2,115 research outputs found
Seeing Star Formation Regions with Gravitational Microlensing
We qualitatively study the effects of gravitational microlensing on our view
of unresolved extragalactic star formation regions. Using a general
gravitational microlensing configuration, we perform a number of simulations
that reveal that specific imprints of the star forming region are imprinted,
both photometrically and spectroscopically, upon observations. Such
observations have the potential to reveal the nature and size of these star
forming regions, through the degree of variability observed in a monitoring
campaign, and hence resolve the star formation regions in distant galaxies
which are too small to be probed via more standard techniques.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, ApJ accepte
Quasar Microlensing: when compact masses mimic smooth matter
The magnification induced by gravitational microlensing is sensitive to the
size of a source relative to the Einstein radius, the natural microlensing
scale length. This paper investigates the effect of source size in the case
where the microlensing masses are distributed with a bimodal mass function,
with solar mass stars representing the normal stellar masses, and smaller
masses (down to M) representing a dark matter
component. It is found that there exists a critical regime where the dark
matter is initially seen as individual compact masses, but with an increasing
source size the compact dark matter acts as a smooth mass component. This study
reveals that interpretation of microlensing light curves, especially claims of
small mass dark matter lenses embedded in an overall stellar population, must
consider the important influence of the size of the source.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in ApJ. As ever, quality of figures reduce
Corrections for gravitational lensing of supernovae: better than average?
We investigate the possibility of correcting for the magnification due to
gravitational lensing of standard candle sources, such as Type Ia supernovae.
Our method uses the observed properties of the foreground galaxies along the
lines-of-sight to each source and the accuracy of the lensing correction
depends on the quality and depth of these observations as well as the
uncertainties in translating the observed luminosities to the matter
distribution in the lensing galaxies. The current work is limited to cases
where the matter density is dominated by the individual galaxy halos. However,
it is straightforward to generalize the method to include also gravitational
lensing from cluster scale halos. We show that the dispersion due to lensing
for a standard candle source at z=1.5 can be reduced from about 7% to ~< 3%,
i.e. the magnification correction is useful in reducing the scatter in the Type
Ia Hubble diagram, especially at high redshifts where the required long
exposure times makes it hard to reach large statistics and the dispersion due
to lensing becomes comparable to the intrinsic Type Ia scatter.Comment: Matches accepted version, includes clarifications and additional
issues. 28 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Recommended from our members
Thermophysical properties. Quarterly report, 1 July 1992--30 September 1992
Numerous fluids have been identified as promising alternative refrigerants, but much of the information needed to predict their behavior as pure fluids and as components in mixtures does not exist. In particular, reliable thermophysical properties data and models are needed to predict the performance of the new refrigerants in heating and cooling equipment, and to design and optimize equipment to be reliable and energy efficient. Objective of this project is to provide highly accurate, selected thermophysical properties data for Refrigerants 32, 123, 124, and 125, and to use these data to fit simple and complex equations of state and detailed transport property models. The new data will fill gaps in the existing data sets and resolve the problems and uncertainties that exist in and between the data sets. This report describes the progress made during the third quarter of this fifteen-month project, which was initiated in late January, 1992
Gravitational lensing as folds in the sky
We revisit the gravitational lensing phenomenon using a new visualization
technique. It consists in projecting the observers sky into the source plane,
what gives rise to a folded and stretched surface. This provides a clear
graphical tool to visualize some interesting well-known effects, such as the
development of multiple images of a source, the structure of the caustic
curves, the parity of the images and their magnification as a function of the
source position.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Discovery of a Galaxy Cluster in the Foreground of the Wide-Separation Quasar Pair UM425
We report the discovery of a cluster of galaxies in the field of UM425, a
pair of quasars separated by 6.5arcsec. Based on this finding, we revisit the
long-standing question of whether this quasar pair is a binary quasar or a
wide-separation lens. Previous work has shown that both quasars are at z=1.465
and show broad absorption lines. No evidence for a lensing galaxy has been
found between the quasars, but there were two hints of a foreground cluster:
diffuse X-ray emission observed with Chandra, and an excess of faint galaxies
observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. Here we show, via VLT spectroscopy,
that there is a spike in the redshift histogram of galaxies at z=0.77. We
estimate the chance of finding a random velocity structure of such significance
to be about 5%, and thereby interpret the diffuse X-ray emission as originating
from z=0.77, rather than the quasar redshift. The mass of the cluster, as
estimated from either the velocity dispersion of the z=0.77 galaxies or the
X-ray luminosity of the diffuse emission, would be consistent with the
theoretical mass required for gravitational lensing. The positional offset
between the X-ray centroid and the expected location of the mass centroid is
about 40kpc, which is not too different from offsets observed in lower redshift
clusters. However, UM425 would be an unusual gravitational lens, by virtue of
the absence of a bright primary lensing galaxy. Unless the mass-to-light ratio
of the galaxy is at least 80 times larger than usual, the lensing hypothesis
requires that the galaxy group or cluster plays a uniquely important role in
producing the observed deflections.
