98 research outputs found
Study of the Relation between the Spiral Arm Pitch Angle and the Kinetic Energy of Random Motions of the Host Spiral Galaxies, A
In this work, we report a relation between the kinetic energy of random motions of the corresponding host galaxies and spiral arm pitch angles (MdynÏ2- P), (M*Ï2- P) where Mdyn is the bulge dynamical mass, M* is bulge stellar mass, and Ï is the velocity dispersion of the host galaxy bulge. We measured the spiral arm pitch angle (P) for a sample of Spitzer/IRAC 3.6-ÎŒm images of 54 spiral galaxies, estimated by using a 2D Fast Fourier Transform decomposition technique (2DFFT). We selected a sample of nearly face-on spiral galaxies and used IRAF ellipse to determine the ellipticity and major-axis position angle in order to deproject the images to face-on, and using a 2D Fast Fourier Transform decomposition technique, we determined the spiral arm pitch angles. We estimated the kinetic energy of random motions of the corresponding host galaxies (MdynÏ, M*Ï2) by using Mdyn, M*, and Ï, where the stellar velocity dispersion (Ï) of the bulge was taken from the literature. We determined the bulge dynamical mass (Mdyn) using the virial theorem, and the bulge stellar mass (M*) was estimated by using the bulge 3.6-ÎŒm luminosity with the appropriate stellar mass-to-light ratio (M/L)
Gravitational lensing: a unique probe of dark matter and dark energy
I review the development of gravitational lensing as a powerful tool of the observational cosmologist. After the historic eclipse expedition organized by Arthur Eddington and Frank Dyson, the subject lay observationally dormant for 60 years. However, subsequent progress has been astonishingly rapid, especially in the past decade, so that gravitational lensing now holds the key to unravelling the two most profound mysteries of our Universeâthe nature and distribution of dark matter, and the origin of the puzzling cosmic acceleration first identified in the late 1990s. In this non-specialist review, I focus on the unusual history and achievements of gravitational lensing and its future observational prospects
The BTC40 Survey for Quasars at 4.8 < z < 6
The BTC40 Survey for high-redshift quasars is a multicolor search using
images obtained with the Big Throughput Camera (BTC) on the CTIO 4-m telescope
in V, I, and z filters to search for quasars at redshifts of 4.8 < z < 6. The
survey covers 40 sq. deg. in B, V, & I and 36 sq. deg. in z. Limiting
magnitudes (3 sigma) reach to V = 24.6, I = 22.9 and z = 22.9. We used the
(V-I) vs. (I-z) two-color diagram to select high-redshift quasar candidates
from the objects classified as point sources in the imaging data. Follow-up
spectroscopy with the AAT and CTIO 4-m telescopes of candidates having I < 21.5
has yielded two quasars with redshifts of z = 4.6 and z = 4.8 as well as four
emission line galaxies with z = 0.6. Fainter candidates have been identified
down to I = 22 for future spectroscopy on 8-m class telescopes.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures; Accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journa
A gravitational memory effect in "boosted" black hole perturbation theory
Black hole perturbation theory, or more generally, perturbation theory on a
Schwarzschild bockground, has been applied in several contexts, but usually
under the simplifying assumption that the ADM momentum vanishes, namely, that
the evolution is carried out and observed in the ``center of momentum frame''.
In this paper we consider some consequences of the inclusion of a non vanishing
ADM momentum in the initial data. We first provide a justification for the
validity of the transformation of the initial data to the ``center of momentum
frame'', and then analyze the effect of this transformation on the
gravitational wave amplitude. The most significant result is the possibility of
a type of gravitational memory effect that appears to have no simple relation
with the well known Christodoulou effect.Comment: REVTexIV, 15 pages, 2 EPS figure
Quasar Candidates in the Hubble Deep Field
We focus on the search for unresolved faint quasars and AGN in the crude
combine images using a multicolor imaging analysis that has proven very
successful in recent years. Quasar selection was carried out both in multicolor
space and in "profile space," defined as the multi-parameter space formed by
the radial profiles of the objects in the different images. By combining the
dither frames available for each filter, we were able to obtain well-sampled
radial profiles of the objects and measure their deviation from that of a
stellar source. We also generated synthetic quasar spectra in the range 1.0 < z
< 5.5 and computed expected quasar colors. We determined that the data are 90%
complete for point sources at 26.2, 28.0, 27.8, 26.8 in the F300W, F450W, F606W
and F814W filters, respectively. We find 41 compact objects in the HDF: 8
pointlike objects with colors consistent with quasars or stars, 18 stars, and
15 slightly resolved objects, 12 of which have colors consistent with quasars
or stars. We estimate the upper limit of unresolved and slightly resolved
quasars/AGNs with V < 27.0 and z < 3.5 to be 20 objects (16,200 per deg^2). We
find good agreement among authors on the number of stars and the lack of quasar
candidates with z > 3.5. We find more quasar candidates than previous work
because of our more extensive modeling and use of all of the available color
information. (abridged)Comment: We have clarified our discussion and conclusions, added some
references and removed the appendix, which is now available from the first
author. 37 pages including 10 embedded postscript figures and 6 tables. To
appear in the Feb. 99 issue of A
Uniqueness properties of the Kerr metric
We obtain a geometrical condition on vacuum, stationary, asymptotically flat
spacetimes which is necessary and sufficient for the spacetime to be locally
isometric to Kerr. Namely, we prove a theorem stating that an asymptotically
flat, stationary, vacuum spacetime such that the so-called Killing form is an
eigenvector of the self-dual Weyl tensor must be locally isometric to Kerr.
Asymptotic flatness is a fundamental hypothesis of the theorem, as we
demonstrate by writing down the family of metrics obtained when this
requirement is dropped. This result indicates why the Kerr metric plays such an
important role in general relativity. It may also be of interest in order to
extend the uniqueness theorems of black holes to the non-connected and to the
non-analytic case.Comment: 30 pages, LaTeX, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit
Scalar radiation emitted from a source rotating around a black hole
We analyze the scalar radiation emitted from a source rotating around a
Schwarzschild black hole using the framework of quantum field theory at the
tree level. We show that for relativistic circular orbits the emitted power is
about 20% to 30% smaller than what would be obtained in Minkowski spacetime. We
also show that most of the emitted energy escapes to infinity. Our formalism
can readily be adapted to investigate similar processes.Comment: 19 pages (REVTEX), 5 figures, title slightly changed, extra
demonstration and minor improvements included. To appear in Class. Quant.
Gra
All electro--vacuum Majumdar--Papapetrou space--times with nonsingular black holes
We show that all Majumdar--Papapetrou electrovacuum space--times with a
non--empty black hole region and with a non--singular domain of outer
communications are the standard Majumdar--Papapetrou space--times.Comment: 9 pages, Late
Initial data for stationary space-times near space-like infinity
We study Cauchy initial data for asymptotically flat, stationary vacuum
space-times near space-like infinity. The fall-off behavior of the intrinsic
metric and the extrinsic curvature is characterized. We prove that they have an
analytic expansion in powers of a radial coordinate. The coefficients of the
expansion are analytic functions of the angles. This result allow us to fill a
gap in the proof found in the literature of the statement that all
asymptotically flat, vacuum stationary space-times admit an analytic
compactification at null infinity. Stationary initial data are physical
important and highly non-trivial examples of a large class of data with similar
regularity properties at space-like infinity, namely, initial data for which
the metric and the extrinsic curvature have asymptotic expansion in terms of
powers of a radial coordinate. We isolate the property of the stationary data
which is responsible for this kind of expansion.Comment: LaTeX 2e, no figures, 12 page
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