Probing the shape and history of the Milky Way halo with orbital spectral analysis

Accurate phase-space coordinates (three components of position and velocity) of individual stars are rapidly becoming available with current and future resolved star surveys. These data will enable the computation of the full three-dimensional orbits of tens of thousands of stars in the Milky Way’s stellar halo. We demonstrate that the analysis of stellar halo orbits in frequency space can be used to construct a ‘frequency map’ which provides a highly compact, yet intuitively informative way to represent the six-dimensional halo phase-space distribution function. This representation readily reveals the most important major orbit families in the halo, and the relative abundances of the different orbit families, which in turn reflect the shape and orientation of the dark matter halo relative to the disc. We demonstrate the value of frequency space orbit analysis by applying the method to halo orbits in a series of controlled simulations of disc galaxies. We show that the disc influences the shape of the inner halo making it nearly oblate, but the outer halo remains largely unaffected. Since the shape of the halo varies with radius, the frequency map provides a more versatile way to identify major and minor orbit families than traditional orbit classification schemes. Although the shape of the halo varies with radius, frequency maps of local samples of halo orbits confined to the inner halo contain most of the information about the global shape of the halo and its major orbit families. Frequency maps show that adiabatic growth of a disc traps halo orbits in numerous resonant orbit families (i.e. having commensurable frequencies). The locations and strengths of these resonant families are determined by both the global shape of the halo and its stellar distribution function. If a good estimate of the Galactic potential in the inner halo (within ∼ 50 kpc) is available, the appearance of strong, stable resonances in frequency maps of halo orbits will allow us to determine the degree of resonant trapping induced by the disc potential. We show that if the Galactic potential is not known exactly, a measure of the diffusion rate of a large sample of ∼ 104 halo orbits can help distinguish between the true potential and an incorrect potential. The orbital spectral analysis methods described in this paper provide a strong complementarity to existing methods for constraining the potential of the Milky Way halo and its stellar distribution function

Visualizing probabilistic models: Intensive Principal Component Analysis

Unsupervised learning makes manifest the underlying structure of data without curated training and specific problem definitions. However, the inference of relationships between data points is frustrated by the `curse of dimensionality' in high-dimensions. Inspired by replica theory from statistical mechanics, we consider replicas of the system to tune the dimensionality and take the limit as the number of replicas goes to zero. The result is the intensive embedding, which is not only isometric (preserving local distances) but allows global structure to be more transparently visualized. We develop the Intensive Principal Component Analysis (InPCA) and demonstrate clear improvements in visualizations of the Ising model of magnetic spins, a neural network, and the dark energy cold dark matter ({\Lambda}CDM) model as applied to the Cosmic Microwave Background.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Cognitive performance in multiple system atrophy

The cognitive performance of a group of patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) of striato-nigral predominance was compared with that of age and IQ matched control subjects, using three tests sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction and a battery sensitive to memory and learning deficits in Parkinson's disease and dementia of the Alzheimer type. The MSA group showed significant deficits in all three of the tests previously shown to be sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction. Thus, a significant proportion of patients from the MSA group failed an attentional set-shifting test, specifically at the stage when an extra-dimensional shift was required. They were also impaired in a subject-ordered test of spatial working memory. The MSA group showed deficits mostly confined to measures of speed of thinking, rather than accuracy, on the Tower of London task. These deficits were seen in the absence of consistent impairments in language or visual perception. Moreover, the MSA group showed no significant deficits in tests of spatial and pattern recognition previously shown to be sensitive to patients early in the course of probable Alzheimer's disease and only a few patients exhibited impairment on the Warrington Recognition Memory Test. There were impairments on other tests of visual memory and learning relative to matched controls, but these could not easily be related to fundamental deficits of memory or learning. Thus, on a matching-to-sample task the patients were impaired at simultaneous but not delayed matching to sample, whereas difficulties in a pattern-location learning task were more evident at its initial, easier stages. The MSA group showed no consistent evidence of intellectual deterioration as assessed from their performance on subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the National Adult Reading Test (NART). Consideration of individual cases showed that there was some heterogeneity in the pattern of deficits in the MSA group, with one patient showing no impairment, even in the face of considerable physical disability. The results show a distinctive pattern of cognitive deficits, unlike those previously seen using the same tests in patients with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, and suggesting a prominent frontal-lobe-like component. The implications for concepts of 'subcortical' dementia and 'fronto-striatal' cognitive dysfunction are considered

The effect of stellar feedback on a Milky Way-like galaxy and its gaseous halo

We present the study of a set of N-body+smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of a Milky Way-like system produced by the radiative cooling of hot gas embedded in a dark matter halo. The galaxy and its gaseous halo evolve for 10 Gyr in isolation, which allows us to study how internal processes affect the evolution of the system. We show how the morphology, the kinematics and the evolution of the galaxy are affected by the input supernova feedback energy ESN, and we compare its properties with those of the Milky Way. Different values of ESN do not significantly affect the star formation history of the system, but the disc of cold gas gets thicker and more turbulent as feedback increases. Our main result is that, for the highest value of ESN considered, the galaxy shows a prominent layer of extraplanar cold (log (T/K) < 4.3) gas extended up to a few kiloparsec above the disc at column densities of 1019 cm-2. The kinematics of this material is in agreement with that inferred for the H I haloes of our Galaxy and NGC 891, although its mass is lower. Also, the location, the kinematics and the typical column densities of the hot (5.3 < log (T/K) < 5.7) gas are in good agreement with those determined from the O VI absorption systems in the halo of the Milky Way and external galaxies. In contrast with the observations, however, gas at log (T/K) < 5.3 is lacking in the circumgalactic region of our systems

MaGICC-WDM: the effects of warm dark matter in hydrodynamical simulations of disc galaxy formation

We study the effect of warm dark matter (WDM) on hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation as part of the Making Galaxies in a Cosmological Context (MaGICC) project. We simulate three different galaxies using three WDM candidates of 1, 2 and 5 keV and compare results with pure cold dark matter simulations. WDM slightly reduces star formation and produces less centrally concentrated stellar profiles. These effects are most evident for the 1 keV candidate but almost disappear for $m_{\mathrm{WDM}}>2$ keV. All simulations form similar stellar discs independent of WDM particle mass. In particular, the disc scale length does not change when WDM is considered. The reduced amount of star formation in the case of 1 keV particles is due to the effects of WDM on merging satellites which are on average less concentrated and less gas rich. The altered satellites cause a reduced starburst during mergers because they trigger weaker disc instabilities in the main galaxy. Nevertheless we show that disc galaxy evolution is much more sensitive to stellar feedback than it is to WDM candidate mass. Overall we find that WDM, especially when restricted to current observational constraints ($m_{\mathrm{WDM}}>2$ keV), has a minor impact on disc galaxy formation.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables; minor clarifications added in results section, conclusions unchanged; accepted for publication in MNRA

Fronto-striatal cognitive deficits at different stages of Parkinson's disease

Groups of patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, either medicated or unmedicated, were compared with matched groups of normal controls on a computerized battery previously shown to be sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction, including tests of planning, spatial working memory and attentional set-shifting. In a series of problems based on the 'Tower of London' test, medicated patients with Parkinson's disease were shown to be impaired in the amount of time spent thinking about (planning) the solution to each problem. Additionally, an impairment in terms of the accuracy of the solution produced on this test was only evident in those patients with more severe clinical symptoms and was accompanied by deficits in an associated test of spatial short-term memory. Medicated patients with both mild and severe clinical symptoms were also impaired on a related test of spatial working memory. In contrast, a group of patients who were unmedicated and 'early in the course' of the disease were unimpaired in all three of these tests. However, all three Parkinson's disease groups were impaired in the test of attentional set-shifting ability, although unimpaired in a test of pattern recognition which is insensitive to frontal lobe damage. These data are compared with those previously published from a group of young neurosurgical patients with localized excisions of the frontal lobes and are discussed in terms of the specific nature of the cognitive deficit at different stages of Parkinson's disease

The H alpha Galaxy Survey VI. Star-forming companions of nearby field galaxies

We present a search for star-forming satellite galaxies that are close enough to their parent galaxies to be considered analogues of the Magellanic Clouds. Our search technique relied on the detection of the satellites in continuum-subtracted narrow-band H alpha imaging of the central galaxies, which removes most of the background and foreground line-of-sight companions, thus giving a high probability that we are detecting true satellites. The search was performed for 119 central galaxies at distances between 20 and 40 Mpc, although spatial incompleteness means that we have effectively searched 53 full satellite-containing volumes. We find only 9 probable star-forming satellites, around 9 different central galaxies, and 2 possible satellites. After incompleteness correction, this is equivalent to 0.17/0.21 satellites per central galaxy. The Small Magellanic Cloud is just below the median values of both star formation rate and R-band luminosity of the 9 probable satellites. The Large Magellanic Cloud, however, has a higher R-band luminosity than any of the 9 and is only exceeded in star formation rate by the one satellite that appears to be undergoing a tidally-induced starburst. Thus the Milky Way appears to be quite unusual, both in having two star-forming satellite galaxies and in the high luminosity of the Large Magellanic Cloud.Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication in A&

Probing the shape and history of the Milky Way halo with orbital spectral analysis

Accurate phase-space coordinates (three components of position and velocity) of individual stars are rapidly becoming available with current and future resolved star surveys. These data will enable the computation of the full three-dimensional orbits of tens of thousands of stars in the Milky Way's stellar halo. We demonstrate that the analysis of stellar halo orbits in frequency space can be used to construct a ‘frequency map' which provides a highly compact, yet intuitively informative way to represent the six-dimensional halo phase-space distribution function. This representation readily reveals the most important major orbit families in the halo, and the relative abundances of the different orbit families, which in turn reflect the shape and orientation of the dark matter halo relative to the disc. We demonstrate the value of frequency space orbit analysis by applying the method to halo orbits in a series of controlled simulations of disc galaxies. We show that the disc influences the shape of the inner halo making it nearly oblate, but the outer halo remains largely unaffected. Since the shape of the halo varies with radius, the frequency map provides a more versatile way to identify major and minor orbit families than traditional orbit classification schemes. Although the shape of the halo varies with radius, frequency maps of local samples of halo orbits confined to the inner halo contain most of the information about the global shape of the halo and its major orbit families. Frequency maps show that adiabatic growth of a disc traps halo orbits in numerous resonant orbit families (i.e. having commensurable frequencies). The locations and strengths of these resonant families are determined by both the global shape of the halo and its stellar distribution function. If a good estimate of the Galactic potential in the inner halo (within ∼ 50 kpc) is available, the appearance of strong, stable resonances in frequency maps of halo orbits will allow us to determine the degree of resonant trapping induced by the disc potential. We show that if the Galactic potential is not known exactly, a measure of the diffusion rate of a large sample of ∼ 104 halo orbits can help distinguish between the true potential and an incorrect potential. The orbital spectral analysis methods described in this paper provide a strong complementarity to existing methods for constraining the potential of the Milky Way halo and its stellar distribution functio

Saxon and Medieval Settlement on the Northern Edge of Wimborne Minster, Dorset

An excavation on the northern edge of Wimborne Minster revealed elements of a middle to late Saxon and medieval rural settlement fronting onto the west side of the road that leads north out of the town. The Saxon phase comprised a number of rectangular enclosures flanking the road, within and to the west of which were numerous pits and postholes as well as a number of features probably related to industrial activity, including iron smelting. Although no clear structures were identified, the material recovered from the features include Saxon pottery, animal bone, and charred crop remains indicative of settlement within a mixed agricultural economy. Radiocarbon dating of cereal grain from four features gave date ranges in the early/middle and middle/late Saxon periods. The enclosures were subsequently extended during the late Saxon/medieval period, with pottery indicating occupation possibly continuing into the 13th–14th centuries. The site also produced very limited evidence of prehistoric and Romano-British activity