained by plasma glucose assay. All patients have been tested positive to SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR method. Results: The COVID-19 diabetic patients represented 11,7% of all COVID-19 patients with confidence interval of 95% [7,77-15,65]. Older individuals and male sex were predominent. Dyspnea and sauration of oxygen < 90 were significatives and added risk factors were noted in 63.3% of patients, particulary hyperglycaemia with hypertension or obesity. The mortality rate at the percentage of 36.7% was more prevalent in patients with added comorbidities (30%) versus without comorbidities (6.7%). Conclusion: Congolese COVID-19 diabetic patients of male sex and older age exhibiting arterial hypertension and obesity are the most exposed to severe COVID-19 and increasead mortality rate

Structure finding in cosmological simulations: the state of affairs

The ever increasing size and complexity of data coming from simulations of cosmic structure formation demand equally sophisticated tools for their analysis. During the past decade, the art of object finding in these simulations has hence developed into an important discipline itself. A multitude of codes based upon a huge variety of methods and techniques have been spawned yet the question remained as to whether or not they will provide the same (physical) information about the structures of interest. Here we summarize and extent previous work of the `halo finder comparison project': we investigate in detail the (possible) origin of any deviations across finders. To this extent, we decipher and discuss differences in halo-finding methods, clearly separating them from the disparity in definitions of halo properties. We observe that different codes not only find different numbers of objects leading to a scatter of up to 20 per cent in the halo mass and Vmax function, but also that the particulars of those objects that are identified by all finders differ. The strength of the variation, however, depends on the property studied, e.g. the scatter in position, bulk velocity, mass and the peak value of the rotation curve is practically below a few per cent, whereas derived quantities such as spin and shape show larger deviations. Our study indicates that the prime contribution to differences in halo properties across codes stems from the distinct particle collection methods and - to a minor extent - the particular aspects of how the procedure for removing unbound particles is implemented. We close with a discussion of the relevance and implications of the scatter across different codes for other fields such as semi-analytical galaxy formation models, gravitational lensing and observables in general

MOONS: The New Multi-Object Spectrograph for the VLT

International audienceMOONS is the new Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph currently under construction for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at ESO. This remarkable instrument combines, for the first time, the collecting power of an 8-m telescope, 1000 fibres with individual robotic positioners, and both low- and high-resolution simultaneous spectral coverage across the 0.64–1.8 μm wavelength range. This facility will provide the astronomical community with a powerful, world-leading instrument able to serve a wide range of Galactic, extragalactic and cosmological studies. Construction is now proceeding full steam ahead and this overview article presents some of the science goals and the technical description of the MOONS instrument. More detailed information on the MOONS surveys is provided in the other dedicated articles in this Messenger issue