Based on observations performed with the Very Large Telescope at the European
Southern Observatory, Paranal, Chile.Comment: 12 pages, accepted by ApJ 2005, May 1
Diffusion with critically correlated traps and the slow relaxation of the longest wavelength mode
We study diffusion on a substrate with permanent traps distributed with
critical positional correlation, modeled by their placement on the perimeters
of a critical percolation cluster. We perform a numerical analysis of the
vibrational density of states and the largest eigenvalue of the equivalent
scalar elasticity problem using the method of Arnoldi and Saad. We show that
the critical trap correlation increases the exponent appearing in the stretched
exponential behavior of the low frequency density of states by approximately a
factor of two as compared to the case of no correlations. A finite size scaling
hypothesis of the largest eigenvalue is proposed and its relation to the
density of states is given. The numerical analysis of this scaling postulate
leads to the estimation of the stretch exponent in good agreement with the
density of states result.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX (RevTeX
Lens or Binary? Chandra Observations of the Wide Separation Broad Absorption Line Quasar Pair UM425
We have obtained a 110 ksec Chandra ACIS-S exposure of UM425, a pair of QSOs
at z=1.47 separated by 6.5 arcsec, which show remarkably similar emission and
broad absorption line (BAL) profiles in the optical/UV. Our 5000 count X-ray
spectrum of UM425A (the brighter component) is well-fit with a power law
(photon spectral index Gamma=2.0) partially covered by a hydrogen column of
3.8x10^22 cm^-2. The underlying power-law slope for this object and for other
recent samples of BALQSOs is typical of radio-quiet quasars, lending credence
to the hypothesis that BALs exist in every quasar. Assuming the same Gamma for
the much fainter image of UM425B, we detect an obscuring column 5 times larger.
We search for evidence of an appropriately large lensing mass in our Chandra
image and find weak diffuse emission near the quasar pair, with an X-ray flux
typical of a group of galaxies at redshift z ~ 0.6. From our analysis of
archival HST WFPC2 and NICMOS images, we find no evidence for a luminous
lensing galaxy, but note a 3-sigma excess of galaxies in the UM425 field with
plausible magnitudes for a z=0.6 galaxy group. However, the associated X-ray
emission does not imply sufficient mass to produce the observed image
splitting. The lens scenario thus requires a dark (high M/L ratio) lens, or a
fortuitous configuration of masses along the line of sight. UM425 may instead
be a close binary pair of BALQSOs, which would boost arguments that
interactions and mergers increase nuclear activity and outflows.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Prognostic significance of endogenous adhesion/growth-regulatory lectins in lung cancer
Objective: To determine the expression of endogenous adhesion/growth-regulatory lectins and their binding sites using labeled tissue lectins as well as the binding profile of hyaluronic acid as an approach to define new prognostic markers. Methods: Sections of paraffin-embedded histological material of 481 lungs from lung tumor patients following radical lung excision processed by a routine immunohistochemical method (avidin-biotin labeling, DAB chromogen). Specific antibodies against galectins-1 and - 3 and the heparin-binding lectin were tested. Staining by labeled galectins and hyaluronic acid was similarly visualized by a routine protocol. After semiquantitative assessment of staining, the results were compared with the pT and pN stages and the histological type. Survival was calculated by univariate and multivariate methods. Results: Binding of galectin-1 and its expression tended to increase, whereas the parameters for galectin-3 decreased in advanced pT and pN stages at a statistically significant level. The number of positive cases was considerably smaller among the cases with small cell lung cancer than in the group with non-small-cell lung cancer, among which adenocarcinomas figured prominently with the exception of galectin-1 expression. Kaplan-Meier computations revealed that the survival rate of patients with galectin-3-binding or galectin-1-expressing tumors was significantly poorer than that of the negative cases. In the multivariate calculations of survival lymph node metastases ( p < 0.0001), histological type ( p = 0.003), galectin-3-binding capacity ( p = 0.01), galectin-3 expression ( p = 0.03) and pT status ( p = 0.003) proved to be independent prognostic factors, not correlated with the pN stage. Conclusion: The expression and the capacity to bind the adhesion/growth regulatory galectin-3 is defined as an unfavorable prognostic factor not correlated with the pTN stage. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel
Neutrino oscillations from the splitting of Fermi points
As was shown previously, oscillations of massless neutrinos may be due to the
splitting of multiply degenerate Fermi points. In this Letter, we give the
details and propose a three-flavor model of Fermi point splittings and neutrino
mixings with only two free parameters. The model may explain recent
experimental results from the K2K and KamLAND collaborations. There is also
rough agreement with the data on atmospheric neutrinos (SuperK) and solar
neutrinos (SNO), but further analysis is required. Most importantly, the Ansatz
allows for relatively strong T-violating (CP-nonconserving) effects in the
neutrino sector.Comment: 6 pages with jetplFRK.cls, v4: published versio
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