910 research outputs found
Integral Field Spectroscopy of Mrk 273: Mapping 10^3 km/s Gas Flows and an Off-Nucleus Seyfert 2 Nebula
Integral field optical spectroscopy with the INTEGRAL fiber-based systemis
used to map the extended ionized regions and gas flows in Mrk 273, one of the
closest Ultraluminous Infrared galaxies (ULIRGs).
The Hbeta and [OIII]5007 maps show the presence of two distinct regions
separated by 4'' (3.1 kpc) along position angle (PA) 240. The northeastern
region coincides with the optical nucleus of the galaxy and shows the spectral
characteristics of LINERs. The southwestern region is dominated by [OIII]
emission and is classified as a Seyfert 2. Therefore, in the optical, Mrk 273
is an ultraluminous infrared galaxy with a LINER nucleus and an extended
off-nucleus Seyfert 2 nebula.
The kinematics of the [OIII] ionized gas shows (i) the presence of highly
disturbed gas in the regions around the LINER nucleus, (ii) a high-velocity gas
flow with a peak-to-peak amplitude of 2.4 x 10^3 km/s, and (iii) quiescent gas
in the outer regions (at 3 kpc). We hypothesize that the high-velocity flow is
the starburst-driven superwind generated in an optically obscured nuclear
starburst, and that the quiescent gas is directly ionized by a nuclear source,
like the ionization cones typically seen in Seyfert galaxies.Comment: ApJ Letters, in pres
Specific heat across the superconducting dome in the cuprates
The specific heat of the superconducting cuprates is calculated over the
entire phase diagram. A d-wave BCS approach based on the large Fermi surface of
Fermi liquid and band structure theory provides a good description of the
overdoped region. At underdoping it is essential to include the emergence of a
second energy scale, the pseudogap and its associated Gutzwiller factor, which
accounts for a reduction in the coherent piece of the electronic Green's
function due to increased correlations as the Mott insulating state is
approached. In agreement with experiment, we find that the slope of the linear
in T dependence of the low temperature specific heat rapidly increases above
optimum doping while it is nearly constant below optimum. Our theoretical
calculations also agree with recent data on BiSrLaCuO for which the normal state is accessed through the
application of a large magnetic field. A quantum critical point is located at a
doping slightly below optimum.Comment: submitted to PRB; 8 pages, 5 figure
The LSST Data Mining Research Agenda
We describe features of the LSST science database that are amenable to
scientific data mining, object classification, outlier identification, anomaly
detection, image quality assurance, and survey science validation. The data
mining research agenda includes: scalability (at petabytes scales) of existing
machine learning and data mining algorithms; development of grid-enabled
parallel data mining algorithms; designing a robust system for brokering
classifications from the LSST event pipeline (which may produce 10,000 or more
event alerts per night); multi-resolution methods for exploration of petascale
databases; indexing of multi-attribute multi-dimensional astronomical databases
(beyond spatial indexing) for rapid querying of petabyte databases; and more.Comment: 5 pages, Presented at the "Classification and Discovery in Large
Astronomical Surveys" meeting, Ringberg Castle, 14-17 October, 200
Grobner Bases for Finite-temperature Quantum Computing and their Complexity
Following the recent approach of using order domains to construct Grobner
bases from general projective varieties, we examine the parity and
time-reversal arguments relating de Witt and Lyman's assertion that all path
weights associated with homotopy in dimensions d <= 2 form a faithful
representation of the fundamental group of a quantum system. We then show how
the most general polynomial ring obtained for a fermionic quantum system does
not, in fact, admit a faithful representation, and so give a general
prescription for calcluating Grobner bases for finite temperature many-body
quantum system and show that their complexity class is BQP
A Hubble Space Telescope Snapshot Survey of Dynamically Close Galaxy Pairs in the CNOC2 Redshift Survey
We compare the structural properties of two classes of galaxies at
intermediate redshift: those in dynamically close galaxy pairs, and those which
are isolated. Both samples are selected from the CNOC2 Redshift Survey, and
have redshifts in the range 0.1 < z <0.6. Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 images
were acquired as part of a snapshot survey, and were used to measure bulge
fraction and asymmetry for these galaxies. We find that paired and isolated
galaxies have identical distributions of bulge fractions. Conversely, we find
that paired galaxies are much more likely to be asymmetric (R_T+R_A >= 0.13)
than isolated galaxies. Assuming that half of these pairs are unlikely to be
close enough to merge, we estimate that 40% +/- 11% of merging galaxies are
asymmetric, compared with 9% +/- 3% of isolated galaxies. The difference is
even more striking for strongly asymmetric (R_T+R_A >= 0.16) galaxies: 25% +/-
8% for merging galaxies versus 1% +/- 1% for isolated galaxies. We find that
strongly asymmetric paired galaxies are very blue, with rest-frame B-R colors
close to 0.80, compared with a mean (B-R)_0 of 1.24 for all paired galaxies. In
addition, asymmetric galaxies in pairs have strong [OII]3727 emission lines. We
conclude that close to half of the galaxy pairs in our sample are in the
process of merging, and that most of these mergers are accompanied by triggered
star formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. 40 pages,
including 15 figures. For full resolution version, please see
http://www.trentu.ca/physics/dpatton/hstpairs
Chandra Observations of Arp 220: The Nuclear Source
We present the first results from 60ks of observations of Arp 220 using the
ACIS-S instrument on Chandra. We report the detection of several sources near
the galaxy's nucleus, including a point source with a hard spectrum that is
coincident with the western radio nucleus B. This point source is mildly
absorbed (N_H ~ 3 x 10^22 cm^-2) and has an estimated luminosity of 4 x 10^40
erg/s. In addition, a fainter source may coincide with the eastern nucleus A.
Extended hard X-ray emission in the vicinity raises the total estimated nuclear
2-10 keV X-ray luminosity to 1.2 x 10^41 erg/s, but we cannot rule out a hidden
AGN behind columns exceeding 5 x 10^24 cm^-2. We also detect a peak of soft
X-ray emission to the west of the nucleus, and a hard point source 2.5 kpc from
the nucleus with a luminosity of 6 x 10^39 erg/s.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Chandra Observations of Arp 220: The Nuclear Source
We present the first results from 60ks of observations of Arp 220 using the
ACIS-S instrument on Chandra. We report the detection of several sources near
the galaxy's nucleus, including a point source with a hard spectrum that is
coincident with the western radio nucleus B. This point source is mildly
absorbed (N_H ~ 3 x 10^22 cm^-2) and has an estimated luminosity of 4 x 10^40
erg/s. In addition, a fainter source may coincide with the eastern nucleus A.
Extended hard X-ray emission in the vicinity raises the total estimated nuclear
2-10 keV X-ray luminosity to 1.2 x 10^41 erg/s, but we cannot rule out a hidden
AGN behind columns exceeding 5 x 10^24 cm^-2. We also detect a peak of soft
X-ray emission to the west of the nucleus, and a hard point source 2.5 kpc from
the nucleus with a luminosity of 6 x 10^39 erg/s.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
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