23,944 research outputs found
The Tail of the HI Mass Function
The contribution of extragalactic objects with HI masses below
to the HI mass function remains uncertain. Several aspects of the detection of
low-mass sources in HI surveys are not always considered, and as a result
different analysis techniques yield widely different estimates for their number
density. It is suggested at one extreme that the number density of galaxies
follows a shallow Schechter power-law slope, and at the other extreme that it
follows a steep faint-end rise like that found for field optical sources. Here
we examine a variety of selection effects, issues of completeness, and
consequences of LSS. We derive results for the large Arecibo Dual Beam Survey
which indicate that the field mass function does rise steeply, while within the
Virgo Cluster environs, the slope appears to be much shallower. Dependence on
the local density of galaxies may partially explain differences between
surveys.Comment: 8 pages, presented at Mapping the Hidden Universe: The Universe in
HI. eds Kraan-Korteweg, Henning, Andernac
Gas and Stars in an HI-Selected Galaxy Sample
We present the results of a J-band study of the HI-selected Arecibo Dual-Beam
Survey and Arecibo Slice Survey galaxy samples using the 2 Micron All-Sky
Survey data. We find that these galaxies span a wide range of stellar and gas
properties. However, despite the diversity within the samples, we find a very
tight correlation between luminosity and size in the J-band, similar to that we
previously found (Rosenberg & Schneider 2003) between the HI mass and size. We
also find that the correlation between the baryonic mass and the J-band
diameter is even tighter than between the baryonic mass and the rotational
velocity.Comment: AJ in press, 17 pages (including tables and figures) + 6 additional
jpg figure
Application of remote sensing in estimating evapotranspiration in the Platte river basin
A 'resistance model' and a mass transport model for estimating evapotranspiration (ET) were tested on large fields of naturally subirrigated alfalfa. Both models make use of crop canopy temperature data. Temperature data were obtained with an IR thermometer and with leaf thermocouples. A Bowen ratio-energy balance (BREB) model, adjusted to account for underestimation of ET during periods of strong sensible heat advection, was used as the standard against which the resistance and mass transport models were compared. Daily estimates by the resistance model were within 10% of estimates made by the BREB model. Daily estimates by the mass transport model did not agree quite as well. Performance was good on clear and cloudy days and also during periods of non-advection and strong advection of sensible heat. The performance of the mass transport and resistance models was less satisfactory for estimation of fluxes of latent heat for short term periods. Both models tended to overestimate at low LE fluxes
Advanced Meteorological Temperature Sounder (AMTS) simulations
Simulation studies are reported on temperature retrievals from AMTS and their effect on atmospheric analysis. Observations are simulated from radiosonde reports and observed cloud cover. Temperature retrievals are performed and RMS temperature and thickness errors are calculated relative to the radiosonde profiles and compared to similarly generated HIRS statistics. Significant improvement over HIRS is found throughout the atmosphere but especially in the stratosphere and lower troposphere
The HI Properties and Environment of Lyman-alpha Absorbers
We present results from two projects in which we have used the HI 21cm
emission line as a tracer of gas-rich galaxy populations in the vicinity of
Lyman-alpha absorbers. In the first case, we examine the HI environment of SBS
1543+593, the nearest damped Lyman-alpha absorber. We use a VLA map of the
region around this LSB galaxy which itself shows an extended HI disk to
identify 3 gas rich neighbors within 185 kpc. While it is not clear whether we
should expect local damped Lyman-alpha systems to reside in such gas-rich
regions, we would expect this kind of environment to be more prevalent at
higher redshifts where less of the gas is in the dense inner regions of
galaxies or has been consumed by star formation. This local galaxy is the only
system in which we can study the gaseous environment in this kind of detail. In
the second case, we examine the HI environment surrounding 16 Lyman-alpha
forest absorbers along 4 QSO sightlines. We do not detect any gas-rich galaxies
at the absorber positions indicating that, at least down to our sensitivity
limits, these absorption lines do not seem to be associated with galaxy halos.
