An 80 pc Long Massive Molecular Filament in the Galactic Mid-Plane

The ubiquity of filaments in star forming regions on a range of scales is clear, yet their role in the star formation process remains in question. We suggest that there are distinct classes of filaments which are responsible for their observed diversity in star-forming regions. An example of a massive molecular filament in the Galactic mid-plane formed at the intersection of UV-driven bubbles which displays a coherent velocity structure (< 4 km/s) over 80 pc is presented. We classify such sources as Massive Molecular Filaments (MMFs; M > 10^4 Msun, length > 10 pc, velocity gradient < 5 km/s) and suggest that MMFs are just one of the many different classes of filaments discussed in the literature today. Many MMFs are aligned with the Galactic Plane and may be akin to the dark dust lanes seen in Grand Design Spirals.Comment: To appear in proceedings of the 'Labyrinth of Star Formation' meeting (18-22 June 2012, Chania, Greece), published by Springe

Fingers of God

Very long wavelength universal gravitational waves cannot now produce in clusters of galaxies velocity dispersions greater than that which these systems would possess if they were expanding with the Universe, if the Universe is not younger than $10^{10}$ yr and Hubble's constant is not less than 50 km/sec/ Mpc. A diagram shows that actual velocity dispersions are significantly greater than this limit.Comment: Published long before the advent of large-scale redshift surveys, as "A Critique of Rees's Theory of Primordial Gravitational Radiation", this paper includes the first presentation of what has come to be known as the fingers-of-god effect. The effect is mentioned several hundred times in arXive papers, rarely with a wrong attribution, usually with none at al

Inflating and Deflating Hot Jupiters: Coupled Tidal and Thermal Evolution of Known Transiting Planets

We examine the radius evolution of close-in giant planets with a planet evolution model that couples the orbital-tidal and thermal evolution. For 45 transiting systems, we compute a large grid of cooling/contraction paths forward in time, starting from a large phase space of initial semi-major axes and eccentricities. Given observational constraints at the current time for a given planet (semi-major axis, eccentricity, and system age) we find possible evolutionary paths that match these constraints, and compare the calculated radii to observations. We find that tidal evolution has two effects. First, planets start their evolution at larger semi-major axis, allowing them to contract more efficiently at earlier times. Second, tidal heating can significantly inflate the radius when the orbit is being circularized, but this effect on the radius is short-lived thereafter. Often circularization of the orbit is proceeded by a long period while the semi-major axis slowly decreases. Some systems with previously unexplained large radii that we can reproduce with our coupled model are HAT-P-7, HAT-P-9, WASP-10, and XO-4. This increases the number of planets for which we can match the radius from 24 (of 45) to as many as 35 for our standard case, but for some of these systems we are required to be viewing them at a special time around the era of current radius inflation. This is a concern for the viability of tidal inflation as a general mechanism to explain most inflated radii. Also, large initial eccentricities would have to be common. We also investigate the evolution of models that have a floor on the eccentricity, as may be due to a perturber. In this scenario we match the extremely large radius of WASP-12b. (Abridged)Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in Ap

A legislative bargaining approach to earmarked public expenditures

This paper develops a model of legislative spending in which revenues can be spent through earmarks or a general fund. Legislative choice is modeled as a Baron and Ferejohn style legislative bargaining game. The novel approach is to model the bargaining process as a two-stage game reflecting the reality that earmarked expenditures precede general fund appropriations. This drives the result that all revenue is spent by way of earmarking leaving no revenue in the general fund.Earmarking, legislative bargaining, public goods.

USDA-ARS Hydrology Laboratory MISWG Hydrology Workshop

Current research being conducted in remote sensing techniques for measuring hydrologic parameters and variables deals with runoff curve numbers (CN), evapotranspiration (ET), and soil moisture. The CN and ET research utilizes visible and infrared measurements. Soil moisture investigations focus on the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum