1,182 research outputs found
The Ages of Type Ia Supernova Progenitors
Using light curves and host galaxy spectra of 101 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia)
with redshift from the SDSS Supernova Survey (SDSS-SN), we
derive the SN Ia rate as a function of progenitor age (the delay time
distribution, or DTD). We use the VESPA stellar population synthesis algorithm
to analyze the SDSS spectra of all galaxies in the field searched by SDSS-SN,
giving us a reference sample of 77,000 galaxies for our SN Ia hosts. Our method
does not assume any a priori shape for the DTD and therefore is minimally
parametric. We present the DTD in physical units for high stretch (luminous,
slow declining) and low stretch (subluminous, fast declining) supernovae in
three progenitor age bins. We find strong evidence of two progenitor channels:
one that produces high stretch SNe Ia Myr after the birth of the
progenitor system, and one that produces low stretch SNe Ia with a delay
Gyr. We find that each channel contributes roughly half of the
Type Ia rate in our reference sample. We also construct the average spectra of
high stretch and low stretch SN Ia host galaxies, and find that the difference
of these spectra looks like a main sequence B star with nebular emission lines
indicative of star formation. This supports our finding that there are two
populations of SNe Ia, and indicates that the progenitors of high stretch SNe
are at the least associated with very recent star formation in the last few
tens of Myr. Our results provide valuable constraints for models of Type Ia
progenitors and may help improve the calibration of SNe Ia as standard candles.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, AJ accepted. Moderate changes to match
accepted version, including a table of all SNe use
The tight skin mouse: demonstration of mutant fibrillin-1 production and assembly into abnormal microfibrils
Mice carrying the Tight skin (Tsk) mutation harbor a genomic duplication within the fibrillin-1 (Fbn 1) gene that results in a larger than normal in-frame Fbn 1 transcript. In this study, the consequences of the Tsk mutation for fibrillin-containing microfibrils have been examined. Dermal fibroblasts from Tsk/+ mice synthesized and secreted both normal fibrillin (approximately 330 kD) and the mutant oversized Tsk fibrillin-1 (approximately 450 kD) in comparable amounts, and Tsk fibrillin-1 was stably incorporated into cell layers. Immunohistochemical and ultrastructural analyses of normal and Tsk/+ mouse skin highlighted differences in the gross organization and distribution of microfibrillar arrays. Rotary shadowing of high Mr preparations from Tsk/+ skin demonstrated the presence of abundant beaded microfibrils. Some of these had normal morphology and periodicity, but others were distinguished by diffuse interbeads, longer periodicity, and tendency to aggregate. The presence of a structurally abnormal population of microfibrils in Tsk/+ skin was unequivocally demonstrated after calcium chelation and in denaturating conditions. Scanning transmission electron microscopy highlighted the presence of more mass in Tsk/+ skin microfibrils than in normal mice skin microfibrils. These data indicate that Tsk fibrillin-1 polymerizes and becomes incorporated into a discrete population of beaded microfibrils with altered molecular organization
Gray Wolves, Canis lupus, Killed by Cougars, Puma concolor, and a Grizzly Bear, Ursus arctos, in Montana, Alberta, and Wyoming
Four cases where large predators caused Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) mortality are recorded. We describe two incidents of Cougars (Puma concolar) killing Wolves in Montana and one incident of a Cougar killing a Wolf in Alberta. We report the first recorded incident of a Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos) killing a Wolf in the western United States
Southern Cosmology Survey III: QSO's from Combined GALEX and Optical Photometry
We present catalogs of QSO candidates selected using photometry from GALEX
combined with SDSS in the Stripe 82 region and Blanco Cosmology Survey (BCS)
near declination -55 degrees. The SDSS region contains ~700 objects with
magnitude i < 20 and ~3600 objects with i < 21.5 in a ~60 square degree sky
region, while the BCS region contains ~280 objects with magnitude i < 20 and
~2000 objects with i < 21.5 for a 11 square degree sky region that is being
observed by three current microwave Sunyaev-Zeldovich surveys. Our QSO catalog
is the first one in the BCS region. Deep GALEX exposures (~2000 seconds in FUV
and NUV, except in three fields) provide high signal-to-noise photometry in the
GALEX bands (FUV, NUV < 24.5 mag). From this data, we select QSO candidates
using only GALEX and optical r-band photometry, using the method given by Atlee
and Gould (2008). In the Stripe 82 field, 60% (30%) of the GALEX selected QSO's
with optical magnitude i<20 (i<21.5) also appear in the Richards et al. (2008)
QSO catalog constructed using 5-band optical SDSS photometry. Comparison with
the same catalog by Richards et al. shows that the completeness of the sample
is approximately 40%(25%). However, for regions of the sky with very low dust
extinction, like the BCS 23hr field and the Stripe 82 between 0 and 10 degrees
in RA, our completeness is close to 95%, demonstrating that deep GALEX
observations are almost as efficient as multi-wavelength observations at
finding QSO's. GALEX observations thus provide a viable alternate route to QSO
catalogs in sky regions where u-band optical photometry is not available. The
full catalog is available at http://www.ice.csic.es/personal/jimenez/PHOTOZComment: Submitted to ApJ
Improving Photometric Redshifts using GALEX Observations for the SDSS Stripe 82 and the Next Generation of SZ Cluster Surveys
Four large-area Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) experiments -- APEX-SZ, SPT, ACT, and
Planck -- promise to detect clusters of galaxies through the distortion of
Cosmic Microwave Background photons by hot (> 10^6 K) cluster gas (the SZ
effect) over thousands of square degrees. A large observational follow-up
effort to obtain redshifts for these SZ-detected clusters is under way. Given
the large area covered by these surveys, most of the redshifts will be obtained
via the photometric redshift (photo-z) technique. Here we demonstrate, in an
application using ~3000 SDSS stripe 82 galaxies with r<20, how the addition of
GALEX photometry (FUV, NUV) greatly improves the photometric redshifts of
galaxies obtained with optical griz or ugriz photometry. In the case where
large spectroscopic training sets are available, empirical neural-network-based
techniques (e.g., ANNz) can yield a photo-z scatter of . If large spectroscopic training sets are not available, the addition of
GALEX data makes possible the use simple maximum likelihood techniques, without
resorting to Bayesian priors, and obtains , accuracy that
approaches the accuracy obtained using spectroscopic training of neural
networks on ugriz observations. This improvement is especially notable for blue
galaxies. To achieve these results, we have developed a new set of high
resolution spectral templates based on physical information about the star
formation history of galaxies. We envision these templates to be useful for the
next generation of photo-z applications. We make our spectral templates and new
photo-z catalogs available to the community at
http://www.ice.csic.es/personal/jimenez/PHOTOZ .Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Effects of Wolf Removal on Livestock Depredation Recurrence and Wolf Recovery in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming
Wolf predation on livestock and management methods used to mitigate conflicts are highly controversial and scrutinized especially where wolf populations are recovering. Wolves are commonly removed from a local area in attempts to reduce further depredations, but the effectiveness of such management actions is poorly understood. We compared the effects of 3 management responses to livestock depredation by wolf packs in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming: no removal, partial pack removal, and full pack removal. From 1989 to 2008, we documented 967 depredations by 156 packs: 228 on sheep and 739 on cattle and other stock. Median time between recurrent depredations was 19 days following no removal (n = 593), 64 days following partial pack removal (n = 326), and 730 days following full pack removal (n = 48). Partial pack removal was most effective if conducted within the first 7 days following depredation, after which there was only a marginally significant difference between partial pack removal and no action (HR = 0.86, P = 0.07), and no difference after 14 days (HR = 0.99, P = 0.93). Ultimately, pack size was the best predictor of a recurrent depredation event; the probability of a depredation event recurring within 5 years increased by 7% for each animal left in the pack after the management response. However, the greater the number of wolves left in a pack, the higher the likelihood the pack met federal criteria to count as a breeding pair the following year toward population recovery goals
21-cm synthesis observations of VIRGOHI 21 - a possible dark galaxy in the Virgo Cluster
Many observations indicate that dark matter dominates the extra-galactic
Universe, yet no totally dark structure of galactic proportions has ever been
convincingly identified. Previously we have suggested that VIRGOHI 21, a 21-cm
source we found in the Virgo Cluster using Jodrell Bank, was a possible dark
galaxy because of its broad line-width (~200 km/s) unaccompanied by any visible
gravitational source to account for it. We have now imaged VIRGOHI 21 in the
neutral-hydrogen line and find what could be a dark, edge-on, spinning disk
with the mass and diameter of a typical spiral galaxy. Moreover, VIRGOHI 21 has
unquestionably been involved in an interaction with NGC 4254, a luminous spiral
with an odd one-armed morphology, but lacking the massive interactor normally
linked with such a feature. Numerical models of NGC 4254 call for a close
interaction ~10^8 years ago with a perturber of ~10^11 solar masses. This we
take as additional evidence for the massive nature of VIRGOHI 21 as there does
not appear to be any other viable candidate. We have also used the Hubble Space
Telescope to search for stars associated with the HI and find none down to an I
band surface brightness limit of 31.1 +/- 0.2 mag/sq. arcsec.Comment: 8 pages, accepted to ApJ, uses emulateapj.cls. Mpeg animation (Fig.
2) available at ftp://ftp.naic.edu/pub/publications/minchin/video2.mp
Recommended from our members
Investigation of the terahertz vibrational modes of ZIF-8 and ZIF-90 with terahertz time-domain spectroscopy.
We present experimental and computational evidence that gate-opening modes for zeolitic imidazole frameworks can be observed at terahertz frequencies. Our work highlights the critical importance to correctly optimise the crystal structure prior to computational lattice dynamics analysis. The results support the hypothesis that the low energy vibrational modes do indeed play a significant role in host-guest interactions for ZIFs, such as gas loading.C.O.T. thanks Becas Chile and the Cambridge Trust for funding; D.F.-J. thanks the Royal Society (U.K.) for funding through a University Research Fellowship. T.M.K. would like to acknowledge the Royal Society as well as the Royal Society of Chemistry for support.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at via http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C5CC06455
Multi-scale modeling study of the source contributions to near-surface ozone and sulfur oxides levels over California during the ARCTAS-CARB period
Chronic high surface ozone (O3) levels and the increasing sulfur oxides (SOx = SO2+SO4) ambient concentrations over South Coast (SC) and other areas of California (CA) are affected by both local emissions and long-range transport. In this paper, multi-scale tracer, full-chemistry and adjoint simulations using the STEM atmospheric chemistry model are conducted to assess the contribution of local emission sourcesto SC O3 and to evaluate the impacts of transported sulfur and local emissions on the SC sulfur budgetduring the ARCTAS-CARB experiment period in 2008. Sensitivity simulations quantify contributions of biogenic and fire emissions to SC O3 levels. California biogenic and fire emissions contribute 3–4 ppb to near-surface O3 over SC, with larger contributions to other regions in CA. During a long-range transport event from Asia starting from 22 June, high SOx levels (up to ~0.7 ppb of SO2 and ~1.3 ppb of SO4) is observed above ~6 km, but they did not affect CA surface air quality. The elevated SOx observed at 1–4 km is estimated to enhance surface SOx over SC by ~0.25 ppb (upper limit) on ~24 June. The near-surface SOx levels over SC during the flight week are attributed mostly to local emissions. Two anthropogenic SOx emission inventories (EIs) from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are compared and applied in 60 km and 12 km chemical transport simulations, and the results are compared withobservations. The CARB EI shows improvements over the National Emission Inventory (NEI) by EPA, but generally underestimates surface SC SOx by about a factor of two. Adjoint sensitivity analysis indicated that SO2 levels at 00:00 UTC (17:00 local time) at six SC surface sites were influenced by previous day maritime emissions over the ocean, the terrestrial emissions over nearby urban areas, and by transported SO2 from the north through both terrestrial and maritime areas. Overall maritime emissions contribute 10–70% of SO2 and 20–60% fine SO4 on-shore and over the most terrestrial areas, with contributions decreasing with in-land distance from the coast. Maritime emissions also modify the photochemical environment, shifting O3 production over coastal SC to more VOC-limited conditions. These suggest an important role for shipping emission controls in reducing fine particle and O3concentrations in SC
- …