For half of the Lyman-alpha absorption systems there is a galaxy within 500
kpc, but for the other half there is not. In two cases there is no galaxy
within 2 Mpc of the Lyman-alpha absorption systems indicating that absorbers
do, in some cases, reside in voids.Comment: 6 pages to appear in proceedings of IAU Colloquium No. 199, 2005,
``Probing Galaxies through Quasar Absorption Lines'', P.R. Williams, C. Shu,
B. Menard, ed
Image Ellipticity from Atmospheric Aberrations
We investigate the ellipticity of the point-spread function (PSF) produced by
imaging an unresolved source with a telescope, subject to the effects of
atmospheric turbulence. It is important to quantify these effects in order to
understand the errors in shape measurements of astronomical objects, such as
those used to study weak gravitational lensing of field galaxies. The PSF
modeling involves either a Fourier transform of the phase information in the
pupil plane or a ray-tracing approach, which has the advantage of requiring
fewer computations than the Fourier transform. Using a standard method,
involving the Gaussian weighted second moments of intensity, we then calculate
the ellipticity of the PSF patterns. We find significant ellipticity for the
instantaneous patterns (up to more than 10%). Longer exposures, which we
approximate by combining multiple (N) images from uncorrelated atmospheric
realizations, yield progressively lower ellipticity (as 1 / sqrt(N)). We also
verify that the measured ellipticity does not depend on the sampling interval
in the pupil plane using the Fourier method. However, we find that the results
using the ray-tracing technique do depend on the pupil sampling interval,
representing a gradual breakdown of the geometric approximation at high spatial
frequencies. Therefore, ray tracing is generally not an accurate method of
modeling PSF ellipticity induced by atmospheric turbulence unless some
additional procedure is implemented to correctly account for the effects of
high spatial frequency aberrations. The Fourier method, however, can be used
directly to accurately model PSF ellipticity, which can give insights into
errors in the statistics of field galaxy shapes used in studies of weak
gravitational lensing.Comment: 9 pages, 5 color figures (some reduced in size). Accepted for
publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Comparing Infrared Star-Formation Rate Indicators with Optically-Derived Quantities
We examine the UV reprocessing efficiencies of warm dust and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) through an analysis of the mid- and far-infrared
surface luminosity densities of 85 nearby H-selected star-forming
galaxies detected by the volume-limited KPNO International Spectroscopic Survey
(KISS). Because H selection is not biased toward continuum-bright
objects, the KISS sample spans a wide range in stellar masses
(-), as well as H luminosity
(-), mid-infrared 8.0m luminosity
(-), and [Bw-R] color (-.1-2.2). We find that
mid-infrared polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission in the Spitzer IRAC
8.0m band correlates with star formation, and that the efficiency with
which galaxies reprocess UV energy into PAH emission depends on metallicity. We
also find that the relationship between far-infrared luminosity in the Spitzer
MIPS 24m band pass and H-measured star-formation rate varies from
galaxy to galaxy within our sample; we do not observe a metallicity dependence
in this relationship. We use optical colors and established mass-to-light
relationships to determine stellar masses for the KISS galaxies; we compare
these masses to those of nearby galaxies as a confirmation that the
volume-limited nature of KISS avoids strong biases. We also examine the
relationship between IRAC 3.6m luminosity and galaxy stellar mass, and
find a color-dependent correlation between the two.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure
Unravelling the Mysteries of the Leo Ring: An Absorption Line Study of an Unusual Gas Cloud
Since the 1980's discovery of the large (2x10^9 Msun) intergalactic cloud
known as the Leo Ring, this object has been the center of a lively debate about
its origin. Determining the origin of this object is still important as we
develop a deeper understanding of the accretion and feedback processes that
shape galaxy evolution. We present HST/COS observations of three sightlines
near the Ring, two of which penetrate the high column density neutral hydrogen
gas visible in 21 cm observations of the object. These observations provide the
first direct measurement of the metallicity of the gas in the Ring, an
important clue to its origins. Our best estimate of the metallicity of the ring
is ~10% Zsun, higher than expected for primordial gas but lower than expected
from an interaction. We discuss possible modifications to the interaction and
primordial gas scenarios that would be consistent with this metallicity
measurement.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted Ap
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